Red Orc's Blog

Unidentified British Troops looking all soldierly and that.

The Royal North Surreys have been sitting in my painting tray for weeks now, without a photo of their latest paint; and also un-photographed are the (now undercoated) Aetherines I bought from Brigade a month or so back.

As the men of the Royal North Surrey check the perimeter, Captain Carruthers and Lieutenant  Pootling-Twelp confer with Captain Yates of UNIT, and sometimes the Northdale Rifles; Sergeant Bromsgrove looks on, while Colour Sergeant Jeffries guards Ensign Jensen and the Company Colours (flag from the Warflag site - a generic British flag from the Napoleonic Wars looked like the best bet - http://www.warflag.com/flags/napoleon/napbritain1.shtml ).

Captain and men of the Royal Aeronautical Corps "Aetherines", wondering why they are not currently in their habitual natty blue jackets and trousers. Simply because I haven't gotten round to painting them, that's why.

Bobbies from Scotland Yard, with their English Electric Truncheons, and officers of 'Special Branch' (I'm sure it was called the 'Special Irish Branch' at this point) with rifles, Inspector Le Strange (probably), the Good Doctor and the Consulting Detective, from North Star Military Figures' new 'In Her Majesty's Name' range.

Lord Curr's Company, a quixotic and mercenary company of ne'er-do-wells, disgruntled ex-servicemen, and aristocratic adventurers, including Lord Curr himself armed with an 'Arc rifle' (electric rifle), from North Star Military Figures.

Having recently taken delivery of North Star and Osprey's new 'In Her Majesty's Name', both the figures and the rulebook, coming so soon after my purchases of 'Various Victorians' and the Brigade Games British in Rebreathers a month or so ago, I feel quite faint with excitement at the cornucopia of VSF-y leaden goodness (they probably don't put lead in any more, probably showing my age there).

I certainly have a lot to paint in the coming months - and hardly a red coat in sight (it's quite possible I will paint up one of the 'Incorrigibles', Lord Curr's men, in a Rifles uniform, so I can use him for the Northdale Rifles or UNIT as necessary).

Others of Lord Curr's men I can easily see being pressed into service should I ever get any further with my long-touted VBCW project; they're very versatile figures I think, some of them could be from any period from about 1870-1940 or there abouts.

Well, it's been a quiet old time of it since October, I really haven't got any painting done, but in the meantime I have done a few other things. Had Christmas and got several groovy new gaming-related things - the GASLIGHT Compendium and the Dictionary of Imaginary Places, for starters - and with a bit of spare cash I managed to accumulate, I've ordered and otherwise bought some new minis.

First up, from Baker Company, a company I didn't know anything about until the guys at the Lead Adventure Forum recommended them, come 9 British command figures (from their Zulu War range) - an eight figure command pack, and an Ensign:


These include a Glengarry-wearing officer, who will be joining my UNIT troops as their commander, Captain Yates, allowing me a bit more freedom with what I do with my Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart figure - in GASLIGHT games, he'll probably become a Group Commander, I'd think.




The package arrived extremely quickly, and even got a discount because the original shipping charge was more than the actual postage. Great service from Baker Company!

Next, from the lead-pile of the inestimable Whiskyrat, respected denizen of Lead Adventure Forum, come some minis I've been calling 'Various Victorians and Manly Chaps (Mostly Moustachioed)'. Some are moving slightly into Pulp territory, but I don't care.








Taking the Various Victorian and the Mustachioed Manly Chap for scale, this gorilla is about 36' (getting on for 12m) tall. Trying to justify this in game terms may be a little tricky, though in some ways the gun is the easiest bit. Obviously, it's been converted from a big gun on an aether-ship. So now I have a size for aether-ship guns - about 13 or 14'. How to stat the model for GASLIGHT however is another question.

As I'd painted up one of these chaps, I decided to try my hand at a few more; unfortunately, the khaki wasn't quite right, they look a little greenish compared to the chap on the extreme right of this picture,who was the first one painted. I think they're looking rather good, can't wait to get their Astro-Hungarian counterparts painted up so I can maybe get some Martian action in.

I've also been bitten by the Brigade Games bug - they have a  great VSF range, including these gems -




- link to Brigade Games here (check out the 'VSF - GASLIGHT' as well as the 'VSF - Steampunk' range, even more beauties there!)

