HMLS Dreadnought by Captain Darling

Captain Darling has slipped through my network of reporters previously, but this time, we have him! His report on the new landship HMLS Dreadnought, can be found here.

More information about landships and the arms race between Britain and the Russians can be had here and here. I shudder to think the Russians may be able to use this information in their own quest for imperial domination...

[Editor's Note: I like the photo effect used here. Nice looking bit of kit, and I am now following this blog, which had in fact escaped my attention previously.]

French Landship Completed!

   The French landship is completed, after receipt of replacement starboard drive units. Also, tricolors and a personalization icon have been added. The cock is the symbol of French athletics, in this case, the French National Rugby Football team (better known as Les Bleus). I think I will call this little scout ship Les Bleus.

The missing starboard drive unit, in place.

FFR Logo, rear of landship.

Oops! Blurry.

  A wall of paint bottles shields from view some of my Lead Painters' League entries still in process. No peeks! I will hint and say that there will be some VSF elements in my LPL entries. Big surprise.

Replacement Parts Arrived

  The aethership in highport today unloaded replacement parts for the French landship that has stalled due to incorrect pieces. Engineers have unpacked the parts and begun removing the packing grease. Once the solvent has dried, the pieces can be painted, assembled, and attached to the steamtank. A fast enquiry at the Victoria Steamworks indicates that the professional opinion for the time to complete this project as less than one week. At that time, the French should have an operable scouting vehicle.

[Editor's Note: Ironclad Miniatures rapidly despatched my replacement tracks and they arrived today. I washed the necessary part to remove any residual mold release, and I'm waiting for it to dry. I should be able to prime it tonight. Painting tomorrow, and then attachment on Monday. And then it will be done!]

French: Steam Tank Development at Halt

French Engineers Stymied as Compagnie du Char Drops Ball

   Reliable sources in the French demesne report that the project to supply their armed forces with a small scouting landship (or steam tank) has come to a sudden halt. Apparently, the manufacturer supplied the government with two portside drive trains and no starboard!

From this angle, it seems okay...

An idea taken from another: smokestack supports.

Just some L-iron Plastruct, cut and painted to match.

Now we see the problem...

The logo for the French National Rugby team.

I am considering putting this on the tank, along with a tricolor.

[Editor's Note: I bought this tank back at Historicon, and just got around to putting it together. Lo and behold: two left tracks and no right one. I've contacted Ironclad Miniatures (the manufacturer) to correct it. I am sure they will - they have a good reputation and I've had one similar issue with them previously which they corrected immediately and with good spirit. On the other hand, I think it is going to look quite good when it is finished!]

The Verne Cannon

The Verne Cannon

   A massive cannon, able to launch a shell beyond the planetary atmosphere. The infernal device actually extends well below the ground, with only the final third of the great barrel protruding above the surface. Its range is literally planetary, able to reach any point on the surface of the Earth. The Verne Cannon, named for the visionary writer who first postulated it, acts as a deterrent to aggression against the French nation. One shell could devastate a vast area of an enemy nation - no one dares to risk it.

   In other news of France's military, work has begun on a small French landship, equivalent to a destroyer escort in naval terms, one supposes. More information and photostats will be provided as the work proceeds.

[Editor's Note: This is a Games Workshop Epic 40K "Goliath" Megacannon. I am never going to stat it up, because I only plan on using it as an objective or bit of terrain rather than an actual unit. Why? Because it doesn't work. The French constructed an elaborate ruse to convince the other nations that this cannon devastated a remote island in the Pacific when test fired. They are hoping the bluff will hold out for a decade or so until it can be made operational. Regarding the landship, I have started painting an Ironclad Steam 1 steamtank to act as a French scouting tank. More on that later.]

From the Black Pyramid...

   Black Pyramid Gaming is a British company that I have purchased a few small items from and with which I  was quite pleased. Most of their VSF material is in their Tea Wars line. I just dropped by their website and saw a few items I did not recall. Thought you good souls might be interested in seeing them. There are other interesting items available on their website as well.

Medium Landship

   The landship comes with two other weapon choices (not shown), and accessories to be added on. You can add an external boiler, a coal bin and smoke stacks, and sponsons, either single or double.  Not the cheapest 28mm landships around, but it does look pretty nice.

Mycroft Holmes (and his valet)

    Holmes is in an armoured, steam-powered conveyance. This happens sometimes when you are an important government official - safety from common street thuggery, you know.

