England Invaded - London Attacked... Round 2

The people of London continue to endure the threat of Martian attack, Red weed creeps ever closer clinging to the country lanes and abandoned homes of the nations capital.

Black Smoke hangs in low laying land like a black shroud, but still London fights on.

The resilient Londoners continue to bolster their defences earth works, barricades are thrown up at every junction looking to blunt the advance of the out of world invaders. 

London has the advantage of being ringed by rivers. To the south the River Quaggy passes through the borough of Lewisham, before joining the mighty Thames.

It is here that the latest Martian attack thows itself at the human defenders,

The Martian invaders approach  on two fronts, the first force looking to smash it's way through the industrial area covering the approaches to the mail railway line to the capital.

Attacking on two fronts with 2000 points vs the human defenders of 800 this could be the most bloody encounter yet.

Out of the mist advance the the towering sentinals advance the seirens wail "oooohhhh-laaaa" as they sweep towards the burnt out ruins, But the right hand Martian force stutters,  unable to secure a command order.

The militia hidden dug in the factory units and destroyed houses open fire and the latest monsterous creations advance on the valiant garrison. After a bloody fight the handling machines are forced back, their metal claws unable to winkle the defenders from the cellars and roofs.

Finally on the right flank more fight machines appear flanking the factory units and driving head long for the railway embankment and the river beyond.

The Artillery is unmasked and the militia rush to counter the new threat. The Heat Ray strikes the Artillery battery but the crew are able to seek shelter behind their earth works.

A fighting machine is brought down, Artillery shells smash the legs of the fighting machine and rifle fire pours into the Martian driver in his hooded compartment. A valuable morale boster for the human defenders. The Martians retire some what shaken taking their fallen comrade with them.

With another deperate victory the London garrison is bolstered by members of the Queen's Royal Foot (100 pts) who manage to slip through Martian lines as they fell back from Surrey.

With a small encounter in Powys, the initiative is soon to pass to the forces of the Crown, could this valiant defence be the start of a human fight back?

England Invaded - Martian Moves Turn 3

Two months have slipped by since the last outing in the current Martian Empires campaign but the Martian's have not been idle.

The invaders break free from their red weed covered territory into the areas of England currently untouched by the steel claws of the out of world invader. West Glamorgan, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire fall to the Martians without a fight, historical cities and and towns that have stood for hundreds of years are razed to the ground, Stowmarket and Cambridge are nothing more than blackened ruins.

Meanwhile the battle lines are drawn in other areas, in the Midlands where the Humans have sufficent troops to hold the Martian invader they form up prepared to stem the Martian advance, will they fight or will they withdraw, pulling the red foe away from their cylinders?

Defence of Powys

700 Martian vs 345 Human

Defence of Staffordshire

600 Martian vs 300 Human

Defence of Cheshire

509 Martian vs 200 Human

Defence of Warwickshire

500 Martian vs 200 Human

The siege of London continues, the occasional scout machine scuttles forward probing the earth works and trenches, however over recent days the hammering from the pits has increased and the unearthly howling can be heard long into the night.

The Martian onslaught is coming.

London

2000 vs 800 - Attacking on two fronts.
The Martians are also attacking the Surrey salient (300 vs 100) but with such a small garrison one suspects the The Queens Royal Foot will have to retire towards the capital if it still stands.

Yorkshire Falls - Campaign Game #7

The last game of the year and it turned out to be a cracker....

Encouraged by their last victory the Human forces pushed on.

Generals Furphy and Dane gave orders to advance on Yorkshire in three flying columns, the Martian invader was already restricted in their capacity to reinforce as their cylinder had been destroyed a few weeks earlier, but being not of human mind and knowing no fear vowed to fight to the death.

Out numbered 2:1 it was always going to be difficult to hold mankind at bay.

The table layout, two of the human columns can be seen, but no Martian is in sight, only the clinging red weed, which was rapidly expanding across the English countryside.

Opting for a very mobile force to counter the artillery of HM land forces, the Martian invader is forced into action as the left hand column brings it's guns to bear, the Martian scutlers, scamper forwards looking to destroy the weaker column before it can become established in the village.