These guys are proper Pith-Helmeted Victorian British, in breathing gear - just as I was planning for my aetherines (which are still on the modelling table...). Of course, now I'm going to get these rather than faff about building the breathing apparatus and they can go up against my Westwind Prussians-cum-Ruritanians, who also have natty breathing gear. I love it when a plan comes together...

And to inspire myself, I have to post this pic that I found trolling round the web but sadly now can't remember where it came from, otherwise I'd be saying 'hey this is _____'s groovy picture!' with a link to the artist's page and whatnot. It's a German-looking mechanical cavalryman and is most lovely - in a grimey, diesel-y sort of way...

Various Victorian Ne'er-do-wells

OK, a couple of them are 'Usual Suspects' such as the cowboy chap (who seems to get into lots of photos, an Artizan Texas Ranger, I believe) and 'Ironcladman' AKA the Brass Aetherine AKA Sgt Jack Ironbridge of the Royal Aeronatical Corps.

Also pictured are 'Chap with Axe' (a lovely figure from Brigade Games' not-Gangs of New York range, not from Artizan as I had previously believed - thanks guys at the Lead Adventure Forum for putting me right!) and Ironclad's excellent dynamic duo of 'Agent H' and 'Agent L'. Obviously, still WIP but hey ho, I'm better at starting things than finishing them.

Some of these guys will perhaps see action in a new theme I'm working on inspired by HG Wells' classic tale 'The Food of the Gods', in which a new growth-promoting chemical formula causes wasps, ants, rats, plants, and ultimately people to grow very large. Obviously the Agents (from the Ministerial Investigation Board, the governmental organisation that keeps watch on the strange and unusual... and Torchwood:1891, which counts as strange and unusual all on its own) will be coming around trying to hush everything up; Chap with Axe is likely to be some villager from Kent or Surrey defending life and limb from hypertrophied rats and whatnot.

Whether I get further with a 'Food of the Gods' project, only time will tell, but I may as well assume I will I think...

I completely forgot to post the WIP of Sergeant Jack Ironbridge, heroic Sergeant of the Aetherines of the Royal Aeronautical Corps, in his experimental battlesuit.


Anyway...



... here he is.


When I looked at the photo I saw a couple of bits where I was a bit messy with the Aetherine blue - but needless to say I didn't notice on the model, as I am an old man with bad eyesight.

I'm hoping that his comrades of the Aetherines will be making an appearance soon... but regular readers of this blog will not, I trust, be holding their collective breath waiting for them to appear, they are behind the Dwarves in the queue. That's right, the UNIT troops were a rush job. I pushed them through the system especially fast. Only about 7 months...

Apologies for the bad lighting, but in the end I figure that bad photos are probably better than no photos.

This was the state of my painting tray about 3 or 4 months ago, round about mid-May. Since then very little has happened (a few arms glued on, that sort of thing) but hopefully more will occur this weekend (and it'll be months before the pics surface, probably...)

First up are the members of UNIT - the Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials - who will sport rifleman green uniforms and khaki Glengarry caps, as a nod to the 'classic' look of UNIT in 1970s episodes of Dr Who, as modelled by the second and third chaps in the first column. Part of the point of the photo was to demonstrate the relative lack of poses with the Wargames Factory figures. Two Body types, and two rifle positions, and two head designs, means 8 basic figures. There are a couple of 'loading' arms, and I've used one to make a chap actually loading his rifle (I can never remember if these are Lee-Mitfords or Martini-Henries) and another I've used to give the sergeant an alien or future-technology weapon.




Close up of the UNIT sergeant (Sergeant Benton, I did think of making him Petty Officer Benton but then decided that he could have a Royal Marine rank instead) with his 'Galvanic Projector' AKA lightning gun (AKA laser rifle, though the concept makes no sense in the late 19th century). It's bodged from two bits of sprue, and yeah, maybe it looks it. Never mind, these are toys for playing games with.


Some of my Victorian characters in various states of paintiness - the first two columns are all from Ironclad, third column is Westwind and fourth is Artizan. I tried to show how they all look next to each other but it doesn't work very well.

The poll as to whether I should give my walker pilot a Pith Helmet or a Glengarry Cap has now closed - and, perhaps in line with expectation, it has ended with a convincing win of 100% of the (three) votes being cast in favour of Pith Helmets.

I suppose I'd better tell you why I've decided to give him a Glengarry then.

