The Battle for Mars
SORRY, PICTURES TO FOLLOW SOON :(
For those
who wish to know more about our campaign or who Valentine and his unit
are, stay tuned for the post 'Valentines Mobile Steam Artillery'. Ten years has now
passed since the Martian Invasion was beaten off by a combination of guts and
..well..a mild cold. Mankind has returned to Mars to pursue the invader but in
absence of any sign of them has started to carve great chunks of territory for
themselves. The 'great game' of Empire that plays itself out on Earth is
mirrored here also. Alliances have been made and broken. A great German aerial
mining fleet has been attacked and utterly destroyed in the Floating
Archiapeligos. Queen Victoria herself was nearly snatched away at the hands of
Prussian forces while visiting her estates in Norfolk (see 'the Battle of
Sandringham'). But now our gaze averts to Mars again, as a small armoured steam
column trundles across the vast expanses of Mars. Little knowing that the first
blow of the war is about to fall on them.
The story continues... There were three types of men who came to Mars. The desperate, the lunatics and the zealots. Which was he? Brigadier General Valentine pondered as he reviewed the progress of his mobile steam artillery column as it crossed the vast Tetris plains from the chair of his command tractor. All around him the red rubble plains extended to the horizon, with only the railway line and the telegraph to his left to break the view. The Romans would have been proud of this road. Or whoever had built this road. He corrected himself….whatever had built this road. He could see why men talked about ‘the red mist’. The dust was everywhere. He couldn’t get the smell out of his nostrils, his hair, his food. He woke with red tears in his remaining eye. He could see how it could drive a man mad. The trials with the French had gone well enough. At least the heights of Louisbourg Rouge had been a break from the monotony of the plains. The steam artillery had demonstrated its ability with hardly a breakdown and the French were obviously impressed. The government had thought it a good idea to send their ‘national hero’ to Mars to beat the drums. But he inwardly knew that he was being brushed under the carpet. Too many inconvenient articles he’d penned in the Times. ‘Britain not ready to fight another War’, ‘Forces too weak’, ‘Who beats the bounds of the Empire?’. They could not confront him publicly. They were too afraid to do that. However, some brain in Whitehall had arranged the ‘tour’ for him and his men. He spat red grit over the side of the tractor. It looked like blood. The Plains of Tetris do eventually peter out in the hills of Mor Gardos. It is here that several passes lead up into the mountains and mining towns have sprung up around them. This area became populated by a mixed bag of colonists prospecting for minerals but it was the huge finds of Martian Grey Coal that kept them here. The town of Llangaston is one such place. Once a Drune settlement, the original population was mostly wiped out by Earth diseases before the time of the Martian Invasion and is now mostly Welsh. The new inhabitants use the Drune buildings and have adapted them to their purposes. Mine entrances and spoil heaps surround the town, and the grey dust percolates over everything. The strange fluted Mourn trees thrive here, their large open tops whistling dirge like music as the winds pass over them. Constable Dai Evans was waiting by the roadside to welcome the column as it arrived. So were most of the inhabitants. Not much had happened in this mining town since the flagpole was erected last month. But it was Mad Eye Davis who got the privilege of the first greeting, walking out in front of the first tractor as it’s driver veered wildly to miss him and causing the whole column to stop quickly in a haze of red dust. His deputy manhandled Davis away while he screamed at the men on the steam tractors. Poor fellow. He’d been a good man when he came to the town but the cave- in had changed that. Fourteen men had perished, but he’d somehow survived by finding another way out. They’d found him in another settlement over 40 miles away, screaming about the ‘strange city underground’ and the ‘spiders…spiders from Mars!!’. When constable Evans turned around he saw a tall form emerging from the swirls of dust. Red dust caked the scarf the man withdrew from around his face and uniform. But one area of his face no dust would stick to…the mask. It covered half his face and was more polished than any mirror he’s seen. He knew what it was…Duranium. He found he was staring. “What is happening here Constable?” he heard the voice clearly over the roar of the steam turbines. “Er..sorry sir about old Davis. He’s a bit….well..mad sir. Message arrived in the last hour…it’s urgent. They’ve been sending it on repeat for the last day but the lines gone dead sir”. Valentine read the message quickly then seemed to pause and read it again slowly. He passed it to his sergeant. “Sergeant, ask the men to fall in and read them this message. Constable, where is the next repeater station?” “About 12 miles away sir” “And the telegraph has been down for how long EXACTLY?” “An hour and ten minutes sir…just went dead in the middle of the message” “Constable, listen very carefully. Get your people to put every box, table, cart and flour sack you have across the main street. If any of your men have weapons they may wish to find them now. Otherwise keep indoors and lie low. I believe we are about to have some very unwelcome guests”. As the constable ran off Sergeant Tibbit had the men formed and was starting to read the message to them. “A grave and unprovoked attack has been made upon her majesty Queen Victoria on English soil by the forces of the Prussian Empire. The Queen is unharmed and the attack has failed. However, as of 2 o’clock GMT today we are officially at war with Prussia and her allies. All men are requested to return to their stations and prepare for the enemy. God save the Queen”. Brigadier Valentine looked down the main street of the town and around the old piles of mining slag littered with the detritus of years of work by the inhabitants here. It wasn’t much but he knew the Prussians would want to seize this vital link between the forces of Britain and New France. Maybe they did not know he was here…maybe he could surprise them. If only he had more men! A part of him was glad. He’d been vindicated in his fear of this. He’d known it was coming. But what a place to end! Not some valiant last stand before London or the White Cliffs! A filthy dusty mining town just clinging to the edge of civilisation. Ah well…so be it. Let them call him mad, desperate or a zealot. He was still a damned artilleryman. He looked up to find his men looking expectantly at him. The red coats of the Guards indistinguishable from his own. “Sergeant, BATTLE FORMATION!”. |
Forces:
Prussian
40 Prussian Infantry
15 Sea-battalion
5 Heavy Machine Gun teams
10 Clanks with variety of mortars/ machine guns and gramophones to distribute propaganda (!!?)
6 Repairmen
1 Armoured Bicycle scout
1 HUGE Derailer tank
British
1 Officer (Brigadier General Valentine)
1 ‘Character’ (Mad Eye Davis)
20 Guards
15 Artillerymen
10 Layabout townsmen who couldn’t hit the side of a barn
2 Small steam artillery pieces with conventional guns
1 Small artillery piece with lightning generator
1 Large artillery piece (command tractor) with Martian heat-ray, artillery piece and 2 Gatling Guns.
The British forces had thrown up some simple barricades and tried to make best use of what cover they had, which was important against so many machine guns!!
The Prussian commander chose to split his attack into 3 sections, with the Derailler tank taking the middle along with the bulk of the infantry. The Sea-battalion and other Prussian infantry took the left flank and the machine gun group plus a smaller unit the right. The clanks were mainly in the centre and on the right also.
There wasn’t much cover for them so they had to move quickly and try to overwhelm the artillery.
Things went disastrously for the British at the start. Dust had obviously clogged the engines for not one vehicle out of 4 made it’s sustain roll! As I cursed my luck, his machine guns opened fire and both the British Guards units on the flanks took casualties. Fortunately they didn’t flee before this onslaught (of stern stuff were they!).
The miners in the centre looked nervously on as they saw the soldiers falling and sheltering before a barrage of fire.
The clanks were going fairly well and making good progress across the table, as were the troops on the left flank. Most of the artillery was short range (24 inches) so had to bide their time.
The second turn went equally well for the Prussians with another four Guards leaving the table and only 1 Prussian eating schnitzel in the sky. Even worse, on the right flank the mobile steam artillery piece had taken a direct hit from the Derailler which forced the occupants to flee, though the Prussian commander graciously allowed them to flee by retreating in their vehicle.
The Prussians, sensing an easy victory over a crumbling foe, rushed onwards. But now for the first time the British started rolling well! British vehicles managed to start last turn and sustain (all but one). The command vehicle finally let loose with its ray…3 direct hits on the clank unit nearest to the men. 3 melting piles of clank…
The artillery piece and Gatling gun opened up on the Prussian infantry to their left and most of them were obliterated, with only the officer and 2 men able to turn tail and run. The men were later to be killed but the officer rallied and charged the command vehicle single handed! (he actually got to the end of the game unscratched, to be later handed the 'most lucky blighter left alive award').
On the left flank the Sea-battalion began taking casualties from the remaining Guards (who now down to 4 men here had still not run) plus one of the artillery pieces, which drove a nice area effect shell into their centre. Meanwhile, some of the remaining Clanks were breaking down and slowing the Prussian advance. On the right, the machine gun crews were advancing up close to the 7 or so remaining Guards, but mostly missed. However, the Clank managed to fire off its mortar and score a direct hit, which reduced them to only 5 men.
Next turn and the Derailler tried to finish off the disabled steam tank. It hit, but in a bizarre occurrence managed to touch off the weapon which fired directly into the oncoming Prussian unit, destroying the front of it. The tank crew died heroes as they were obliterated by the machine guns. The Guards here, having still not fled returned fire on the machine guns. They killed only 1 crewman but this was enough to make them run!! However, as the turn was simultaneous the machine guns returned fire, killing their NCO and all but 2 men, who hastily fled!
The Prussians had had the wind knocked out of them but there were still a lot of infantry on the table and they were now within a march of the artillery. The Guards on the left finally broke and fled with only 2 remaining men alive. Then another stroke of luck as the Deraillers main weapon was destroyed by a freak hit from one of the small cannon “Good shot Sir!!” was heard to ring out across the carnage. The clanks were again hit, this time by the electric cannon which welded the nearest one into a solid lump of metal and watched as it slowly toppled to the ground. In a last ditch attempt at defiance, the British in the lead Steam tank charged at the ranks of encircling Prussians and trampled them, crushing three.
At this point we noticed that no-one else was left at the club and the janitor was tapping his watch. OOPS.
So …what would have happened next? With so many Clanks (and all the repair crew) left on the table plus probably 20 Prussian infantry it was only a matter of time before the British were engulfed. As the first wave of a larger force, there was no way that the British could win here, but put up a jolly good show they did.
And so here is what did happen…
The Artillery abandoned their vehicles, dragging the unconscious form of Brigadier Valentine. As a final thought, Sergeant Tibbet had put the Martian Heat ray on overdrive, knowing that it would create a huge explosion in about a minute. Retreating with what men he could find, the Sergeant headed for the nearest mine entrance. He had not liked what he’d seen those Clanks do to the wounded men just now…. He’d found a dozen or so townsfolk already in the entrance, sheltering from the bullets and explosions. It was an absolute shambles. A few of the Guards took shelter at the entrance and let fly with what little ammunition they had left before he ordered them inside.
A few miners had taken torches and they followed them down into the tunnel, holding on to each other’s belts. They had just entered a larger chamber when a tremendous explosion and vibration shook them from their feet and doused the lights. The command vehicle had gone up. But now the entrance was completely blocked!
Will they survive? What are the Spiders from Mars? Will Mad Eye Davis lead them out? Will he find his hip flask? Did the Prussians manage to follow them in before the entrance was sealed? Will the Welsh start singing? Who built the ‘strange city underground’ and did they have a good bus service and problems with graffiti? Who’s that pinching me?
Until next time!
Happy soldiering!
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