Fadath Revolt-The Failed Coup d'état Pre-game background

A little teaser for the long awaited game in the Fadath saga. It also sets up future games and plots all written years ago (yes that's how long its taken, some have 2010 and 2011 dates on them. EEEEKKKK!!!!) and waiting for terrain and minis. Some of which won't ever get used because I still haven't got round to finishing them.

 

Fadath Revolt-The Failed Coup d'état

A group of armed hooded Martians exited a small door way at the side of the Old Palace.  The street was eerily empty and only the red dust that sometimes blows in little spirals which the Hill Martians believe are the spirits of restless souls accompanied them. They moved in only a way men who have fought together many times can. Like a sea of blue cloaks all merging into a creature with one purpose, to protect the centre from harm. Behind them in the palace courtyards the shouts of Fadath Royalists could be heard cursing Hustuun’s name.

 Meanwhile elsewhere in the city rioters had started attacking humans where ever they could find them spurred on by the ranting’s of the Metropolitan. Bodies of non-Fadath Martians could be found in doorways and street intersections. Mutilated human traders slumped over their stalls or hanging out of the widows of their shops in the market and dock districts. The human quarter was the only relatively safe place at this time but small crowds of young Martians were gathering, torches in their hands.

The central area of the city was now under the control of the Royalist forces but they didn’t by any stretch of the imagination control the whole city. Though the Royalists outnumbered the rebel army they held a number of key sites. But some of these were at risk from the rioters if order could not be established quickly. The Rebels still held the Army & Fleet Academy the Royal Armoury most of the cities canal and land gates, most of the city wall and towers. Though these were being taken one by bloody one by the Fadath Foot. The landing field has been lost and any remaining Royal Marines have withdrawn to the academy along with the city levies.

From a balcony of the great temple of Mrohzanji the Metropolitan Shiog'ii continues to stirrup the passions of the city’s populous.

“Brothers and sisters! Sons and daughters of Mars. What has become of you? What has become of the once proud and noble people who built and grew this land?

The outsiders now rule us and we have become their lap dogs. They came to us with hands open claiming to be our friends but they put shackles on us. Not only of the body but most despicable on our minds. We would rather serve them as slaves than help our fellow Martians. Our forefathers did not sacrifice so that you could grovel at the feet of our oppressors.

To live under the yoke of the outsiders is no life at all. Freedom is the only worthwhile pursuit in life. We must regain our honour, our pride and our freedom. We must drive the enemy from our land and punish the traitors’ so we will never be slaves again.

Burn my children, burn it all and cleanse our city of their alien god and impure blood!”

As more of the crowd brake off to cause further chaos a sinister smile grows behind the Metropolitan’s golden mask. Unbeknownst to his flock, Prince Hastuun and his forces the Metropolitan Shiog'ii has his own reasons for the destruction of the Fadath city state.  The Prince’s natural patriotism has been guided into this situation from the very beginning by the most subtle, agile and ambitious mortal mind that currently resides on Mars at this time. A shadow that is spreading over the red planet and other parts of the solar system. A shadow that will use anyone and anything to reach its ultimate aim .

More on that another time……….

Edited 28/04/14
So at great cost of many bottles of Hobgoblin Ale and naggings from someone else's wives about bringing their husbands back in some state of order after "we've played soldiers" we got the very long delayed Fadath Coup game in on Sunday. No excuses you've them all before, minis are missing, buildings not finished but its done. Hurrah! I've only managed to sort out the pre-game pics for now as please bear with me for the game right up.

The location. The Army and Fleet Academy in the Northern part of the city of Fadath. The Southern gate and central administration building.

Prince Hustuun and his bodyguard.

 

"Ten green Martians standing on a wall,
Ten green Martians standing on a wall
and if one green Martian should accidently fall"

Part of the remaining City Levy holding the left section of the wall.

 

What's left of the Deadly Sting hold the gate.

 

The remainder of Fadath Royal Marines the right section of the wall.

