Volume 3, Issue 1

Winter, 1887

The Æthergraph S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F I N T E R E S T :

 Nikola Tesla!  6mm VSF Gaming  Royal SWORD  IHMN After Action Report

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Clive’s Register

3

Popular Mechanicks

5

Reginald’s Regiments

6

House Rules

9

Verne’s Armory

11

IHMN Company

12

Diary of a Texican

4

Steampunk Bonaparte Jennifer Mei

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News of the Worlds By J Womack

Earth London: Buckingham Palace announced plans to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty’s reign this summer. Heads of state from around the worlds will be invited to dine with Her Majesty on June 20th. Paris: The theater Folies Bergere introduced a new entertainment a few months ago: a music hall review. The French version, typically, involves hordes of scandalously clad demimondaines prancing about the stage and singing gaily. An entertainment suitable for rakish gentlemen only, of course. New York: President Grover Cleveland dedicated an immense statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor. Milan: Famed composer Giuseppe Verdi debuted his new opera, Otello, at La Scala Opera House. West End theater critics rate it a triumphant success.

Venus More trouble from the savage lizard men. Terran fruit trees have been carefully transplanted into the fertile Cytherean soil, to provide additional nourishment for the human colonists of Venus. In an attempt to reverse the inevitable triumph of humanity, a tribe of savage gex has destroyed the orchards near the Texican outpost at Fort Houston. The fact that the orchards were located along the heavilypatrolled road connecting Fort Houston and the nearby Colonel Griggs Memorial Downport makes the assault all the more daring. In other news, disturbing reports of missing persons in Venusstadt continue to filter past the Kaiser’s censors. Several dozen laboring men at the German downport seem to have disappeared recently. No remains have been located, and no evidence suggests an incursion by wild lizardmen or any of the other indigenous creatures of the Jungle Planet.

Mars Tensions continue to rise between the Crown Colony and local despot, Emperor Hecowee of Ghalassa. Ghalassan troops mass near the established border zone between Hecowee’s kingdom and the Crown Colony. The Vice-Regent prudently ordered a column of British troops into the region to prevent any Ghalassan incursions. Meanwhile, thanks to improvements in agriculture based on British Science, the jahwan crop in the Khola District has never been better. Jahwan fibers are used to make incredibly

strong rope and a lightweight but very tough fabric preferred for gasbags.

Mercury New Tyburn Prison, built in the twilight zone of Mercury, received its first shipment of prisoners at the beginning of the year . The inhospitable nature of the First Planet makes this prison virtually inescapable. An escapee would not only have to find some method of providing himself with air on the lifeless rock, but would be confined to the narrow band of the twilight zone where temperatures are neither too hot, as on the sunward side, nor too cold, as on the dark side of the tide-locked planet. Finally, the Navy has stationed a permanent flotilla at the highport orbiting Mercury. Only approved lighters will be able to approach the prison. Batteries of heavy guns and rockets will shoot down any other aethrcraft that approaches without proper authorizations. The New Tyburn Prison has been designated the prison for criminals of the most dangerous sort. Rumour has it that a special cell has already been set aside for Otto Maton - tried in absentia for crimes against the Empire and Humanity - once his capture is effected.

Editor’s Corner

J Womack

“If you haven’t heard already, there is a new movie coming out in the spring, entitled John Carter. Yes, a big budget, big screen movie (by Pixar) of the adventures of John Carter on Barsoom. The trailer looks like it will be fun!” That was the original start for this column, to let you know how long ago it was that I started this issue of The Aethergraph. That movie was released on 09 March 2012. After more than two years on hiatus, I have returned to working on my e-zine project. What you see before you is the result of that work. I hope you enjoy it. The cover art for this issue was taken from the September 2011 issue of Fantasy Magazine, now Lightspeed. The original article can be found at http://www.fantasymagazine.com/new/artist-spotlight/artist-spotlightjennifer-mei/.

-J Womack

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Clive’s Register of Prominent Persons Nikola Tesla, Scientist and Inventor By J Womack

Nikola Tesla (Born 10 July 1856) is an inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. He was an important contributor to the birth of commercial electricity, and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism. Tesla's patents and theoretical work form the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor. He has also been instrumental in the development of broadcast power, currently a closely guarded military secret. Early Life and Education Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of Gospić, in the territory Croatian Military Frontier. His father, Father Milutin Tesla, served as a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church. His mother, Đuka, was herself the daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). His family moved to Gospić in 1862. Tesla attended school at Higher Real Gymnasium in Karlovac. He finished a four-year term in the span of three years. Nikola went on to study electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. The university says that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. In December 1878, Tesla left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in the Mur River. He went to Marburg, where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.

