Eight-Legged Walkers

Eight Legged Walkers Germany got a late start in expanding into colonialism and has expended most of its energies into colonies on Venus. German political and military influence on Mars is small but growing quickly as Germany now has prioritized the acquisition of liftwood and along the way to disrupt British influence whenever possible.

Much effort has been expended in trying to influence and finance opposition to British control. Since the "Mylarkt Incident" in 1886 (an exchange of gunfire between German and British aerial vessels on Mars) there has been a steady deterioration in Anglo-German relations.

The Germans first delivered several sections of steam walkers to Mars in 1887 to the military posts in Western Dioscuria that are needed to protect their trade interests in the region. They have slowly begun to build a strong military contingent but their lack of suitable transport from earth will never allow them to fully match the established British power. To increase their influence they have spent much effort in winning over any Martian prince with gifts of arms and money. The recent uprising in Shastapsh against the British has given the Germans the perfect opportunity to seriously disrupt their opponents influence in the region.

Rumor has it that one troop (3 machines) of the German Armored Walker Contingent has deserted the German side and joined up with the Shastapshians. The British ambassadors have demanded that the Germans re-capture their deserters but as of yet the German command has been “unable” to do so.

The Germans design concepts have coincidentally followed their British counterparts as the machines are all lightly armored and have either light guns or gatlings. The main advantage is the Walkers abilities to move through rough terrain with ease and their height allows them to see over low terrain features such as buildings and small hills. The Germans also introduced the concept of a rotating turret which has greatly increased the Walkers potential as a fighting machine. As per most Walkers their main area of weakness is directly underneath so infantry support is important.

The Germans have also introduced several other types of machines which will be discussed in a later article.

How the machines were built. As you can see in the pictures the original machine was a Burger King toy from the Wild Wild West line. These can still be found on occasion on Ebay but are becoming fairly rare. I removed the figure and hand crank shown in the picture and then used various pieces of plastic styrene to create the new turrets, smoke stacks, and guns. Close up pictures show the different tanks and stacks that were added. I did almost nothing to the lower part. The whole vehicle was painted in grey, given a dark wash and dry brushed with rust and / or Martian red.

Any questions? Love to answer them! Mark