John Carter and the... Vervoids

So we had another In Her Majesty's Name game, this time moving it to the Red Planet. My Arc Rifles weren't ready to fight John Carter and his White Martians because I've been painting factories instead. So I drafted in some Vervoids.

John Carter and White Martians

Photo from here: http://mattsgamepage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/ironclad-sanwar-and-carter-commission.html

John Carter Pluck 2+ FV +5 SV +0 Move 0 Cost 64
Leadership +2
Inspirational (+1 Pluck 12”)
Duelist (Sabre +2 FV)
Lined Robes (8)
2 x Sabres (-1 Pluck, +2 FV)
Breath Preserver (+2 Pluck vs Gas)

White Martian Leader 3+ +2 +4 0 35
Leadership +1
Martian Desert Garb (8)
Ancient Martian Sonic Cannon (as Arc Rifle) (-2 Pluck, +1 SV, ignores normal armour)
Breath Preserver (+2 Pluck vs Gas)

White Martian High Priest 3+ +2 +2 0 63
Fanatic (re-roll 1st failed Pluck roll of game)
Martian Desert Garb (8)
Ancient Martian Staff of Power (acts as Arc Generator and Quarterstaff) (+3 FV)
3 x Red Dust Bombs (as Gas Grenades) (-1 Pluck)
Breath Preserver (+2 Pluck vs Gas)

White Martian Jezzail Warrior (x2) 4+ +0 +4 0 84 (44 each)
Hunter
Marksman (Jezzail)
Martian Desert Garb (8)
Jezzail (as Hunting Rifle) (-2 Pluck, +4 SV)
Breath Preserver (+2 Pluck vs Gas)

White Martian Warrior (x3) 4+ +1 +3 0 63 (21 each)
Martian Desert Garb (8)
Ancient Martian Sonic Cannon (as Arc Rifle) (-2 Pluck, +1 SV, ignores normal armour)
Breath Preserver (+2 Pluck vs Gas)

Total Cost: 309

Vervoids

Vervoid (x12)  4+ +2 +2 0 300 (25 each)
Bark (Armour 9)
2xThorns (as Spears) (+2 FV/SV, -1 Pluck, Range 9") (10)
Thornslinger (like Gunslinger) (5)

Total Cost: 300

We played the Breakthrough scenario, with the Martians needing to get across the board. My Vervoids simply waited, ready to ambush the unsuspecting foe from the safety of the forest.

Unfortunately, Martian Jezzail marksmen can ignore cover penalties, so they just stood on a hill picking off my Mogarian vege-slaves at their leisure.

By the time I managed to respond and start legging it into combat, I only had about half my forces left.

Once the Vervoids closed into range they actually did quite well, even killing John Carter, but the battle had already been lost.

Moral of the story: read your opponents army list, especially if he emails it to you two days before the battle.

We had time for a return battle, where I over-compensated for the poor showing in the first game by positioning all the scenery to my convenience and charging everyone at the jezzails asap.