Early Career In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, the National Telephone Company. In 1882 he moved to Paris, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields, including an improved model of aether engine. On 6 June 1883, Tesla first arrived in the United States, in New York City with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of

Nikola Tesla recommendation to Thomas Edison, it is claimed that Batchelor wrote, ‘I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man.’ Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla claims Edison offered him $50,000 if he could redesign Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. In 1884 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, “Tesla, you don't understand our American humor,” thus breaking his word. Earning only $18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. Tesla immediately resigned when he was refused even a pay raise to $25 per week.

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(Continued from page 3)

In January of this year, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. He further developed the principles of his Tesla coil, and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances, the primary drawback to Mr. Edison’s direct current system. Tesla’s continual drive and almost maniacal energy has produced stunning results in mere months, and a flow of revenue for himself and his investors. He developed wireless telegraphy in March, followed quickly by wireless transmission of electrical energy in May. Combining the two systems, Tesla also developed what he terms “teleautomatics.” It differs from Professor Maton’s remote control apparatus in that it relies on a “radio” wave to be sent and received, rather than pre-programmed instructions changed by means of ultrasonic soundwaves. His development of alternating current with Westinghouse has revolutionized wired power transmission as well, although Tesla has been quoted as saying it was a mere stopgap measure until his universal system of broadcast power

Tesla Coil Schematic

could be developed. Stop-gap or not, AC power has turned Edison into a deadly rival. What other wonders will Mister Tesla provide to our modern industrial age? He has already produced new weapons, new engines, new energy sources, and new ways of communicating. It seems as if no field of scientific endeavour is too complex for this Serbian genius. [Editor’s Note: This is obviously not a purely historic treatment of Tesla. For the real, and incredibly fascinating man, I recommend you read any of several biographies, readily available.]

Diary of a Texican on Venus By Gny. Sgt. Seamus Cox, RTMC (ret.)

19 October … After two weeks of flying through the Æther we have finally made landfall on our new home for the next eighteen months. It was strange to see the Veiled Planet from a distance; first it was just a mysterious marble and each day she grew, at night we would take our daily ration topside and view our new home. On one of my evenings spent trying to make out land features and checking maps, Mr. Griggs caught me topside. We chatted about the famous explorers of our Earth and he wondered how Christopher Columbus felt when he reached the Americas. I answered that the Vikings made it to the Americas long before Columbus was born. Mr. Griggs stared at me for a moment then asked me finally where I had gone to school. I told him my mother was a school teacher and we (my brothers and sisters) were required to read after dinner and how I was always interested in history. My mother visited Dickinson Women’s College every week and brought me home history books to read. This seemed to be quite surprising to the subaltern as he had the impression that all enlisted men were either from rural farms or fishing boats on the wharves and were unable to even attend school, much less graduate, as I had. After spending a whole day searching for a proper site to make camp, this morning we started work on our new home, officially known as Fort Houston (although the men refer to it as Fort Humid). The clearing of trees has been a

nightmarish task. I cannot believe Fort Anahuac back on the Gulf Coast is less humid than this place! I think I have sweated more in the last two days than I have in my entire life. The Army’s “Black Legs” [nicknamed for the black stripe on the outside seam of the regular issue infantry uniform trousers] have been busy pulling security and scouting the terrain. We Marines have been working on the construction of the SET huts. [A SET hut is a type of simple building, built to a simplified modular plan, often used in frontier construction by the Republic’s military.] After a few huts have been finished, the construction of a moat and perimeter fence will begin. My chief concern is how we are going to build suitable roads in this environment. The ground is so soft! Tonight, after dinner, Private Jones produced an official Rugby ball - God Alone knows where he stowed it for the voyage, as space was very limited aboard the Santa Fe. The men played for about thirty minutes and Mr. Griggs played a little as well, seems as though he was an eight man on the Galveston Naval Academy's team. Well, I must turn in as tomorrow will be a long day.

Gunnery Sergeant Seamus Cox, of the Republic of Texas Marine Corps, kept a diary of his adventures in the new colony on Venus. It was printed in 1882 as “Diary of a Texican on Venus.”

