The British Empire Runs on Tea

More Mechanickal Menaces from Maton!

Maton's "Manikins" Emerge from A Martian Cavern

   The despicable and dangerous Herr Doctor Professor Otto Maton has been at it again. A new sort of automaton was seen recently. Unlike the majority of Maton's mechanickal menace, these diabolical devices are armed with modern magazine rifles! Fearless, cold, ruthless, and deadly accurate, the Army has dubbed them 'manikins'. This journal can only hope that the Mad Belgian has reached his limits.

[Editor's Note: Sorry about the delay. Grad school has been a bit tense the last month. These fellows, the first half of a unit of ten, were painted up for Round 6 of the Lead Painters' League Season 8. One of the rules is that you can't advertise while the team is in competition, so I had to wait to post photos. Hope you enjoy them.]

To Infinity and Beyond: Canal Cranes

From DLI's blog, a nice add on that I think I shall need for my own canals.



To Infinity and Beyond: Canal Cranes: I'm well behind on everything .....again! But here are some human canal key cranes for unloading those cases of rifles to sell to that...

Threeway Death Match in the Park!

   Tonight I witnessed a horrible carnage at the Park. Three groups of armed miscreants attempted to eliminate one another with extreme prejudice. The participants included Lord Curr's Company (run by my son Dane), the Servants of Ra (his friend Zane), and Otto Maton's Mechanickal Menace (his other friend, Jerry). Maton brought few forces along with him, but what he brought were powerful indeed: a pair of Maxim-armed clockwork soldiers and a sneaking assassin spider! Akhenaton brought his usual horde of disposable cultists and a bewildering array of mystical powers. Curr had his usual riflemen and friends as well. 

   Sadly, the only man on the scene with a camera was killed by all of the flying lead. Even worse, his camera was smashed to bits, ruining the exposures. Reports agree that Curr's men were gunned down by machinegun fire when they tried to form a massive volley-firing line. Sairah the Assassin did for both Mad Mick and Lord Curr. With Curr's forces disposed of so handily, the Mechanickal Menace turned their blazing autofire on the remaining cultists. Akhenaton closed, but not rapidly enough, and was gunned down in a hail of concentrated Maxim fire. A lone cultist made a single last-ditch effort to kill Maton, but alas, his quarry escaped him. The valiant cultist, frenzied at the loss of his pharaoh, gave the ultimate sacrifice in the end, blasted into a messy pulp by the clockwork soldier mere inches from him.

[Editor's note: This is the fifth game of IHMN played in our household so far this year. The boys really like it, and I am becoming more and more enamoured of it as a skirmish rules set. I just ordered the first expansion to the rules as a late birthday gift to myself.]

Photostats of Regent's Park, London

   The idyllic peace of Regent's Park was broken this past weekend by a struggle between Lord Curr's 'Incorrigibles' and the Mechanickal Menace of Herr Doktor Professor Otto Maton. It seems some sort of mad science experiment gone horribly wrong resulted in a terrible beast escaping confinement. Two grisly murders in Regent's Park led Lord Curr to investigate. Maton, obviously intent on securing the monstrosity for his own nefarious schemes, arrived on the scene at the very same moment, and a struggle ensued. In the end, massed volleys from several of Lord Curr's men brought the beast down. Maton was also injured, but dragged to safety by his loyal automaton servants as they quit the field.

   Sadly for our news journals, there was no one with photostatic apparatus available at the scene during the fracas. However, in the aftermath, some stills of the park were taken. These we present here, for your enjoyment.

A corner of Regent's Park

A quiet sitting area...

The bridge under which 'Bad Jack' lurked.

The path winds through shady trees...

Graceful willows along the riverbank.