We are nearing 85% of our goal, and would like to thank everyone for their support! Please keep posting and forwarding and tweeting. Help us support this, one of the few hard-science games in the VSF genre, with a high quality sourcebook for Venus!
I'd like to take a couple of minutes to talk about our first stretch goal. This will be the Fighting Machines and Artillery book. This is our second technical book to support the Hive, Queen and Country universe. In this, we will provide data for around 20 historical vehicles, such as steam-traction engines, and some of the early fighting-machine concepts. In addition, we will be designing dozens of Victorian Science Fiction fighting-machines, steam tanks, walking machines, mono-wheels, and other fascinating devices, which will flood the markets and battlefields of our alternate Earth, Mars and Venus. We will also have over 100 historical artillery pieces, from 37mm automatic cannons to Mallet's 36-inch mortars. Late Victorian period artillery has been very poorly documented. We will fill that gap with data on weapons that saw service between 1880 and 1905. Little-known weapons like the U.S. Army's 7-inch siege mortar, the Spanish 8cm Sotomeyer, the Japanese 75mm Type 31 field gun, that have long been forgotten, will be detailed with statistics and illustrations. We will also "steampunk" things up with numerous "experimental" pieces and "scientific artillery" systems. To round the artillery section out, we will bring some of the more interesting weapons from the Great War back in time for use against the deadly enemies that the brave men and women of Earth will face. So we will include field, mountain, cavalry and horse artillery railway guns, naval landing pieces, machine cannons, siege guns, and rocket artillery.
If you are a VSF gamer, this will have plenty for you. If historical gaming is your bag, we can help feed your thirst for accurate historical data. Let everyone in your community (historical or science fiction) know about this project, please!
So what is the great big bonus? With Arun's skill as a draftsman and the availability of converting 3D drawings to 3D printed models, that means that as a side effect, all the artillery and vehicles we do drawings of will be available as 3D printed models!
The Flying Machines book generated over 100 different models in scales ranging from 15mm to 1:600th.
This means that for free, the wargaming and modeling communities will get dozens of models of fighting machines and artillery that have never been available before. If you have wanted to field the United States Army Siege Train from the Spanish-American War, you will finally be able to. Everyone can put 3.2-inch breechloaders on the table, but up to now only a scratchbuilder could deploy 5-inch siege rifles!
If you have a favorite artillery piece or primitive armored vehicle, let us know. We might have already included them, but you might have one we haven't seen yet. Also look at our rewards. There is the opportunity to have us flesh out your design! These will be certain to be done in 3D drawings, so you will get to put them on the game tables as custom-designed 3D miniatures. Everyone likes to personalize their armies - what could be more personal than an armored vehicle you designed that is custom-drawn and 3D-printed for you?