VSF - Martian Assault - H.M.L.S. Ogre

 As the Martian forces conquered more of Britain and their great technological superiority became apparent work on a secret Royal Navy project accelerated. It had to be completed before the Martians reached Newcastle on Tyne! The dock workers laboured day and night and were able to finish this new wonder of industry.

Her Majesty's Land Ship Ogre. A weapon so terrifying that the Navy had briefly considered  cancelling it.

Side view of the Ogre showing its size compared to a cavalry squadron. 

The stern.

Amidships

Aft view

Top down view

The basic design was that of a protected cruiser of approximately 4,000 tons with armoured belts of 2 to 6 inches. 

Armament included 8 long 6 inch guns in two batteries on each side all in armoured turrets and the main fire power provided by its three 9 inch guns in armoured rotating emplacements.

Also included was 4 quick firing 2 pounder guns in turrets on each side of the ship.

4 scout cars were carried to provide a picket line or drive off enemy infantry.

It drove on eight independently powered tracks and carried a crew of 100 sailors as well as provision to transport two infantry companies or cavalry squadrons.

Will this be enough to stop the Martians!

Galactic Heroes - Moon Wars - Space X vs Blue Origin

 So I have all my space men painted and wanted to have a game using the Galactic Heroes rules. I quickly decided that Blue Origin and SpaceX would go to war (AKA Kinetic Business Competition) on the moon.

So the situation is that NASA has discovered a crashed alien spacecraft on the Moon and SpaceX and Blue Origin have sent out teams to claim it for themselves.

An overview of the table - SpaceX in bottom right and Blue Origin in top left

Blue Origin in their orange jump suits.

SpaceX in their stylish white suits

 Both sides have four squads of three Grunts armed with auto-rifles. One squad on each side has a grenade launcher.

The alien space ship

Both sides move up. Blue Origin is faster while SpaceX is more cautious

Blue Origin has won the race and got to the crater with the alien space ship. SpaceX will need to attack while Blue Origin hides in cover.

And it all goes wrong for Blue Origin. Despite a fusillade of shots they only get one wound (kill) on a SpaceX astronaut (blood splatter middle right) and one shock on another SpaceX astronaut. However, there is nothing more embarrassing than blazing away point blank at your enemy and running out of ammo. (Two pistol chits next to Blue Origin men.)
Return fire from SpaceX kills four Blue origin astronauts and puts a whole lot of shock on the ones who ran out of ammo.

More bad news for Blue Origin with another two dead (top centre) and one dead in the middle crater while SpaceX take over.

 

The final turn, Space X get the initiative, blast Blue Origin's grenade launcher and the rest of them decide discretion is the better part of valour and run away.

So a short and deadly game with a fun and unexpected twist in the middle. 

I like the Galactic Heroes rules, using the playing cards for activations makes it nice and random for a solo game as well as keeping track of who has moved each turn.

Not happy with my moon table. The flock has all faded where I left it out in the sun, so I have been doing some painting to bring it back to scratch as well as making some rough terrain to add some more variety. I have also started to build a moon base for either side to attack.