Invaluable Image Resource

        Having lowered the price of Lighter than Air Flyers I expect that I shall see them in everyone's army list  fairly soon. Find yourself a comfortable seat because this one is addictive; I present here an invaluable visual reference, Rosebud's WW1 and Early  Aviation Image Archive  

      For those contemplating Heavier than Air machines take a look at Flying Machines for some period appropriate images and ideas, the warning about a comfy seat applies here as well.

NOTICE!!!

Price revision on small Lighter than Air Flyers

Check the new price and revise your army list if you bought any

Economies Part III; Accounting Methodology

    Having run a huge open-ended campaign before that fell apart after seven years under the weight of the economic system I have decided to impose a standardized accounting  method on all of the players (people who know my political persuasions are allowed to gasp at this point; Regulations, oh my!). The last campaign I failed to do this and was confronted with a different and unique method of accounting by each player. Some were magnificent edifices of clarity (kudos top R.U.P. there) others were, to be generous, inadequate.  This may not be the best system but it is one that gives me instant clarity into the local economy and prevents errors from compounding.

News Alert! Prussians rumored to be testing new light clockwerke tank!

     In a move that seems to be a direct threat to the balance of power in Neulandia the Prussians were caught testing a new armored clockwreke tank specifically adapted to the local conditions. They claim that the vehicle was brought here simply "for field exercises in a real-world environment".  The vehicle seems unlike anything seen thus fer in Europe which argues that it has been designed for local combat conditions.

 

our intrepid reported took this picture in the warehouse that

the Prussians had the hidden the vehicle away in 

     All hyperbole aside this is one of the models from Eureka's Pax Limpopo range and it bears the magnificent title  "Aufziehpickelhaubenstahlspahpanzerfahrzeug Ausf A". They have many other whimsical models, along with a host of other (more serious) products. Take a look.

Economies Part II, Fixed Assets and Such

     The stuff that you came here to build, because nothing says "Civilization" like making other people build things that they don't want. These improvements upon the native landscape such as fortifications, mines, dams, factories and so on help to protect your troops, enhance income  and utilize resources.

Economies; Hey, you guys insisted!

the point of it all

     At the insistence of the other players I am adding this economic section. It will be broken down into three sections; sources of income, cost of improvements and bookkeeping standards (yawn!). I am using the base model that we developed for the old Daftrica campaign and just adjusting the values to reflect the lower points cost of troops under TMWWBK. I am also scrapping the high-powered multiplier effect of factories and steam engines to keep the budgets to a manageable size.

Rules Amendments Part VII; Creatures Great and Small

     There are many creatures that live in Neulandia that are outside the usual; larger, fiercer (or both !) than horses. Some are useful as draft animals, others are just  terrifying bits of local fauna. Elephants, hippos, rhinos, Lions, Tigers and Bears (Oh My!) along with other imponderable terrors lurk in the woods, rivers, mountains and plains of Neulandia. Beasts are always treated as Irregulars for command purposes.

Rules Amendments Part VI, Land Conveyances

     

     Conveyances  are all of the vehicles we will be using that are not powered exclusively by muscle. In our period that means steam almost exclusively (players wishing to research actual alternative power sources will find a lot of creative thought going on in the late 19th Century, and it wasn't only Tesla!).

old Sarge has been active, just a reminder

He is more persistent that I and has found lots of really cool stuff, Take a wander over to his blog and take a look.

He is a rather better painter than I , particularly with models, you will learn a thing or two.

Rules Amendments Part V; Vessels upon the Sea

 

a heavy vessel, with a steam engine, ram and armor

   

       Here we consider the sort of vessels, properly called boats, that one would expect to encounter in a Colonial campaign. No Armored Cruisers and such here, just simple honest ships doing a days work. These fall into two (very) broad categories; Steam-Powered and Other. We will make an admittedly very broad assumption that ships that sail or are powered by humans have a similar susceptibility to fire and treat them the same. Rowers are Tribal for Leadership Value, Sail is Irregular and Steam power give Regular status.

