More pictures and an after action report.
After action report
The evening's excursion in miniature took place on Venus. As an opener to what we hope will be a small campaign the game is one to introduce the main characters to Venus. Last night we followed the trials and travails of a mixed group of passengers from the doomed Aetherliner Excelsior, which after an explosion in the boiler room that destroyed half the ship, was forced to send its passengers and crew to the surface in the ships cargo launches and lifeboats. Most of the evacuees made it to Victoria City safely but one of the cargo cutters full of passengers ran into some trouble and was forced to crash land in the wilderness.
Prologue
Once safely on the ground, the passengers of the cargo cutter took stock of their surroundings and it was decided that a short trek to higher ground would give them a better chance of being spotted by any recovery vessels sent out from Victoria City. There were some military personnel onboard as well as several notable public figures. The survivors were assured of a recovery by the authorities fairly quickly but expected to be rescued soon. Spirits were high as they set off for the hilltop just a short distance away. Little did they know that their landing did not go unobserved by less than friendly eyes.
Dramatis Personae:
Buckminster "Buck" Franklin: Big game hunter.
Augustus "Gussie" Fink-Nottle: Noted Naturalistwith a particular interest in Newts and Salamanders.
Bartholomew Wallis: Ensign in her Majesty's Aether Navy.
Colin "Longshanks" Pettigrew: Sergeant in the newly formed Royal Cytherean Rifles.
Rodericke Smythe: Special envoy of Her Majesty's Foreign Office.
Johnathan Carstairs: Teacher
Jack Dawkins: Stevedore and laborer working his passage to Venus.
Bruno Isembardo: Italian engineer. Sometimes called a "Spark"
In addition to the individual characters, each player was responsible for a few combatants as well as some civilians.
Photos of the battle:
The beautiful Cytherean foliage is the work of Alfrik and represents only a
small portion of some really great alien plant life.
A long view of the game table. The Spark, Bruno Isenbardo, was able to effect some repairs to Buck Franklin's clockwork howdah to enable it to carry the few supplies they had managed to salvage from the wreck of the cargo cutter. He also managed to cobble together some kind of defensive device he referred to as his "Atessala evaporator!"
The way ahead through the swamp to the hill.
Bruno Isembardo (in the white hat) and Ensign Wallis work their way along the creek bank of the creek that winds its way through the swamp.
Rodericke Smythe, his footmen and several of his civilian charges.
Buck Franklin and his clockwork howdah.
Sgt. Pettigrew and a brace of Royal Marines lead the way on the right flank. Behind them the teacher, Mr Carstairs and a pair of the ships midshipmen stick close.
Pettigrew spots some movement in the bush ahead and orders his men to fire. The volley seems to have little effect if the return fire is any estimation. Who could be out here in the wilderness firing at them?
Turks! Pettigrew doesn't take the time to ponder how the Ottoman Empire managed to have troops on Venus. He quickly did a flanking withdrawal into the brush, keeping his civilian charges out of the line of fire. The Turks pursued. Noise and movement in the brush indicated there might be more of them coming.
Sure enough there were more of them out there. This group of Romanian soldiers (valiantly represented by the first of my French VSF forces) break out of the brush behind the Turks.
On the left flank the civilians, led by Professor Fink-Nottle, have encountered some of the local natives. Fink-Nottle quickly discovers their communicative gestures are much like the dances of Earth newts. Through a wild a wriggly dance the Professor manages to communicate the good intentions of all Englishmen and enlist the aid of the new found Newt people.
Ensign Wallis brings up the rear of the right flank and begins to trade fire with the advancing Turks across the creek. Behind the sailors, Bruno and his workmen are attempting to work their way up the bank of the creek which offers slightly better purchase than the rest of the swamp.
A long shot of the action showing Professor Fink-Nottle and the Newt People on the left. Turkish troops are across the creek.
The Romanians make it to the creek bank and several of them take some pot shots at Isembardo and his workers downstream. Isembardo returns fire with his ad-hoc device called the "Atessala Evaporator" Half the Romanians disappear in the resulting thunderclap and cloud of smoke.
Turkish troops keep up the pressure.
The Schoolmaster and his charges try and keep their distance from the quickly approaching Turks.
The survivors arrive at their destination, fire off a flare and are quickly located by one of the aircraft searching for them. The bow Gatling makes quick work of the remaining Romainians as it comes in for a landing. The survivors clamber aboard and are whisked away to Victoria City.
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