AQMF: Our first game

Year before last, Byakhee Richrad persuaded me to take part in a Kickstarter for All Quiet on the Martian Front. To quote Rick Priestly, one of the authors of the games system:

The background spins off from the H.G Wells book – the game is set ten years after the events described in the book and is based on a ‘second’ invasion. Although the events of the intervening +10 years are – of course – entirely made up – we based many of the events and characters on real events and people of the day. For example, the (real)story of the Ford Peace Ship is turned into an effort to mediate with the Martians – the (real) offer of Annie Oakley to raise women Sharpshooters is worked in too, together with her famous (real) quote about women handling firearms as naturally as they handle babies. The diary entry about the coroner examining the Martian Zombies is based on real people and real places that existed at the time – same for the piece about aerial warfare (though I doubt the airfield I mentioned was an airfield quite so early on).

A lot of the industrial history is also either accurate or based on contemporary developments or theories – which was interesting for me because my parents both worked for derivations of the company that made the first tanks in WW1 – in fact my Grandmother actually worked on the assembly lines that built them. So – yup – quite a lot of research went into it really. But we definitely made up the Zombies. Amongst other things:)

I’d got my first tranche of stuff before Richard, but as things happen we’d arranged a gaming day, before he got his stuff, and then his stuff arrived, so we decided to have a game or more of AQMF.

The set up, a 4×4′ board, the red weed bases were done ASAP in the morning !

Similarly, the MarkIII Baldwin tank, in resplendent grey plastiuc was stuck together in 5 minutes before we started the game. As it was very much an ad hoc game, many of the miniatures were being painted ‘in ganme’, so apologies for that, but it didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the game.

The human forces advanced.

The Martian tripods also advanced and were first in range.

The first heat ray attack destroyed a tank and a stand of infantry. The tank unit routed. As they strode over the hill, they continued their attack and the martians fought off the tanks and the infantry uniut, before being assualted by the second infantry unit.

The right hand tripod took damage from the tanks on the other side of the table.

So the threesome (!),. took steps to stop such nonsense.

The American HMGs, finish off the Martian Tripod, only for Rich to roll a 10 and for it to blow up destroying pretty much everything within 6 inches of it !

They didn’t last long these last three tanks !

Comments from the first game:

• The rules are very easy !
• The Martian Tripods are hard to kill, unless you concentrate fire.
• Human forces must make use of (but rely upon) cover.
• Don’t pick things up when the paint is wet !

More to follow.