{"id":17609,"date":"2026-05-15T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/?p=17609"},"modified":"2026-05-14T11:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:48:18","slug":"the-skies-of-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2026\/05\/the-skies-of-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Skies of Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Further extracts from the reports by Lt Algernon Carmichael-Jefferies of the 22nd West Kent Lancers.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Syrtians maintain a powerful aerial fleet of flying warships. Unlike the small hovering silver craft of the Olympians, those of this Southern empire are closer in design to our own ships, although their arrow-head like profiles are somewhat removed from human configurations. Unlike Earth built vessels, they appear not to use steam power, having no recognisable funnels or chimneys. Instead, their energy requirements appear to be fed by some sort of rechargeable translucent crystal with colours running from a deep ice blue through to a bright emerald green. We chanced upon a downed and abandoned small civilian vessel deep in the deserts and were able to recover a sample of this crystalline power store for inspection by Her Majesty’s scientists. Each has a pair of ‘sails’ which we surmise are for steering and altitude change, almost like ailerons and fins.<\/p>\n

Their armament is carried in rotating hemispherical turrets similar to Earth vessels, although we saw ships with large turrets bearing three gun barrels that appeared to spin around a central axis. The most unusual weapon we saw was a large indirect fire cannon akin to a mortar or bombard fitted to a battleship sized craft – we can think of no equivalent device in any navy on our home planet. Another we observed had a battery of rockets on a large trainable mounting. We have yet to see a Syrtian weapon discharge (fortunately, one might say !) so we know little of their detailed design – whether they use explosives, solid shots, canister or some other infernal technology, we were unable to establish.<\/p>\n

They also use smaller winged craft which are remarkably fast and agile. Triangular in plan, they resemble nothing so much as a child’s kite, which is how we refer to them. They seem to be an equivalent of our own fixed-wing fighters and bombers – indeed, we saw larger examples with what much have been high-explosive bombs suspended from their wings. <\/p>\n

All of the vessels were a sandy colour in appearance, but with an abundance of coloured stripes, panels and other markings which can only be for identification purposes.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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VANFP-6001<\/a> – Syrtian Fleet Pack – \u00a328.00
\nVANFP-6011<\/a> – Syrtian Kite Squadron – \u00a37.50
\nVAN-6001<\/a> – Ul Shuttr class Battleship – \u00a310.00
\nVAN-6002<\/a> – Ul Hanir class Bombard – \u00a310.00
\nVAN-6003<\/a> – Nisan ul Mayib class Cruiser – \u00a33.25
\nVAN-6004<\/a> – Misrak class Destroyer – \u00a32.00
\nVAN-6005<\/a> – Symahn class Frigate – \u00a31.25
\nVAN-6006<\/a> – Zeqam class Fighter (x6) – \u00a31.25
\nVAN-6007<\/a> – Nusair class Bomber (x3) – \u00a31.25<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Further extracts from the reports by Lt Algernon Carmichael-Jefferies of the 22nd West Kent Lancers. The Syrtians maintain a powerful aerial fleet of flying warships. Unlike the small hovering silver craft of the Olympians, those of this Southern empire are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Further extracts from the reports by Lt Carmichael-Jefferies - this time concerning the flying vessels of the Syrtis Major.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,46,17,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aeronef","category-imperial-skies","category-new-releases","category-salute-53-2026"],"views":774,"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SM-3.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p26BWy-4A1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7100,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2016\/10\/back-again-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":17609,"position":0},"title":"Back Again","author":"Tony","date":"October 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Back from my break, today's first task is to tackle the order backlog which has built up while I've been away. 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The mainstay of the fleet is the General Urdaneta class battleship, named for a general and hero of the Spanish American wars of independence. 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We have newly designed versions of the Majestic, Stirling Castle and Kaiserin Elizabeth class ships, all with resin hulls and metal parts. 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The British get eight new models, replacing the Exeter heavy cruiser, all frigate and destroyer models plus as a bonus there is the the brand new Medusa class Armoured Cruiser. The cruisers and the Arethusa\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Aeronef"","block_context":{"text":"Aeronef","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/category\/aeronef\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cruisers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cruisers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cruisers.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cruisers.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6997,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2016\/09\/taking-to-the-imperial-skies\/","url_meta":{"origin":17609,"position":4},"title":"Taking to the (Imperial) Skies","author":"Tony","date":"September 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the day - the Imperial Skies rulebook is now available from our website for those who missed out on the Kickstarter. We also have accessories such as the turn rulers and logo dice. 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