 

More of the City Levies in front of the gateway with an artillery piece. Most of the artillery was removed from the walls to use in the coup elsewhere in the city. It turns out this was a bad move.

 

An over view of the Loyalist forces before the Royalists enter from the edges of the table. You can just see some more Marines behind the gatehouse in front of the admin building.

For those who want to see where the adventure begins.

http://dliworkshopinspace.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/fadath-coup-detat-game.html

High Martian Liftwood Grove

My version of a Martian lift wood grove that I finished last night with a few minis for scale .

Made for a future game. The trees are bought from an online trader on e-bay (not sure what brand they are) and only needed painting and adding to the bases. Nice and simple, just as I like it. The 'flowers'/leaves are from basecrafts.com and are fine foam mixture. Mounted on four bases to make them a bit more flexible in terrain options.

For the Emperor!

Just a quick peak at my current Nippon project. Some troops still on order but these are almost finished to protect the Imperial Ambassador.

I'm not happy with the uniform.I used a dark blue but over time I think it had a change of colour in the pot over winter. It should of come out more Navy but after two coats it remained its current hue.


From wood block prints the later 1880's infantry uniform was almost black but apart from stripping them back to their metal they will have to cope with a slightly faded uniform on Mars. Only another dozen or so to add to them including NCO's and officer/officers. They may end up with a small Gashant cavalry troop but that is in a long queue with other things to do.

But this should be my last human force in Space 1889. There maybe the odd addition to the armies (not taking into account transports and armour) but no more new human ones.

The British Empire
The Imperial Germans
The French
The Belgians
The Americans
The Imperial Russians
The Imperial Japanese
Human Mercenaries (HBTC for Fadath)
and some humans thrown in with the evil masterminds force is more than enough.

Earthers are still supposed to be a minority on Mars anyway ;) lol

If anything I could do with more Martians, not a new army as such but some suitable proxies to fill out my current three Martian armies excluding Fadath,

Anyway enough witter for now. More painting to do.

Canal Cranes

I'm well behind on everything .....again!

But here are some human canal quay cranes for unloading those cases of rifles to sell to that well known Martian despot in your local area.
Along side are some soon (he says hopefully) Russian sailors and a couple of "Red Captains" for some privateer cloudship crews.

Both cranes are from Ratio OO/HO railway sets from the local model shop. A bit of a pain to put together and the instructions were written by a psychic but I'm pleased with them. Just right to sit of the  jetty. The "rust" spray wasn't working right and gave a strange effect but I kind of like it so its staying for now at least.

On another note I had a parcel in the post from Tiger mini's today from their recent kickstarter. The "Guild" set which will become Boreosyrtis League marines/mercs.

I've a lot of filing and general cleaning to do on them. I'm likely to remove the bases altogether and go to town with some green stuff to finish them off before painting.


Edited 9th April: A word of caution if you do remove the bases. They are very weak at the ankle and I've had to pin some of the feet back onto the legs.

My Martian Army Artillery

Martian Army Field Artillery Advice.

 

Now there is no hard and fast rules on how a Martian army would be armed but using the original source books there is some guidance.

Most small city states wouldn’t have access to the latest human weapons in general, especially artillery or vehicles that would use and carry them. Some city states may even object to the use of such technology.

 

So it’s fair to say that traditional Martian artillery would be the back bone of Martian armies. So for those who have yet to purchase a copy of the source books for Space 1889 her is a brief rundown of the main types of Martian Artillery.



Field Weapons-

Some of these are used by Clouldships and are more or less common in the skies over Mars.

 

They are similar to human black powder weapons of the medieval period.

 

From Left to Right:

 

Light Guns. Which are most effective in the field in larger batteries.

 

Heavy Guns. Used normally in battery’s but have more range and power than their smaller Light gun sisters. They are likely to be the most common field canons for higher and middle level cities.

 

Rod Guns. Not common in the field but they are used for attacking fortifications or emplacements firing a large metal rod.

Rouge Guns. The main siege breaking type of canon. Slow to reload, heavy and slow to transport but city killers!

