New German Terror Weapon!

Das Hellanzekanonen-88

   The above pictured weapon was seen by our intrepid reporters and loyal agents of the Crown as it was displayed for the German Imperial General Staff. Developed by the nefarious KFG (Kaiserlich Forshcungsanstalt fur Geheimewaffen (KFG), or Imperial Research Institute for Secret Weapons), this device focuses an intense beam of energy at a vast range. Thankfully, its destructive powers are limited to a direct line of sight! It is powered by an interchangeable galvanic storage unit mounted at the rear. A trained crew is supposedly able to exchange a depleted unit for a charged one in a matter of moments, at roughly the same speed as the loading of a conventional breechloading cannon.

 

   One can only hope that this new and dangerous development does not presage an aggressive move on the part of the German Empire.

 

[Editor's Notes: Obviously, this is an old GW lascannon. The big difference is the wheels. I got these from Nic at Eureka Miniatures (Thanks, Nic!) about two years ago. Or was it three? Any rate, I finally got around to painting it and putting it all together. I think it came out splendidly. The name, by the way, is supposed to mean "The Bright Lance Cannon, Model 1888). Now, if I could only find the crew for it, I had them here somewhere...]

French Cuirassier Mechanique

  From Agent Skrapwelder, we have received this item: a French mechanickal walker! Apparently, napoleon III has decided to get involved in mechanickal warfare, probably at the urging of his Minister of Science, Jules Verne. Better late than never, and an excellent first piece.

   As you can clearly see, this two-legged, steam-driven device is fitted with a heavy armour glacis plate, and armed with a Gatling-style machine gun and a spar torpedo underneath. The open cockpit provides the cuirassier piloting it with excellent visibility, while still able to duck behind the thick glacis for protection. The device on the shield is from His Imperial Majesty's coat of arms.

[Editor's Notes: This was converted from a GW Sentinel by Skrapwelder. I purchased it from him about two months ago, and repainted the shield to my taste. The rest of the work, minus a few paint touchups here and there, is all his. It is the first piece of 28mm VSF I have for the French.]

Colonel Thorne's Aeromobile Forces

   I believe the redoubtable Colonel Thorne has been mentioned previously in this journal. If not, I have been sadly remiss in my duty towards pointing my fellows towards great works accomplished in our field of endeavours.

  At any case, the latest work from the good Colonel is a new aerocraft with an array of interchangeable payloads for mission specific tasks.

   I especially like that the pilot has a silk scarf to avoid chafing as he scans the skies and the ground below for the dastardly Hun!

  Find more information here.

The Colonel Commands Attention

   If you are into VSF, you probably have some British troops. And most of you are making special characters at least from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K Imperial Guard Praetorians. I know you are, because you are driving the cost of the things up on eBay, curse you all!

   Anyway, now that sanity has returned (thank God for modern pharmaceuticals, right?), le tme point you in the direction of a fellow over in the UK that does some absolutely marvelous work with Praetorians. I mean, it's really great stuff. I am planning on ripping off his ideas left, right and center as I get around to certain projects.

   That man is Colonel Gravis, commander of the 4th Praetorian Foot. You can find his work here.

  As an example, please see the photo I lifted (without asking - sorry, Colonel!) from his journals:

A Praetorian Rocket Trough

Spiffing Work on an Aphid-style Craft

  My fellow aeronautical enthusiasts, I just discovered a smashing piece of aeronautical engineering being constructed, a replica of the reliable Aphid-class ironclad flyer. It can be found at Colonel Thorne's electro-journal location, here.

  The Colonel has other items of interest as well for those of us with our particular enthusiasm for recreating the military endeavours of our modern Steam era. I don't believe he woudl mind me showing a photostat of his works in progress, just to whet your appetites. Which, if they are remotely similar to my own, are near insatiable...

  In other news, a new Scudder has arrived from Parroom Station just today. Naturally, the entire crew needs a solid work-up, and the craft itself needs to be fitted out in appropriate colours, currently being the standard grey of typical Martian liftwood constructions.

Massive Rodentia!

   Scott Pyle, the owner of Four-Color Figures another blog I follow, has posted this recently: Rats of Unusual Size.

   In this post, he mentions that the unit has a "mad science" feel to it. This, of course, perked up my ears. I have, as you may recall from ages gone by, plans for not one but two mad scientists in my VSF universe. One, the mechanickal mastermind Herr Professor Doktor Otto Maton, the Mad Belgian, works with automated minions to sieze control of the Solarian Sphere. Him, you should all be most familiar with!

   The other, however, is the secretive Doctor Vardu. He experiments with life itself, warping beasts, plants and men to his design rather than the Creator's! Evil indeed, and yet very secretive. He conducts his experiments right under the noses of the officials in the Imperial German colony of Venusstaadt! It is Vardu that I expect to be interested in these new beasts. At least one or two as massive personal bodyguards...

