So we thought it was going to be a small game.

Ever had one of those game events were you thought it was just going to be a small 6 player gamer but turned into an 10 player event? Well that was out Saturday Martian Empires game.  The first line up was 2 Red Martian City States and Lizardmen vs 2 columns of British and an Italian Force. More players arrived.
The second force pull had 2 Red Martian city states, Green Martians and Lizardmen vs 3 columns of Brits and the Italians . Then more players arrived. Final pull, Red Martian, Green Martian, Lizardmen, Germans and the Italians vs 5 columns of British. Actually, we had 12 players but Troy and I sat out the first game and played referees.

Game objectives: 2 Canal Bridges , east and west road. Started at 1:30 would play till 4:30
First Game a tie, Germans/Green tribes broke the British center but lost the road ends.

Second Game, Yes another player showed up and those that didn't play got into the second game.
Republican Mexicans, Red and Green Martians vs 2 British forces and a German player
Same map and same objectives.
Second game a tie. Mexicans broke the British center securing the bridges but both ends were lost. 

Somehow no pics of game 1 have shown up yet

The Battlefield

Canal

 

 

Martians patrolling the canal

Game 1

Game 2

Game 2

Red Imperial Martians

Evil German line

Germans vs French and Italians

I've managed to get a lot of table time in so far for 2015, but very little Martian Empires.
So this weekend the owner of Treefort Games, our local brick and mortar store, asked me if
I could put on a game because PBS might come by to do a little filming! He was hoping for a couple of nice looking games to show off, Charlie Traylor was also running his beautiful Pirate game.Fortunately I had the 
weekend off, a rarity these days, so a last minute call went out and the game was on for Sunday.
I went for a 4x12 foot table, a little smaller than are usual 6x12, but it was nicely packed with terrain.
It was Germans vs an Italian /French alliance, with a French and German force facing off in the center and both awaiting reinforcements.  Daniel had brought some nice Blue Moon Victorian civilians, who we labeled 'instigators'. So in addition to fighting each side was trying to round up some of these civilians who were trying to rile up the indigenous natives. If we ran out of time, whichever side had captured the most civilians would win.
It was a pretty bloody fight in the center, with the French and Germans sparring but also trying to get as many civilians as possible. I got to try out the new Heavy Walker, that Mike of Black Hat put out late last year. It is pretty formidable what with 3 shots and all, but it almost went down to those nasty little German rocket troopers. Troy did well with the Italians, probably the best luck anyone has ever had with them, though Rick's Germans beat him to the center.. Which was bad for the French. In the end the center Germans and French had taken a licking but the Germans had captured the most troublemakers. A very fun game.
Oh and PBS did show up and take some pics of the game!
Set up positions.

French Position, Balloon is serving as an officer

Germans, always ready to plant some flags

Italians, right after their coffee break.

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!!

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