Warlords of Mars

Martian Theological Clash

2011-11-12T05:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, after several months of calm the Martian landscape erupts once more with conflict, thankfully!
Everyone had always known that it was only a matter of time before the rival theological views of Martian Society come into conflict.
Jeddak Bob Sun of Hender, defender of the Cult of the Square, which views 4 as the perfect number, 4 lines 4 angles, units organized and based on a square! No longer could this Orthodox ruler tolerate the depredations of the Jeddak of Frangium. For the Frangiums renounced the perfection of the square and instead embraced the gentle flow of the Circle! Their architecture and unit formations reflected this Heresy! How could men know their place in a damn circle!
"The Book of Martian Empires demands squares!" raged Jeddak Bob Sun!
"The Book is simply a guide, all must seek their own path." replied the Princess of Frangium.
"Heresy!"

So after months of scrambling for allies and the right time for battle, the warhosts of Frangium and Hender at last meet. Few free martian states would join the Intolerant Jeddak Bob Sun so in the end he chose buying mercenaries over allying with heathens. The Green Tribes flowed out of the Wastelands while the orderly legion of Col Smythe marched to the Jeddak's gold.
Frangium, meanwhile, had also encountered trouble recruiting other Martian city states to it's divine cause of the Circle. In the end, the Princess had reluctantly turned to the Germans and Italians for aid at the cost of trade concessions.

The BattleField. 6'x12', and relative dispositions:
(Some Gamenotes: for fun I decided to try out some blinds for the brigades. Martian blinds activated on 9 if in 'march' and '8' if in column, Europeans 10 and 9. Max of 2 activations per blind. This also helped speed up movement until everyone got into in engagement range. Also all flyers were considered to have their own command of 9. Victory would be determined by whichever side occupied the most key villages, marked with a banner)

Green Tribes/w what looks like an experimental American Walker?
The Frangium Assault Brigade!
Henderite Cavalry and Guard Infantry prepare to chastise the heretics.

Col Smythe's Askari infantry march to Dontaum and preparesto hold the flank until their relief column arrives.
The Battle develops. Jeddak Bob Sun finds himself trying to hold off Italians, Germans and Frangium forces hoping that his overpaid mercenaries can turn the Frangium flank before he's crushed! His masterful skill at the fighting withdraw is severly taxed.

While the Italians assaulted a small village Henderite flank (sorry no pics of the Italian assault,
guess the Germans wanted all the credit) The Germans formed up and prepared to destroy
everything in their way. Mostly Hendernites!

Meanwhile on the Frangium flank the Green Tribes have finally deployed and begun to attack.
The Tribal Cavalry was destroying everything in it's way. Striking deep into the rear of the Circl Alliance. And Col Smythe arrives with his relief force.

The Henderites have begun to wither under the German fire. Smythe however quickly realizes that his light cav force cannot face the German line and shifts to harass the Frangium martians.
As the day ends all eyes where on the small village at the rear of the Frangium line.
If it fell to the Green tribes the day would result in a draw if it held then it would be victory for the Circle! So crucial was the situation at the Princess of Frangium with the Guard took charge of the village defense and managed to fight off several green assaults The day was won!

Some of my newest units

2011-02-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

Finished the Princess up Sunday night, thinking of adding rules for
a few of these special figures. For instance, units within 20cm of the Princess would
have their morale increased by 1. Better death than run and put the Princess in jeopardy!

Somehow I forgot to take any photos of the Guns of Navri!

The Martian Imperial unit commands were completed in time for Saturday's battle. I had
some extra Guard Command so I worked them into the irregular foot.

The Germans were done late last year but never got any photo time. The Clockwork and
Heavy Infantry Soldiers laid down some vicious fire Saturday.

The German Uhlans are Outpost FPW Ulhans mounted on Black Hat martian steeds.
Okay, but I like Bob's Black hat Prussians better.

A farewell to our friend Terry Wills

2011-02-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

On a sad note:
Saturday was our first Martian Empires game without Terry Wills.
Terry passed away last month after fighting cancer for several years.
He will be missed by all, especially for his easy attitude towards gaming.
He was our first Imperialist on Mars with his Glatz-Leuthens and the first
guy to invite me to my first wargame 27 years ago at Origins.
"But I don't have any figs."
"You don't need any figures we have more than enough, so here start playing!"

First Martian Empires game of 2011

2011-02-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday was our first Martian Empires game of the year, played at our favorite local hangout, Treefort Games in Fayetteville. We had a pretty good turnout with some 11 players.
Game was fought on a 12x6 foot table.

Scenario for the day: The Guns of Navri.
Prince Tremel has recently asserted dominance over the local canal traffic through the purchase and use of several American siege guns stationed at one of his forts. As his treasury grew
through imposing his new tax, so did concern from several parties, chief among them Emperor
Danh Din, the local Hob Nob in the area. The Emperor was ready to tackle the upstart Despot Tremel on his own, but word had come down that the Despot had also hired the services of several
Earthling renegades such as Captain Smythe , Captain Dumas and Lt John Steele.
"Hmmm, inferno machines no doubt. Best to let the outsiders deal with their own"
With diplomatic flair, the Emperor soon engaged the aide of the German and British missions.

Battle Begins

With the left flank gone and the center collapsing, Prince Tremel
unleashed his royal lancers in a desperate attempt to shatter
the Allied left. It was a valiant try but the fierce Green tribesmen held firm and
and shattered the lancers, pursuing them to the very walls of the fort.

The Despot called his renegades together and mounted his sky-galleon.
'Until next time!'

