Starmarda: Ironstars released

Majestic Twelve Games is proud to announce the release of Starmada: Iron Stars -- a "crossover" product linking together two of our most popular gaming systems.

http://www.mj12games.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1774

Quick-play Astronef

I found a fun looking set of easy play space ship combat rules today - called 'Launch Fighters!'
Its a free download and you can thank the nice chaps at Consortium games for this contribution.

Now, to play a bit of VSF style HM Royal Ether Squadron vs Kaiser's Sternmarine action using these rules, I recommend the following simple subtitutions in the rules:

• Delete Cannon, Insert Gatling-Cannon, Tesla Device or Electro-Howitzer
• Delete Missile, Insert Aether-torpedo, or Congreive Rocket Mk II
• Delete Defence, insert Armour Rating
• Delete Movement rating, insert Aether-engine or Solar Sail capacity

and you are ready to Blast-Off for Queen and Country!

You'll find Launch Fighters! (both full and quick play versions) and Consortium games here:
http://www.launchfightersgame.com/

Thanks awfully chaps!

Astronef scenery

Downloadable tabletop scape scenery an a fanastic looking campaign map editor

Simply download the bits you want, print out and laminate if you dont wnat the to have claret stains and cigar ash on them - enjoy!

Great job eh what!

http://www.thecourtjestersstudio.com/downloads/SpaceScenery.html

Another Vanvlakian Astronef creation!

Introducing the new HMS TERIBUS, lead vessel of a new class of single aether-screw low orbit bombardment monitor. Another brilliant Vanvlak creation!

Trip to the Moon

A fascinating 1911 artist's concept of Astronef travel!

I have just learned of a movie planned for a 2010 release. For an early visit to Venus, go here: http://www.piratesofvenusmovie.com/index.html

Krazniy Oktyabr

...things just got a bit complicated on the Russian side!

A new Ironstars project by Vanvlak Industries

Krazniy Oktyabr, modified with Tsiolkovsky type 2 drives and taken over by the Communist insurgents.

A Visit to the Moon

another piece of classic Astronef style fiction, from 1899!

A Visit to the Moon
by George Griffith

An Account of the Adventures of the Earl of Redgrave and his Bride on their Honeymoon in Space:

Well, we shall see a good many marvels. and, perhaps, miracles, before we come back, but I hardly think we shall see anything that is forbidden. Still, there's one thing we shall do, I hope. We shall solve once and for all the great problem of the worlds--whether they are inhabited or not. By the way, he went on, "I may remind your ladyship that you are just now drawing the last breaths of earthly air which you will taste for some time, in fact until we get back!

http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602321h.html

"The horrors of æthers"

I am in the process of preparing a transcript of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica article on Æther. It begins as follows:

ÆTHER, or ETHER (Gr. αιθnρ, probably from αιθω, I burn, though Plato in his Cratylus (410 B) derives the name from its perpetual motion — οτι αει θει περι τον αερα ρεων, αειθεnρ οικαιως αν καλοιτο), a material substance of a more subtle kind than visible bodies, supposed to exist in those parts of space which are apparently empty.
"The hypothesis of an æther has been maintained by different speculators for very different reasons. To those who maintained the existence of a plenum as a philosophical principle, nature's abhorrence of a vacuum was a sufficient reason for imagining an all-surrounding æther, even though every other argument should be against it. To Descartes, who made extension the sole essential property of matter, and matter a necessary condition of extension, the bare existence of bodies apparently at a distance was a proof of the existence of a continuous medium between them.…

The source of the infomation can be found here: http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=User:Tim_Starling/ScanSet_TIFF_demo&vol=01&page=EB1A330

The pages involved are scans #329 through #334, inclusive (scroll down).

What's prompted this is the Astronef map I've been developing. I feel that in order to complete it, I must understand the notions of the period regarding Æther. It is a rather long article, as you'll see if you visit the above URL, so I probably won't be posting it here (at least not all in one go) but I will announce the finished file and make it available to those who might be interested.