March Mid-Month Progress Report

Overall, the report for VSF gaming is Very Good.

10x "Great Rail Wars" Steam turtles: DONE

Hydra Miniatures's Warbot: DONE

Wyrd Miniatures's Brass Arachnid: DONE

Metal GW Stegadon Crew: DONE

And the whole Stegadon, based and ready.

As for the rest of this month's projects, both the Praetorian Heavy Bolter (aka the McFadden patent Single Barrel 3 pdr. Pom Pom) and the Autocannon (aka the Greelie-Heeby Magazine 7 pdr. Artillery) are about 60% done. This includes a modification of one autocannon crewman to change a control box to a telescope. The guns themselves are painted and done. Just finishing up the crew.

The ten Empress British have been started, and most of the block painting is done on them. I really like these minis. Lots of character. I have decided they will be representatives of the Manchester Regiment, formerly the 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot before amalgamation with the 93rd last year. Non-royal, English regiments have white facings, as will these. Single battalion regiment. I think First Company, yes? Anyway, the ten I put in my goal this month are about 25-30% done, I would say. Keep an eye out for a Reginald's on the 63rd once I get these painted.

Besides my goal projects, I am working on a variety of other things sort of part-time. This includes the officer for the Queen's Own Aeromobile Infantry, the "Skywalkers." Just barely started on him, though. I need to back off of them a bit, so I can get my Warhammer Fantasy stuff worked on. Tomorrow and the next day might be bad painting days, as I am supposed to get my wisdom teeth removed first thing tomorrow morning. Pharmaceutical rollercoaster. Next stop, la-la land.

Oh, and I have the cloths ready to dye for my small Car Wars arena and the big green fields of Earth mat. Maybe if I tie dye them while whacked out on pain meds they will look totally awesome! Or maybe not. I think I will wait on that...

An Idea... Could be Hazardous to my Wallet

I just had a nasty idea. Nasty, as in potentially expensive.

GW used to make a lot of really cool Imperial Guards regiments that had character. You have all seen the Mordians and the Praetorians used for VSF. I have been trying to convince myself that the few Valhallans I have would make good Russian VSF troops, but they still look too Red instead of White Russian to me.

Another group I have always wanted to try to use was the Tallarn Raiders. [For Example...]These are desert-dwellers. I thought "Oh cool, maybe the Turks." But they are more Arab than Turkish, and the Turks would not be giving away their expensive high tech weaponry to a bunch of illiterate Arab irregulars!

Today, I had a new idea for the Tallarns. Martians. Deep back of beyond desert dwelling Martian nomads. With technology from the Ancients. And a lot of religious fanaticism. Oh yeah, I'm liking this. My wife won't. Nor my wallet, I'm afraid. But just look at that picture at the top of the post - what a beautiful Martian cavalry commander! And "only" 16 GBP from Forgeworld...

But, before I hare off on this crusade, I have GOT to finish the Automatons. They are so close...

Anyway, that's my random idea for the day. Maybe it will spark some of yours. I certainly hope so.

New Blog... WarHemorrhage Fantasy Battle

Started the new blog today. Go check it out if you are interested in following the Warhammer Fantasy madness. http://warhemorrhage.blogspot.com/

Also, if you didn't know, I also do a little terrain blog called Gaming Terrain. It doesn't update much lately, but I am going to try and work on that. http://gamingterrain.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

On the benefits side, I found a nice bit of crystal-looking resin that may make unobtainite at last! If you recall, unobtainite is the wonder mineral of MVSFU. It is one of the ways things that should not be able to fly, can. I am going to try and get it cleaned up and primed this evening. Maybe even get the first coat of paint on it.

Toys in Post, Warning of Heresy

Friends, I have what most of us would call good news, and what many might consider grave news.

Good news first: I have gotten more toys in via the post office! Received today were:

• 15mm Japanese, painted (16 cavalry, 2 guns, 4 crew, and 17 infantry). Rebase these fellas and find them some command, and we're ready for Japanese Imperial troops on Mars.
• Hydra Miniatures' Warbot Destroyer.
• Miniaturicum Paint Rack (via Hydra)
• Picquet Main Rules, 2 ed.

The grave news is that my sons have expressed a desire to play (shudder!) Warhammer Fantasy Battle! Not surprising, as it does tend to appeal to younger players more than historicals do. So, I've been buying more GW stuff. Empire and Lizardmen mostly, as we have a friend with Orks and Gobbos, Dark Elves, and Chaos Beastmen. Luckily, I have some old Empire stuff (a cannon and a war wagon) and a goodly number of skinks and saurus, plus a stegadon. Plus, both are available rather cheap right now.

I will be starting a new blog either tonight or tomorrow to highlight our adventures together. Probably less a journal and more a 'normal' blog, out of character and such. Help me out with a name for it?