One order to far!!!

The Scout machines are caught in the flank as the local yeomanry line the walls and windows of the nearby village, a savage volley destroy's one metal monster and sends the other back towards the Martian lines.

The Militia advance, but the creatures from Mars stand firm firing their heat rays and launching cannister rounds of the terrible black smoke, the militia waiver but recover their nerve as supporting artillery fire damages a number of the war machines.

Facing advancing infantry on both flanks the Martian smoke projectors fall back to seek shelter on the reverse slop of the hill as more of their number surcum to the rising rifle fire.

Meanwhile for a brief moment the smiles are wiped from the faces of the human commanders as their field artillery look to flank the main Martian force, they stubble into the last Martian force, hidden in an empty farm house, they destroy one of the guns, before they were silenced by shell and bullet.

 

The final Martian machines are cornered and destroyed....

The north is free from the out of world invader... but the Martian invader is due to take the offensive next, so things could change very rapidly.

2016 is looking like a very busy year.....

Merry Christmas all.

England Invaded - The Charge of the Heavy Brigade.

Finally after weeks on the paint table the Heavy Cavalry are finished, the urge came due to the desire to beat last years figure total.
A mere 30 mini's needed to beat last years paint tally.... childish I know, but hey if it gets figures on the table.

Another unit by the guy's down under - Eureka from their Crimea range, far to much detail for me to get the best out of them, but the dynamic poses are just what I was looking for, charging across the battlefield looking to send the evil Martians back to the Red planet.

With any luck you should see these entering the campaign in the coming weeks, given the recent victory in Scotland - I just need to persuade the Human players to invest in a stable....

 

Next up something a little more modern....

News from the Scottish Front...... Campaign Game 6

Tremendous news from the north of Scotland, Highland forces scrapped together an assault column from the remaining garrisons and launched an attack on the martian forces still holed up in their Scottish enclave. 

The forces of war for both sides.

The human player had a slight numerical advantage and had made use of the recent reinforcements, selecting Artillery and both guard and regular infantry, the Martian player choosing mobility with two scutter fighting machines and two black smoke mobile artillery pieces....

Red weed had already started to take hold, springing up near every pool and water course, clinging to roadside verges and the sides of buildings.

The Infantry massed in a brigaded column and advanced towards the metal monsters, the Martians fired their inkey black cannisters towards the gallant red ranks.

The famous Black Watch deploy and let loose an early volley damaging one of the metal machines damaging its launching mechanism forcing the martian walkers to withdraw behind the buildings.

Sensing an early victory the Infantry advanced, pursuing the alien artillery, but in their haste they had left their own artillery far behind, who were pounched upon by two scutters, they came within a few yards of the limbered guns and fired their white hot heat rays.

The gunners broke and ran pursued over burnt ground by the Martian contraptions, this was to be a fatal move. In their desire to destroy the guns and gunners the machines were pinned by the infantry rushing back to aid the fleeing gunners.

Wave after wave of crashing volley hit the martian invader, who in turn fired back with their heat rays, several ranks fell, swept aside by the whoosh of the heat ray, but their morale held and slowly the cracks began to show in the martian armour, weopons were damaged and the walkers became immobile making them more vunnerable to the volley fire. 

The scuttlers green eyes faded as they died a slow death struck by volley after volley of well aimed rifle fire.

The Martian artillery rallied and rushed to their comrades aid only to be pinned back by yet more rifle fire, whilst they discharged their smoke cannisters they were no match for the Black Watch who were in no mood to let their prey off lightly..... A thunderous volley stopped the Martians in their tracks.

The north of England is free of the martian invader, now the action switches to Yorkshire, can victory be repeated?

One Battle down one to go.....

England Invaded - Light Cavalry Reinforcements and Osprey's latest offering.....

With the next round of encounters a few weeks away, the light cavalry join the fray....

These are fantastic castings from Eureka but the detail slowed my ability to get paint on the figures.... Almost too nice to paint.

Just as I was hitting painters block and being drawn to new projects, Osprey's latest Dark Series publication arrived, War Of The Worlds: The Anglo-Martian War of 1895 by Mike Brunton.

