Miniature Ordnance Review looks at the world of historical and fantasy miniatures wargaming and model building. From 15mm Flames of War, to Warhammer 40K, to 1/35th scale tanks, with some potential surprises on the horizon - you'll find them here!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Flames of War Meets War of the Worlds?

A while back (and at this point it seems like a LONG while back) I participated in a Kickstarter campaign for a new 15mm miniature game, All Quiet on the Martian Front.  The game is set in an alternate pre-World War I period where the Martians from H.G. Welles The War of the Worlds have launched a second attack against humanity (in this timeline the first attack having taken place around 1898 just like in the original story).  Initially envisioned as a white metal or resin/white metal project, the Kickstarter campaign went so well, a lot of the vehicles are going to be available in plastic.

In the game, the Martians attack with their tripod vehicles as described in the novel, but greatly expanded upon by the guys over at Robot Peanut Studios.  Earth's defenders bravely engage the alien invaders with a variety of large steam tanks, guns, and other technology that seems to be a mixture of steampunk/dieselpunk meets World War I meets Warhammer 40K.  Of course, given that Rick Priestly (yes, the guy who essentially invented Warhammer and Warhammer 40K) is one of the three project developers, maybe the style is no surprise.

On a seemingly unrelated note, while Battlefront has only hinted at it, recent forum posts confirm that Battlefront will be releasing miniatures and presumably a rule set for World War I (called Flames of War:  Great War).  The initial SKU list looks fairly interesting, though the inclusion of Mark IV, Whippet and A7V tanks implies that this will be a late World War I rather than 1914-focused game.  I'll likely pick up some of these miniatures and play the game as written, but then I got to thinking... is there room for some crossover???

Based on what I've seen the basing between AQotMR and FoW will be somewhat different, but wouldn't it be cool to see real Mark IV's and Whippets going up against massive Alien Tripods on the war torn fields of France?  Throw in some FT17 tanks and you've got the makings of a really fun afternoon.  Taking the idea a bit further, facing an otherworldly threat, would we see an immediate armistice and have Germans fighting alongside the Allies (sort of like what you see in Turtledove's Worldwar series)?  Of course, translating the AQotMF stats to FoW or vice versa may be difficult, but we're talking friendly games here, not tournament play.  Although when I'm running a historical game I'm a stickler for accuracy, this just sounds like too much fun to pass up.

Regardless, one thing is absolutely certain.  I will have a LOT of painting to do over the next several months.  I'm also going to need to get good at bare metal surface painting for the Martian tripods.  At this point I'm glad I've revamped my work area... which reminds me, I should take a photo of it and share it with you guys.

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