The Flashman Papers

If you are on a spot of well earned leave from the Regiment and need something to read, you certainly must check out the adventures of Harry Flashman VC: Infamous British Officer, womaniser, cad and scoundrel!

http://www.harryflashman.org/home.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashman

Now if only Flashman would visit the Red Planet...

Steam Monster Sighted

Steam Monster Sighted

A new horror has been sent out into the world to wage war and cause issues among the nations of mankind.

Yes, that beast of a company Reviresco has unleashed a new kit for those so inclined.

As you can see it is large and powerful. Prepare your forces because who knows who has bought one.

A link to Reviresco here:

http://www.tin-soldier.com/

dafrca

ERB Map Room

If you are visiting this Blog, you are probably an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan and already have a few of his works in your library or parlour.

So, being an erudite gentlemen smoking a thin pantella, its time to don your smoking jacket, pour out a snifter of cognac and visit this site with some great maps of Barsoom and Pellucidar.

http://erbatlas.virtualave.net/atlas1.shtml

HMVS CERBERUS

Adding to yesterday's post on Cerberus, I thought I would add more about this ship and why she is my favourite pre-Dreadnought warship:

1- Launched in 1868, Cerberus is the only remaining Monitor (the first generation of modern battleships) left in the world.

2- Preceding HMS Devastation by almost three years, Cerberus was the first British warship to dispense completely with sail power and to incorporate the shallow draft.

3- Cerberus was the first, and is the only remaining example, of a Monitor having a central superstructure.

4- The design for Cerberus was the first in the world to incorporate the combination of a central superstructure with fore and aft gun turrets.

5- Cerberus is the only substantially intact surviving warship of any of Australia's pre-Federation colonial navies.

6- Cerberus was the flagship and most powerful warship of the Victorian Navy. In addition she was the most powerful warship of any of the Australian Colonial Navies and was the first armoured warship built for Australia.

The CERBERUS wreck off Melbourne

You can read more about HMVS CERBERUS at these websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMVS_Cerberus
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~maav/hmvscerberus.htm
http://www.cerberus.com.au/myths.html
http://www.gunplot.net/colonialnavy/savecerberus.html

Brigade to make Nef scale Surface ships!

"A completely new range of historical pre-dreadnought era monitors and coastal battleships in 1/1200th scale. Ideal for use in Aeronef games."

There are four very nice looking models in the design studio, but my favourite is most definately this one:
VDN-101 Australian Cerberus class Monitor Possibly the world's first real battleship, the rusting hulk of the Cerberus lies off the coast of Victoria today.

She was a vessel of the Victorian Colonial Fleet and her wreck isnt far from where I used to live as a kid. I remember sailing past her several times and some of her superstructure is still visible.

More great releases to look forward to!

CANCON - a splendid day out!

On this weekend was CANCON, a large gaming expo in Canberra and the largest in Oz I do believe (http://www.cgs.asn.au/cgs_framework.asp?type=cancon).
Sadly my mate Owen, who had planned to come up for the weekend and the Con, had to cancel at the last minute. There is always next year though right?


I caught up with my mate Nic from Eureka miniatures, whom I had not seen for about two years and who furnished me with a nice box of lead goodies (including more 2mm infantry for Land Ironclads and some 15mm Dino and Mammoth Hunters!). Good to see you again mate.

Nic also introduced me to a nice fellow named Karsten, who had seen White Wine Sauce and had some very nice things to say about this place and the things we post here - most kind of you that was too Sir! (Interestingly, he found this place through your "Hobby Shed" blog Patrick). Karsten has a Germanic bent for his VSF forces and is starting his own VSF campaign soon using GASLIGHT. I look forward to seeing his campaign diary and the hi-jinks that will inevitably occur.

It was a pleasure you meet you Karsten, I only regret we didn't have more time to chat. I hope you will drop in often and leave us some messages.

I also caught up with Jerry of Castaway Arts (http://www.castawayarts.com.au/) who had travelled all the way down from Cairns. I hadn't met Jerry before but had ordered some of his very nice Gladiators many years ago when his company was new. Luckily for me, he was selling the Anniversary edition of The Sword and the Flame, which I have always been a fan of but haven't played for about 15 years. Armed with that and the French Foreign Legion supplement ("The Sword in North Africa"), I think the sands of Mars are that little bit closer!

Apart from that my son loved playing a demo game of Pirates! (and then spent his pocket money on some packets of cards) and we had a good old shoofty around tables, the great scenery and of course the bizarres to pick up a few other trinkets along the way.

Overall, a great day out, good to see an old friend, make new ones and pick up some goodies as well. Huzzah!

French Dino-Hunters

or I should say "Chasseur De Dinosaur"!

From Algiers to Paris to Indo-China, Frenchies come to hunt the biggest and most exciting game of all !

http://amdba.over-blog.com/categorie-648685.html

très magnifique!

(You'll need Babel Fish to translate the text, but the pics look like a cracking good time!)

