"Floating Victorian Casino on 1900 Mars for Space 1889" Topic

We've been playing 1889 for a number of years (since it came out) , We are OLD gamers.

One of my characters in the game is a former riverboat gambler from New Orleans named Rep Alcazar. He's modeled after my favorite old tv characters: Brett Maverick, Yancy Derringer and Bat Masterson.

Rep is at the point in his career where he is ready to "settle down", which in his case is to start a business. A huge floating casino in one of the "Yankee" areas of Mars.

It will be big , round, have a small fleet of ships as support and move occasionally.

Any ideas you gentleman and ladies may have about this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanx
Doug Prosser (friend of Skippy001)

Floating on the canals, or via Liftwood? Or able to do both?

Cover art by Vincent Di Fate.

Ron

What ideas are you asking for? Scenario ideas? 2D mapping of the casino? 3D modeling ideas?

Russia built a number of round ships in the late 1800s, including the Novgorod, the Vice-Admiral Popov, and the (mostly round) imperial yacht Livadia. The Livadia in particular would make a good jumping-off point for a round floating casino: link link

Brigade Models uses the round ships as the inspiration for some of their Imperial Russian Aeronefs, including the Dobrovolets, the Derskyi, the Novik, the Shevardino, and the Raevski: link

Scratchbuild a 1/1200 foating casino, and you could RPG in 28mm and fight aerial battles in 1/1200.

Really interesting idea.Love to see the pics of the finished ship/boat/floating casino.

I'm bit behind on the new stuff,which are the "Yankee areas of Mars"?

thanks for your feedback so far.
I doubt I'll be building anything so grand but visuals are great for showing players what they see!

When Skippy responds he'll be able to tell you more as our version of 1889 differs quite a bit from 'canon' :)

thanks again
Doug

oh and we'll probably be floating above the canals.
Will only move speed 2 and only have 2 weeks supplies

Brigade Models uses the round ships as the inspiration for some of their Imperial Russian Aeronefs, including the Dobrovolets, the Derskyi, the Novik, the Shevardino, and the Raevski

You can also find a few round ships in the Dystopian Wars Russian range from Spartan.

Given that it's a casino, and it's round, I would think designing it to have a visual resemblance to a gigantic roulette wheel would be a must. Just a matter of a fancy alternating red-and-black paint scheme on the hull, perhaps with numerical detailing.

very kewl idea Rich!

You can also find a few round ships in the Dystopian Wars Russian range from Spartan.

I haven't looked at Dystopian Wars in a while, I'll have to check them out.

As an aside, you can find 1/1200 miniatures of the historical Russian round ships from Wiking and other companies, if you want actual sea-going (or canal-going) versions.

Just a matter of a fancy alternating red-and-black paint scheme on the hull, perhaps with numerical detailing.

Clever idea! With docking/boarding facilities at Green-0 and Green-00, on opposide sides of the casino.

Oh yeah, forgot about the greens. Don't hang around casinos much. :)

I haven't looked at Dystopian Wars in a while, I'll have to check them out.

They seem to have been doing stealth releases, or maybe I just missed them. Ton of stuff up on their web store that don't ever remember seeing announcements for. Only noticed it the other day.

I would suggest starting with two mdf wreath circles like these:

If possible, get two that have an equal outer diameter, but the bottom one should have a solid or almost solid center. Then build a simple "colonnade" (more like a veranda) around it, like you would see around a Saloon:

Use dollhouse spindles for that:

link

And, instead of guests parking horses around the perimeter, they simply park their flyers.

Dan

ok now that last post is tempting me…

A different Saloon porch:

Should evoke feelings of being in a Saloon as well as on a steamer:

I would use two additional circles, gradually smaller diameters, to support the base and give the impression of mass. That's we're most of the engines and "stuff" could be.

Topside, at intervals around the railings you could have a few swivel guns, made to look as part of other fittings, so as to be concealed until such time as they may be needed.

Some could have harpoons on them, to prevent the escape of flyers with non-paying customers!

Dan

PS. You will need a tall fella, dressed in white, just like this one:

link
link

Dan

St. Germaine & I have been running a S1889 campaign since '89.
Restarted again
Parameters discussed: Hull size 100, spd 4 armor value 2.
Name "Pandora"
Originally the character tried this for the Canals but the Canal Guild didn't want this to go through. Politics & Money reasons.
The Free Irish New Devlin Colony, Mirage Company Shipyards is building this after Rep Alcazar spent three months convincing investors along with hosting spectacular gambling games(no fatalities).
Mars(Ahngarakha) is more populous at a mixed-18thC./19thC.
Belgians were defeated/Coprates freed. Used ideas from Empire of the Petal Throne&Talislanta rpg's so Earth Empires can't crush the various kingdoms/empires.
The Pandora will fly a course along the Canal route, stopping at cities, taking part in local festivals and regattas, catering to whomever can afford the floating resort. I envisioned a hexaganol ship with a boom tail but it's St. Germaines' call…he's talented enough to build it, I'll use the ol' Tesla Prod on him.
There will be bi-seasonal events(epic poker/whist etc.)for the rich, noble and the sharp.
Will also cater to conventions, symposiums, fashion shows and the ever popular 'Courtesan's Walk'.
Lavish cabins/suites, ballroom and dining area.
Heavy security, escort ships, treaties with various city-states, a great place for lovers, spies, thieves and diplomats.
Generally, no one would fire on this ship-board and seize, yes. There's too much you don't want to destroy. But there's always some fanatic that didn't get the memo.

If this rambles, I'm sick today(Yankee Mars is around Thymiamata).

Hexagon, you say . . .

link

Or . . .

wesellcoffee.com/page38.html

link

link

link

For an observation tower on it:

link

link

link

Dan

Thanks guys

link

from St.Germaine

WOW!!!

Now, that's amazing.

Question: If you are going to be using your casino for 28mm figures, how big around were you planning to make it?

Dan

I don't know if I'm THAT ambitious!

but I do appreciate all the feedback!

That is an awesome idea. A fellow named Pat Hreachmack build a river boat (SS Keystone) which was featured in WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED a long while back. His work was ahead of its time and a great old west / Victorian game setting. His boat had gambling but was not a Casino. With all the new materials and tools and such you could make something even grander. I have often been tempted to build a large scale "Love Train" for gamblers and adventurers!

I've been running S1889 using Savage Worlds (and the official SW S1889 book they published Red Sands) and I have to say even tho I love the original system (heh) SW got it right.