Vegetation of Venus

Early reports of the varied vegetation of Venus has arrived from the Exploratory Teams sent to prepare some basic information to forward to the Expeditionary Forces. The following are a fair sample of the plant forms found so far:

Left has the Pith Tree, a soft cored tree that has been found extremely useful. The soft and pliable "heartwood" is a kin to paper mache, exposed to air it can be shaped by hand, then over a couple of days hardens to a toughness of Terran hard woods. The fruits that festoon the tops are edible but have a 1 week shelf life once picked before they quickly decay leaving only the husks behind, which very slowly decay to fertilize the tree.

 To the right is what is being called the Froth Tree, which is found in the mushy "plains" areas. It is useful for making ropes from the tough fibers, similar to a yucca plant. As is seen it grows to tremendous heights. Vehicles cannot seem to push through it very well.

The Scale Tree has a hard bark useable for burning, the purple nuts on top are edible, the leaves though are sappy and sticky, lending a use to glue. It grows rather quickly once its seeds take hold , but the seeds seem to need a long dormant time once detached to start to sprout. Plantation growing of them should provide plenty of fire wood and other useful products.

 To the right is the Bubble Bush, identified by its red, yellow and oranges.  Tough skinned "fruit" actually contains hydrogen gas! The fruit grows in size till it pops off the mother plant and floats off in the air, though in detaching it suffers a very tiny hole that slowly leaks the gas out till it lands, far off, to take root. If secured to the plant the bubbles can get very large and be harvested for hydrogen gas.

To the left are the large broad leafed green Flat Leaf bush's. A source of food for local animals. Terran animals will eat it if nothing else is available, though it gives them serious cases of flatulence....

To the right are the Wax Plant, tall, spiky leaves that are covered in up to an inch of waxy material that make fine fuel for lamps and other wax uses. Fruits are sweet to taste but are  Not Edible! and can cause sever illness and death if enough of them are eaten.

Itchy Thorn Brush is the reddish plants to the left. Fine spines cover the branches. Attached to the spines are tiny seeds. Brush against them and you get stuck with tens to hundreds of them that can cause tremendous itching, though scattering the seeds during the removal of the spines. The plant does not burn well even when left cut and out to dry for weeks.

Constrictor Bush to the right, nasty stuff. Near the stem, touching the hairy leaves causes them to curl in suddenly in a area effect, trapping the hand, arm or what ever touched it trapping it. An acid is exuded and a digestive operation starts. Only quick use of a bush knife to get free will save you as another side effect of the acid fluid is a narcotic effect quickly causing you to slip into unconsciousness.

Water Hyacinth plant is very common in the flooded swap areas. It often hides deeper water and is or can be treacherous to think that there is solid ground under it. Large Yellow fruit is quite similar to Terran coconuts.

To the right another common bush plant which tends to be edible by Terran animals with little or no noticeable side effects. It is also a staple of local wildlife.

The last plant is a problem as it seems to be alive along the lines of simple animals. The fronds "sense" movement and move towards the movement and grapple animals. The tips of the long branches are very hard and very sharp with the ability to pierce into the victim. To be avoided whenever possible!

Lastly are the Walking Trees, which tend to move about all the time, probing the moist Venusian soil for nutrients and or small, slow moving creatures...

VSF Battle Report

So after the holiday break we got the group going the other night with a warm up VSF battle. Still mastering the rules there were a lot of learning instances all around. So here is the opening sides:

On the left we see the forces of Kaptain Kneemo and allies vs the French Forces on the right side picture.  Walkers and Steam Tanks oh my! French were trying to secure the bridge and a bridgehead while Kneemo and allies were trying to pound them back from the bridge. There was a ford in the river to the left of the bridge.

Allied steam tanks and walkers on Kneemo's left seemed to have misplaced or under powered their opening rounds as they created a great deal of steam and smoke but did not manage to get any hits to slow down the copper advance, taking substantial casualties in return. On the right flank the mechnified troops advanced and coming into range of the french infantry proceeded to open fire and sent the first unit packing. Steam walker fire was also abysmal on this flank... sigh, have to recalibrate the weapons again! The French Steam Walkers thundered across the ford and into the mechnified troops, steadily pushing them back. Breaking one of the mechified units they fell back to ready another charge, but in order to cut losses a retreat was sounded. The Left flank was driven back and or eliminated as the French heavy tank crossed the bridge with the copper walkers support and took the farm, establishing their bridgehead.

And for those wanting a better look at Skrapwelders French steam walkers here you go. Im sure he will be posting some much better shots and info tid bits about construction somewhere.

Kaptain Kneemo's Venus Expeditionare Force Update

Finally, 5 companies of Ship's Marines are completed along with their 2 heavy support walkers:

Banners and bases to flock yet, but wanted to get a new post on the blog for the new year! The Shipboard Sailor company's are still being touched up but should be ready in the next couple of days to be followed by a complete layout of the TOE force with proper bases.

VSF Mech Walkers finished

Painted, and added rivets and smokestacks.

And they they are with an infantry escort / comparison.

VSF Mech Walker Conversion

Couldn't pass up this great and simple conversion:

Star Wars miniature walker, on the right is the untouched original version. Quick head swap for pith helmets on the right. Some repainting of uniforms to do but there you have the simple swap.

Killer Robot Update

Thought to up the detailing on the robots just recently constructed. So with dremel in hand it was time to add some details.

First was to extend the "guns" barrels, way to short, did not much look like guns. Thin plastic rod with "seed" beads added. I drilled into the ends of the knobs that were to be the guns and pre assembled the new barrels. Having counter drilled out the mounting spots made it go easier. Picture on the right shows the mounted barrels.

Then added some Antenna's, did think about rivets but the nice smooth shell look of the tops seemed to not need them for a change. Mounted 2 to a base for Martian Empires machines, each base is a support weapons unit.

New Robots

Was browsing in a large office supply store when I happened upon some fancy plastic paper clips that can also be pinned to the wall. So digging around in the bits box I dug out some old mageknight three mech legged cyborgs, I clipped and shaped the trunk. Next was mounting a plastic tube to lift the top mount up as it was to low in my opinion.

So here are some shots, the left shows the various stages, cyborg cut, stem mounted to paper clip and unpainted complete. To the right is the robot with a flat black spray coat primer. I will dry brush them in either dark metal or perhaps brass for VSF gaming.