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Popular Mechanicks

The Proxie “Trencher” Class Landship By J Womack

The latest thing in modern mechanickal warfare is the armoured fighting vehicle. These take many forms, from aerial gunboats to ostrich-like walkers. But the heaviest armour and guns are fitted to the landships operated by the Royal Navy. At first, these vehicles were virtual land leviathans, requiring more than a score of bluejackets to operate the engines and weapons. More recent designs have concentrated on reducing size and cost while keeping a wellprotected mobile platform for a heavy gun. The Navy's newest landship, following this new design theory, is being unveiled here and now: the Proxie "Trencher"-class Landship. History Proxie Coachworks has been in business in Chelsea for almost a hundred years. In that time, the master craftsmen working under the guidance of Mister Harold Proxie and his descendants have created many beautiful and fashionable carriages. Starting in 1842, Jeremiah Proxie, grandson of the founder, began placing his coach bodies over a mechanickal framework, creating horseless carriages powered by a conventional steam boiler. This business began to flourish, and an Army contract for transport vehicles was obtained in 1863. The first armoured trucks from Proxie were produced a decade later. This year, the engineers of Proxie Coachworks created their first successful landship class: the Trencher. Trencher Components The Trencher is fitted with a new power system so secret that no photostats may be taken of it, on pain of arrest for violation of the State Secrets and Treasonous Activities Act. Our engineers surmise that steam power is harnessed in some manner, but the vehicle lacks any obvious smokestack for the boiler. Also, any boiler would have to be very small to fit within the cramped hull of the Trencher. Propulsion is

provided through the increasingly common endless caterpillar track system. This has proven to be hardy and efficient in the shifting sands of Mars, and given a wide enough footprint, the soft soil of Venus. In regards to the Trencher’s armament, we can divulge that the vehicle is armed with a main gun in a 360degree powered traverse turret, estimated to be in the 17 to 20 pound range. Sponson-mounted heavy reciprocators are fitted to either side; an additional heavy reciprocator is set in the forward hull. With a crew of ten protected behind armour nearly as thick as a light cruiser's, it can still travel at speeds rivaling the fastest of cavalry (under ideal conditions). Crew Requirements      

Commander (commission officer) Four gunners Driver Loader Engineer (commission officer) Two mechanicks

One other advantage of the reduced size and weight of these new landship designs lies in its increased portability. Older designs of landship had to be partially disassembled to lift up to the Highport Station for interplanetary transport. Along with this new landship, a new heavy lift capable lander has been developed, allowing the entire vehicle to be lifted all at once, along with crew, fuel and ammunition. The reverse is true as well; on arrival at its destination, the Trencher can be dropped ready for combat in a matter of minutes, rather than requiring days of re-assembly on Mars or Venus. The first squadron of these formidable little vessels has already been purchased for training purposes on Earth. Three have been sent for evaluation on Mars. Additional squadrons are expected to be purchased for use throughout the British Solar Empire in the near future.

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Reginald’s Regiments of Renown: The Swedish Foreign Legion By Nils

Unit History As with many of Europe’s elite military units, the current version of the Swedish Foreign Legion (Värvat främlingslegionen) has its origins in the Napoleonic Wars. As part of its defeat in the 1808-09 Finnish War with Russia, Sweden lost the entire eastern third of its kingdom to Russia, which set it up as the Grand Duchy of Finland. At the time, there were a large number of Finnish units within the Swedish army. The few troops that wanted to return to Finland under Russian rule were allowed to do so, though most wished to remain loyal to Sweden. But the remaining Finnish soldiers were effectively foreigners since their homeland was no longer part of the Swedish Kingdom. So, the Swedish army created a Foreign Legion for the Finnish units to server under, looking back to the short lived Swedish Foreign Legion created from captured Polish soldiers during the Great Northern War. In 1812, Sweden sided with the British against France and joined the Sixth Coalition. The following year, the Swedish Crown Prince Carl John (formerly French Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte) helped to defeat Napoleon by leading the Coalition’s northern army at the Battle of Leipzig. The Swedish army marched onto Copenhagen and forced Denmark to cede Norway, adding it to the Swedish kingdom. During the war with the Sixth Coalition, the lines of communication between Denmark and Norway had been blockaded. Norway set up its own seat of selfgovernment and independent rule. When Norway became part of the Swedish kingdom, there was unrest and agitation for independence. This was most prevalent in the Norwegian military units that Denmark had repatriated. Due to their questionable loyalty, it was decided the units would fall under the command of the Foreign Legion. After concessions were made by the Swedish government to Norwegian self-rule, and humanitarian aid was sent to the Norwegian people, the Norwegian unrest dissipated. The Norwegian Regi-

