Merry Christmas to All!

Aethergraph Vol. 3, #3 Now Available

   An issue mostly dedicated to In Her Majesty's Name, but I think, I hope, that any VSF fan can find useful information in it for their own games or settings.

   I'd again like to thank the gentlemen that helped me put it together. Paul, Craig, Charles, and Jim: I couldn't have done it anything like so quickly or so well without your help.

   You can go to the document HERE. I will be adding a link to the sidebar soon for future reference.

The Russians are Coming!

   Mad Robot Miniatures is about to release some really interesting looking new bits. They are designed to be used, I think as Imperial Guard options for WH40K, but... I think they would make great Russian special troops for any VSF game in 28mm.

  So they are on the "buy these sometime" list.

  The photo is from their Facebook page.

Verne's Quarterly and the Aethergraph Approaches!

   For those of you patiently awaiting the next issue of The Aethergraph, good news! It is almost finished - I hope to release it next week!

   Again, this issue is pretty well dedicated to In Her Majesty's Name. But I hope that anyone could find useful information within its pages.

Here's a tiny teaser:

 Maton's Gun Buggy, featured in Verne's Quarterly

(The miniature is from Bob Charette, available through Brigade Games)

(The photo is from their website)

Aethergraph 3/3 delayed until December

Sorry gentlemen. I thought i would have it all done by today, but life sometimes gets in the way of unpaid hobby stuff. In this case, my wife is having a surgical procedure tomorrow morning (yes, just how we all dream of spending Thanksgiving, but I am thankful she should be much better after the procedure).

Stay tuned.

Canine Automatons

   Found these whilst perambulating aimlessly across the telephonic interweb of differencing engines. This blighter has some canine automatons for sale. An American chap, obviously, selling them off at 3 for the price of $7.00. He's some cats as well, but I'm an Englishman, not my spinster Aunt Amelia.

28mm scale

Crossover Miniatures Robo-Dogs

Progress on The Aethergraph Vol.3 #3

   Progress is continuing. I have some really great articles that have been submitted for this upcoming issue. I am still hoping to have it out before Thanksgiving - I only have a couple of pages to fill.

   I may have previously mentioned, but this issue is dedicated primarily to In Her Majesty's Name. This set of rules has become my go-to for 28mm skirmish VSF. I still prefer GASLIGHT for larger scale battles, but for a very few figures, I have really gotten fond of IHMN. 

   Of course, I am also proud of the work I did on When The Navy Walked and the supplements. And I enjoy Dystopian Wars, too. I still don't get why they did Dystopian Legions in 32mm scale. Nice figures, but I haven't bought a single one. Just too darned big, and with four scales of VSF already, I don't need to add a fifth.

Zombtober photos

   Wow... these nasty fellows arrived very late to the Zombtober party.

      Actually, the minis were finished by the first week of October, and the photos were taken the last week of October. It's just taken me this long to post the photos.

   However, here at long last are the Todtruppen - re-vivified Prussian jaegers, serving the mysterious Society of Thule even in death!

The brass peg on the left arm is part of the Revivifier that reanimates the Todtruppen.

I really like the bare foot for some reason.

All four. From the Society of Thule boxed set.

Clockwork. Flying. Monkey.

It must be mine.

It may be purchased online here.

Tin Man isn't bad, either...

Some Painted Dystopian Wars stuff

  First up, the Speerwurf airship squadron. I didn't put the zig-zag camo on them because, well, I was tired of doing it.

You can see the national roundel and the big Speerwurf itself.

An infantry token. This is a regiment of Line infantry.

I may paint the next ones to represent jagers.

"Recke" Heavy Tanks 

Notice the churned up ground behind the tracks...

"Ritter" Light tanks

Squadron command tank

Ships of the Indian Raj!

   Okay, consider this purchased - maybe as late as Christmas this year. Maybe. I love anything to do with Colonial India. I blame Stirling's book The Peshawar Lancers and films like Lives of a Bengal Lancer.