Rules Amendments Part IV Weapons on Flyers

Weapons systems mounted on Flyers are subject to the following rules:

1.  They are always considered Regular for Orders and Leadership purposes, they will have their own gun-captains separate from the airship that is carrying them
2.  Guns and Machine guns are considered to have three crew-members
3.  Due to the extreme measures employed to lighten the weapons they have become less reliable; any time they fire and roll three ones they are out of ammo/jammed for the rest of the game.
4.  They are one point cheaper than the land-based versions
5.  They cannot be dismounted for lack of a carriage and draft animals.
6.  They are considered to be lost if the craft crashes, in the event that they have been mounted on a balloon that has make a soft descent and not been overrun by enemy troops they can be recovered and re-used.
7. Bombs require a separate section of their own thus:
      A. a "bomb-load" consists of four circles cut from common typing paper that are three inches in diameter
      B. these will be "dropped" by placing them on a normal ruler held at the end of the bombing players outstretched arm, they may be stacked or laid one next to the other on the ruler.
      C. The distance of the ruler above the target will be 12 inches for every range band that the craft is above the target.
      D. the owner of the target unit will sit on the opposing side of the table with his fist on the table surface and his chin upon his fist
      E. the bombing player will countdown three-two -one and then loose the salvo of bombs
      F. the target player may (at risk of his dignity) attempt to blow the bombs off-course, he must keep his chin on his fist while doing so.
      G. after the bombs have landed any unit covered (even in part) will be subject to 8d6 worth of Firepower 4+ attacks

In All Fairness.....

     As the game master I know the location, temperament and resources of all of the indigenous peoples of Neulandia. So choosing my territory and "Sphere of Influence" affords  me a undue advantage.

     To remedy this to a degree I am inviting all of the other players to discuss the situation ans assign two peoples to the lands that I have claimed. One on the island, another on the mainland. The only limitation is that they have to come from figures that are already in the collection and fit the VSF/Pulp ethos (i.e. no WW2 Russians or such), so Cannibals, pygmies, Lost Egyptian Kingdoms, Tarzan and company are all true and valid choices.

     Have a field-day choosing. I am the willing victim.

Rules Amendments Part III, Heavier Than Air Flyers

  
  To start off these use the same Weather andAltitude brackets that Lighter Than Air flyers use. They do not have a point at which they begin to descend as they don't leak, tending to fail spectacularly in a ball of fire in the alternative. Unlike Airships which can "hover" by coasting into the wind flyers must maintain forward movement to stay aloft. As such they don't get a free order per se, they MUST move at least one segment of four inches as the first part of movement every turn. After that segment they are free to make an ordered move. They are faster but less maneuverable that Airships.

Rule Amendments Part II Lighter Than Air Vessels

Lighter Than Air craft come in two varieties, Tethered and Free-Flying ( there are several sub-categories of each). All Flyers are considered Regulars for Command purposes.

 

Rules amendments Part I Limbers for Artillery and Gatling guns

As light guns and the mechanical machine guns of the period were roughly the same size there is no need to differentiate between them as far as limbers go. Thus they will be priced the same and have the same capabilities.

Having a limber adds two new Orders to those available to guns; Unlimber and Limber Up

LIMBERS
A normal horse-drawn limber for either costs one point and counts as six figures for transportation purposes. This allows the gun to move at Regular Cavalry speed. A model limber must be provided and will remain within 4" of its gun at all times. The limber can suffer two hits before becoming unusable.

HORSE ARTILLERY LIMBERS
 A horse-artillery limber costs two points and counts as ten figures for transportation purposes.
This allows the gun to move at Regular Cavalry speed but permits it to combine two actions into one Order; move and unlimber, unlimber and fire, fire and limber up, limber up and move. Note that the gun cannot move twice or fire twice. The horse artillery limber can suffer three hits before becoming unusable.