The shape of things to come

  

I’ve always had a love of science fiction, sparked initially by the likes of Wells and Verne, and it must have been at the back of my mind when I recently decided to branch out, wargaming wise, into the whole colonial thing.

Quite rightly it’s now considered bad taste to glorify the exploitation of other cultures or worse the annihilation of natives attempting self determination against a technologically superior opponent. Since I didn’t fancy gaming the morally dubious massacre of fuzzy wuzzies beneath the barrels of a maxim, the clash of similarly equipped if differently motivated empires in this period seemed to grant a more morally acceptable fight amongst equals. 

The Empires of Britain France and Germany had competing interests and borders at this time and friction between them could have erupted into more than one conflict given the jingoistic nature of their respective  politicians and population.

 

Setting my games in the mid 1880’s, before the science of industrialised warfare had really taken hold, would allow the possibility of the thin red line, and the attraction, were I to focus on Britain in particular, of felling Johnny Foreigner with the occasional well placed upper cut. Stirring boys own adventure stuff eh! Huzzah!

Given that I needed a point of departure from our real timeline I chose 1870 and had the Franco Prussian war leave a shattered bankrupt France in a semi permanent state of anarchy lasting for years. 

While the newly emboldened German Empire began to spread its influence overseas the British Empire was thrown into total disarray by the arrival of Mr Wells’ Martians in 1880 (rather than the late 1890’s as per the War of the Worlds). The Martian’s susceptibility to earthly germs remained unchanged but Britain’s confidence, economic dominance, and  political capital has been severely shaken.

So I’m pitching this whole shebang in 1885 and I’ll be fighting with British forces against a new Martian landing or a German invasion - (I’ve still to decide which, but have forces for both).

I’ll be trying to stick to the militarily possible rather than the overly fantastical.... however the use of steam as a motive source of power cannot really be avoided. 

The British army prior to 1880 had adopted tactics appropriate to the overseas policing of an enormous empire - tactics including forming square and volley fire that did them no favours when faced with the Martians black smoke or heat ray. Though the old ideas still had a part to play in suppressing recalcitrant tribesmen new tactics and equipment were clearly needed for combatting a sophisticated opponent in a European setting.

By 1885 most regular home service battalions (whose number had been increased threefold since 1880) would have looked a lot like these chaps from 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers.

British home service infantry. Miniatures by Fighting 15’s

Difficult to discern from the photographs are:*

The ’83 pattern Baker Monroe breath preserver which confers short term protection against Martian black smoke or the chemical and biological agents deployed by the French Corps de Miasmatique.

The Mk III “sticky” bomb (issued 2 per section / troop) which due to handling problems is usually affixed to the end of a lance or an adapted infantry bayonet. Intended to destroy the legs of Martian tripods they are greatly disliked (not least for the amount of time taken to remove the numerous layers of protective brown paper). Frequently the first thing to be discarded in the field they are no longer thought to have any practical use.

The Shackleton “Hallelujah” smoke pot. 1 issued per section. Difficult to ignite in damp conditions but then very hard to put out. It’s dense white smoke was discovered, by accident, to interfere with the vision of the Martian tripods, and thus offers a degree of cover to the user, even in open terrain.

Painting of all the relevant forces is now continuing apace, and I’ll document my progress here from time to time. I anticipate that battles will be small scale skirmish affairs and thematic rather than strictly chronological or part of a rigid campaign. 

Yes, that’s right, I’ll be winging it again.

Surprise surprise.

* Don’t bother looking on the internet - they’re all, as is my want, totally made up.