Our Cold Wars scenario went very well - especially for the French, who had a bold player-commander that fought with dash and elan.
The scenario: in Paris, the Foreign Office on the Quay d'Orsay has heard rumours of a certain, high-quality liftwood called "Sirdeek" or, as the French spell it "Surdique". Reports are that Surdique has five to ten times the active lifetime of lesser liftwood, so "la patrie a besoin le Surdique"and Surdique France will have!
A column of La Coloniale is dispatched from Idaeus Fons with a simple mission - penetrate the Tempe Highlands, fight off the High Martian hommes-bêtes, recover some sirdeek liftwood trees, and bring them back for study.
Two Companies of French Marines
Two Companies of Martian Tirailleurs
Four Companies of Native Militia
Harpon-class Aerial Flyer Rapier
Royal Ideaus Fons Cloud Fleet Kite
There were at least 8 flying warbands of High Martians to start, and we were prepared to funnel casualties into new flying bands as the mitrailleuse, Gras and Lebels - not the mention the Hotchkiss revolving cannon fire - took their toll. Also, there were eight warbands of slave troops the High Martians could drive forward as cannon fodder. Atop the kraag peaks, several batteries of rogue guns, also crewed by slaves, were available to the Beastmen of Mars.
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| Martian kite in French service - why buy when you can lease? |
Once aerial flyers are added to a Soldier's Companion game, a second front is opened, and the ground battle becomes almost secondary as the skies above are torn by shot and shrapnel.
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| Le Rapier |
One other noteworthy observation is we had to rename the French gunboat - it had been built a few years ago and was originally name the "Napoleon". Such nomenclature would have been anathema after 1871, when the house of Bonaparte was banned from France.
Next post...the Raid Commences...
