The Martians have invaded, time to return the favor!

The Martians have invaded, time to return the favor!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Balkan Military History


Balkan Military History is devoted to the study of the
military history of the Balkans. It is aimed primarily
at wargamers and others with an interest in the region
and its fascinating history. BMH has been online since
1997 and this is our eleventh year of continuous
operation.

Warchron



If you are interested in learning more about, or
discussing, the Great War on the Eastern front,
you can join Warchron, a discussion forum
specializing in this topic.

http://www.warchron.com/forum/index.php

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Russo-Japanese War Research Society


After a long hiatus the Russo-Japanese War Research Society web site will be updated with Extensive articles covering the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-1895
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Soon to come:

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Yes after a very long hiatus the Russo-Japanese War Research Society web site will be updated with an extensive series of articles covering the naval conflict during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This series will include complete Fleet Lists as well as detailed accounts of all the naval actions that took place during the conflict including orders of battle and charts for each engagement. This series has been extensively researched and will be a great addition to the Society web site.
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The Battle of Phung-Do (Asan) July 25th 1894, 0700 hours.
The Bombardment of Wei-Hai-Wei August 10th, 1894, 0600 hours.
The Battle of the Yalu September 17th, 1894, 1243 hours.
Attack of the Flying Squadron September 17th, 1894, 1249 hours.
The Fall of Port Arthur November 21st, 1894, 0700 hours.
The Siege of Wei-Hai-Wei February 2nd – 7th 1895.
Breakout February 7th 1895, 0600 hours.

Wargamingnz




Inane ramblings on war gaming and other hobby stuff!!!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A Wing And A Prayer


A Wing And A Prayer is a total conversion for the
Homeworld 2 engine, moving the action from space
combat to early twentieth century aerial battles
between a variety of fictional aircraft and airships,
ranging from scout fighters up to ironclad super
Zeppelins. Drawing on the style of games like
"Crimson Skies", and "The Hunt For The Red
Baron" and books like "Jack Black and the Ship
of Thieves" A Wing And A Prayer will thrust the
player into the gold age of flight, as the German
Imperial Airforce and the British Royal Flying
Corps decide the future of the countries far below,
and attempt to uncover why the Kaisers ultimate
aerial killing machine has mysteriously disappeared
in an Arctic storm.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/5649/a-wing-and-a-prayer

Steam Noir The Creations of William Wardrop



The Amiral DuPerre is the result of the French acquiring the technology of
the Albatross featured in Jules Vernes "Robur the Conqueror".

http://www.freewebs.com/steamnoir/index.htm

Abney Park - Airship Pirate


I think I've found our theme song!

Steampunk City Music


steampunk city
Charming place with a very lively atmosphere
steampunk city 2
Industrial Steampunk Animation
Another cheery world view with some interesting airships.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Bedouin Attack On Syrian Railway





The railway was attacked between Dara and Busra ash Sham,
Syria by Bedouin raiders. Turkish cavalry from both the Dara
and Adu Kamal garrisons were sent to intercept the raiders
without success. All that was found at the scene of the attack
were bullet casings of French manufacture.....

Trouble In Mesopotamia



Kurds in the north with Russian made arms attacked a
Turkish garrison in Mosul. The attack was driven off with
low casualties to the Turkish forces. The Kurdish losses
were as high as forty percent. A cavalry brigade was sent
to reinforce the Mosul garrison. The Sultans' government
has announced that it will mobilize four reserve divisions
and will be sending two into this area. It is hoped that this
surge in Ottoman troop strength will stabilize the situation
in Mesopotamia.


The Sultans' government has sent a letter of protest to
St Petersburg over this incident. The Tzars' government
has denied any knowledge of this attack and further
categorically denies providing weapons to the Kurds.

Crisis in the Balkans - A Great War Spearhead Photo Report


The following photo report is from a fictional encounter wargame between Turks and Allied forces using the Great War Spearhead rules system set within the Great War in the Balkans. The game was played in November 2004 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Figures are 20mm plastics and are mostly from the collection of Robin Sutton.