Swedish Foreign Legion Troops

ment has now settled into its new home in the Legion. The newest addition to the Legion is the Jacobite Regiment. The Swedes and Scots have had long standing connections, dating all the way back to the early 17th century. A large number of Scots served in the Swedish army under Sweden’s King Gustav II Adolfus during the Swedish period of the Thirty Years War (1630-35). After the failure of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, King Charles XII of Sweden offered to send 10,000 troops to help the Jacobites. This never came to fruition due to Charles’ death in 1718. But the Swedes did send an unacknowledged unit to serve under Bonnie Prince Charlie in the ’45 rebellion. In addition to the military ties, the current Swedish monarch, King Oscar II is related to the husband of the current Jacobite Pretender, Maria Theresia of Austria-Este. They have a shared great grandfather, Maximilian I of Bavaria. There are also whispers of 200 year old connections between Jacobite and Swedish Freemasonry. England expelled the Jacobite supporters for taking up arms against the government on the 100th anniversary of the ’45 rebellion. The exiles then drew on the many and varied connections to Sweden to find a new home. Therefore, the Jacobite Regiment was formed in 1857.

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Combat History The Legion’s main posting has been defending the Swedish Gold Coast colony which continues to be a major source of income for the government. The Swedish Africa Company has its own Askari force for policing and protecting its mines and investments, while the Legion’s duties include protecting the borders and non-Company settlements. The Legion has been involved in numerous border skirmishes with native forces. It lent assistance to the British Gold Coast colony during the early stages of the 3rd Ashanti War (1873) before General Wolseley’s forces arrived . The Legion was key in the defense of Karlstad during the British attempt to annex Sweden’s colony in 1879. The Legion’s elite status and ability to fight in extreme environments made them the one of the top picks for the Swedish Expeditionary Force to Venus. Early dispatches report the Legion skirmishing with native Cytherean forces on Venus. It is also testing its mettle against other European powers on the jungle planet. Its most recent battle was against a rogue military force led by one Kaptain Kneemo. While Kneemo’s many mechanical and clockwork automata and vehicles were too much for the more conventional Swedish force, the Legion sold itself dearly to allow the rest of the Swedes to withdraw in good order.

Uniforms The Swedish Foreign Legion’s uniform retains some items from the Legion’s founding, while updating elements to remain current. The jacket is blue and the equipment belts and kepi with Havelock are yellow, based on the colors of the Swedish flag. The trousers are grey, harking back to the grey uniforms originally worn by the Finnish Jager units during the Napoleonic wars. Each of the three separate regiments are identified by the color of the epaulets and kepi hat bands: white and blue epaulets and blue hat band for Finland, red and white epaulets and red hat band for Norway, and all white epaulets and hat band for the Jacobites as their sign is the white Tudor rose.

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Having taking serious casualties so far on their posting to Venus, the future of the Legion is uncertain. But whatever the Cytherean adventure holds for them, they will face it with steel, lead and grim Nordic stoicism, mixed with a bit of Scottish ferocity.

Steampunk Roleplaying Games: A Listing Compiled by Peter Cobcroft

Alternate History Setting Airship Pirates (Victoriana) Brass & Steel Brass, Blood and Steam (FATE) Broken Gears Castle Falkenstein Clockwork: Empire Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks EABA Verne v1.0 (EABA) Fire, Blood and Steam Gearcraft (true20) Leagues of Adventure OGL Steampunk (d20) Space 1889 Stars of Empire (Hacktastic) Steamfortress Victory Steampunk (GURPS) Steampunk Crescendo Steampunk powered by Fate The Imperial Age (true20) Über RPG: Steampunk (Über) Unhallowed Metropolis Victoriana

Fantasy Setting Finster Country[German] Runepunk(Savage Worlds) Sorcery & Steam(d20) Steam, Savants and the Kandris Seal(d20) SteamCraft Steampunk Musha SteamWorks: Empire In Ashes(Omni System) Terah: Steampunk (Pathfinder) Wolsung

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When the Navy Walked : 6mm Variant By J Womack

When the Navy Walked is a good, solid set of rules for battles set in the mid 19th to early 20th centuries. I should know, because I helped write them! But the game was originally designed to be used with either 15mm or 25mm figures. That’s all well and good, but getting that many figures painted and based on stands was a daunting prospect for me. Don’t get me wrong I have hundreds of figures for VSF gaming in both scales, but they are individually based and I didn’t want to rebase them for WTNW. I could have done some sort of magnetic movement stands that combined my existing figures with group stands, but that seemed complicated and dull to put together. Therefore, I devised a different plan: if I want to play big battles in VSF, why not play really big battles, with lots of really little figures? The availability of a variety of 6mm (or 1/285 or 1/300 scale, if you prefer) miniatures made the decision even simpler. 6mm it would be. Buying Figures: I started buying some figures, rather randomly at first. Details in 6mm are pretty hard to differentiate, so I hoped that I could avoid too much rivet-counting.* The first brand I purchased was Heroics and Ros. I also got some Baccus miniatures, and some Games Workshop 40K Epic figures as well, mainly vehicles. Personally, and this is really just a matter of taste, I like the Baccus figures best. When I get the chance, I plan on replacing all of my cavalry, infantry, and artillery

