"Do you "science fictionize" your VSF infantry?" Topic

In other words, do you do anything to differentiate them from standard Victorian era troops, or just leave them as they are and leave the SF part of it to the land leviathans and armed dirigibles?

I did one unit like that. My first Naval Brigade unit got bronze colored guns, with a green and yellow "flash" at the muzzle, hopefully to represent an electro-galvanic-hyperbaric-ether-rifle or some such.

I was not very impressed with the results. At the end of the day, I just thought they looked weird.

Have others tried anything similar?

Up to this point, with the exception of a few heroic leader types I have left my troops unchanged. Although recently I came into possession of enough sets of DaVinci style wings from a GW Empire unit to make a unit of glider born jump troops to go with one of my airships.

I've added an odd weapon or two but the Brits are mainly unchanged.

My Martians are unmodified from the historical figures, as well.

I've bought some dedicated VSF troops from The London Warroom, the Parroom Station line. Most of my troops however are standard.

My grounding in VSF was Space: 1889, so I stick with pretty historical stuff, limiting the "SF" to the landships & flyers (oh, and Martians).

I keep my Americans unchanged. It makes it seem a bit more special when they finnaly shoot down the martian riding the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

-Joe

Basic troops are standard Victorian armed figures. I have a few special field pieces like electro cannons but these are crewed by regular artillerymen. So its only the landships etc that are SF.

Unable to find more oop GW praetorians at reasonable prices on Ebay (figs are great for VSF), I make my own now, combining Warzone plastic bodies with Artizan WWII Italian heads (I've just started this project…):

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I wish we had some sort of metric for this. A spectrum, a rating, something. Because VSF can be history as it happened, with exactly one nuclear submarine, or it can be every trooper with steam-turbine power armor.

Fantasy as the same problem. In LotR exactly five characters can do any magic at all. Wait, its six (Gandalf, Sauruman, Sauron, Elrond, Galadriel, Arwen). In Glorantha, everybody, and I mean everybody, does magic – every barroom brawl starts with a turn or two when people glare at each other and power up their enchantments.

I wish there was a quick and easy way to express how fantastic your fantasy is, or how SF your VSF is.

Andrew

I guess I should be helpful and add that I usually have historical troopers and just add amazing vehicles, monsters, and a support weapon or two.

And I have a lizardman army as an enemy, since that greatly improved my chances of getting my son to play. They have giant crossbows with flaming bolts, and some technology they no longer understand. I'm working on a giant turtle with decks and weapons.

Andrew

I like my 'VSF' to be very heavy on the 'V' and limited on the 'SF'. My interest in this genre also began with Space 1889 and is still rooted there. When I feel the need to go "off the hook" SciFi .. it becomes a combo of 40k and .. well .. anything …

Historical martians?

Yea, right. Wouldn't want it known that I was playing un-historical Martians. I might get my game kicked out of Historicon for being "marginally sci-fi".

Frederick, I saw it also.

Streetline wrote: "My Martians are unmodified from the historical figures, as well."

I got a smile out of that and I hope that it was as intended.

I hate it when someone takes historical Martians and paints them up in non-historical colors.

There were historical Martians. Remember the canals? It was, in the period discussed, not crazy to believe Mars was inhabited.

If our figures fight the wars of those times, must they not believe the beliefs of their times?

Which leads to the question, what do ancients figures breath, since Oxygen wasn't discovered until the 1770s?

Andrew

Have anyone tried GW Kroot for Martians? I think they had just the right mix of wild and technology to make a very credible martians.

My VSF is pretty much Space 1889 with a little Gaslight..
so humans are pretty much historical.. well, except for the Eureka figures on their velocepdes..:-) Arty is also standard except for some scratchbuilt electro-whatchacallems..

Cav.. well, I don't have any cav. Suggestions..?

As for natives, I follow the Space 1889 guidelines for the various Martians.. the exception being the Dark Elves I use..

Oh.. and the Skaven.. er.. Ratmen (a growing power stemming from an experiment gone horribly wrong..)

Venusuians are skinks and other reptilians.. fairly standard.

geudens – very nice work on the conversions.

They are nice, though a little too Warhammery for my taste.

My campaigning is largely confined to the traditi9onal US/Canada battlefields, so no real need to scifi up my troops, except when necessary.

However, I have added Zouaves hanging from Birdmen of Catrazza wings, Camel lancers, 40K Rhino AFVs and sundrie stuffe.

