This is a rerelease of the book by Michael Moorcock. I originally picked this up on the recommendation of Steve Blease from Wessex Games. This book falls into the realm of science fantasy – you have to be able to believe in both time travel and parallel dimensions for the book to be fun for you. As a source book for generating fictional countries and environments, this would be quite handy. You would be able to game in Victorian colonial times, a steampunk 60s/70s era with colonies, and in a world where Africa has conquered the globe. The heroes of the book (pointed out elsewhere, but now I can’t find the source) are all good socialists who believe that individualism and capitalism are dangerous concepts. I am diametrically opposed to both propositions, being a staunch capitalist and supporter of the role of the individual, but nonetheless, enjoyed the book and its stories. Moorcock’s grandfather starts the story as the narrator and over time, Moorcock himself picks up the story. The main character is Oswald Bastable, a man who had been an officer in the service of the British Empire in 1903. During a mission Bastable comes into contact with a native tribe that inhabits a set of ruins older than anyone can guess. In his attempt to escape from the tribe, he runs into a section of the temple that transports him to 1973. Over the course of his time in this era, he is transported to another era, and then another. His adjustments to the time shifts and, more importantly, the shifts in technology that have occurred form the gist of the story. I don’t want to go into too much detail as it would spoil the novel, but imagine, if you will, nukes delivered from dirigibles, enormous, city-crushing land leviathans, battles between fighter aircraft and dirigibles, a world where Russia never fell to the Bolsheviks, and you’ll get a good feel for the promise of the book.

When I have big projects in front of me on the painting table, I like to do two things as I work. The first is to listen to books on tape (I am currently going through Volume 7 of The Wheel of Time series – you can get lots done in 25 CDs worth of material.) The second is to have some smaller projects to intersperse with the stages of the larger one to give me a break. This digression is *literally* smaller than the Keuhankans as it is a force of 2mm figures based for the upcoming game “Land Ironclads” by Wessex Games.

The miniatures came in an army pack from Irregular Miniatures out of England. I purchased one of the Battlepacks from the Franco-Prussian war era, roughly coinciding with the time frame of Aeronef. There is not much info available on the rules right now other than the basing info that Wessex put out on their Yahoo Group list. I had picked up a Warmaster Ancients Indian army from Magister Militum from Little Wars when I was at MilleniumCon last fall and got some steel bases to go along with the army. Luckily for me, the bases fit the scale for Land Ironclads. I started small (no pun intended) with just a few bases to see how these little goomers painted up. (The pictures below will open up a new window with a larger picture when you click on the thumbnail.)

In this first picture, the group I painted is laid out in a tactical formation. Artillery is to the fore with a couple of infantry companies in support and flanked by squadrons of cavalry. The units to the rear of the infantry are two headquarters units that might have been Mitrailleuse as far as I know. They looked good as HQs, however, so I used them that way.

The left HQ (shown in a better picture here) is on a hill cut from a popsicle stick and then flocked with Woodland Scenics materials. The right HQ is next to a monopoly house that has the thatch roof made from Squadron Green Putty and has the chimney cut off.

The cavalry is shown to the left. What I think is impressive is that one of the set of stands contains lancers with pennants! Pretty good modeling jobs! Don’t ask me why the thumbnail for this one looks better than the first one above… I can’t break the code just yet. I think the picture is a big one and just doesn’t reduce down well.

All in all, I like these tiny warriors. I don’t think I’d ever play a Napoleonics or 7YW game with them, as the bigger figures appeal more to me, but when these are placed on the same table with Aeronefs, I bet the overall visual appeal will be terrific!