Aerial Doings

[vsfguthroth]

A lot of VSF is inspired by WotW, but there is an associated genre of literature which might be called 'Victorian Pulp'.

Works in this genre include Battle of Dorking, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Dorking
and The Angel of The Revolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angel_of_the_Revolution

Many of these works delve into aerial craft, and I wonder what is the IHMN take on Aircraft ?

Do the Great Powers have fleets of Zeppelins ?
Has the work of the Wright brothers been replicated 20 years early ?

Intruiged by the 'Official' approach to this.

TIA

Pete

[Conquistador]

Interesting thought but other than personal transportation I think aerial vehicles would either overpower the game or be shot down quickly.

And the point value of an aeronef in a skirmish setting is pretty daunting...

I would like to know if this has ever been entertained in IHMN design sessions.  In a more "mass battle" setting this would certainly be viable.

Gracias,

Glenn

[vsfguthroth]

The deck plan of such a craft might be a skirmish arena, but I'm more interested in the 'fluff' in this area.

Pete

[Conquistador]

The deck plan of such a craft might be a skirmish arena, but I'm more interested in the 'fluff' in this area.

Pete

Both of those aspects would be very interesting, especially the latter.

Gracias,

Glenn

[vsfguthroth]

I found this site which has some interesting layouts.

http://www.airships.net/lz127-graf-zeppelin

The Graf Zeppelin had a gondola about 80ft x 18ft for everything which is a bit small, but the Hindenburg had all its facilities INSIDE the hull, so was much more spacious.

Modelling at 6mm/foot the GZ would give a playing area about  4 inches x 20 inches. (Yes 6mm/foot is a bit oversize, but a skirmish game needs some room). The Hindenberg layout is a bit more roomy.

The point is that the existence of such ships in our period would be a natural development of the advanced technology and would allow the competing forces to move their small, highly equipped companies around the world with some alacrity.

IF their existence is deemed a possibility, the GZ and H offer ideas for a game setting

Papal Zeppelins anyone ?  

Pete

[Conquistador]

The images of 'Air Interdiction' missions and 'Counter Air' operations with Balloons, Dirigibles, and Zeppelins are filling my mind...

And I am laughing...

Could be fun...

Gracias,

Glenn

[Craig]

You may have noted in the text and in various discussions we have mentioned Dirigibles. In IHMN's 1895 they are an established method of transport.
Most civilian dirigibles are either passenger boats or mail carriers. They do not have the lift to be serious freight carriers. There are regular routes around Europe and the USA linking most capitals. They are especially popular where there is a sea or mountain crossing involved in the route, as they are not as fast as a modern locomotive across the plains.
The largest current civilian dirigibles match the best ones in real history for size and capability.
Military dirigibles tend to be smaller and more specialised. The Treaty of Berne (1890) between all the Great Powers, including China and Japan, outlawed aerial bombardment. Unfortunately no-one gave any thought to dirigibles being used to deploy small units of specialised troops, and this is the way military development of the concept has gone.
Civilian dirigibles tend to be driven by modern, oil-fuelled steam engines, and do the older military ones. However, the cutting edge of dirigible design is all electric using Edison or Tesla arc generators.
So dirigibles are a regular sight above the capitals of the world to the extent that most people do not point or gawk at them any more. At least seventy companies are building them around the world, so the range of designs is startling.
No-one has give any serious thought to powered flight yet as the internal combustion engine is still seen as a novelty. There have been some trials using gliders launched from dirigibles as lifeboats or silent deployment craft.
The USA is leading the world in the development of rockets, both for individual transport and intercontinental mail delivery. This innovation is fraught with difficulty though.

[vsfguthroth]

Many thanks Craig, a very useful summation of the IHMN time line regarding aerial craft.

The early Zeppelins came in a range of sizes, but in OTL the standard WW1 versions could carry 2000kg of bombs over 1000miles, which suggests a task force of 12 - 15 'specialists'.

Excellent .........

[Craig]

it is how the Society of Thule seem to be able to appear anywhere...

[vsfguthroth]

And very useful for Companies based within the A-H Empire I expect 

[Craig]

You might think that but I could not possibly comment 

[has.been]

vsfguthroth, ' Papal Zeppelins'
Heavens above!

Also love the idea of gliders as lifeboats/special unit insertion.  Much less to model, takes up less room on table & would be a great start to a scenario, 'Corporal Fife, we seem to have landed on the wrong side of the woods'.

[Dewbakuk]

My Nefarious Chinese Villains have a floating fort currently in construction. Once completed, the world will tremble!

[archdukek]

You may have noted in the text and in various discussions we have mentioned Dirigibles. In IHMN's 1895 they are an established method of transport.
Most civilian dirigibles are either passenger boats or mail carriers. They do not have the lift to be serious freight carriers. There are regular routes around Europe and the USA linking most capitals. They are especially popular where there is a sea or mountain crossing involved in the route, as they are not as fast as a modern locomotive across the plains.
The largest current civilian dirigibles match the best ones in real history for size and capability.
Military dirigibles tend to be smaller and more specialised. The Treaty of Berne (1890) between all the Great Powers, including China and Japan, outlawed aerial bombardment. Unfortunately no-one gave any thought to dirigibles being used to deploy small units of specialised troops, and this is the way military development of the concept has gone.
Civilian dirigibles tend to be driven by modern, oil-fuelled steam engines, and do the older military ones. However, the cutting edge of dirigible design is all electric using Edison or Tesla arc generators.
So dirigibles are a regular sight above the capitals of the world to the extent that most people do not point or gawk at them any more. At least seventy companies are building them around the world, so the range of designs is startling.
No-one has give any serious thought to powered flight yet as the internal combustion engine is still seen as a novelty. There have been some trials using gliders launched from dirigibles as lifeboats or silent deployment craft.
The USA is leading the world in the development of rockets, both for individual transport and intercontinental mail delivery. This innovation is fraught with difficulty though.

This description of the aerial capabilities in IHMN is extremely helpful. It has just instantly solved a problem I was having in a campaign setting. Is there any way this and similar background fluff could be pulled together into a an article on the Blog or this Forum to make it more readily available to new players of the rules. Not a full blown supplement perhaps a kind of technological glossary or dictionary just to get us started.
John

[Craig]

This description of the aerial capabilities in IHMN is extremely helpful. It has just instantly solved a problem I was having in a campaign setting. Is there any way this and similar background fluff could be pulled together into a an article on the Blog or this Forum to make it more readily available to new players of the rules. Not a full blown supplement perhaps a kind of technological glossary or dictionary just to get us started.
John

Yes there is, but it requires a slot in our very busy writing schedule, after all the job, wife and kids like me to pop in occasionally as well

Honestly we haven't put too much extra fluff out there as we wanted people to not feel constrained by it.