I guess my figures are very SF. I have Brigade Games Iron Brigade, steam jump pack, and Fire-Rifle troops, as well as their female zouaves and elctro-cannon.
I also have Eureka's impervious Suits and bicycle lancers.
And I converted some Mage-knight figures into a troop of cavalry on steam mounts.

-Chris

I am still waiting for the Osprey release on the Martian troops and their campaign series on the major Martian land battles.

I hate putting a lot of work into a historical game only to find out that I had bad source material (then you have to re-do stuff or face shame and ridicule)

In the mean time I am focusing on the major Space Naval engagements which are better documented.

PDF link

Plus it was the naval battles that help set the stage for the land colonies and the eventual struggles for control of planets surface.

Still working on the German and Belgian ships :)

I hate it when someone takes historical Martians and paints them up in non-historical colors.

Sky blue and Crimson, as according to the Soldiers Companion. Can you get more historical Martians?

My British use the Martini and Americans the springfield or Kraag. Throw in a couple landships and some RAFM or Paroom Station Martians and you have my VSF standards.

Hmmm, they seem immune to sarcasm, and have even shrugged off several irony bombs. These VSF folk are persistent, to say the least. Still trying to work out how this is not Science Fiction, Science Fantasy or just Fiction. I don't really mind either way. I enjoy this area of gaming whatever you call it. It just confuses me how some consider it historical, or would worry about paint color. Now, if the argument is multi-use, then I'm there, baby! Paint up your favorite 19th C. colonial infantry and use em' on earth and Mars. I'm all for that. Mental gyrations over historical Martians, not so much.

I use herocliz steam gunners as fembots and my french foreign legionaires fight Spugs.

To Geudens

I like the Warzone figures with Italian heads – well done, I now know what to do with all my plastic Warzone figures.

Thanks for the photos.

Tony
dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com

To Mephistopheles

How to SCI FI up Victorian troops?

ADD RIVETS – LOTS OF THEM.

Tony
dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com

I started with GW Preatorians and turned them more "Victorian" than "40K" remove shulls and imperial eagles add rivets and Big boilers -brass and iron colours of choice.This is before I discovered the wonders of the web and now its Eurkea and Brigade (with others) along side them.

It just confuses me how some consider it historical, or would worry about paint color

We worry about the paint colour the same way all wargamers do – as it makes it look right. The fact our British line ar fighting Martians doesn't stop them being British line. Fighting fictional ACW or other period batles doesn't let you off the colours, does it?

"Oldgamer: geudens – very nice work on the conversions."
Thx!

"Basilius 66: Have anyone tried GW Kroot for Martians? I think they had just the right mix of wild and technology to make a very credible martians."
I'm about too, just received them in the mail today…

"Mephistopheles: They are nice, though a little too
Warhammery for my taste."
Might be, but most of the r&f will be "normal" British colonials, these are just the "elite"…

"Damppanzerwagen:I like the Warzone figures with Italian heads – well done, I now know what to do with all my plastic Warzone figures. Thanks for the photos."
Hey, that's what we're here for!

Rudi

Geudens – Very well done!

My Earth troops are, for the most part, historical, and are painted as closely as possible to available documentation. That being said, I'm currently waiting for some Renegade Miniatures WW1 German Jaegers Skirmishing to arrive at the FLGS to convert into Jaegermonsters for a madgirl force – a Huntsman spider tank being the centerpiece.

Al | rivetsandsteam.com

dampfpanzerwagon "How to SCI FI up Victorian troops? ADD RIVETS – LOTS OF THEM."

To their handlebar moustaches? Monocles?

"Basilius 66: Have anyone tried GW Kroot for Martians? I think they had just the right mix of wild and technology to make a very credible martians."

I seem to remember someplace -might even have been TMP- where somebody cut the head off a Kroot, added another Kroot head and torso on top (so it had a very long torso and four arms) and ended up with a nice looking Green Barsoomian Martian.

Those would be mine:

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Mike

Nice Martians, Mike!

Yep, very nice indeed.

A complete aside in terms of arming the VSF natives: Is there a manufacturer of 15-18mm that makes a line of separate weapons that includes late C19 rifles?

My armies are British Colonial and Home service, and Prussian Colonial and 1866/70. For VSF i give them characters and vehicles etc and a few units of VSF – Ironclad miniatures, Pax Limpopo to mention a couple of lovely ranges,

Tally Ho!

Lentulus, not that I know of in that scale I'm afraid. I know a couple that do them in 25/28mm but not 15/18mm.