The Great Adventure


World War One was a period of momentous change:
changes in tactics driven by startling changes in technology.
Many of these changes were clearly signaled in the
Russo-Japanese War (and even as far back as the American
Civil war), yet European armies chose to ignore these
portents of change. Early attempts to break the western
front stalemate saw exciting strategic initiates such as the
Dardanelles landings, now seen as a monumental failing of
western arms and a great victory for Turkish arms. As a
result the strategic innovation represented by this campaign
is often ignored, even though Sir Basil Liddell-Hart would
have been proud of its strategic intent.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Update On Frederick IV Class Land Dreadnought


As reported eariler the Prussians are constructing a huge
heavily armed land iron clad at their workshop in Dioscuria.
Over the last several weeks large containers have been seen
being delivered to the Prussian holdings in Dioscuria from
Germany. These shipments although done with the greatest
of security, some of the markings on the containers have been
seen to be from the KRUPP manufactures in Essen, Germany.
Other containers were obviously of massive steam engine parts,
along with large amounts of sheet steel.
*Please note that as one of the competition rules is not to
post photos, I will hold back until the end of the 80 days.
The Frederick IV Class Land Dreadnought is a unique design
with a Tripod killing 150mm forward firing gun, two turret mounted
77mm guns and two sponson mounted 77mm guns, two quick
firing 45mm guns, and 3 Maxim machine guns. The design has
two steam boilers and two tracked drive trains The final stages
of construction are nearly completed.

HomespunMagixx - Tzar Tank


In the history of armored fighting vehicles, probably the strangest would have to be The Russian Lebedenko or Tzar Tank. Developed in the earliest days of tank development, it was not alone amongst many other strange designs.

Conceived by the engineer N. Lebedenko in 1914 who at that time was employed by a private firm working for the Russian War Dept., the tank was essentially an enlarged gun carriage. Working with N. Zhukovskiy and his nephews, B. Stechkin and A. Mikulin, they designed a motorized battle machine weighing approx. 40 tons with 2 large spoked wheels in the front about 9 meters in diameter tapering in the back to a much smaller double wheel used for steering. Between, the hull of the tank hung from the front wheels supported on a pair of tuning-fork like arms. The large front wheels, it was hoped, would give the tank the ability to cross practically any obstacle. They initially called the vehicle Nepotir, but it came to be known as the Lebedenko, after the designer. (Sometimes it was nicknamed "The Tzar", after the financier.)


http://www.homespunmagixx.com/TzarTank/tzar.html

Monday, March 17, 2008

Great Rail Wars




Rules for miniature war gaming in the Deadlands:
The Weird West universe.

Take a look at a few games being run by our good
buddy Geo Gibson.

Our First Anniversary


Congratulations gentlemen we've reached
our first anniversary! We've also had over
6,400 visitors and 356 posts.Not bad for
a year's work, my thanks one and all!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

The Winans Steam Gun


Mythbuster's "Confederate Steam Gun"
Episode Premiering December 5, 2007
Features Winans Steam Gun

Sandy Hook Coastal Battery


Fort Hancock - Sandy Hook

Built 1892 - Declared Surplus 1974
www.fort-hancock.org
www.geocities.com/nycforts/SandyHook.html

The Peacemakers


Stephen Jameson as a game artist at
Blue Omega Entertainment.
The game
is a steam-punk
fantasy western, with
first person combat and 3rd person
exploration and navigational puzzles.

It contains a great deal of complex steam
powered machinery, beautiful epic
environments, and things that make
sounds like “grinka, grinka, thunk,
BOOM.”

http://www.stephenjameson.com/game.htm

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Mech Army


Hmm... Not so much a mechanised army as an overly hostile
caravan park.