I just hope the lancers last longer than the cavalry in the book "The 9th Lancers immediately charged forwards and were slain by the Martians"

 

The book is written from the perspective of Great Britain. 80-pages long broken down into 5 Chapters detailing the strategy employed by both sides, full descriptions of the red weed, the cylinders, and the Martians themselves.

As you have come to expect from Osprey the book contains some lovely prints by the artist - Alan Lathwell, two appendices are included: “The Hunter” and “Winston Churchill’s Martian War.” which I can see appearing in future scenario's in the England Invaded campaign.

 

Whilst some of the centent varies from Well's original text, it does follow the spirit of the War of the Worlds and is a must for any War of the Worlds fan....

Just the tonic to get the rest of the heavy cavalry finished.....

England Invaded 1880 - Turn 2 Human Moves.

After a few weeks on other games - England Invaded is back, with Humanity on the offensive.

After weathering the storm of the initial Martian advances Mankind have not sat idly by waiting for the Mars mens next moves. Far away from the troubles in the South of England, in the isolated Boarders region tradesman and craftsmen have been busily constructing Barracks, Training centres and Munition Factories providing the land army with access to fresh regular troops and Artillery assuming the supply lines can be kept open.

The Crown focus appears to be, to purge the North of England of the Martian prescence, with concerted attacks on the remaining Martians in Scotland and Yorkshire.

Whilst further south probing attacks across the Midlands see's the Martain scouts fall back towards their original pit sites, Low level skirmishes continue in Wales with both man and martian dancing a merry dance looking to find a gap in the others defences.

Elsewhere the London Garrison conducts a raid on the original pitsite at Horshall Common placing HE explosives under the cylinder and blowing it sky high - The Martians have long moved on to concentrate their forces around the Bracknell forest area, but the attack serves to bolster the spirts of the besieged garrison.

The latest moves leave to significant battles to be fought, an even fight in the North as the Martians look to hold Dundee and Tayside and an offensive in Yorkshire with the forces of the Crown out numbering the Martians by 2:1.

Both battles to be played in December.

Feeling a little horse.....

Given the lack of painting time recently, I thought I would prep some of the bare metal in preparation for that rare moment of free time....

Probably not the best I idea......
I took on all of the recent purchases out of the box in one go, I normally like to take batches of the little fella's out of the draw rather than on mass..... for the very reason that I am now staring at a tray full of shiny bare metal..... Thinking how can I get through this little lot before kicking off the Chechin project....
I bloody hate painting horses as well.

Japanese Cavalry for the Russo - Japanese war including the more shock markers.

Eureka heavy cavalary for the Martian Empire Campaign, these are 18mm, whilst most of my collection is 15mm, they weere really to nice not to purchase and give mankind the final piece of their forces...

Now to pick a unit before painters block really takes hold.

"Bows and Arrows against the Lightning" - Part 2

With a few weeks before the next England Invaded outing....

Factories continue to produce weopons for the war effort.

Essex Crew and QRF Guns.
The extra heavy guns will have a Fire Factor of 8 within the Martian Empire rules and will be available to purchase at a cost of 160 points.

I have added a couple of limbers to pad out the order....
There is no call for them in the Martian Empire rules but they do look nice on the table...

The final packs of reinforcements for mankind arrived a few days ago.... I found some nice peices in Eureka's ranges which are fit for purpose (more of these later).

I painted up an additional command stand as a taster... 

Standing 18mm tall they are largered than the other figures in the collection, but look fine once painted and based.

That's all for now folks....

Martian Empires - Indirect Artillery Rules

Just a quick posting this evening, after last weeks outing, I thought I would produce some inhouse rules for the use of Indirect Artillery fire for the Martian Empire rule set, due largely to the fact that I picked up these Heliograph teams from Peter Pig several years ago but they have finally made their way to the summit of lead mountain.

So the rules.

I have pointed them out at a cost of 50 points with a limit of 1 per 1000 points being fielded.

They will require an order to send a message from their position to the gun section. 

The gun section must have a command element within sight of the heliograph team and be within command radius of the guns to be able to command it to fire. 