 

Lob Guns. The Grand Daddy of traditional of Martian artillery. Rare on the field and not common in air conflict. Very heavy to move and expensive for a city to produce and maintain.

Within this you could add some variants. For example a light multi-barred guns which I’ve added to my poorer armies and classed it as a light gun. Useful against infantry at closer range.

My examples are mainly War Games Foundry canons with the light gun and Lob Gun coming from Games of War's pirates range parts of a Games Workshop Warhammer Empire artillery kit (see example of construction/conversation on an earlier blog) respectively.

 

Aerial Weapons-

Some of these are used by Clouldships and are more or less common in the skies over Mars.

 

They are similar to human black powder weapons of the medieval period and later.

 

Swivel Guns. Most traditional upper decked Martian ships would have these to clear enemy boarding parties or to sweep enemy decks when in range.

 

Light Guns. They are likely to be the most common in the skies and used below and above deck.

 

Heavy Guns. The number of these guns depend on the type of ship they are firing from, effective used in broadsides.

 

Rod Guns. Not common in the field but they are used for attacking fortifications or emplacements firing a large metal rod. More useful in the air to remove an enemy’s ship from around them.

Rouge Guns. The main siege breaking type of canon. Slow to reload, heavy and slow to transport but city killers! Some ships carry them but their weight limits them to the number on board.

 

Lob Guns. The Grand Daddy of traditional of Martian artillery. Rare on the field and not common in air conflict. Very heavy to move and expensive for a city to produce and maintain. They are ship killers but their weight and kickback can disrupt a vessel.

Within this you could add some variants. For example a flame canon. A left over from more advanced days. Useful against Cloudships at closer range.

 





 

Advice on Game Play-

 

This depends on your style of play and the rules you are using. But if you’re looking for a more equal game I’d suggest the following. To the combat the more technologically advanced humans, mainly European artillery. Traditional Martian armies need to use superior numbers and good displacements to inflict maximum damage to earth armies and their artillery as quickly as possible even if this loses them in the first stages of the game. Once the “Red Devils” have a good bead on your gun positions they are likely to pick you off at their leisure.
Extract from

"Building a Traditional Martian Army Space 1889 style Part 1"

This was not intended as a stand alone piece and my be added back into a larger piece I've been working on.Very much a work in progress. But like so many others things free time is a factor. The post is in response to a recent TMP thread.

Better run through the jungle !

WARNING PIC HEAVY POST!

 

Better Run Through the Jungle

The setting: At the foot of the Thetis Mountains deep in Russian territory on Venus.

Background:

The British have heard that the Germans have sighted a structure in Russian territory on Venus. If this structure contains Vulcan technology it is vital that both the Russians and Germans are prevented from getting it.

A British Intelligence officer is to be sent with a despatch of marines with orders to secure any technology or destroy it before the others powers reach it.

Game Objectives:

The British enter from the North East. Their objective to capture or destroy and Vulcan technology.
10x Marines 2x Officers 1x Senior Intelligence Officer (Colonel R.J.Harper-Maynard) 2x Scientists/Archaeologists (Professor Karl Zellar& Professor Hamish Dundee ) 1x Native tracker

The Germans from the South East. Capture any Vulcan technology.10xMarines 1xOfficer 1xScienctist 1xNative tracker

The Russians from the South West. Force the invaders out and capture whatever they are after.
10xRussian Infantry 2x Officers 1xNative tracker

The centre and a camp in the North West  are held by Countess Zebrowska with her personal guard. Secure and remove any technology from the table at any cost.10xGuards 1xCountess 1xPersonal Bodyguard 1x Archaeologist/Linguist –(Professor Achmed  Hawass) 2x Native lizardmen Cizith a shaman and Flish a tracker/hunter.

NB:

The item is a non-functioning vision device which requires at least 4 people to remove it from table. It can be destroyed at closed range by any hand weapon.