I'm hoping to use my VSF forces primarily for Battles by GASLIGHT (BbG) games. In BbG, individual units are grouped together into commands which activate together, when their group commander activates. As my entire combined British (and allied) force for GASLIGHT consists at the moment of 11 units (though many are unpainted as yet), I thought it made sense to split the elements 3,4,4 - that's obviously the most even way to do it, and if I get round to it, I might add another unit to the '3'.

As my Aetherine Group - consisting of 10 infantry, a mechanical walker (the Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Dreadnaught I showed a few weeks ago), a steam tank (the Space Marine Rhino, likewise) and a heroic Aetherine special character in a flying armoured suit - already had four elements to it, it made sense to switch the second walker, the open-topped one I needed a pilot for, to my UNIT group, which up until that point only had two elements in it - a unit of 10 infantry, and a commanding officer.

So my entire force would be:
(Command Group 1)
Commadore Alexander Cameron Lethbridge-Stewart;
10 Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials;
UNIT Mechanical Conveyance, 'Stormwalker';
To this, I may add a steam tank, which may be called (for reasons as yet not entirely clear) 'Mrs McNulty'

(Command Group 2)
Sergeant Jack Ironbridge, Royal Aeronautical Corps, in experimental Rapid Action battlesuit;
10 Royal Aeronautical Corps Aetherines;
Royal Aeronautical Corps War-walker 'Goliath';
Royal Aeronautical Corps Steam Tank 'Victorious'

(Command Group 3)
Colonel Reginald Hammond-Mustard;
10 troops under Major Smith, 1st Battalion the Trumptonshire Regiment;
10 troops under Captain Skarpvulder, Combined Atlantean Rifle Brigade;
10 troops under Overseer Zedeldun, Morlock Atlantean Native Infantry Corps

I managed to get some paint onto a few minis yesterday - test schemes for my UNIT 1891 troops, and the beginnings of the scheme for my Dwarf Britannia 'Combined Atlantean Rifle Brigade'.

I've been thinking about GASLIGHT because it's my intention to actually try and play some games of it this year. To that end I've been thinking about how to build, paint and stat up my forces. 10 chaps in a unit seems like an obvious place to start, with a small number of characters.

It occurred to me that, as I'm unlikely to be playing British and Ruritanians at the same time, I might be able to get away with using some figures as either British or Ruritanian. So, along with serving as Kolonel Kartoffeln-ohne-Umlaut, my yellow-jacketed Zendarian Vampire Hunter, the chap at the bottom here (from Westwind Miniatures' Vampire Wars range) could also serve as Colonel Mustard, redoubtable British commander... similarly, his companion (not shown) with a monacle and sabre might make both a fine officer for any Molvanian Jaegers under Ruritanian command, and also (cunning use of dark green jacket and trousers here) as a leader for my UNIT troops, who have essentially a Rifle Regiment uniform. No lesser personage than Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT's commander. I think 'Commodore' is equivalent to 'Brigadier' anyway.

I didn't find out until recently that it's thought that the dark green of the rifle regiments might have been inspired by the British employment of Jaeger regiments during the American Revolution. So it sort of seemed fitting that the same figure could stand in as a commander in either army.

Because I'd also mixed up some khaki for UNIT's Glengarries, I thought I may as well get it on the Dwarfs' Pith Helmets. Not sure if it works, we'll have to see when the rest of the scheme is done (basically standard British infantry of the mid-late Victorian period - red jacket and blue trousers).

Then as I was painting a dwarf I had another idea - I have some Warhammer Dwarfs with guns, only I've never been much of a fan of using black powder weapons in Warhammer, so I wondered about making them a unit for GASLIGHT too - the Morlock Allied Native Infantry Corps. That may need more thinking about, but it does potentially mean I'll be able to field 5 units of infantry fairly quickly (redcoat Dwarfs, 'native' Dwarfs, UNIT riflemen, Aetherines, and my lovely Line Infantry from Ironclad). Quite pleased with the way my little force is developing...

I've set up a new poll. Why? you may ask. Or may not, it's your choice. But I'll tell you either way.

I'm having trouble deciding if my GW Sentinel scout walker should belong to my Aetherines (pilot in blue uniform, wearing Pith Helmet) or my UNIT 1891 troops (pilot in dark green uniform, wearing Glengarry).

