British Army on Mars

The British settled their first trading colony in Parhoon, and after establishing good relations with the canal royal family, claimed a regency on the throne after an assassination was made on the ruling prince. Gorovaan, a neighboring canal city, and the presumed perpetrators of the assassination,  launched an attack on Parhoon, which the British repelled with their Parhooni allies, leading to the  eventual defeat and annexation of Gorovaan. 

A second war of succesion broke out, against a coalition of three canal cities located to the south, Syrtis Major, Haatt and Avenel. A full detachment of the British Army sent to the Martian colony was able to repel the attack, and ultimately all three cities were integrated into the Crown Colony of Syrtis Lapis. 

All of my British Forces assembled.

The total British forces available to me so far include 3 units of Regular infantry, 2 team weapons (machine gun and gun), 1 unit of human Irregulars and unfinished unit of Regular Cavalry. The units have been put together with the Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK) rules in mind.

Unit 1 of Regular Infantry.

First up is a basic unit of Regular Infantry, made from plastic Warlord Games and Perry Afghanistan British infantry. The flag bearer is scratch built flag held by a Warlords figure, and the unit leader is a Perry metal miniature. I seem to be a few models short of a full 12-man unit.

Unit 2 of Regular Infantry.

This unit is meant to represent a veteran unit of space-experienced infantry, equipped with gas masks, metal body armour and electro-weaponry. The figures come from the Northstar "Redcoats in Space" range, and Artizan's Victorian Sci-Fi range. Again, I am 1 model short of a full sized unit.

Unit 3 of Regular Infantry.

A last unit (for now) of British regulars. Like the first unit, these are Warlord and Perry plastics, and a Perry metal unit leader. This brings me to a total of 4 models short of 3 full sized units, it shall be added to the "to-do" list.

Incomplete unit of cavalry.

Although the harsh Martian environment proved difficult for horses to live and work, I am envisioning that the European powers would have tried to bring their Earthen cavalry forces with them (at least to begin with). Quite quickly the advantages of the native steed - the gashant - would have become apparent. Nevertheless, in my current TMWWBK rules, there is no difference between gashants or horses, so I will complete at least my first cavalry unit using horse models. These 3 are the Perry metal 19th Hussars command, although I've painted them as some generic dragoons in red. Another 5 will need to be put together to complete the unit. 

9-pounder gun and crew.

A complete unit of Royal Artillery, armed with a 9-pounder gun. All metal model from Perry Miniatures. I will admit I am not much of an anorak when it comes to military history, so cannot say if it is accurate to equip Royal Artillery with this weaponry, but the 9 pounder is the model I bought, and I was happy to paint some blue uniforms for a change. In terms of TMWWBK rules, all guns have the same effect anyway. 

Team weapon, Maxim machine gun.

The Maxim machine gun was a cutting edge piece of technology at the time, invented in 1884 , but if humans could make the journey through the ether to reach the inner solar system, I see no reason why a British Army unit couldn't get their hands on a Maxim gun. Still, my unit is 1 model short of a full unit. The additional loader figure is an improvised model, using a Warlord infantryman.

A group of plucky individuals representing the British forces on Mars.

Last up for the British is a group of models I usually class as Irregular Infantry with Modern Rifles - the models are Northstar Hunters and Explorers, Artizan Martian Explorer, Foundry Old West (mounted figure) and lastly a RAFM Martian colonial artilleryman. They can be used to represent the adventurers and pioneers who may lead an expedition into the Martian hinterland (or be required to be rescued from such locales).

So that wraps up the current progress on British forces campaigning in my Martian scenarios, however I plan to add many more models and units, to have bigger battles and have some more flexibility in my forces.

Projects Planned:

• 4 more Infantry men to finish my units (at least). I may switch up the uniforms, so far I've used solely the classic red uniform, but I know that Britain started to phase it out during this period in the late 19th century, in favour of more camouflaging khaki. What colour do you think the British army would have used on the Martian sands? The Space 1889 Soldiers Companion simply says "red uniforms, but often khaki on campaign".  
• 5 more Cavalry models. I'm gonna make them in red uniforms, even if its not totally accurate. It will look dashing on the table.
• 7 more explorers and hunters models. To round out my Irregular unit to a full 12 man squad.
• Full unit (maybe units?) of colonial martian regular infantry. I have already started on these, but nothing is painted yet, more info to come in another post.
• An aerial flyer, real VSF stuff
• A special vehicle/crew weapon project, more VSF stuff.

Long term/Non-priority goals:

• A Royal Navy Gatling gun crew.
• Naval Brigade infantry.
• Gashant Mounted Infantry.