I've been thinking about the fun I get from the hobby for some time now. I have a lot of troops from different eras - Samurai, WW1, WW2, Renaissance etc. and many have not seen the light of day for a few years now.
Russ and Mark have got into Star Wars tabletop (the one with the big ships, dice and cards...you know what I mean) and seem to get a lot more enjoyment as a result.
So I thought "What would I really like to try?" - and I came across the Aeronef Rules from Wessex Games and the models from Brigade Models.
To give you a brief understanding, Aeronef is essentially a sort of Steampunk / Alternative History where Victorian Era nations discover a scientific way of creating an anti-gravity machine which gave rise for the ability to build - in the easiest way I can describe - warships that can fly. As an added factor, meteorites from a mysterious source have landed in remote parts of the world and the minerals from these are found to have far superior anti-grav capability!
![]()
Nations with large empires (such as Britain) have harnessed these (as have nations with large land masses like Brazil on which the meteroites have fallen) - creating a leap forward in the arms race. Other nations have to rely on the older technology but are looking to expand into areas where the meteorites have fallen to benefit - only to come up against the nations defending them...creating any number of potential scenarios.
![]()
The rules are exceptionally simple - big ships shoot more but are not very manouverable...small ships are nippy but don't pack much of a punch. Action is D6 based - with hits only on a 6. Small ships may only have 2-3 attack dice, the big ships can have 20+! Each hit takes off armour points and each 25% of points lost, the number of attack dice and movement points are also reduced by 25%.
Movement is also simple - small ships move further (faster) and can turn more frequently. Large ships move less far and can often turn just once per game turn. Bases are hexagonal and each ship has a firing arc based on the hexagonal facing. So a large ship with multiple turrets may be able to fire in any direction - smaller ships may only be able to fire from their front.
![]()
Movement is split into 2 phases - each ship moves half their alloted distance each game Turn, any actions are resolved (such as shooting) and then move their remaining moves (having adjusted for damage etc). Each ship may only fire at one target per turn - again making gameplay simple and can do so at the start - middle or end of the Game Turn. This brings its own risks as a smaller ship manouvering to attack a larger ship may be obliterated half way through the game Turn as the big ship decides to fire first. Alternatively a ship may fire initially then move away.
There is no altitude difference to worry about (as in some aerial games) so a ship may actually be above an enemy ship but neither gains and advantage. This makes gameplay much smoother.
![]()
There are several things I like about the rules (in addition to the above). You can easily add in your own additional house rules for a start such as weather effects (high winds can reduce turning ability for example). Ships are customisable so you can trade armour, gunnery, speed and manouverability - and Brigade provide additional turrets and gun types to facilitate this.
![]()
There are a plethora of units and most nations have a particular trait or units. For example, the Turks have War Balloons (literally a ballon with guns attached) which cannot move but can be used to defend land targets from bombing. The Russians have floating batteries. Pirates have a flying torpedo vessel which essentially has a powerful bomb on a spar to its front - a bit like a kamikaze but they attach said bomb before flying off to reload (if they make it in). For the nations without access to the meteorite minerals, there is great reliance on dirigibles (called Digs in the game); the Germans for example.
Bombing of land-based targets (such as airbases, ports etc.) can be done by units with a bombing capability. To denote land targets, Brigade have 3mm scale buildings (a smaller scale than the 1/1200 scle of the aerial ships) but create that 3D impression (i.e. they are smaller as they are far below!). And are cheap as chips!
![]()
The rules cost about £5 and each supplement about the same (one set of linked scenarios based on a Hungarian noble takimg his battleship over to Turkey to extract revenge for the death of his family in a Turkish bombing raid on his castle) was just 67p!
One of the supplements is Land Ironclads - huge machines that trundle across the ground shooting lumps out of each other. The rules fit in with the Aeronef rules (again, big Ironclads move slowly but shoot lots with the same 6 to hit rule and the same effect of fire on turning, weapon damage etc.
![]()
Throw in naval miniatures of the period and you have a fun, three dimensional wargame platform that can take place anywhere in the world. Oh, and Martian invaders can play a part as well!
![]()
So this is what I'm going to focus on in 2019. I'm going to sell chunks of my existing metal mountain to fund it (so all my 6mm WW2 Russian and German 6mm, my Spanish Renaissance Army, my WW1 Austrians etc. are going on Ebay over the next month and a new adventure in the Victorian skies will start...
