The Battle of Partoum! or Return of the Cephlipods.

Saturday the gang gathered for our Quarterly Martian Empires bash. Well it's suppose to be quarterly but sometimes life and other interests get in the way. I did manage to paint a new Cephlipod army, the old one is now in Indiana with Dan, and a few new large rock formations and a new ruin, actually designated for an eventual Egyptian Campaign.
 So the scenario called for a coalition of 2 Cephlipod, 2 Green tribe and an Imperial Martian command, besieging a German outpost. 6500 points.
 Three Earth forces, 2 British and one German, were on their way to save the day. 4500points
 von Redd was saddled with  holding out against overwhelming forces, a responsibility that he took with great humor! 1500 points
There was also a chance that a gunboat may arrive down the canal in time to support the besieged force. von Redd was to roll a die every turn, when the total of the pips reached 20 the ship would appear.
Sadly the gunboat appeared on the last turn after von Redd's demise. 
The colonial forces fought hard but barely made half way to the old fort. In hindsight, the defending force should have had more points or the gunboat at start.

The Captains of Grins and Mayhem

The first big game of the year 15,000 points on the table!
So what happened? I got a rare Saturday off and on short notice 8 friends showed up for a Martian Empires game, we would have had 9, but poor Eli had his hot water heater burst that morning.
In expectation of the game I sent out maps to various commanders and collected their orders.
Nothing elaborate but it added a bit of fun. In the British-german coalition there was a bit of confusion, as to was in overall command.

The Captains of Grins and Mayhem

Earthling forces

Martian Forces

The cunning Bavarian

Final plans

The Thark himself

Kurt Karter

The British discussing the correct time for tea on Mars

The center was as expected a mess! The Germans and British under Daniel and Glenn advanced with no fear. In turn, they recieved charge after charge of Green cavalry and Infantry, while under constant fire from Martian artllery stationed in the Keep and the guntowers. The British after repulsing the mad tribesmen had to contend with the Mutinous Askari. The Germans meanwhile had started to push their way into the foward town, the street fighting was furious! On the far Martian right, Col Smythe's British were encountering stiff resistance from the forces of Kurt Karter, an earthman turned native. Accurate artillery fire by the Civil War vet Karter accounted for more than one of Smythe's machines. another machine went down to fanatical swordsmen weilding smoke pots! At one point the Martian Warlord was so confident of holding out till dark, that he ordered his reserves of cavalry away( where they went will be revealed in the future) But in a most cunning move our favorite Bavarian commander sent his Dragoon rocketeers on a mad dash to take out the big American guns. Smythe sent a walker and a small flyer to support the Dragoons! Needless to say the the American gun crews were shot down without mercy, the guns blown up and the rocketeers flew the coop!

The Wave prepares to attack the British

Those Rebel Askari are everwhere!

Kurt Karter's foces on the wall

the canal

French on Mars!

The French guarded the canal and did little else!

Smythe's Armored might

Royal Navy

British Troops and Loyal Askari

French, 'We have stopped any attack on the canal!'

The End Phase

 And many thanks to Charlie, Stelios and Rick for the pics!!

The Baron thwarted!

Just finished another great game of Martian Empires at Treefort! A British led alliance of Brits and Imperial Martians took on the Baron's force of Germans and Americans.
3000 British and 1200 Imperial Martians vs
3000 Germans and 1200 Americans.
4"x12" table.

An interesting match revolving around a unique Martian monument on raised ground in the middle of the table. On the German left it was an iron fist of 3000 pts 12

German Askari anchored by Marines

battalions aimed at the small Imperial Martian force. While on the German left, the stout Americans were about to take on the armored might of the British. 5 Tanks and 2 Cav regiments.

The German- American force relied heavily of Askari, while the British had gathered only battalions in red.

In the first few turns the German advance went well, while the Americans managed by sheer luck to hold strong against Britannia. By turn three, the Americans had once more pulled out a bit of luck when one of the British steam tanks blew up in a spectacular way, disrupting a lot of nearby troops.

Meanwhile the Imperial Martians stole a bit of the initiative from the Germans with charges lead by the guard.
The Hun attack down the center was halted by an influx of British support and then a telling Martian bombardment devasted 2 German line battalions.

The British ended up  defeating the Americans and bearing on the Germans before the Germans could finish off the Martians. A victory for the British! And now the pics!

British-Martian Center

  

Britannia's mounted arm

Rocket troops advance

The stubborn Americans vs the Armoured Fist

Germans center advances

German center collapses

Baron tries to rally the center

Askari await orders to charge

Done with the Americans, British advance on the center.

The Baron arrives on Mars!

Yes, the mysterious Baron Rotwang, head of the German Empire's Science Weapons Division, has arriced on Mars. He brings with him the new Wyst Panzers and the Rakete Jagers.

Baron Rotwang in his special armor

New 15mm troops for Mars

The Rakete Jagers

Wyst Panzers

British vs German clash on Mars!

So Martian gaming in late 2013 was a bit slow, but this year there should be a good bit of activity. I've been promising some sort of campaign for quite a while and this year I plan to make good on it.
So to get the blood going, I set up a game for yesterday with Robert Youngblood, who kindly agreed to dust off his British and give me a game. Of course he assumed that I would run Martians, either Green or Imperial, but I surprised him with Germans and their many Askari!

So 2000 point game,
Robert, if I recall correctly, had
2 Guard Inf
4 Regular Inf
1 Rocket Inf
2 Hv tanks
1 Walker
3 Officers
1 Commander

My Germans consisted of
5 Regular Inf
5 Askari Inf
1 Askari Cav
1 Artillery
1 Walker(with lt tank stats)
1 Officer
1 Commander

Objectives; the Town and ruins were worth d3x100points each if held at the end of the game.
Player would also recieve the points of any routed or destroyed units.

I set up the terrain and Robert picked the side.  A screen was set up and we set up 6inches in and 12 inches from the edges.
Robert took the first move, and suddenly the British were rushing across. Hmmm a lot of commanders is nice!
I blew the activation with my officer and got hardly any success from the Commander.
By the second turn Robert was on the edge of the town and on his left flank deploying into the rough ground of the hill/ruins. Meanwhile he was destroying my artillery with Hv tanks infantry and a walker.
I managed to forceback one of the tanks but only managed to get my left flank moving and barely deployed.

The third turn, saw the British pounding the Askari on the right and left flanks, but the center tanks saw some bad rolls on shooting. While the town force refused to move while they liberated some Martian wines! Though the German walker, on loan from the Italians, was forced back to try and repair their gatling.  The Askari held for the most part and gave as good as they got near the town. Meanwhile in the middle the German infantry started to deploy and make their presence known!

By the 4th turn, the German left and right flanks had suffered huge Askari losses, but the strong German center with the aid of the Heavy Infantry and taken down the British Walker, a tank and a British infantry unit. Suddenly all 5 German infantry units were operating between the town and hill, along with the heavy infantry and the repaired walker. By the 5th turn, the British were down 2 infantry and 2 guard at half strength. With town control challeged and the Askari cav threatening the rear, Robert called for a quick British withdraw.

Excellent Game!
But I hear that Sir Robert is home planning a proper force to deal with the Teutonic threat!

British Walker and Inf advance on Ruins

Robert's Armoured fist slams the center. I was sweating it!

Heavy Infantry and SeeBattalion with Askari debate moving!

Italian Walker and Askaari cav in German employ

Brtish secure the Ruins

British and Roberts Guard  Irish in red run off an Askari unit

Withering British fire falls on the Askari advancing on the right flank

Germans take down two armoured vehicles

Heavy Infantry Walker in action

Askari Cav advances