Heliograph teams are treated like Officers and Characters for the purposes of movement and actions, they may be attached to a unit if charged but will not influence that unit in any way for morale or fire purposes.

Now back to the brushes.....

Martian Empires - Disordered Markers

A slow week on the gaming front.

Not actually required under the Martian Empire rules, I do like to add a little colour to the table, I had several of Peter Pig's casualty figures lying around and figured I could find a use for them for Disorder markers.... 5 Infantry and 1 for the Naval Brigade.

After last weeks encounter it looks like they might be needed.

The postie arrived this morning with a little extra for the campaign....
I am not biased but with the Martians about to take the offensive I figured I better prepare for Martian dominance of the Blue-Green planet.

 

Right back to the brushes....

England Invaded - Campaign Turn 1 - Battle #2 - Fire & Smoke....

Sunday night saw a double header with battles in both Wales and Scotland.

The suggestion was to fight them back to back at 500 points a side so the campaign can move on to the movement phase and bigger builds.......

The reports are in..... first up War Correspondent Morris Chipham from a few miles outside of Newport.

When I sent off my despatch by mail train last night, it was with very different feelings to those with which I have to report this evening.

Had we had a sufficiency of troops, more especially of regular troops, there is not the slightest doubt that the victory would have been mankinds, Major Lewis was obligded to assault the enemy's position with a force judged ill equipped by military experts for the task in hand. 

 

I followed in the path of Major Lewis's Brigade as it marched towards the Cylinder Pit before it was checked by Black Vapour and the Martian Fire Beam from the Martian Scuttlers.
It was plain that the Volunteer Brigade, though it held its ground, could not advance farther.

The men of the 1st Volunteer Battalion - 1st Pembrokeshire's set off in column of March, confident in their training and officers. From my vantage point in the village I was to observe a movement to their left as the men from Mars approached, Giants in armour scuttling from under the cover of Bywin Wood. The Martians sent out a beam of fire towards the men of the 1st Pembrokes, Companies A & B were swept out of existance, charred and distorted beyond recognition.

As I watched in horror at the sight of the volunteers stumbling back from the field of raging fire. The Martians discharged cannisters of inkey black smoke forcing the valiant volunteers to break formation to avoid the clouds of death.

 

Staunchly as the Welshmen had withstood the murderous fire from those out world invaders, the vapours of instant death and heat rays were rather more than such partially trained soldiers could stand. A scattering discharge from their rifles was followed by something very much approaching a rout.

The hammering from the pit could still be heard as civilians and military personnel fled the field and out of range of the Martian weapons.

Meanwhile in Scotland. 

Graham McAllister reports from the Daily Messenger and gave his account of the actions of the Forfarshire's and their attempt to neutralise the Scottish Cylinder.

From senior officer to the youngest piper, our brave boys did more, than could be humanly expected of them.

 

The plan of attack was agreed; the officers led well, their men fought well, the brigade flanked the wood and approached the Cylinder from the East, the Martian invaders had moved from the pit site and formed up on the high ground over looking the battlefield, through my eye glass I could see the ugly brown brutes squirming across the hillside, flanked by glittering white mechanical machines.

On the left the three Scottish battalions had been drawn up behind Sallywick Wood. The Martians fired several rockets of deadly black smoke, which filled the country lane with moaning and writhing wounded as the evil gas struck the men from Dundee down. We remained masters of the wood drawing Martian fire as an assault party ran with charges to the edge of the pit.

With a loud boom and cloud of dust the Cylinder is shrouded in dirt and grim as the view clears, the Cylinder is broken into several pieces, the hugh shell would be providing no further secrets.

At this critical moment a powerful counter-attack was made from the highground, Scout Machines scampered towards our defenders and Octopus type creatures slide forwards, outnumbered our gallant forces gave ground.

 

The field belongs to the alien invaders but their base of operations is damaged beyond repair.

Both encounters had a very different feel to the first encounter perhaps in the tur H G Wells telling and with the Martian build phase and movement, mankind will have to weather the Martian storm before they will have a chance to stem the alien onslaught.