So the choice comes down to that - UNIT or Aetherines? Glengarry or Pith Helmet? I can't even decide which head to put on until I know, I can't assemble the walker properly until I've painted the uniform... help me, oh generous souls who come visit my humble page! For without your guidance, I am as an idiot with a sack on his head.

I've begun putting glue to plastic to get my Riflemen and Aetherines together, as well as my GW walker that's been lying around in bits. The Wargames Factory British look like they'll be OK for what I want them to do, and after a very fine chap called Mors (as detailed in this thread on the Lead Adventure Forum) gave me some heads in Glengarry Caps, I have enough to make a unit of 10 in Glengarries, which makes statting GASLIGHT units much easier I believe.

My idea is that these fellows will be a dual purpose unit - either the fictitious (but plausible) Northdale Rifles, a Victorian incarnation of one of the fictional army units in the lists; or, when I'm feeling a little more 'way out', or when Torchwood 1891 need a bit of firepower, they can be Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials, or 'UNIT'. Their uniform I'm thinking (in an homage to the 1970s UNIT uniforms) will be green jackets and khaki caps. I did consider black with red caps like the modern iteration of UNIT, but... nah.

I also have started, with the other 10 bodies from the Wargames Factory pack, putting my Aetherines together. They will have Pith Helmets; after all, they may fall out of their airships, and bang their heads, so they need something more robust than a Glengarry cap. But on the other hand, Home Service spiked helmets might be a liablity when ballooning; hence the Pith Helmets.

I've also started the process of building the breathing apparatus for these chaps, for high-altitude assaults, or fighting on Mars or Venus. I wonder when I'll finish the experiments and actually get the minis ready... Don't hold your breath, as the saying goes.

And the walker... the Pith Helmeted Wargames Factory heads seem to fit the pilot OK; perhaps it could belong to the Aetherines.

Pictures to follow I hope soon.

... real life has been getting in the way a bit. Some of it good, like my friend's 3-day stag party. Some of it less good. Some of it interesting, but very time consuming (step forward essays on re-evaluating excavations of The Breiddin hillfort, and concepts behind Anglo-Saxon memorials; and an exam into various aspects of the Iron Age). Some of it time consuming and very dull.

About the most exciting thing I've done hobby-wise in the lasy few weeks is buy some liquid poly.

Anyway, the Aetherines should be soon joining the ranks, if not of fully-paid-up soldiers of the Queen, at least of chaps in training and being kitted out. I'm determined I'm going to do something with them this week!

Oh, and the GW Sentinel that is I hope soon to become an Armoured Lancer has at least moved from the loft to the living room carpet. I really must do something about that...

As I said I was going to raid Orc Junior's Space Marine army for some Steam Technology (or at least temporary proxies thereof), I thought I'd share the photos:



First up is a Steam Walker, the 'Goliath', which is an experimental 2-man contraption being field-tested by the Aetherines.



Next is a Steam Tank, the 'Victorious', also being trialed by the Aetherines. I'm working on preparing stats for GASLIGHT for these, ably helped by the lovely Bullshott over at Lead Adventure Forum, as I'm hoping to actually get round to some VSF gaming this year...

Apart from the 'field trials' I hope that I'll also be able to tidy up the paintjobs on these and maybe base the Dreadnaught properly.

Yes, well, we'll see how that goes!

...officially, with my first dose of lead of the new year.

I have received a small Ironclad order, consisting of Ironcladman, Captain Nemo, Agents H and L, and 4 Evil Henchmen.



Ironcladman will serve for the moment in Her Majesty's Royal Aeronautical Corps, as an Aetherine hero in an experimental Battle Suit.










Agent H and Agent L will be attached to the Torchwood project, seconded there from the Ministerial Investigation Bureau - no, Board is a better word for a Victorian institution I think (a secret government department tasked with overseeing paranormal investigations, known by field agents such as Torchwood as the 'Ministry of Interfering Busybodies', or sometimes something even less polite; 'Mostly, Irritating Bores' and 'Magically Incompetent Blockheads' are two other versions - I've been thinking about what 'MIB' could stand for all afternoon...).







The Captain Nemo figure (with his Evil Henchmen) will serve as an enemy of Rivets and Whimsy... damned sky-pirates. The Henchmen look like they'll also see action as Ruritanian terrorists and general fin de siecle bad guys.













And I've also snagged a copy of 'The Heart of Princess Osra', the prequel to 'The Prisoner of Zenda' - revelations about Ruritanian history will no doubt follow.