Mechanical Marvels

I found this with some great old SF pics of Astronef style vehicles (though admittedly many others are from the post-Victorian period). Some great reading here!


http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/space/

More Iron Stars

Rory has posted some pics of his Aeronefs and Iron Stars ships, as well as other pics of his great gaming models, here: http://web.mac.com/rorymh/iWeb/Home/Gaming.html

Stellar Cartography

With Astronef on the horizon (relatively speaking) Tas and I got to talking about a map. After some consideration of how to make something like this - http://sajri.astronomy.cz/asteroidgroups/hildatroj.gif - a game aid (with tokens and spaces), I have decided that the most useful Astronef game map would show Jupiter with Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. This map is in progress and should be posted soon.

My decision not to show the solar system (at least as far as Jupiter) was not merely based on simplicity. Tas believes that most of the interaction in Astronef will be a much more limited scale. If you are engaging and enemy near Deimos, it will not matter if he has additional ships deployed near Mercury.

Still, you owe it to yourself and your crew to visit the link above included.


Reply by Tas:
I envision an azimtuh projection of the Inner planets, but cenetred on Earth not the Sun. The idea being it would be an Astrogator's chart for navigating from Earth to other destinations (which are depcted in their relative motion to earth). There would then theoretically be a correspnding chart for each of the destination to return.

Idea floated so far are a Stellar Meridian (for standard emasrement of time) and units of measurement being Aetherial Leagues.

Cavorite Spheres!

Oh yes, its time for more Astronef goodness!

Cavorite Sphere by Larson designs
Medium: Resin
Diameter: 3.5"

"Based on the H.G. Wells' classic 1901 novel, 1964's movie "First Men in the Moon" told the story of British inventor Dr. Joseph Cavor who, along with his handsome young neighbor and his comely girlfriend, flew to the moon in 1899 aboard a metal sphere coated with an anti-gravity paste dubbed "Cavorite."
.
[Note that in the movie the 1890s expedition claim the Moon for Queen Victoria, Huzzah! - Tas]
.
As depicted in the film, the "sphere" was a multi-sided bathosphere-like contraption studded with rail car bumpers that allowed it to make a "hard" landing on the moon and roll safely to a stop. It was "steered" by opening the closing strategically placed Cavorite-coated panels like Venetian blinds, thus "repelling" the craft from either the Earth or its closest satellite.
The sphere's heavy geometry and rivet-covered surface beautifully evoked the simple functionality of Victorian-era technology.

The kit consists of upper and lower body halves, plus individual rail car bumper and eight portholes."
http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/Cavorite_Sphere_Page.htm


There are some nice pics of a very similar model on this french site here: http://modelbox.free.fr/analyses/MS2002_10AP/XPLUS_Moon/index.html


or this Union Class dropship for Battletech (by IronWind Metals) would make a great Cavorite Sphere too! (thanks to master converter Vanvlak for the suggestion)
http://ironwindmetals.com/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=4025


BTW the font of all knowledge (Wikipedia) defines Cavorite as:

"Cavorite is impervious to gravity and can shield other materials from its effects. It is used to shield a craft from Earth's pull, allowing easy flight. It was named after its discoverer, Dr Cavor, who used its levitational properties to travel to the Moon.

It also coats Martian flying machines, although, it is referred to as a "gravity- blocking substance", and not Cavorite."

IronStars vessel unveiled

I recently realized that Vanvlak completed as Astronef in 2005, but it hadnt been posted here before. Its from the VSF space game IronStars (game by Majestic 12 Games, Model by Brigade Models). Here she is (in his words at the time):

"After a long delay, I completed the first ship from my Russian Ironstars squadron - the Morozko class Uragan, a rocket-armed ships.

