Such a Beautiful Child

Torin Prime is a planet in the Outer Rim, colonized early in the 22nd century and location of the Torin Prime Civil War from 2106 to 2108.

History

In 2106, a group of terrorist rebels, called the J'har, openly opposed the United Americas' local government placed over the colonies on the planet. That same year the J'har attacked the capital, taking the planet and killing all governmental functionaries of the United Americas or otherwise incarcerating them in concentration camps. The United Americas Allied Command feared such actions would encourage rebellions in other colonies, and launched an invasion on Torin Prime to liberate the planet. The UAAC had the advantage as some UA loyalist remained on the planet and started rebelling against the J'har.

Both Dennis Parker and Arthur Dallas fought for the United Americas. Dallas served in United Americas Outer Rim Defense Fleet as a pilot on the UAS Leviathan (out of Liberty Echo) and received the Sunburst Medal of Honor. Parker was captured by J'har rebels during the conflict and imprisoned at Concentration Camp GR-161 on August 1, 2107. He escaped on February 21, 2108 during the liberation of Torin Prime by constructing an EEV out of scrap. Following the liberation, Dallas was promoted to Captain, and Parker received an honorable discharge and returned to Earth.

The United Americas Allied Command (UAAC) was the union of all the military organizations of the nations that were part of the United Americas, which included the United States Army and the United States Colonial Marine Corps. The UAAC led the United Americas Outer Rim Defense Fleet forces during the Torin Prime Civil War and maintained a close watch on the Three World Empire's political, economical and military movements.

Structure

Within the UAAC, the USCM was tasked with maintaining the collective security of all UA signatories and their recognized interstellar colonies within the frontiers of the Network. Operating in tandem with local forces, the USCM was often the first line of defense and the vanguard of any counterattack.

United Americas

The United Americas was a country formed by the merging of North, Central and South America into one socioeconomic block. Created in 2104, the United Americas largely emerged as a response to the formation and growth of the Three World Empire, which was at the time pioneering space exploration and extra-planetary colonization. Aside from its terrestrial presence, the UA also oversaw several extra-planetary colonies, including that of Olympia on Luna.

The United States of America position as a starfaring, colonizing power has ensured it a leading role in the structure of the United Americas, as evidence from the name of the United States Colonial Marine Corps. The USCM is fully integrated into the joint command structure of the United Americas Allied Command and forms the major striking element of the UA forces.

http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

All background text is credited to the above website.  A long time ago I researched the background material in the world of the Alien, Aliens, movie franchise and came up with a notion of what a battle in that universe would look like and what the captain of the Nostromo would have done in his previous military career.  I don't remember the websites I used and I am pretty sure this isn't the one I used but a google search for some of the common mythos vocabulary produced much of the same material I do recall.

Seeing this game again after 12 years was delightful.  What I was presenting when I designed and built the collection of ships for this game, was a combination of a sky full of space ships, and the ability to build your own fleet that had a choice of weaponry.  I used to play a Steve Jackson game called WARPWAR and that had a lot to do with the design aspect of this game.  I kind of remember the Honor Harrington series also and the fact that there were a lot of ships in the big battles.   I also didn't want to get down to marking hull damage and individual turret shooting it was supposed to be on a much grander scale.  Each of the bases in the above photos is a fleet of starship cruisers, battleships, tugs, transports etc.  A set of three of these bases is coalesced into a command structure and is given a capital ship or "flag" ship for a player to control.

A unique aspect of this game was a technology tree or matrix of weaponry that you could build into your fleet to personalize the force and also for a fun event against an opponent as you were not supposed to know what the other player had decided to build onto their ships. (The black 1" chits are the weapon arrays.)

It was a resource acquisition game in one scenario but that was not all it could do.  This game's format had a lot of "legs" in that you could replay planetary bombardment games.  You could deep space deploy mechs.  You could have orbital mines defending the approach vectors to your planet.  I used the old push-pull campaign map for the Torin Prime War scenarios but there was a lot that this beautifully written game was capable of.

So I got to play it again after a long absence of  years of it just sitting on my shelf gathering dust.  My friend Ted hosted a game night in which  this game was tabled for our entertainment.  I had given the entire game to Ted.  All the ships, control sheets, background fluff, design notebook the whole shebang.  Ted had always commented that he liked the game and always mentioned that we should play it again as it was good.  Well like many things in this hobby there are too many games and not enough time so now this game will live on in Ted's collection.  Regrets? No.  It served it's purpose for me and I could make another copy in an afternoon.

Thanks for looking in.

Kenny's Mini Con Winter Break Game Day

Jerodi Defile 1967 Arab Israeli Wars Scenario played using Hordes of the Things Modern Rules.

Egyptian Deployment on newly terrained table set up.

Here come the Israelis.

Reinforcements arrive way too early for the Egyptians.

Steady fight against the initial Israeli attack but in the end they took out the Egyptian command.  Great game played early in the day with Steve Gross and Ken Van Pelt.  We also had a fine GHQ work session bulking out the collection of micro armor for Ken and his new modern army project.   Stay tuned for Mujaheddin.

Next UpClockwork Century battle of Joplin.

