Way back in 2015 I started a new VSF project called Steam Valley. Steam Valley background
It consisted of a number of inventors or companies' proposed military inventions, all suitably Victorian Science Fictiony. Click the Steam Valley label to the left to see them all. The one I never got around to completing was International Brain Machines (aka IBM) but a late 2025 purchase of 10 Necron Warriors for $17 allows me to finish them off. (I am way to cheap to purchase a new box of Necron Warriors that would cost $87 from GW.)
International Brain Machines
IBM is a consortium of investors from the United States of America who have developed a way of integrating human brains with machinery and using the brains as a control mechanism. They have been supported by project money supplied by the US Army's DARPA division (Daring And Revolutionary Proposals Agency) in their attempt to ensure that future American armies will not have the same casualties as were incurred in the civil war.
IBM has opened a laboratory in Steam Valley to be closer to suppliers of specialised equipment but primarily for the location's renown tolerance for the weird and wonderful, including human experimentation, that seems to cause other societies to reach for their pitchforks and torches.
IBM have developed three different automated weapons for the US Army who have sent along Major Arthur MacArthur Jr to monitor their investment.
 |
| A Steam Powered Vehicle with a three Brain control unit - Major MacArthur to the right. One brain is the commander, the second the gunner, and the third the driver. IBM found that trying to use less than three brains in the turret was inefficient. |
 |
| Heavy Assault Automatons. |
 |
| Assault team. |
 |
| Regular Automatons for the army. Useful for defence and also as follow-up for attacks by the assault teams. Powered by the new Curie Radium Atom Plants it gives them a healthy green glow. |
 |
| All teams come with support personnel with extra brain liquid to keep them functioning at 100% |
Well the lucky purchase of the Necron warriors helped me to complete the figure portion of this project. While building the rest of the factions 10 years ago I had made all the terrain so now I am finally in a position to actually fight the battles between each of the factions. I had purchased the GASLIGHT rules for this so I will use them for the games.
Hopefully I will get around to this soon or at least this year.