Apparently the next war will be fought by armored divisions
that bear a suspicious resemblance to bread tins and Swedish
hand massagers with the odd casserole pan thrown in for good
measure. This is the sort of thing that happens when designers
are faced with unrealistic deadlines and start grabbing ideas
from the first thing they spot on the shelf.



http://davidszondy.com/future/war/mecharmy.htm

Flame Tank


Oh. My. God. This is a pyromaniac's dream come true:
Tanks spewing out a flaming sea of petroleum on a hapless
enemy. At least the following infantry are wearing asbestos
suits, but what are they going to do when they get to the
enemy lines? Roast marshmallows? I recall reading somewhere
that when the Germans tried using giant flamethrowers during
the First World War their own men were so terrified by the
things that they refused to advance. Hell, I wouldn't be within
a mile of one of these track-mounted barbecue lighters, much
less walking beside them. One shell in the fuel tank and that's
all she wrote.



http://davidszondy.com/future/war/flametank.htm

Combat Walker




****************************

The logical goal of all this walking machine research
was something like this proposed Combat Walker
of 1962 that consisted of a caravan of motorized
mechanical pack mules led by a manned combat unit.

One must admit it has a certain charm; the tiny cockpit,
the tiny periscope, the tiny cannon, the tiny engine.

The tiny armor was not so good.

http://davidszondy.com/future/war/combat_walker.htm

Cold Wars 2008 Sky Galleons Game II


"Battling the Martian Pirates"
Here again with kind permission of Robert Mosher,
his view of the massive Sky Galleons game held at
Cold Wars 2008.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Cold Wars 2008 Sky Galleons Game


Here with the kind permission of the creator
David Kasper photos from the massive Sky
Galleons game held at Cold Wars 2008.

COLD WARS 2008 IS OVER - LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!


Tyrants tremble! With this motto and the concepts of "liberty, equality and brotherhood," the French Revolution shook the foundations of autocratic Europe to its very core. But it was not the first nor the last time when rebellion or civil war would dramatically change the course of history, where the world would never be the same. Caesar battled Pompey to determine the existence of Rome as republic or empire. The fate of kings saw the clash of armored knights under roses white and red. Royalist and Roundhead dueled for the future of England's parliament while Minutemen and Brown Bess gave birth to the American republic. Blue and Grey defined with their blood the concept of union at quiet little places such as Antietam and Gettysburg, and on and on and on. From the Roman Civil War to the Russian Revolution it remains a tragic fact that meaningful change has often come on the point of a spear or down the barrel of a gun. If this sounds like your kind of history, then keep your powder dry, your aim keen and prepare for a revolutionary experience at Cold Wars 2009, 12 thru 15 March, where our theme will be Revolution - 3000 Years of Rebellion, Civil War and Revolutionary Change.

Paper Sky Galleons & Airships

1/600 scale.and Airships for 15mm scale Gaming

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Dampf's Modelling Page


The Airships of Luther Arkwright part three
To accompany the Royalist and Cromwellian fleets,
he has three additional groups of Luther Arkwright
inspired Aeronefs. They are a pair of transport Digs -

http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/

Saturday, March 8, 2008

For Queen and Country


Step wide of the Widow at Windsor
For half of creation she owns
We bought her the same
with the sword and the flame,
and salted it down with our bones.

- Rudyard Kipling
A great page on Victorian Sci-fi!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Beyond The War of the Worlds

On the History International Channel PRIME TIME TV
Friday, March 7:

In print worldwide for over a century, The War of the Worlds is H.G. Wells at his best. Beginning with its literary origins, we trace the path of this amazing story from riveting magazine serial through the panic broadcast of 1938, and then to major motion pictures. We uncover the long-forgotten 1968 broadcast that again drove thousands into the streets of Buffalo, New York; and gain exclusive access to a new animated feature film. Loaded with state-of-the-art special effects and stunning reenactments, we revisit not only the famous but the obscure, including the radio broadcast in Ecuador that cost 20 people their lives. Filled with vintage film clips and previously unseen interpretations of the Martians, this is one you won't want to miss!

Doctor Steel's Aerial Terror Weapons


Her Majesty's Secret Service has made the following
discoveries.Although there is no direct evidence to link
these air ships to Dr Phineas W. Steel. The strange
and horrifying designs shown in this photograph lead
most of our researchers to the conclusion that the
Doctor must be behind them.