The Great Martian Eradication

 Stardate-189odd.

Place-The Great Martian Plains.

           One was invited out to the outback of Garvald for a delve into the realms of Victorian Sci-Fi where the European powers who have just finishing ravaging the planet earth for the benefit of their empires have set their sights on the planet Mars and their intended overlord of another not so technical species.Due to the vagaries of dog sitting I was left to organise the defence of Mars on my own meaning I didn’t have anybody else to blame for my mistakes.I was pitted against the demonic play of both El Presidente and Herr O’Brien.

A couple of non playing airships.

The Martian emperor surveys his realm.

            My forces were lined up and the first thing that struck me was that I had an awfy lot of half naked natives armed with bows and arrows and a shortage of decent firepower.Pitted against me was the European empires most modern equipment and some bizzare German machinery.

Graustarkian light armour.

Prussian wheeled artillery.

Prussian rocket truppen.

            In the best native stereotype fashion my plan was to charge in and hopefully get to grips with the invaders before they could shoot off their big guns but in true stereotypically native fashion they were wasted as especially Herr O’Brien acted as though he wanted the game over as soon as possible in typically overlord way.We were using Xenos Rampant rules which usually give units either a shoot or move action unless off course you are armour when you can indulge in both and off course the Empires had the biggest guns.These rules have been used by El Presidente on numerous occasions and for different time eras including Arab-Israeli modern battles but personally I find them a bit frustrating especially when you want to get down and dirty.There is also the point that if you have to dice for activation and fail your turn is over so you have to choose wisely.

Forward to glory!

Forward to doom!

Ma best guys!

       So off my men trotted up the playing field hoping to inflict defeat on the interlopers but it was soon obvious that they weren’t going to get very far but as the object of the game was for the Europeans to capture the palace. My plan was to sell the defenders lives dearly whilst watching the clock tick down. My armour(very light)were to the forefront but were soon heading for the start line once El Presidente’s big guns started showing off their wares.My only initial success was the German jet troopers being stopped in their tracks by my artillery and the eventual destruction of this German unit which was to be the highlight of my evening.

The European armoured fist.

Mounted dragon cavalry.

              My second armoured unit moved forward but were eradicated by the combination of El Presidente’s big guns so it looked like the fate of Mars was in the hands of my hordes of infantry-Fat chance!Herr O’Brien was moving his Prussian cycle artillery forward in support of his British infantry who themselves were supported by their Martian minions but they were brought to a stuttering halt by the brave actions of my regular infantry although not without a few casualties themselves.These were the lads who themselves were backed up by the palace guard whom I believed were going to be the saviours of Mars.Not for long though.

The Empires’ big guns.

    My first armoured unit headed forward but soon met the fate of it’s colleagues and evaporated.The only good thing was that it’s destruction was waylaying the invader’s plans as the more they shot at my forces the less movement they could make.The clock was ticking rapidly to full time.Herr O’Brien hed ensconced his American???(must have been mercenaries)in an oriental building so I decided to rush them with my mob of militia but they were successfully repulsed and with the demise of the other half naked infantry the  writing was on the wall for my masses of Martian infantry but the clock was ticking.

Flying the Flag.

      My artillery then successfully repulsed a flanking manoeuvre by the El Presidente’s light tanks crewed by some Graustarkian females(Welcome to El Presidente’s world) but we had arrived at the last phase with my regulars taking up residence in the gap leading to the palace uttering a “They shall not pass!”ultimatum.Herr O’Brien had moved his yankee rocketeers on to the outer walls of the palace just as the final whistle blew so the evil empire builders didn’t quite make it.Hurrah for the Martians!Boo!to the evil colonists!

A ton of scrap metal.

   Another great game played out in the usual carefree way-not! My thanks to El Presidente for putting on the game and supplying all the wonderful toys.Next week I’m led to believe is AK 47 so hopefully we’ll have a “hot of the press “news report!Watch this space!

This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.