Iron Men

   Of these I am very much not fond. Too static, too rigid. Honestly these, and the companion Iron Men II set, are my very least favorite minis in the range. Just do not like them.

Lord Fecitt

   On the other hand, I really like this set of figures. The steam-powered penny farthing is wonderful, and the mechanical dog is great, too.

General Gordon

      General Charles "Chinese" Gordon with a 'steampunk' turn. This fellow is great. He's in a fez. Fezzes are cool. And nice armour, with rivets! RIVETS!!!

   There are other interesting models available there. You can look around a bit here.

Place, Show, and Also Ran, Part 3

Continuing the series...

"J" is also for... JAPAN

War Flag of Japanese Imperial Army

   At the end of the 19th century, Japan was making up for a couple of lost centuries worth of technological development, especially in the military. Seeing the strength of Western armies and navies, the Japanese determined to emulate the strong and improve on their technology by wedding the bushido mentality to the advanced weapons. What resulted was the foundation of a new Imperial Nippon. In VSF, they would certainly have been seeking a place in the solar system. For me, that place is on Mars, allying with some city-states that were distant from the British, French and Germans, then dominating them and making them puppets of the Shogunate of Mars. This is a project which I have considered, but for which very little has been purchased. I am looking strongly at Parroom Station's Japanese soldiers. BANZAI!!!!

"L" is also for...  LANDSHIP

   Steam-powered tanks, or landships, are quite common in Victorian Science Fiction. I think landships make the rest of the crazy VSF technology more believable, because they might have been possible. Certainly they would have been quite primitive things by even WWI standards, but possible? Just about, at least in some form.  So, with that small but believable stretch of reality, it makes the crazier things a bit more plausible. They are popular enough to merit their own rules (Land Ironclads, by Wessex Games) as well as inclusion in pretty much all the other rules available. There are many manufacturers of models for them as well. I am partial to Black Hat for the 15mm and Ironclad Miniatures for the 25mm, myself. Many excellent scratch builds are out there as well. Seems like everyone loves steam powered tanks! So why didn't I go with "L is for Landships" in the original list? Because I was already planning on discussing steam, and it fell under that category as well.

Trencher by Proxie Models. No longer available.

HMLS Prince Albert
[Modified Black Hat Miniatures Heavy Steamtank]

"P" is also for... PARROTMEN

   Along with the ubiquitous lizardmen on Venus, the Cytherean Parrotmen are a very commonly used race in many VSF games. As far as I know, the idea originated on the Lead Adventure Forum, by a member known mysteriously as "DewbackUK".  Since then, I would imagine dozens of copycats (myself included) have jumped upon the parrotman bandwagon. For me, the project has stalled among the plethora of other things to do. But I did write a monograph on the Pappegaivolk. And I have figures for them, at least in 28mm. Like many others, I chose to use plastic GW Kroot, painted to resemble parrots, with their weapons modified a bit. Below is a work in progress photo. I chose Pellucidar over the parrotmen because my project has stalled. It might just be time to bite the bullet and send them off to be painted. Thirty or so of them, at $5 a piece... yikes! That's $150!!!!

Picture taken October, 2008 - talk about stalled!

"T" is also for...  TEXAS

   Like I wasn't going to work this one in somewhere? I'm a proud son of Texas, and my family arrived here from Alabama during the days when we were our own Republic (ca. 1837). I have a timeline of alternate history that keeps Texas a free and independent nation, through alliance with Britain in the 19th Century. There is also a VSF 'weird science' version of that timeline. The  only reason Tesla won out over Texas is because I can't imagine any VSF universe being complete without that mad genius. So, here's to the Lone Star Republic!

De Zavala Flag, the 'First National Flag of Texas'

Lone Star Flag, adopted in 1839

"W" is for...

WEIRD SCIENCE

   The key aspect of Victorian Science Fiction is the SCIENCE! Anachronistic science, violating the laws of physics, incredible advances and imaginary substances all play their part in the development of the fantastic technologies that appear everywhere in VSF. You want examples?

Liftwood. From Space: 1889, this miraculous substance is a wood that grows only on Mars, and has anti-gravitational properties. Rare and expensive, it is still favored for the construction of sky galleons. Sadly, it doesn't work on Venus, deteriorating at an incredible rate.

Unobtainite. My own creation. Run an electric current through this naturally occuring element (which forms blue crystals) and it repels gravity. More current, more repulsion. Great for making flying vehicles, and less fragile than liftwood.

Cavorite. From H.G. Wells, cavorite is a metal that pushes against gravity unless shielded from it. Used by Professor Cavor to ascend to the moon.