Political Map of the World According to Peshawar Lancers

Illuminated Tripods

   These are scout tripods from Alien Dungeon for their All Quiet on the Martian Front game. I saw this photo (and several more) on TMP. The work was done by Scott Washburn, adding what looks like small red LEDs into the head of the plastic tripods.

   Really great job there. I just thought as many people as possible ought to have a chance to see it! Mr. Wells would be proud. Horrified as well, but certainly proud!

EDIT: I just found Scott's "how-to" on this project. Find it here.

Problems with Society of Thule Figures?

   I finally got around to opening the box of Society of Thule figures that I pre-ordered. As I am cleaning them up to get them ready to prime, one thought just keeps running through my mind:

FLASH!

(cue Queen music...)

   Did anyone else get a set of figures with a TON of flash? Far more than I have seen on any metal figures in years. The other sets I purchased were not so bad as these - Lord Curr's Company and Servants of Ra, both purchased at the same time as the Society. These are awful, practically lousy with it. On bases, on hands, knobs of lead, not just little streamers... and webbing between body parts (neck and shoulder, within the arms of a firing pose), too. This is the kind of quality we used to get in the 1980s!

   Maybe NorthStar shot the molds for Society of Thule out faster than the other sets, I don't know. And I have been able, so far, to fix everything with some knifework and filing. It's just not something I am used to having to deal with any more.

   The sculpts themselves are lovely. It's just the casting that has me bummed out. Did anyone else have this problem?

Volume 3, Issue #2 Published

   With a great many thanks to the contributors who made it possible, I have finished putting together the newest issue of The Aethergraph.

   The link to the left should be active. Or you can go to it here.

   As always, please let me know what you think. Work has already started on Issue 3, and I hope to have it out before the end of the year. This would be a record for me. Of course, if I keep getting more submissions, it could possibly stretch to four issues in 2014... but let's not get too ambitious just yet.

   Enjoy!

Another Kickstarter Project

   Rob Angell of Curious Constructs is taking part in another Kickstarter for 28mm heavy equipment suitable primarily for a Game of Grim Warfare Set in the Far Future.

   However, his focus in that game is on the troops of Praetoria, who exhibit a distinctly neo-Victorian aesthetic. And so, they are quite nice for fans of Victorian Science Fiction, such as myself.

   I had been aware of this project for a few weeks, but had not really looked into it. Then I saw a posting about it elsewhere with a piece that I simply had to have. So I am now backing this project. The usefulness of the pieces - for me, in particular, the non-weapon pieces - is just too much for me to not order. In particular, I mean the searchlight and the barrage balloon winch. I envision these as a galvanic heliograph and an airship tether respectively.

  Should you be interested, the Kickstarter project has still a few more days until it funds. You may find it at this location.

Yet Another Cry for Help!

   I am about one and a half pages shy of finishing the next issue of The Aethergraph.

   I could sure use some help with an article or two. I already have the following features:

• Clive's Register (Teaser: it's a famous engineer.)
• Reginald's Regiments
• Diary of a Texican
• Verne's Armory
• plus an Adventuring Company for IHMN

So, the sorts of things that I would love to see would be

• Short Fiction
• A new creature or alien race with stats for any game system you like
• VSF Adventure Hooks
• House Rules - again, for whatever system you prefer
• A Battle Report, preferably with photos
• Artwork
• Game Reviews (Dystopian Wars? Dystopian Legions? Empire of the Dead?)

So, anything you have - throw it at me!

Pardon me, sir, but some gentlemen have arrived.

   Some indeterminate amount of time ago, I participated in the crowdfunding (via Kickstarter) of some miniatures for the Empire of the Dead game. I don't currently play Empire of the Dead (hereon, EotD), but I liked the figures for the Requiem expansion, so I bought in to the project. Naturally, as with most Kickstarter projects, everything was delayed, partly by the number of stretch goals reached and partly by the problems that spring up in any project. Not being in a tearing hurry, I was for the most part okay with it. When I duly received my package of lead, I was quite pleased with the contents.