The start of the game with a West/East orientation. The British and the German enter from the East and the Russian from the West. The Countess holds the North West corner and the centre of the table. To the South native lizardmen of unusual size are formed into two groups. It is not none whether or not they support one side or another.

British Royal Marines escort an intelligence officer and two experts in Martian/Vulcan technology.

The Germans use an old river bed to enter play.

Both forces unaware of each other.

 

The Russians enter eager to push out the invaders.

Lookouts at the ruins keep watch. In the foreground is a Sleeping Flower? Deadly to the natives and can knockout a human within range.

"Ivan what's that ahead of us in the bushes?"

The Russians split their forces. One in the direction of the ruins and the other to the Countess's camp in what was an a lizardmens village.

The British and Germans spot one another. Rifles are raised but the goal is more important. The race begins.

[You can tell I've a new computer and (why didn't you get a better camera as well I hear you shout),I've been playing with the paint file and its bubble speak function ;) ]

The Germans are attacked on their left flank be natives and have to respond. Shots are fired on both the British and Germans by the Countess's man. The Russians engage the second group of Lizardmen and the guards at the camp.

The Russians now low in numbers try to stop the Countess's retreat with the device. But they fail to look up into the trees.

Chaos!

The Russians have lost numbers to the Countess's guards at the camp led by a unknown Native American tracker/assassin and to the second group of native Lizardmen but they press on bayonets blooded!

The Germans split into two. One group continues for the ruins the other attacks the Lizardmen. Unfortunately for them having their native tracker die earlier in the game they walk into a patch of 'Sleeping Flowers'. These men are knocked out within 2 inches of the plants and are left helpless while hungry lizardman look on.

The Countess and her remaining force try's to leave with the device but she is out numbered. She drops it and runs for the edge of the table. The Russians give chase ,the remaining Germans are forced to retreat and collect their wounded and sleeping men. The British secure the device for transport back to the a research centre on Mars.

 

Notes on the games.

I thought I had a load of jungle terrain but with you get it all on the table you start to think you need more. My plantation stuff didn't come out but still more green me thinks?

 

Thanks to the boys for coming over and drinking all my good wine.....but it was fun. Happy New Year. See told you its better than 40K Jim ;)

Waterborne Battles Space 1889

Another new project and the year hasn't ended yet! I need stronger tablets ;)

Some time ago I had an interesting and enjoyable debate with another Space 1889 fan about waterborne battles on Mars.  My contention was that these were not likely to be very common on the canal systems and that land and air based battles were more common. With a suitable aircraft you could control a water route to unwanted surface vessels. As always I could be wrong, so why not give it a go and have fun doing it.

So I decided to go back to the original source books and see I we could come up with in a game.

Two options sprang immediately to mind, a canal battle themselves or a ship battle in the Gosklimsk (or some other water body)swamp or a similar body of water.


Option 1-Straight forward boat to boat battle with possible canal bank support.

Option 2-Pirate style boarding game with a large canal barge (Beastmen of Mars page 25 or More Tales from the Ether page 8) assaulted by smaller vessels to seize passengers, goods and the barge.

So while only in the very early stages of planning I've started to put together a little fleet. With all my paints, glues and tools restricted until after Jan 1st and only the kitchen to play in I've only been able to make some cotton sail for them. I'll be adding a few bits and bobs later. Simple flat bottomed cargo / troop transports. The canal barge will be a challenge in a few ways.

I'm chomping at the bit for a Venus jungle game which was delayed due to my PC giving up the ghost on the 19th. So this week I hoping to get that game in and unpack my hobby bits and start painting etc again.

The boats are from PMC , the red sailed one I've had a while but the other 4 are all new. I've been told PMC are selling to another company ? I know from the TMP site some have had problems with them. All I can say is that their products are great and I haven't had any problems to date. I only  bought two boats and got two free which is always something to put a smile on your face.
So back to watching crappy movies on telly :(

Happy New Year Folks :)
PS I've gone over 10,000 views according to the website. Have I really read my own stuff that many times ;) lol . Thank you to all those people :)