Radium engines. Verne used radium engines (essentially, atomic reactors) to power the Nautilus. Heck, the Nautilus itself was an anachronism of wonderfully weird science. I like the Disney version.

Nautilus

Babbage's Difference Engines. While this idea really existed, it was never fully developed. In essence, a mechanical computer. In VSF, not only did Babbage perfect it, it has been made ever smaller and more powerful, until it fits in the body of a man-sized (or smaller!) automaton.

Flying Ships, forts, etc.  Either airships (lighter than air) or liftwood, or unobtainite, or cavorite... it doesn't matter, we like ships that fly. And not just small balloons, but big armored warships. Robur thought he could conquer the world from his. A very popular game (Dystopian Wars) is currently in production around the concept that flying dreadnoughts are cool. Because they are.



Automatons. Mechanical servitors, often steam powered, but also clockwork based. These can be man-sized, or smaller, or even much larger. Mad geniuses build them to conquer the world, huge companies market them to the public, and to industry.

Maton's Halfjacks, a Work in Progress photo

Walkers. Walking vehicles are another favorite of the genre. From one man conveyances to massive four-legged (or more!) armoured behemoths, the walker is just fun. Powered by steam, of course.

The engine for HMLS Gargantua, by Colonel O'Truth
I love the flywheel.

Landships. The last item of weird science I will mention here is the ubiquitous landship. Early tanks would appear only a few decades after the real Victorian era, and armoured land trains using steam traction engines had been used already against the Boers. So we just bump that up a bit, add in the improvements in turreted weapons from the 1930s, power it all by steam, and cover it in riveted armour. Can't forget the rivets! Almost everyone in VSF gaming has at least one of thses bad boys. I have several, in different scales.

 

A New Landship Arrives!

HMLS Suffolk

   A state of the art vehicle, the Suffolk is powered by a quadruple expansion steam engine, and utilises the Farrington Rotary Track drivetrain. Her armour's thickness is secret, but is rumoured to be able to withstand a direct hit from a Krupps field gun at close range. She is armed with a QF 6-pdr in a powered turret, and a coaxial automatic rifle. Her top speed, like her armour thickness, is a secret, but the Suffolk will certainly outpace the infantry she is assigned to protect.

   The Suffolk was produced by Ironclad Industries, who are responsible for a number of innovative landship designs in recent years. In their system of designation, she is a "Steam 05".

[Editor's Note: I finished the Suffolk last month, but am finally getting around to putting out pictures of her. I am very happy with this model, and will be buying more from Ironclad as time and finances allow. I am particularly fond of the looks of Steam 12, the aeronef, and Steam 14 for a German tank. Yes, I know it looks like an A7V, but I think it looks great. I also like the Steam 4 "Armoured Steam Carriage". I would fit it with a spar torpedo for a fast attack craft, possibly French?]

Popular Mechanicks, Issue #6

Proxie-Trencher Landship

Engine parts removed for Security Purposes

Photos from Proxie Models Website

   The latest thing in modern mechanickal warfare is the armoured fighting vehicle. These take many forms, from aerial gunboats to ostrich-like walkers. But the heaviest armour and guns are fitted to the landships operated by the Royal Navy. And the Navy's newest landship is being unveiled here and now: the Proxie "Trencher"-class Landship.

   The Trencher is fitted with a new propulsion system so secret that no photostats may be taken of it, on pain of violation of the State Secrets and Treasonous Activities Act. However, we can divulge that the vehicle is armed with a main gun in a 360-degree powered traverse turret, and sponson-mounted guns to either side, as well as a heavy reciprocator in the forward hull. With a crew of ten protected behind armour nearly as thick as a light cruiser's, it can still travel at speeds rivaling the fastest of cavalry (under ideal conditions).

   The first squadron of these formidable vessels has already been purchased for training purposes on Earth. Additional squadrons are expected to be purchased for use throughout the British Solar Empire in the near future.

[Editor's Note: I just found out about these about 10 minutes ago, from a post on The Orky 15mm Sci Fi blog. The owner of that blog is making a Praetorian army for 40K in 15mm. Nice work going on there, and then I saw the tanks! I'll be buying a box of them (3 for $10!!!) today. The photo, by the way, comes from their website, and is used without permission, but I have a feeling they won't mind as long as it sends customers their way. Which I hope it does. These are awesome.]