All pictures taken direct from the Ironclad site at Ironclad Miniatures

There have been several projects over the last few weeks and months involving steam-walkers - Alfrik over at Armored Ink (link in 'Blogs I'm Following' to the left) has a gorgeous battle report involving Skrapwelder's three lovely French walkers converted from GW Sentinel kits; also featured are Alfrik's own conversions of Star Wars walkers (check in 'Miniatures Update' on Armored Ink for more detailed pics), and some walkers made from an 'Incredibles' toy (well, four actually).

Meanwhile, over at Lead Adventurers, Black Cavalier has rivetted up a Star Wars AT-ST to produce a VSF scout walker in this thread here; and Conquistador, in this thread here, is discussing the possibility of using a Wild Wild West toy as a walker.

Inspired by all this leggy goodness, and the fact that I'm reading a book at the moment about an alternate-history WWI in which the Austro-Hungarian and German 'Clankers' (mechanical technologists) are fighting the British, French and Russian 'Darwinists' (bio-technologists), which co-incidently features an Austrian 5-man armoured walker, a 'Stormwalker' no less, I've been musing on walkers.

Imagine my surprise, on looking at Skrapwelder's French walkers, that I had one of them (in bits, unpainted and as yet unconverted) in a box upstairs. I'd completely forgotten it in the hectic maelstrom of... well, my head. I decided it would make a very nice command vehicle, and somewhat after the manner King Henry V in Skrapwelder's 'Aginclank' project - many more details here - my British commander will get to hang out in it I hope. Of course, if I get some more, they'll probably become a unit of Lancers...

Then I remembered that Orc Junior has a GW Imperial Dreadnaught, which I think will make a very fine walker for VSF, and it's a very fetching blue colour (he has an Ultramarine army that I keep forgetting is his not mine, ho hum). Anyroadup, my Aetherines will also be in blue jackets, and for that reason alone, blue seems to be a very good colour for an Aetherine walker. My idea is that it can be a one-man 'heavy support' armoured walker, armed with a Titanic Fist and a Portable Luciferium (or, a Dreadnaught Close Combat Weapon and a Multi-Melta). Given the size of the thing, I reckon it probably doesn't actually travel with the Aetherines - it's probably dropped from its own airship.

Pictures of some, all or fewer of these super-weapons (including I hope the airships) will be shortly forthcoming...

The main thing that a force of airship-troopers needs (beyond uniforms, weapons and ammo) I would think would be some sort of breathing apparatus. I'm thinking something like a small aqualung, that could function (for gaming purposes at least) at high altitudes on Earth or as an aid to breathing in the rarified airs of the Martian Highlands (guess where I'm thinking of going next?)

A facemask, tubes and a small cylinder sounds do-able, but I'd need something that can be replicated many times over. After all if I'm going to have a squad or two of these chaps I'm going to need 10-20 of these Brass Lungs.

Now tubes made from guitar strings shouldn't present too much problem, and I may be able to find enough circular sprue to make the cylinders, but I really don't know what to do about the facemasks.

Time for a ponder and a poke about in the bits box I think...

Right, the slow business of amassing the Soldiers of the Queen continues. OK, so I haven't painted my pith-helmet Dwarves yet, but... I really have to have some 'Aetherines' - like Marines, but they abseil from airships rather than jump out of boats.

They will be members of the Royal Aeronautical Corps, founded in 1862 after the British Government realised that superiority in balloons and aeronefs was one of the main areas where the Confederate States were leading their Unionist opponents in the First American Civil War.

The Royal Aeronautical Corps wears standard Army uniforms, though jackets are blue rather than the regulation Army red. Pith helmets are worn even by Aetherines on Home Service, as Home Service Pickelhaube-style helmets and gasbag balloons are not a good mix.

The ensign of the Royal Aeronautical Corps is a Blue Ensign, defaced with a globe, surrounded by a laurel wreath, and surmounted by a silver gryphon rampant, to symbolise the Corps' dual aerial and terrestrial role and its triumph over all enemies. The Corps' motto is 'Maxima Virtute' (I think, I'm not entirely happy with that but then again...)

I have in mind some Wargames Factory plastics as the basis of my Aetherines - if all goes to plan, the squad will be 10-strong, and consist of 9 riflemen and a sergeant with some sort of weird-tech VSF weapon. How does one build a Galvanic Lance do you reckon...?