with Baccus. Another available (and at least nominally suitable for VSF) manufacturer is Irregular Miniatures, located in the UK, but I have never bought anything from them. I keep thinking I should, for more than one project. Finally, I have seen some vehicles in both 10mm and 15mm scales that might work well in 6mm VSF. Remember, things should be kind of big and chunky looking. Look for rivets - a certain sign of possible Victorian compatibility. Where it Stands: In When the Navy Walked, a stand of infantry, cavalry, or artillery (Ground Unit stands) usually takes three hits or casualties before removing it from play. For this reason, each of my stands have three figures on them. I then use casualty caps or small markers next to the stand to indicate accumulated damage. When all three figures are covered with caps, I lift the stand. The rules do not require any particular size for each stand, but do require that all stands of the same type need to be of the same size. I experimented with a few different sizes before settling on the ones I now use. I mount my Infantry units on 20x10mm rectangular bases. Cavalry are mounted on 20x20mm squares, as are artillery and some smaller Machines. Horse-drawn limbers are on 20x40mm rectangles. Leaders are on 30x30mm squares. Other units are based on stands as seems necessary. All stands are 3mm thick. This makes picking up the small and sometimes delicate figures much safer, because you can lift them by the stand, rather than by a spear or rifle that might snap off. (Continued on page 15)

6mm Baccus British Infantry

*rivet-counting: The VSF equivalent of those Napoleonic gamers (for instance) who whinge about lace colours and button metal for specific units.

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House Rules:

More G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.! By J Womack

GASLIGHT is a really simple game, at its heart. I think that is part of the appeal for most players. It does not, however, address every crazy idea that we, the players, come up with. And that’s where ‘house rules’ come in to play. They sort of fill in the gaps.

Indirect Fire Indirect fire is the ability to shoot at something to which you can’t actually draw a line of sight. I like being able to lob stuff over hills and walls and such at unseen enemy forces, and many of my VSF contraptions can, in fact, do just that. So it looks like we need a House Rule. Tools: You will need two items not usually used in a game of GASLIGHT: a targeting marker and a d10. The targeting marker can be pretty much anything, but I use a token from Litko that looks like a targeting reticule. Range: Maximum is whatever you like. Indirect weapons do have a minimum range. The minimum range is 1/2 of short range, or 1/4 of maximum range. You can not target anything closer to the firing figure than the minimum range. Point Cost: If you are using the optional point cost rules first printed in Battles by GASLIGHT, the ability to use indirect fire costs 1 point per figure. Procedure:  Nominate a target point by placing your targeting marker on the battlefield, somewhere between the minimum and maximum ranges of the weapon. Note that you must also pay attention to firing arc.  Roll d10 for deviation from the nominated target point. The point on top of the die shows the direction of deviation.  Result of the die roll (0-9) is the number of inches of deviation from the target spot. If you roll a ‘0’, you hit the nominated target directly, otherwise your shell deviates 1-9 inches from the intended target.  If firing at a target 24 inches or more from the firer, double the deviation distance. Misfires: If deviation brings the shot is within the minimum range of firer, it’s a misfire. The misfired indirect weapon can not be used again this game.

New Skills Most of the time, the skills already outlined in GASLIGHT are fine for most games. Sometimes, though, you want to create very special characters. That’s where new skills come in handy. Here are a few I have developed for particular Main Characters that might be useful for your own games. Bounding Leap (John Carter): Like Swift, the Character can move 10”. However, he can also ignore Rough Terrain penalties, and can cross low Impassable Terrain (rivers, lava pits, whatever) as long as he can clear it in a single movement. He does pay double the usual 2” penalty for leaping over Linear Obstacles, representing the difficulty of bounding straight up. Dazzling Beauty (Dejah Thoris): The Character’s astonishing beauty inspires friends and intimidates foes. She cannot be charged or fired upon by an enemy of the opposite sex, and any friendly unit within 12” with line of sight to her may re-roll their first failed Morale test.

Personal Armour I have many figures for natives that are fitted with armour, some if it quite substantial. I thought it a shame to not give them any sort of benefit from the stuff, so I came up with what I call personal armour. I also use the personal armour rule for creatures with very thick hides, and for most of my automatons as well, to indicate their metal skins being a bit harder to damage than our soft and fragile hides. Any Extra with a Save can be assumed to be in personal armour, but I usually indicate it with a star or asterisk next to the Save as well. Personal armour allows Extras a Save (usually from 4 to 8, depending on the degree of protection provided on the figure) against Scuffle attacks, shrapnel and long range small arms. Negative SRMs are ignored, but positive ones are not. Artillery and vehicular weapons (except shrapnel) also totally ignore personal armour. If you get hit in the chest by a 9-pdr shell, it doesn’t much matter if you were in chain mail or not.