Popular Mechanicks, Issue #5: Ramshackle "Brass Coffin"

   This ramshackle vehicle is popularly known as the Brass Coffin by our intrepid forces. It has been used by insurgent forces who can produce no better armored vehicle. Powered by steam, the engine drives a single external piston geared to the rear axle for propulsion. The two large front wheels are independently mounted on a transverse axle, and serve little mechanical purpose other than giving the vehicle some trench-crossing ability.

   The forward armour is enhanced with a thick glacis plate, angled to help shed the impact of shell and bullet. The side armour is not so thick, but has proven to be proof against smallarms fire. While the metalwork looks similar to brass, it is in fact a very advanced alloy, rustproof and lightweight, yet tough as armourplate.

   While quite well-armoured, the Brass Coffin carries no heavy armaments. It relies on troops firing from within it through the slits you see there. Also, many of its gears are externally mounted, which makes its propulsion system vulnerable to the overwhelming firepower of disciplined Regulars.

[Editor's Note: This is the Brass Coffin from Ramshackle Games. They are almost sold out, according to their blog. So if you want one... now would be the time to get after it! Photos taken from Lead Bones Blog, the Ramshackle Games company blog.]

Beware the Zyklops!

   Fresh from the Kaiser's favorite fabrikwerks, the massive Zyklops class trundles forth to crush any resistance to his Imperial will!

   The Zyklops is the first capital unit in production for the When the Navy Walked game. Technically scaled for 15mm, I am thinking it would still work as a truly massive land dreadnought for my 6mm project. ther is very little I like better than the ability to cut across scales, saving me time, money and paint!

  It is available for sale through JTFM Enterprises, for C$35, a little more in USD.

Beautiful Ship Model!

   Oh, you have to check this out!

   This is a test model of the new Leviathan for Catlayst Games's airship game. they plan to sell the ships "lightly pre-painted," which apparently means easy to change if you want to do so. I like to think of it as "pre-primered." The ship is nominally in 1:1200 scale, and to quote from their own website:

"this miniature is approximately 13cm in length, 4cm in width (bulging Telsa Trim Tank to bulging Tesla Trim Tank; fins on the back are hair wider than that) and 3.5 cm from keel to the top of the funnels (slightly higher to the top of the antennae"

   RUN to their site for more. This looks really sweet, and truely 'leviathan.' I bet that if I flattened the bottom, it would make a truly sweet landship for my 6mm WtNW project, too...

Seeking Lead or Resin

Specifically, I would be interested in 1/300 - 1/600 waterline ships of the dreadnought era. Steam-powered, definitely. Prefer smaller classes of vessel: corvettes, frigates, maybe even light cruisers.

Die cast toys might also work, if in appropriate scale.

Please let me know if you have suggestions.

Achtung! Panzer!

New materials have arrived on the Red Planet for the construction of an armored machine of war for the German Empire. This massive landship (name and classification unknown at the time of this publication) was delivered from KAS Wotan when she arrived this week.

This recent addition to the Imperial forces is, thankfully, not yet ready to take the field. Surely, once assembled and manned, this weapon will not sit idle. Although the journal's sources within the Viceroy's Office give us conflicting information about whether or not the landship is operated by the Kaiserlich Heer or the Kriegsmarine, one thing is certain at this time. A fiendish mechanism such as this can only be intended for one purpose: a direct assault against either Her Majesty's Martian allies, or the Crown Colony itself!

[Editor's Notes: This was a Hasbro toy, from the GI Joe line. It's called an IMP. I obtained this one for little cost via eBay after seeing some nice conversion done with one on another site. I think it will make a fine machine of war for my German 28mm forces. I've disassembled it already, and am considering the proper spray color. I might even do a naval splinter camouflage paint scheme on it. It needs to have a few logos Dremeled off, and various bits and bobs removed and added. Anyway, consider this the 'before' photos.]

The Brute!

Americans Unveil Steam-Powered Brute!

Designed and built by Baron von J of Unkerlant, and crewed by American soldiers, the new Brute-class of land dreadnought was unveiled last month. One hopes that construction notes may be forthcoming, but these European aristocratic inventors are notoriously secretive about their scientific process, you know. Additional information and photostats of the Brute may be found by directing yourself to the appropriate telephonic interweb location: http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/2009/05/brute-class-land-ironclad.html.

[Editor's Note: This is a really well-done scratchbuild that I was tipped off to by the Editor at TMP, via a news item he posted there. It's really nice work, and I recommend that you take a peek at the Baron's other projects. Very worthwhile, I think.]

