Monday, November 14, 2011

Steampunk Game Pictures From Fall-In

As I mentioned a few days ago, I ran Mars Needs Steam at the Fall-In convention in Lancaster, PA over the Halloween weekend. It was not a scheduled game, but there was a cancellation the first night of a different game, and I had some figures and vehicles along, so ran a pick-up game.


I said before that the game benefitted from some very nice terrain my friend Glenn Kidd put together -- very nice and of genuinely epic scale! This Martian mesa is topped by almost a dozen High Martians. To give you an idea of size, those are 25mm minitures up there.


A unit of British prepare to advance, supported by an armed aerothopter.You've seen my aerothopter before but this is a different angle. For those of you exclusively into gaming, and who have never bumped up against the wider world of steampunk culture/fandom/whatever, one thing which the devotees have as a shared interest is actual physical craftsmanship and tinkering -- modification of costumes, props, accessories, you name it. That's actually a point of convergence with steampunk miniature gaming as well. There are some great figures and vehicles available commercially, and I've reviewed a few here in this column myself. But almost everyone I know who runs steampunk games takes particular pride in the vehicles and figures they have converted, and I'm no exception. Love that aerothopter!


You've seen our Venusian Schutztruppen before as well, but here's a nice closeup of the unit.


I wasn't the only one running steampunk games there. This is a detail from a the U.S. 5th Cavalry on Mars game run by Highlander Studio's Rod Campbell. This is fairly late in the action, as the cavalry have shot their gashants and are taking cover behind them.

This shot is from earlier in the action. Those are some very brave or very stupid Hill Martians.


Someone else ran a Space: 1889 miniatures game set on Mars using the Gaslight rules. I like the clean look of the terrain and there were a number of nice detail pieces that made this especially good-looking. Those are very nice Victorian SF combat walkers, converted from some Games Workshop pieces.






The RAFM fantasy lizards we use for Venusian lizardmen are long out of production, but this guy has converted some Games Workshop lizard warriors to Venusians, and I think they look great.

While I was there I picked up a bunch of figures from Bob Charrette at Parroom Station -- lots of sinister minions and a couple great anarchists, complete with floppy hats, long cloaks, and round black bombs. This stuff really is too much fun.

11 comments:

  1. Looked like lovely miniatures and some great games...I hope you had a blast

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  2. Hi Frank

    Great blog! I wanted to let you know that I think RAFM still have their Reptiliad range available. You may have to ask specifically for them.

    Vidal

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  3. Andrew, I definitely had a great time, although good company is always more important than the game itself.

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  4. Vidal, Reptiliads, right! I couldn't remember the name of the line but that is it. The last time I knew they were no longer in production, but they may very well have been brought back in the mean time. Definitely worth a look for anyone interested in Venus.

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  5. Great looking game - I love the American Cav and the aerothopter. I just checked on the RAFM site and the 25mm reptiliads are still in production. Any chance of seeing Venusians in the new 15mm line?

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  6. Pat, Gald you like the game. A good time was had by all. Also good to know RAFM has the Reptiliads back in production. That was a fun line, although as I think about it someone told me they were redesigned figures so weren't quite the same ones we used back in the "olden days." That shouldn't be a problem, though.

    As to 15mm Venusuians, I'd say it's probably more a question of when as opposed to if, but I'll leave a definitive answer to Rod Campbell.

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  7. Definitely when for the Venusians. I'm looking at late next year for them right now. I want the Brits and Martians (Hill, City and High) done first. Then on to Venus and the Prussians.

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  8. Correction. I said in th4e blog entry that the Gaslight game was set on Mars, but obviously it was set on Venus.

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  9. Bob's Masked Minions are a staple on my VSF gaming table, as mercenary servants of the evil genius Professor Otto Maton...

    -J Womack, www.vbir.blogspot.com

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  10. Indeed. I picked up a unit of Masked Minion Diabolical Weaponeers who will make excellent Space: 1889 villains armed with electric rifles. I also picked up a unit of Smoke Stalkers, who will make fine evil minions with more conventional armament.

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  11. The Smoke Stalkers are waiting for me to get around to doing some Japanese forces. At the current rate of project completion, I figure to buy them in about 20 years. Sigh...

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