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Images of Other Worlds

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Highports/Downports Aethertravel Explained By J Womack

Aethership technology leaps forward at an astonishing rate in these modern times. The earliest experimental craft were small, five- or six-man craft that lifted by means of gas envelopes. Their aether propellers depended on steam generated by open flame - limiting range to oxygen consumption. By contrast, modern interplanetary aetherships are usually built entirely in the aether and have no lift mechanism. If ever they fall into the clutches of planetary gravity, they are destined for a long fall. Passengers and cargo travel between the aether and the planet’s surface by means of smaller landing craft, commonly called ‘lighters.’ This has created a two-station system for aetherports. Most major aether-capable nations have their own aetherport systems serving Earth and whatever planets they also occupy. One station is located in orbit above the planet’s atmosphere, allowing large ships to dock and transfer cargo and embark or disembark passengers. This station is called the ‘highport.’ The highport is a permanent aether station. Highports generally lack sleeping accommodations for visitors, but a lounge, public house, restaurant or similar establishments are often available for travelers to find refreshments. For oxygen replenishment, the highport station has a large park-like garden dome at its center. On the larger stations, the station is shaped like a giant wheel, and spins on an axis. This provides the illusion of gravity without the trouble of magnetic aetherboots. Lighters pick up the transferred cargo and passengers from smaller docking berths and fly them down to the surface station or ‘downport.’ Some highports may service multiple downports. Whereas highports are often somewhat cramped and lacking in amenities, downports resemble common dockyards and aerodromes. Landing berths are surrounded by warehouses, passenger terminals, hotels, fuelling facilities, chandlers, public

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houses, cheap restaurants, boarding houses, music halls, factories and so on. The largest highport in the solar system is the recently opened HMAS Britannia, which serves both military and civilian traffic. The massive station has two torus-shaped sections, one for military use and another for civilians. The two are connected by a central shaft in which much of the warehouse storage and working offices of the port are located. One feature unique to Britannia is the luxurious Savoy Britannia Hotel. Sitting just spinward from the White Star Line’s berth, the hotel has twenty-two luxurious staterooms and a restaurant featuring fresh food (brought up daily) and a French chef. Britannia replaced the first British highport, HMAS Brighton. HM Government sold Brighton to the Republic of Texas, who renamed it RAS Stephen F. Austin.

Verne’s Armory Quarterly Her Majesty’s Artillery By J Womack

I recently began working on creating an automatonbased Adventuring Company for In Her Majesty’s Name, Osprey Wargames’ Victorian Science Fiction skirmish rules. One of the features of that force’s background is the extensive use of poison gas by the mastermind that leads the automatons. For other games, I created statistics for the Black Smoke Projector (see Vol. 1, Issue 1 for more details). I thought that a crew-served version would be appropriate for IHMN as well. SV Bonus

Black Smoke Projector

+0

Range

36”

Hands Required

6

Pluck Modifier

-1

Cost

21

Notes Automatically hits every target within 3” of impact with poison. May not Move and Shoot. -3 Speed.

The Projector requires three crew to work properly. It may not Move and Shoot in the same turn, and it subtracts 3” from the speed of whatever is moving it (horses, men, machines, whatever). If one crewman is lost, the Projector may only fire every other turn. It must have at least two crew to fire or move at all. Targets in line of sight are Armor 7 to hit.

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The Mechanick al Menace Company Type

Pluck

FV

SV

Speed

Cost Talents

Otto Maton

2+

+2

+2

+1

69

Leadership +2, Engineer, Controller*

Faraday coat, Pistol, Club (Spanner), Arc Generator, Breath Preserver

Mister Fez

4+

+3

0

0

48

Leadership +1, Engineer, Controller

Magneto-static Waistcoat, Arc Generator, Swordcane (Rapier), Breath Preserver

Minion Captain

3+

+4

+4

+1

53

Leadership +2, May choose Breastplate, Mauser Pistol (Carbine), Breath Preup to two additional Talents server at additional cost.