Union and Confederate forces clash in southern Missouri Territory.

Union Lines

Union Aeronef with Kenneth onboard.

Confederate Ironclad Landship accompanied by light tracked contraptions.

Union White fleeet.  USLS William Richardson accompanied by two medium aeronef.

Confederates attacked in massive infantry columns.

Union artillery barrage the landship as it chugs in for destruction.

End game.

Aerial shot from the Fleur de Lis.

USLS William Richardson chugging along

TANK COMMAND 1975 Ideal Board Game

T. Carr selects a barrage #.

The tanks.

T. Conn's bunker

The awesomeness of the battlefield.

Game Two.

5MM Clockwork Century VSF Battle

We join our intrepid adventurers in the Lion's Den as they gather around the table for the Clockwork Century battle of Nouvelle Orleans- part III.  The confederate command seeks to regain lost material of war in the landship -Black Betty.

In our last battle the confederate force lost a landship behind French occupied lines.  The ship had plowed savagely through the French formation and then was hit broadside by a steam conveyance of the French.  The captured landship was handed over to the Northern alliance for disassembly and military intelligence.

The landship, Black Betty, was being moved north to Missouri territory by a combined Prussian, Union column of troops.  The confederate command decided at the most opportune time to strike with aeromarines and afford a recapture of the war machine.  The aeromarines were loaded onto several steam aeronefs and were to drop behind enemy lines and capture by force of arms and a relief column the errant landship.

Severe and unfortunate mechanics kept one fourth of the aeronefs grounded and taking on water from a local stream bank.  Unable to coordinate the attack the confederate command merely demonstrated aggressively their intention of recapture.

The battle worn on with desultory losses on both sides until another confederate landship slipped into enemy lines and then was disabled.  The aeromarines had to be employed to rescue the City of Atlanta steam landship before it too was captured by a smaller Union force!!

Renewed Hostilities Battle of Nouvelle Orleans

In the Clockwork Century war continued at a mechanical pace in North America. Nations from around the globe found cause and means to enter into the civil war that raged across the continent. In New France a defensive stand by the colonial regulars repulsed the Confederate - Texan attack. Renewed hostilities included an influx of Prussian and Northern German Confederation attacks with clockwork walker tanks and Aeronefs. Again the French and pro Unionist forces prevailed. We take you now to images obtained through the steam pixelation device on board the Fleur d lis.

From the battle of Nouvelle Orleans, here we see Prussina clockwerk tanks approaching a Union column of cavalry supported by field artillery.


View from behind the walker looking west toward Union lines.



Aerial view of the conflict. Clicking images will make them easier to see.

A final view of the battlefield. After action report would include a heavy butchers bill for the Confederates. The lost landship Ironclads could not be definitely secured and the night was spent by roving bands of belligerents trying to pry technology from the fires of battle.

Victorian Science Fiction in 5mm Battle of La Nouvelle-Orleans

The Secondhand Lions wargmers played a Victorian Science Fiction game last Thursday featuring my complete scratchbuilt 5mm ACW armies with the addition of my newly built steam tanks and Ironclad Landships.
All forces on the table represented armies from an alternate past that has the American civil war lasting well into the 1880's. Inspiration for this game world came from two sources that I want to develop into our club's backstory for further games in this genre. Internet googling for alternate U.S. history timelines produced two quick results of immediate interest.
I point you to the following linkage:
http://users.rcn.com/mwhite28/misc/balkanus.htm
This point of departure has the separatists winning each conflict that occurred in the U.S. development. I like this map a lot and will probably make a Victorian "aged" adventure map from this information.
The second backstory thread comes from the literature works of Cherie Priest:
http://theclockworkcentury.com/?page_id=2
The Clockwork Century is an alternate history filled with the full stock of mechanical, biological, and fictitious toy box trade items that wargamers love to model and game with in this genre.

Aerial photography of the battle was obtained by the airship Fleur-di-lis, and includes descriptive high points of the action. Sailing from the aerodrome in La Nouvelle-Orléans our tour of the battlefield will be seen from behind the French lines and looking north to the oncoming Confederate and Texan combined force. The French forces of Louisiana posted a defensive line across the main road into La Nouvelle-Orleans. French allies included the United States Federal force from Missouri. They were expected to arrive from the western flank and hit the attack column approaching the front lines.

Image is oriented as standard compass points. We are looking North. Federal forces with one landship and a handful of steam tanks approaches from the west. Texan TLS "Alamo" is seen upper right.

Contact and desparate fighting in the wooded area Confed/Texan vs. Union. At the bottom of the image we see the Confederate Landship plow through the French lines. The French landship pummels it with high explosives.

View looking west, above French lines at the Union Landship "Western Star"

An after action pixel of the CLS Black Betty as she rests in her demise, steam pouring out of large holes shot through from the French Ironclad, "Flambeau". As the "Fleur-di-lis" landed to take these pictures it was reckoned that the French/Union forces had held the cross roads and main line of approach was secure for the evening. Renewed action is fully expected along these coordinates and the Aeronefs have been put on alert. In our next action we fully expect to see the land Terrines reinforced by Aeronauts.