Russ and Mark have got into Star Wars tabletop (the one with the big ships, dice and cards...you know what I mean) and seem to get a lot more enjoyment as a result.
So I thought "What would I really like to try?" - and I came across the Aeronef Rules from Wessex Games and the models from Brigade Models.
To give you a brief understanding, Aeronef is essentially a sort of Steampunk / Alternative History where Victorian Era nations discover a scientific way of creating an anti-gravity machine which gave rise for the ability to build - in the easiest way I can describe - warships that can fly. As an added factor, meteorites from a mysterious source have landed in remote parts of the world and the minerals from these are found to have far superior anti-grav capability!
Nations with large empires (such as Britain) have harnessed these (as have nations with large land masses like Brazil on which the meteroites have fallen) - creating a leap forward in the arms race. Other nations have to rely on the older technology but are looking to expand into areas where the meteorites have fallen to benefit - only to come up against the nations defending them...creating any number of potential scenarios.
The rules are exceptionally simple - big ships shoot more but are not very manouverable...small ships are nippy but don't pack much of a punch. Action is D6 based - with hits only on a 6. Small ships may only have 2-3 attack dice, the big ships can have 20+! Each hit takes off armour points and each 25% of points lost, the number of attack dice and movement points are also reduced by 25%.
Movement is also simple - small ships move further (faster) and can turn more frequently. Large ships move less far and can often turn just once per game turn. Bases are hexagonal and each ship has a firing arc based on the hexagonal facing. So a large ship with multiple turrets may be able to fire in any direction - smaller ships may only be able to fire from their front.
Movement is split into 2 phases - each ship moves half their alloted distance each game Turn, any actions are resolved (such as shooting) and then move their remaining moves (having adjusted for damage etc). Each ship may only fire at one target per turn - again making gameplay simple and can do so at the start - middle or end of the Game Turn. This brings its own risks as a smaller ship manouvering to attack a larger ship may be obliterated half way through the game Turn as the big ship decides to fire first. Alternatively a ship may fire initially then move away.
There is no altitude difference to worry about (as in some aerial games) so a ship may actually be above an enemy ship but neither gains and advantage. This makes gameplay much smoother.
There are several things I like about the rules (in addition to the above). You can easily add in your own additional house rules for a start such as weather effects (high winds can reduce turning ability for example). Ships are customisable so you can trade armour, gunnery, speed and manouverability - and Brigade provide additional turrets and gun types to facilitate this.
There are a plethora of units and most nations have a particular trait or units. For example, the Turks have War Balloons (literally a ballon with guns attached) which cannot move but can be used to defend land targets from bombing. The Russians have floating batteries. Pirates have a flying torpedo vessel which essentially has a powerful bomb on a spar to its front - a bit like a kamikaze but they attach said bomb before flying off to reload (if they make it in). For the nations without access to the meteorite minerals, there is great reliance on dirigibles (called Digs in the game); the Germans for example.
Bombing of land-based targets (such as airbases, ports etc.) can be done by units with a bombing capability. To denote land targets, Brigade have 3mm scale buildings (a smaller scale than the 1/1200 scle of the aerial ships) but create that 3D impression (i.e. they are smaller as they are far below!). And are cheap as chips!
The rules cost about £5 and each supplement about the same (one set of linked scenarios based on a Hungarian noble takimg his battleship over to Turkey to extract revenge for the death of his family in a Turkish bombing raid on his castle) was just 67p!
One of the supplements is Land Ironclads - huge machines that trundle across the ground shooting lumps out of each other. The rules fit in with the Aeronef rules (again, big Ironclads move slowly but shoot lots with the same 6 to hit rule and the same effect of fire on turning, weapon damage etc.
Throw in naval miniatures of the period and you have a fun, three dimensional wargame platform that can take place anywhere in the world. Oh, and Martian invaders can play a part as well!
So this is what I'm going to focus on in 2019. I'm going to sell chunks of my existing metal mountain to fund it (so all my 6mm WW2 Russian and German 6mm, my Spanish Renaissance Army, my WW1 Austrians etc. are going on Ebay over the next month and a new adventure in the Victorian skies will start...