   I started painting up the Lycaons first, which I believe have made previous appearances here. Now I am working on the Gentlemen's Club. I can absolutely see me making an Adventuring Company for IHMN out of these figures as well. I chose a theme color of blue for this faction. Thus, the Sapphire Club of Marylebone was born!

I am particularly fond of the Clockwork Butler.

Members of the Sapphire Club.

More Sapphirians. I like the fellow in smoking jacket and fez a lot.

The fellow in the overcoat is actually a club porter, not a member.

As if such a ruffian could be a member!

   One thing that I didn't like to paint, but which I think looks 'right' for these figures is the preponderance of black. Black trousers, black coats, black toppers. Not as bad as all white (snow blind me, will ye, ye damned Napoleonic Austrians?!?!), but still. I am glad I went for a brighter blue to help break the monochromatic issue.

   I have two more members to paint up (currently on the table) and that will be mostly that for this faction. I am finishing up what I think is the last of the Lycaons as well. He's just a human servitor, a hunter with a crossbow. After that, who knows? Maybe finish up the latest unit of automatons, which I have five completed and five remaining...

Cards for IHMN - A Useful Tool

  I downloaded a free Magic Card Editor program a few years ago. I don't play Magic: The Gathering any more, but the program is very useful for making reference cards for gaming. I have used it previously for GASLIGHT units, and now I am making a set of cards for In Her Majesty's Name.

This is a Talent card. It gives the rules and point costs for a Talent.

I have all the published Talents done.

This is a Beast card.

I am making one for each creature in the published Bestiaries.

A Character card.

I have finished Lord Curr's Company, the Servants of Ra, and

the Mechanickal Menace (Automatons).

Mystic Powers.

Phase, Range, Duration, Save, Effect, and points cost.

   If you like these, the program is free. You can get it here.

Baa Baa Baa...

"We are poor little lambs,

Who have lost our way.

Baa baa baa..."

   Sheep graze across the fields of England and Wales, enriching the nation with their woolly coats, and the soil with their rich manure. And now, they have been transplanted to the solar colonies! Also, we have pictured some native handicrafts. Though rather primitive, they do have a certain charm.

Black Face Sheep

Native Pots

[Editor's Notes: These are 15mm sheep. Peter Pig, I think. I have them for objectives, same as the pigs I have painted previously. While these are grassy bases, I will be adding some Martian based ones as well. Attacking a food supply or economic resource is a perfectly logical reason for a raid or even pitched battle. The pots I did up from craft store beads thanks to an idea I am swiping form Frank Chadwick's VSF game at Historicon 2013. Each has a number on the bottom. When a searching figure approaches the pot, it is turned over and a chart consulted. You may find treasures, allies, traps, or foes!]

Primitive Fortifications on Venus

   This journal recently received photostatic evidence of a primitive fortification built somewhere in the jungles of Venus, the Veiled Planet of Mysteries. As our dear readers are no doubt aware, Venus is home to at least two indigenous intelligent lifeforms. Though both the lizardmen and the parrotfolk are savage tribalists, they display a degree of cunning that must be taken into account when venturing forth from the safe enclaves of human habitation.

   See below the apex of Venusian engineering...

The human figure in strange attire and armed with primitive weapons is unknown.

Perhaps he is a French agent, a coureur du bois or voyageur?

A lookout tower of some sort. Apparently, it is unfinished at this time.

[Editor's Notes: The fort has been sitting a long time, a gift from a fellow VSF enthusiast in the Houston area. I painted and flocked it, but Dan built it. I built the tower using leftovers from the fortress. It is almost done, needing only the base - an old CDR - to be flocked, and some sort of overhead covering to be done. Speaking of which, I am considering a roof over at least one of the two bastions in the fortress. What do you think?

