First Club Game! Earthmen here to stay!?

Well today we fought are first club game of Martian Empires at Treefort Games in Fayetteville, Ga., it was a blast! Bob and I managed to put some 22 Martian units on the table versus Jim's

Crimean War Brits and Sepoys. (We're still working on our specific Martian Europena forces).

Three players per side: John, Terry and Jim as the landgrabbing Earthlings while Freman, Bob and I ran the very dignified Martians, well maybe the Giant Tribal Greenmen weren't so dignified.

There was plenty of room for a little manuever allowing everyone to get a grip on the activation rules. For those of you that have not played, you roll to activate a unit based on a commander's

rating, you can keep activating a unit if you can keep passing your rolls(with building modifiers), once you fail you can no longer use that commander. If the army commander fails no one can try to activate any more that turn. I love this system, no guarantees as to how long it may take that cavalry to get to you. During the game there was plenty of pleas to the Army commanders requesting an activation roll as the brigade commanders failed theirs at the worst moments.

The Martians sent waves of Warhoon Tribal cavalry (Giant GreenMen) and Imperial Sword units against the British right. The British fire cut them down like wheat. Desperately the Martians tried to weaken the British flank with fire from the Airships, Hexasaur and Guard Infantry. Only a single stand of cavalry broke through only to be crushed by the Smythe Walker.

The Martian right meanwhile was being beaten back by successful charges lead by the Guides and Queen's Lancers. The Martian Guard finally held at the edge of the table while an ambush of Greenmen took some of the gusto out of the British horse. The Martian Flank commander, his honor tarnished, refused to advance till the British Horse was exterminated!

By now the Martian advance had ground to a halt, the Jed decided to pull back and gather more forces and study these Earthlings a bit more before bringing them to battle again.

The Martian Players all agreed that more cavalry was needed as well as extra sub commanders for the forces. Everyone greatlly enjoyed the game and now there is talk of a campaign!

Pictures of the field before hostilities began.

Hexasaur, Flyers and Infantry advance

Martian Guard

View of the Martian Line

British in distance

View from British Side

The Green Horde

First Solo Game

Well with the first game coming up on the 19th, I thought it best to put a few figs on the table and roll some dice.

3 European units vs 4 Martian Imperial units, just enough minis to get a grasp of the rules. A small German victory in the end, and some lessons learned.

Earth rifle units pack a wallop! So get those swords in quick. I really like the rules, plenty of uncertainty with the command rolls adds a lot of fun.

Got a few questions, which I will be fielding onto the Yahoo Martian Empires site. Certainly looking forward to the big game this following Saturday!

A few pics of my smaller gaming table. Sorry about the light.

German SeaBattalion tries to hold a small village.

Dawn Advance of the Germans.

Back to Mars! Hexasaurs, Swords and a Jed

Sorry about my absence over the last few months but as usual life and other projects took charge. But fortunately someone at the club, probably Bob, put down Martian Empires as the game for the 19th of this month. So it was back to the paint table and Mars!

So this week with the help of my wonderful wife I managed to finish 2 Martian Sword units, 1 Jed/Prince, and a village. I also managed to convert and paint my own version of the Hexasaur.

A Royal Prince/Jed leading two units of his city's Swordmen.


A small village with a magistrates keep.


The Hexasaur Arrives!


I used a D&D critter and added a howdah and odd and end guns.

Big and Bad!

Is it a bird? A plane? No! It's a German Scout Zeppelin

Yes! A German Scout Zepplin! Are you trembling yet?


The Germans have little faith in 'Liftwood' prefering their new
Zeppelins, especially now that advances in science have steamlined
the design. This one carries several anti-personal guns and
a small company of Marines.


The model is a toy from the Golden Compass movie.

Fields, Shrine, Italians and the Thunderchild

Well, I managed to get more done this week than expected.
First, are my Martian farm fields, these are quite common
around near the canals.


Next up is another shrine, very spiritual these Martians, with a
few buildings. This shot catches a company of recently arrived Italian Bersalergi
marching through on their way to their new posting. Old Glory Boxer range


The Italians are rushed along by the HMW(walker) Thuderchild.
This area is under British protection.


Another shot of the Thunderchild. A Wonderful Black Hat
model.

Rules and Basing

After reading and rereading Black Hat's Martian empires rules, I've definitely adopted them as my rules for the 15/18mm Warlords of Mars Campaign. Though I have played around with
the basing. All my Martians will be based on 40mm round bases, the wife loves the look. While
all the Earthlings will be on 40x25mm bases.

The Germans arrive and a new Village

My newest Village, which the newly painted German SeeBattalion
wasted no time occupying.


A small parade before the village Shrine. The SeeBattalion
is from Old Glory's Boxer rebellion Range.



The Germans staging drills. Never know when an Overlord
force may appear.

A Shrine and the Royal Guard

Some ruins that I forgot to include last week.

My Martian Royal Guard, figures by Black Hat.





A small shrine, Mars is full of them!

Terrain

Now I love doing terrain! In fact I may enjoy it even more than painting figures. You see the first
three completed pieces for my 15mm Martian game. The owner of a local gaming store, here in Georgia, The Tree Fort, (great place!), had a bunch of terrain pieces from GW Lotr which he let me have for a great price. I worked them in with my adobe style buildings to give that
'faded imperial past' look.

Holy Therns trying to stave off some angry Warhoons!

The Cephalopods aka Overlords

Yes! My Mars does have room HG Wells' Martians! Now, ahem, in my Mars the cephalopods
were not originally of Mars but from somewhere further out in the Solar System. Mars was simply a jumping off point for Earth. The invasion force was held in stasis until the caretakers
had prepared everything for the War of the Worlds. Now all that is left of the cephalopods
on Mars are the caretakers also known as the Overlords. Two Overlord machines from
Black Hat.

Black Hat Two-Man Flyers

As I mentioned before these were part of my birthday gift last month. My wife probably got

the idea that I might want some after I spent a good half hour talking about how cool they were

after I saw Bob's at the club. I love the crew and the prop, both of which are available seperately from Black Hat. I plan on doing some larger airships soon and will certainly be needing some extra props for my screw galleys!

Peter Pig Fantasy Green and Red Men

I picked these figures up years ago! Now these 'of course' are not Barsoomian Martians and Green Men, but they work. Now my Peter Pig Green Men will represent the Warhoon

tribes of Mars. Complete with Thoats and ancient Anti-Flyer weapons. While the Peter Pig Red Men, with radium pistols and swords, will be the "Holy Therns". Raised from birth by the Cephalopod 'Martians', as servants and minions. Riding advanced flyers they enforce the will of their Overlords.

How it's my all my wife's fault!

Well yes, it really is my wife's fault that I have now ventured into 15mm VSF. You see it was

my dear wife who last year got me some of those wonderful 15mm Black Hat Martian Tripods.

And then this year she got me the Martian Empires rules as well as some nice two man Martian

flyers. Then in the same month I found my old Peter Pig Fantasy Green and Red man armies.

Before I knew it I was painting everything and making terrain. So today I took pictures of about six weeks worth of work.