Review - a very nice and clean model, with very little by way of mould lines. It comes in 5 parts - hull + 4 sails, as well as the black base. I stuck the sails in an incorrect manner - they should form a diagonal, rather than a vertical-horizontal X, but I liked them this way, and consider this my very first conversion for this game - as well as my very first model for Ironstars. The solar sails are a bit fiddly to fit (at least, in my configuration), but otherwise the model offered no problems, and is a very nice, quite well detailed and unusual little beastie. Anyone not interested in the game but playing BFG would find these - and other models from the range - useful too."

Well, we are looking forward to seeing the rest of your Russan Ether Squadron Vanvlak! BTW are those Solar Sails or Aether sails? :-D

You can find the Morozko class sloops at Brigade Models' website here:
http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Frames/IS/Items/IS-505.html

This picture of Russian Ironstars vessels comes from the Brigade Models Page. I think they look cracking!




Here is a description of the Ironstars game from the Majestic 12 Games website:

"Iron Stars is a game of space combat in an age of steam and steel. Set in a fictional universe based loosely on the writings of H. G. Wells and other fantasists, it provides a back story and ship designs from an alternate history in which the Martian Invasion actually happened, the ether is all-pervasive, and Cavorite is a reality. But, as with Starmada and other Majestic Twelve Games products, the focus is on players' imaginations; a clear and concise ship construction system is provided so you can pit your own space dreadnoughts against the likes of the Royal Navy Ether Squadron or the German Äthermarine."

http://www.mj12games.com/ironstars/

A Honeymoon in Space

To continue this week's Astronef theme, I thought I would bring to your attention a wonderful story of adventure of a newly wed couple as they explore th solar system in the first man-made extraplanetary vehicle. Volcanoes, monsters and thrills await you in this classic story by George Griffith, whom you may recall wrote the fantastic 'Angel of the Revolution'. Also with some very fine illustrations, a few of which I can included here.



A Honeymoon in Space
by George Griffith

Published 1901.
Approx 300 pages









Enjoy an online version here:
http://gutenberg.com/eBooks/BlackMask_Online/honeymoonspace.htm

Or if you prefer a hardcopy:
http://astore.amazon.com/spacearchaeology-20/detail/0966892631/

Le Voyage dans la Lune

For those who saw yesterday's entry, but have never seen the 1902 movie "Le Voyage dans la Lune", here is a version on Youtube which has an English voice over.

Incidentally, its been rated as one of the 101 movies you should see before you die.
(Not that I'm trying to help you on your way of course...)

And moving pictures is a White Wine 1st also - ahhh the marvels of modern science!

Enjoy!

Astronef!

This entry is dedicated to Ogrefencer, who I know will be frothing at the mouth in anticipation of the next VSF installment: Astronef!

I found this beauty online today, a model of the spacecraft from the classic 1902 movie "Le Voyage dans la lune" ("A Trip to the Moon")

SCALE: 1/32

MEDIUM: Resin

ABOUT THE DESIGN

In 1902, French magician/filmmaker Georges Melies stunned the world with the world's first major science-fiction film, "La Voyage dans la Lune" ("A Trip to the Moon"). Based on Jules Vernes' classic 1865 novel "From the Earth to the Moon," the fanciful film featured as its centerpiece a manned shell (named "Columbia" in the original Vernes novel) that was literally fired at the moon from a giant cannon (based in Paris in the movie instead of the novel's original Florida launch site.) The shell/spacecraft striking the "Man in the Moon" in the eye is one of the cinema's most famous images.

ABOUT THE KIT

This Herb Deeks all-resin kit consisted of just two pieces: the solid resin "Columbia" shell and the textured "moon base." Both the kit and the nameplate incorrectly date the source film as 1903 instead of 1902. (The box also calls this a "Moon Rocket" although, having no independent means of propulsion, there's nothing "rocket"-like about it.) This model was built from an original issue.

More info here:

http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/ATripToTheMoonPage.htm
(All images of the astronef were sourced from this webpage)