Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => VSF Adventures => In Her Majesty's Name => Topic started by: vsfguthroth on 15 May 2014, 06:59:03 PM
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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
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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
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The deck plan of such a craft might be a skirmish arena, but I'm more interested in the 'fluff' in this area.
Pete
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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
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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 ? :o
Pete
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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
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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.
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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 .........
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it is how the Society of Thule seem to be able to appear anywhere...
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And very useful for Companies based within the A-H Empire I expect ;)
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You might think that but I could not possibly comment lol
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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'.
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My Nefarious Chinese Villains have a floating fort currently in construction. Once completed, the world will tremble!
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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
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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.
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I have this weird idea of a small zeppelin controlled by a Babbage engine with an arc generator, shooting Pathans. it would take orders via a heliograph. call it something like a steam drone. the prototype would be named HMSD Obama.
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Let's not muddy things with modern politics. I'm sure there are period politicians and soldiers we can use.
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Like that Prussian concept of Aerial Bombardment such an idea would be considered barbaric by Her Majesty's Government :o No civilised nation would stoop to such a diabolic scheme!
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Coming out later this year:
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Very pretty but definitely Pulp/Dieselpunk rather than VSF methinks.
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Agreed. And it's out of scale. Either the gun is too big or the bag too small.
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Let's not muddy things with modern politics. I'm sure there are period politicians and soldiers we can use.
Agreed.
Gracias,
Glenn
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Agreed. And it's out of scale. Either the gun is too big or the bag too small.
Edit: The bag is really a polyhedral box.
The box is made of liftwood and the contents are ballast, not hydrogen?
Edit: The ballast consists of the rare metal "Varium" that temporarily gains mass/weight when electricity is applied.
Gracias,
Glenn
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The deck plan of such a craft might be a skirmish arena, but I'm more interested in the 'fluff' in this area.
Both of those aspects would be very interesting, especially the latter.
Whereas I'm more interested in the former; nice tight quarters for a mixup.
Honestly we haven't put too much extra fluff out there as we wanted people to not feel constrained by it.
Frankly, I thank you for that. Yet to see paint, I've still several GW Birdmen of Catrazza for Hanoverian light drop truppen, and a Hallmark Nautilus that still dreams of being a totally insane armored dig.
Still planning same for a nice big G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. dust up, but could add interesting color to the intrigue of an IHMN game. I like the breathing room to add them as I will. ;)
As for the Gun Dig, I don't see a gas bag, I see a rocket...
I'm with Craig on the Pulp sense.
Doug
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Coming out later this year:
How big is this item?
Could it be a drone in 28 mm but a small RPV in 15 mm and a portable heavy artillery piece in 6 mm?
Gracias,
Glenn
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With the gun removed it could be an aerial torpedo.
Gracias,
Glenn
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With the gun removed it could be an aerial torpedo.
Gracias,
Glenn
Either way, seeing it, I can't help but envision a shark's grin. :D
Doug
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Either way, seeing it, I can't help but envision a shark's grin. :D
Doug
lol
The Flying Tiger's Aerial Torpedo Company produces them? (Just add stripes)
Gracias,
Glenn
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How big is this item?
Could it be a drone in 28 mm but a small RPV in 15 mm and a portable heavy artillery piece in 6 mm?
Gracias,
Glenn
No idea sorry. I cut the pic out of their kickstarter images.
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No idea sorry. I cut the pic out of their kickstarter images.
I will have to wait and see... Not a lot of money right now, anyway. ::)
Gracias,
Glenn