  I plan to use these for games of In Her Majesty's Name and other VSF games. It could be a jungle on Earth as well as Venusian. My son said the fortress looked a little barren for a jungle, but I reminded him that one does not allow undergrowth or trees near one's fortification. A clear field of fire is a necessary asset in these cases.]

Working on These Projects

My two weeks away from home has seemed to refresh my desire to paint and build, and these are the projects I am prioritizing:

1) Gentlemen's Club for Empire of the Dead.

I haven't played a game of this yet, though I took part in the Requiem Kickstarter. The minis are all very nice, and I have already painted up most of the werewolves. I know I can use them as Adventuring Companies in In Her Majesty's Name as well, which is a really nice skirmish ruleset.

2) Prussian Airships for Dystopian Wars

I bought these back at Christmas time, I think. They are pretty simple to paint up - it just needs doing. Plus, it would be progress! And proof of progress helps to keep me motivated.

3) 15mm Spanish Civil War

My friend Zach is very interested in playing some Spanish Civil War. I have chosen the Carlistas, who supported the Nationalists because the Nationalists supported Catholicism. I picked up several packs of Peter Pig's Carlista requetes while in Weymouth. I'll paint up a few bases's worth and see how they look. You'll be able to follow that project more closely on Scattergun Gamer.

4) New Issue of The Aethergraph

I wanted to get another issue out back in May, hoping to do a quarterly schedule this year. Grad school sort of got in the way of that. But, I think I am ready to try and tackle finishing the issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated, naturally.

   So I am going to work on these projects for the next few days. Hopefully by end of the week I shall have something to share.

Having Returned from the Wilderness...

...and recovered (somewhat) from his travels, Our Hero returns a bit refreshed and ready to do some serious work.

   The trip went well. Weymouth, Cardiff and Windsor were all brilliant. Paris was nice enough, but I've seen what I wanted to see.

   Speaking of which, I went to the Musee d'Armee at Les Invalides whilst in Paris and took several photostatic images of French uniforms. They aren't terribly good images, I am afraid, as everything was behind glass, it seemed. However, it should give your Dear Editor something with which to work when he ventures into Froggy painting. Most of the images below are of various colonial troop uniforms.

Bleaseworld: Land Ironclads: Sprue Fortress I

Bleaseworld: Land Ironclads: Sprue Fortress I: A little break from 6mm - here's some 2mm! :-) Busy day today with work and trying to get Saul's stuff ready for his first gig tom...

I'm in Cardiff today...

I scheduled this before I left, to post whilst I am on vacation.

In Cardiff, I shall revisit the Goat Major Pub and have a Wye Valley Pie. I hope to run into these fine gentlemen.

Because how cool would that be?

That is the actual (recently retired) Goat Major himself, in the Goat Major Pub, with Shenkin, the official mascot of the Royal Welsh Regiment.

Now, off to see the castle!

700th Post Raffle

This is my 700th post on Victoria's Boys in Red!

We've been defending the British Solar Empire for years now, and in fits and starts. But the work goes on! It goes forward! A bit of assistance in the way of articles, art, ideas, house rules, etc. would help with the next issue of The Aethergraph (now scheduled for "Sometime in July").

Anyway, in order to properly celebrate the 700th post, I am going to hold the now-traditional gaming blog raffle!

So let me know if you are interested in some sort of mystery prize direct from the UK - I am headed there tomorrow! Send your entry to my gmail account: aethergraph@gmail.com. 

I will draw a name next Tuesday. That way, if the winner is in the UK, the post will be cheap cheap cheap! If the winner is in the US, I'll post it when I return on the 11th of July.

Good luck!

6mm Aetherbattalion Assault Team

  This photo was my last entry in the infamous Lead Painters' League contest for 2014. 6mm Baccus infantry, Epic 40K Termites for the assault vehicles, and an odd blue box in the distance...

The British Empire Runs on Tea