Our armies our getting to big for the table,
looks like the next game will be several linked battles.

More ship pics.

2010-06-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Had a request for more pics my 15mm Airship,
so here you go.

New Airship leaves the dockyard.

2010-06-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

Well in addition to the game below, I've also finally managed to make an Airship that I like.
It took many hours of pondering a few failed starts but finally I'm happy. I present to you Thuvia's Glory! Now that I have a template of sorts I hope to build another two this month.
In addition I'm also putting together a few ideas for a small Martian campaign this summer.

The Cephlipods make their Appearance!

2010-06-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

My apologizes for not having posted over the past few months. We had a big game
last month but my camera failed to take adequate photos. So no pictures of the
Japanese first outing. But this Saturday we managed to get together without Bob, who was stuck in Phoienx, though we did have some new players and new armies, among them Daric who brought his British Army as well as his wonderful camera!

Though we've had many a battle, the Cephlipods have yet to make an appearance.
It is said rumored that the few remaining Cephlipods are the ones who were the caretakers of the armada that invaded Earth. Some scientists theorize that the Cephlipods actually originated further out in the Solar System and had only used
Mars as a jumping off point to Earth. Speculation has also circulated that it is the
Cephlipods who refine the rare ore that gives lift to the Red Martian Airships.

With this last bit of info, the British and Japanese wasted no time moving on
a Cephlipod force that had been sighted near the frontiers to the West.
The British (Daric) moved up from the South and the Japanese (Terry, Shogun Doug and John) from the NorthEast.
The Cephlipods(newly painted by Dan) were there gathering ore, but soon two other armies arrived. A coalition of Red Martian City States(Kieth, Rick, and my subordinate self) as well as Green Tribesmen(Allen&Son)
eager to defend their territory and win glory!

Before the battle began there was a great whirlwind of negotiating! Promises, threats and sacrafices were made! In the end the Red, Green and Cephlipod Martians faced off the Earthling, much to the annoyance of Shogun Doug, who would comment later that these Martians were not honorable!

The Armies Arrive!

The Red Martian City States

The Green Tharks

The Cephlipods

The Japanese.

The British.

The Battle begins as the Tenacled Menace advances on the Japanese firing black smoke and heat rays. "There is no honor in such war!" snarled Shogun Doug.

Smoke Projector crews

Japanese line covered in poisonous smoke!

The Thark Cavalry flanks the Japanes line! Shogun Doug is hooping mad now! 'Treachery!'

The Thark Blood-Gods watch the battle. Can the ninja halt the thunderous charge of the Green Horde. Well.... no.

The Tharks drive deep into the Japanese line till finally the Tharks find themselves surrounded.

In the South

The stout Highlander marches through the ruins of the ancients.

Martian Swordmen prepare to duel with the new invaders.

The British rifle fire is murderous!

The Egyptians Charge and drive back the Imperial Martians.

The Egyptians find themselves cut off.

>

Imperial Airships bring fire down on the desperate Egyptians.

The Cephlipods watch the Imperial vs British battle.

British Marines try to hold the right flank against a sudden advance of Martian Cavalry and Hexasaurs! But are driven back!

The British right flank falters as the Highlanders arrive. Can the line me held?

But in the end the Highlanders are driven back!

When the game was called the Cephlipods were still in control of the Mountain ore.
The Japanese had been savaged and the British driven off. For their service the Red Martians soon hoped for more of the magical ore that powered their airships. And the Tharks had new heads to display!

Another Club game with new toys!

2010-02-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

It was the end of the month which meant that it was my turn to host the game. With Bob available I decided on Martian Empires. Instead of a line them up and slug it out game, (we now have lots of stuff), we decided on a quick 2600point scenerio.
The evil and vile Earthmen, Terry's Glatz-Leuthans & Bob's new Germans, had to enter from the South and Western road ends and exit the North road with a decent amount of troops. The Martians would enter from the North and the Eastern desert. 3 Martian players vs 4 European players. People kept showing so we happily shared the troops and vehicles.

Opening view from the West and my German Zeppelin.

Earth Forces in the South. Note the new german Walker. The Ironclad figures work well for this scale.

Terry's mythical state of Glatz-Leuthen, a carry over from his Charge games.
A modge podge of Austrians and exiles mixing for over 2 centuries.

Martian Forces on the North edge.

Martian Horde entering from the East. Plenty of big Green tribesmen and Bob's newest lancers.

The Green Tribes were out to wreck revenge on the Glatz military order cav for previous wrongs. They even took tim out to take trophies.

Ah the cav in all it's glory!

Dan wasted no time pushing the walker and the Glatz Highlanders to the front.

This small village would trade hands several times before German Rocket troops, on the left, finally decided to give it up.

We used the slightly larger March or Die German gasmask troops as rocket troopers.
They were quite effective but eventually numbers told.

Never fun being charged by Green Tribal Cavalry! The Zeppelin also took a lot of fire from the Martian Airships this turn and lost rudder control. Ended up moving in random directions for the rest of the game.

This powerful but slow moving force of Martians managed to break most everything in it's way, the askari taking major punishment. But being newly painted figs we expected their certain doom.

Dan and Doug reach the North road but with too few troops as airships and cav continue to harass their troops.

It was a very fun game! Bob and I keep painting more stuff and now it looks as if Doug will be raising some Japanese for Mars. I also feel the need to add even more terrain! Everyone keeps asking about the canal, it's coming!

First Club Game! Earthmen here to stay!?

2009-09-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-10T18:13:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

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.