Sunday, July 05, 2015

Wargaming H.G. Wells - War of the Worlds - Farthing Class Land Ships.


I have always been drawn to the stories of H G Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne – visionaries of the future and Victorian belief in man's triumph over all. 

War of the Worlds arguably the greatest work of science fiction ever written, Published in 1898 the novel of a Martian invasion of Earth has never been out of print. It is a work of enormous vision and imagination, predicting space travel, laser technology, chemical weapons and robotics.
Over several years I have been building up a collection of forces very much in the true style of British Home Service forces in 1898 and Martian forces inspired in no small way the Jeff Wayne 1978 album art work.

When Alien Studio launched their kickstarter a few years ago, I spotted a small number of items that would compliment the collection of Martians and Crown forces that I already owned from Blackhat Miniatures, but hopefully without going to over the top or to daft and fanciful and keeping to the style and design of the period.

AQOTMF Mono tank seemed to fit the bill, but having made the decision to move to the Martian Empre rule set and keep the game in the victorian era  I figured it deserved a new name.....

I give you the Farthing Class Landship

 
 

whilst the miniature range for AQOTMF is stated as 18mm, the drop down to 15mm looks fine and the naval blue and general design takes it away from the feel of Little Willy in the WW1 era which was really developed to counter the difficulties of crossing trenches.

The proposed stats are set out below.

HMLS - 311, 312, 313 Her Magisty's Land Ship - Farthing Class.




Type
No. of Stands
Hits per Stand
Fire Factor
Combat Factor
Morale Factor
Points

HMLS Farthing Class
Regulars
1
7
8
8
8
150
Holds a crew of three. Move 30cm,
Weapon range 40cm, large target.


As to the name.
It just sort of felt right.


 

11 comments:

  1. The perfect name for them Stu! The naval blue works a treat and look forward to seeing these in action. The 'John Carter' film is on tonight so might watch it for some inspiration...

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    Replies
    1. Slated in the press, but I thought it was fine, doubt we will ever see the next installemtn mind.
      Cheers
      Stu

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    2. Well we watched last night and really enjoyed it. Some great special effects and ones that did not dominate the film IMHO. Certainly got me interested in some form of Mars gaming in the future.

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    3. That's how the madness starts Steve.

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  2. Unexpected (for me!) and nicely done...excellent job!

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    Replies
    1. Cheers Phil, any period will do :-)
      Regards
      Stu

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  3. Nice work Stu, !
    Regards Gav .

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    Replies
    1. Coming to a table near you.....
      Cheers
      Stu

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  4. Its only when you get to the second picture that it gives you the idea of scale with the land ships next to the troops. Both figures and ships superbly painted and the colours compliment each other.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Pat.
      Another minor distraction.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  5. Very cool models, Stu! They look great with the infantry.

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