Minion Sergeant

4+

+3

+3

0

30

Minion

5+

+2

+2

0

21

Steam Spider

6+

+3

0

+2

40

Clockwork Soldier

5+

+1

+4

0

100

Large Clankers

5+

+2

0

0

40

Industrial Clankers

6+

+2

0

+1

27

Leadership +1

Basic Equipment

Lined Coat, Military Rifle, bayonet, Breath Preserver Lined Coat, Military Rifle, bayonet, Breath Preserver

Automaton**, Nimble***

Arc Node****, Electroclaws (All-Electric Truncheon), Grenade (gas)

Automaton, Strongman

Arc Node, Patent Kelly Suit, Machinegun

Automaton

Arc Node, Steam Fist, Steel Breastplate (equivalent)

Automaton

Arc Node, Large Improvised Weapon, Chain Shirt (equivalent)

*Unique Talent: Controller. 5 pts. Allows figure to control Automatons. **Unique Talent: Automaton. 12 pts. Combines Fearless and Antivenom. Must remain within range of an Arc Generator or an active Arc Node, otherwise it collapses, just like a Tod-truppen. ***New Talent: Nimble. 5 pts. Reduce movement penalties for Difficult Terrain by 2. ****New Weird Science Device: Arc Node. 7 pts. When within range of either an Arc Generator or another active Arc Node, the Arc Node becomes active and extends the range an additional 4 inches, centered on the Node. At least one Node in the chain must be within 8” of a functional Arc Generator.

OPTIONS:  Minion Sergeants and Minions may replace their Military Rifle and Bayonet with an Arc Rifle (-3 points).  Minion Sergeants and Minions may purchase the Marksman Talent (+5 points), and/or the Bayonet Drill Talent (+2 points).  Minion Sergeants and Minions may purchase one Gas Grenade each (+6 points per grenade).  Minion Sergeants may purchase the Tough Talent. (+5 points)  Two Minions may exchange their Military Rifles and Bayonets for a Pistol each and a Machinegun - one fires while the other loads. This team costs 37 points.  Three Minions may exchange their Military Rifles and Bayonets for a Pistol each, a Black Smoke Projector, and six charges. This team costs See “Verne’s Armory Quarterly” for additional details on the Black Smoke Projector.

Volume 3, Issue 1

Page

13

The Adventuring Company of Doktor Otto Maton A Company for “In Her Majesty’s Name” By J Womack

Little is known about the early life of Herr Doktor Professor Otto Maton. We know that he is Belgian, a Walloon, and that he received his degree from the University of Liege. We also know that he worked, at one time, alongside Doktor Kobalt at the Kaiserlich Forshcungsanstalt fur Geheimewaffen (KFG), the Imperial Research Institute for Secret Weapons. Both were instrumental in the development of Germany’s Arc technology. Where Kobalt investigated the effect of Arc power on the recently dead, Maton concentrated on the use of it to power mechanickal automatons.

habitual and distinctive headgear. Along with his amazing dexterity and skill with his cane sword, Mister Fez is the only other person who can command Maton’s mechanickal followers.

The Mysterious “Red Fez”

Herr Doktor Professor Otto Maton

Maton left his post at the KFG shortly after Doktor Kobalt. Kobalt disappeared to join the Society of Thule; Maton left a fugitive, with German troops pursuing him and his newly created mechanickal legions. He had been discovered creating a legion of automaton servants loyal not to the Kaiser, but to Maton himself. Maton captured a small aether-capable vessel at the experimental aerodrome and downport adjacent to the KFG’s headquarters. Since then, Maton and his minions, both human and automaton, have been reported around the Earth and Mars. The Mad Belgian, as the Times has dubbed him, answers to no authority but his own ambition. His ultimate goal is nothing less than domination of the entire Solar System. Recently Maton trained an assistant or protégé, a mysterious man of possibly Egyptian or Turkish origin, whose name is unknown. The Times has dubbed him “The Red Fez” or simply “Mister Fez,” for his

Because many of his most powerful followers are automatons, Maton is quite fond of using poisonous gasses against his foes. He developed a particularly lethal compound he calls Matoxin. Invariably fatal if inhaled, prolonged exposure to the skin and eyes kills more slowly. The automatons designed by the Mad Belgian fall into four categories. The smallest resemble huge fourlegged spiders. They scramble over the roughest terrain at incredible speed, deliver intense electrical shocks, and carry a reservoir of Matoxin suitable for a single small cloud. The next size up is one of two sorts of laboring automatons, known as clankers. The smaller clankers are armed with tools such as drills, chainsaws, and pincers. The larger clankers have strong mechanickal hands for carrying heavy loads. The largest of Maton’s mechanickal minions have been dubbed “Clockwork Soldiers.” These heavily-armoured, eight-feet-tall metal monsters carry an automatic rifle, laying down a hail of bullets to cover their companions’ advance. (Continued on page 15)

Page

14

T h e

Lost Treasures of Ptolemy

Æ t h e r g r a p h

An “In Her Majesty’s Name” After Action Report By J Womack

Volume 3, Issue 1

(Continued from page 8)

Measuring Up: Of course, changing scales means that you may need to change how you measure distances for movement and shooting ranges. I found that the easiest method of fixing the scale was to simply use centimeters instead of inches for everything. That reduces things by approximately 40%, which is roughly the same reduction in height scale from 15mm to 6mm. It’s a simple ‘fix,’ and I think it works well, but there are a few other options available to you.