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

Three New Land Ironclad Classes Added to Her Majesty's Ever-Victorious Royal Navy Land Forces!

Hurrah for British engineering! Her Majesty's Royal Navy has put more earth-shakingly powerful land ironclads into production from the Brigade Foundries [actually, Brigade Models, www.brigademodels.co.uk]. Three new classes of ship are beginning to be produced, it was announced today: the Imperator, the General, and the Brunel classes. The photostat above does not, actually, contain any of the three new classes, which are so new as to not even have paint upon them as of yet.

Sadly, these armored leviathans are not going to be available for service here on the Red Planet anytime soon. Their immense weight will require specially designed transport vehicles to cart them across the aether to Mars. Even disassembled, it would take many trips back and forth with current vessels to deliver a single land ironclad to Mars. But what a difference that one leviathan could make in cowing the ambitions of the Kaiser's colonial administration!

[Editor's Note: This is an area of VSF gaming that I am seriously considering getting involved with in the next year. I really like the models, and the fact that the system (Land Ironclads, by Wessex Games) is compatible with an aerial system (Aeronef) and a forthcoming naval system (Aquanef). The models are quite nice, and seem to paint up well from what I have seen online, though they are a bit difficult to get hold of in the States. I took the photo above from Brigade's website. I hope they don't mind, but if anyone does, please let me know and I will remove the image. I am hoping the advertising is worth the picture grab.]

NEWSFLASH: Hurricane Cuts Communications

A severe storm has caused a good deal of damage in the Republic of Texas, where many of our faithful readers (and both writers) live. It is our sincere hope that all our readers have been inconvenienced as little as possible during the recent troubles, and that they will be able to resume their normal lives as soon as possible. Our correspondents in the area suffered only minor damage, but one (myself, actually) was forced to evacuate the area with his family for a short time.

Just imagine what it would be like if we had no orbiting stations to observe and warn us (via heliograph, of course) of incoming stormfronts! The loss of life could be catastrophic!

In further news, the Journal has only limited access at this time; however, I have prepared for your reading pleasure a short treatise on the development of the first British landships, which you may read in the links marked 'Publications' under the heading of "Prince Royal-class Landships." Also, a preliminary version of a history of the Papal States Army and Navy will be made available today, though it is certainly not finished.


[OOC: Hurricane Ike was, for my family, mostly a great inconvenience. We evacuated to Dallas two days before the storm arrived, and were lucky to be able to return to our home in Leauge City (between Houston and Galveston) on Wednesday. We realize how blessed we are to be able to say that, and our family's prayers go out to those who lost loved ones or who suffered serious property loss. My wife is temporarily out of work until the business she works for gets up and running on Galveston Island again. I am scheduled to report to school on Wednesday morning at this time.]

HMLS Albert - Finished at last!

For those of you that have been following this telephonic differencing engine journal for a bit, you'll know what troubles we've had here with those blasted engineers.

First one of them gets drunk and breaks the port rifle.

Then one engineer gets the bright idea that instead of replacing the rifle, his new-fangled flamegun invention (the Richardson Heavy Flamegun, patent pending) would be better suited to the landship. "It's already been fitted to ASA #27," he pointed out. "And look what sterling service it provided at Ghola!"

So, no sooner has that field expedient been approved, mounted and tested, than the starboard rifle mysteriously disappears. Richardson blames it on thieving Johnnies, but I have my own suspicions. Obviously, we need a second Richardson for the starboard side as well. Unfortunately, he's only made the two so far, and we have a month's delay in getting another cobbled together.

Finally, it is all together. And here's the proof:

Landship Field Expedient Alterations

The Scot engineer in charge of repairing and reassembling HMLS Albert after its trip via ethership to Mars has been sacked.

The persons responsible for hiring him have been sacked.

We'd sack the persons responsible for the engineer's birth, but they are pre-deceased. So they avoid a well-deserved boot to the head. In addition to being sacked from whatever pathetic position they may have once held.

Albert has been further modified, on the basis of maintaining a balanced weight to both sides of the vehicle. The heavy fuel tanks for the flame projecting device on the port side of ht evehicle were causing Albert to develop a noticeable list. Perhaps the engineer never noticed it, him being a wee bit too fond of the creature, as my Irish nanny would have said. He listed a bit to port himself.

At any rate, the only solution proper English engineers could devise in a short time that was both economical and practical was to remove the starboard rifle and replace it with a flame projection device as well. Repairs are being made today; it is hoped that the Albert will finally be prepared for action by tomorrow.