Page

(Continued from page 13)

Maton’s published manifesto - outlawed across Europe - draws misguided human followers into his service. Dozens of men serve Maton willingly, hoping for high position and reward after the Professor conquers the world. To protect themselves from clouds of Matoxin, they wear heavy coats, gloves, and a facecovering gas mask. They use rifles and bayonets to enforce the will of their master. Maton even has a small number of machineguns for their use.

First, you could keep measuring firing ranges in inches if you liked, to make rifles, artillery and archery more effective. By extending the range, missile troops can engage melee troops for a longer period of time as they advance more slowly. Second, you could keep measuring movement in inches and only change shooting ranges to centimeters. This would make the game more sweeping in motion and much easier for melee-oriented troops (Zulus, Cytherian Lizardmen, Martian Nomads and such), since they would be able to charge in to melee quickly, perhaps without even spending one turn under fire as they approached. Certainly the Zulu impis at Rourke’s Drift would have loved to have the range of the 24th’s Martini-Henrys reduced by 60%! As a last alternative, you could continue measuring everything in inches. This would give you a fast moving game on a big table with lots of units, and get weapons into effective range much sooner. It loses some of the close-in factor that I was going for with my 6mm project, but gives you plenty of table space to cram in really big armies! In Conclusion: With just a little bit of time and effort, When The Navy Walked can be adapted to whichever scale you prefer. I imagine you could even adapt it to one of the fleet scales, say, 1/1200 or 1/2400 if you wanted. The rules are flexible enough to let you create the game you want to play.

15

A D e d i c a t i o n t o S o l d i e r s T h r e e And they were stronger hands than mine That digged the Ruby from the earthMore cunning brains that made it worth The large desire of a king, And stouter hearts that through the brine Went down the perfect Pearl to bring. Lo, I have wrought in common clay Rude figures of a rough-hewn race, Since pearls strew not the market-place In this my town of banishment, Where with the shifting dust I play, And eat the bread of discontent. Yet is there life in that I make. 0 thou who knowest, turn and seeAs thou hast power over me So have I power over these, Because I wrought them for thy sake, And breathed in them mine agonies. Small mirth was in the making-now I lift the cloth that cloaks the clay, And, wearied, at thy feet I lay My wares, ere I go forth to sell. The long bazaar will praise, but thouHeart of my heart-have I done well? —Rudyard Kipling

The Æthergraph XCIV Publishing J Womack, Editor Email: [email protected]

January 2013

NEXT ISSUE… Our Regular features: Clive’s Register, Popular Mechanicks, the Reginald’s Regiments, and News of the Worlds. Building Card Buildings for Victorian Streets All this and more, coming soon(ish)!

REVIEWED: DYSTOPIAN WARS Spartan Games released a steam-powered fantasy miniatures game in fleet scale in October of 2010. Since then, they have added two supplemental scenario packs, and a massive host of resin and metal miniatures. In their alternate history, the world is at war, between two primary factions, with a neutral third party, the mysterious and powerful Covenant of Antarctica. The rules cover aerial fleets, naval For Sale: fleets, and ground forces. You can have combined Aethership, low mileage, only flown once. Newest technologies actions as well. incorporated in design, including handwavium power, Arc genThe models are fun to paint, and nicely detailed. erator, and unobtainite lifting crystal with rheostatic altitude conThere are seven major nations, four minor nations, a trol. Currently located on Mars, in the region of the Capoeiran merchant company and a mercenary company Canal. Needs some repair, and will require handwavium fueling. (February 2014). Personally, I am working on Prus£5,000 or best offer; no reasonable offer refused. sian Empire units. The VSF flair is heavy on weird technology, pow- Enquire at I.M. Foreman, Salvage Merchant, 76 Totters Lane ered by sturginium. Tesla coils, beam weapons, rocket marines, zeppelins, flying battleships, teleportation, iceberg generators… you name it, it’s there. Another interesting optional feature is the use of a deck of cards for random effects that can help you or harm a foe. It’s an interesting and fun game. I recommend it.

XCIV Publishing

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