Dirigibles of Imperial Russia

Another great archive of military aerostats, this time its the Tsar's aerial armada on exposition!


http://info.dolgopa.org/album/06_00e.htm

Land Ironclads coming soon from Brigade!

The Brigade Games' Design Studio page has had a very exciting development lately:

"Victorian SF fans are probably aware of the impending arrival of Wessex Games' 2mm Land Ironclads rules. As you'd expect, we'll be making a range of models to support the rules and here are the first ones. The rules and models should be released in late spring / early summer 2007"

There are 3 shown so far :
http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Frames/New/index.html

VLI-001 'Assorted Contraptions': A variety of tiny 2mm tank models to support the larger Ironclads.

VLI-301 'German land Train': Modular land train made up of different sections, each with a specific purpose.











VLI-401 'French Ironclad': Medium-sized LI.

Dribble, dribble, drrooool, drroooool....

A tradition of red shirts...

I noticed the Steam Trek link below and couldn't resist.

The balance of power upset?

Greetings old chap,
long time no see and all that - but the hush-hush job I'm in keeps me away from the writing desk. A remarkable event has occured over the lagoon - the Venetians are calling it a miracle, and a portent; I'd sum it up as a phenomenon, and one which could well tip the balance of power. I've seen it with my very eyes, old boy. A dashed great Aeronef of unknown design. All modern looking - newer than new, if you grasp my meaning. It even has one of those newfangled aeroplane flimsies mounted atop a long rail which apppears to serve the purpose of launching the contraption. There's rumour that dashed time machine merchant is involved; and agent 7 says there is some notion that 'Philadelphia' is somehow related to this business, although our American ears hear nothing. Confound it, the Mediterranean is all upset again! Ah well, chin up and all that.
Cheers, old fellow, and keep the od sauce bowl warm.

Eisarn tolc dug...

The mechanisms by which the Martians transmit their communiqués is not well understood and those who postulate that we might expect to hear a word or two when the interlopers are in extreme distress may — in the course of time — be proven wholly false.
But as of this date we may add at least three new words to the growing lexicon of non-terrestrial words. Whether they describe the ship, its operations, or pertain to some other subject entirely — we do not yet know.

The above is a work-in-progress, scratchbuilt Martian Nef.

The Lost Valley of Morvalistan!

A group of chaps travel around the Land of Morvalistan, seeking to rescue their chums from the clutches of the reptilian inhabitants of the Lost valley!

http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Lost%20World/Lost_Wld_gal_01.htm

Good show!

Tea - Milk or Lemon?

an age old question indeed...

Earl Grey gets Lemon. English breakfast gets Milk. Green tea gets neither and shouldn't truely even have sweetner.If you ice black tea, it should have lemon, even it's a milk-getting variety... however, iced thai tea has sweetned condensed milk.... that hits the spot!

If having milk, does it go in before or after the tea?

The answer is purely scientific old Boy!

http://www.stashtea.com/tt111298.htm

Oxygen for Aeronaughts!

I saw this in the latest Gazette and thought that Aerostat and Dig crews would find this very useful...
---------------
2006 Darwin Awards #2 - (3 June 2006, Florida) The feet of Jason and Sara, both 21, were found protruding from a deflated, huge helium advertising balloon.

Jason was a college student, and Sara attended community college, but apparently their education had glossed over the importance of oxygen.

The pair pulled down the 8' balloon, and climbed inside. Their last words consisted of high-pitched, incoherent giggling as they slowly passed out and passed into the hereafter. Sheriff's deputies said the two were not victims of foul play. No drugs or alcohol were found. The medical examiner reported that helium inhalation was a significant factor in their deaths.
---------------
Aeronaughts be warned!

Italian Interlude

While Tas is sorting himself out and smoking a thin pantella, I thought I'd chime in with a photo of my recently painted Italians (exclusive to Y.I.A.W.W.S.).

Got to exercise them on Mars this weekend. In the finest tradition of the hobby, I finished painting them at 1am the night before the game. They accomplished little, but at least did not die in droves like my Russians.

I have started a battle report over in the shed, until then, cherrio!

Officer Qualities!

What a fantastic quote!:

"An Officer should be comely, spratly and above all else, confident in his own dress and bearing.

He should, where possible, eat a small piece of meat each morning with molasses and beans.

He should air himself gracefully when under fire and never place himself in a position of difficulty when being shot at.

He should eat his meals comfortably and ahead of his soldiers, for it is he who is more important tactically on the battlefield and therefore he who should be well nourished.

His hair should be well groomed and if possible he should adorn a moustashe or similar facial adornment.

When speaking to his soldiers he should appear unnerved and aloof and give direction without in any way involving himself in the execution of arduous or unofficer like duties.

He should smoke thin pantellas except when in the company of ladies when he should take only a small gin mixed with lemon tea.

He should be an ardent and erudite gentleman and woo the ladies both in the formal environment and in the bedroom where he should excel himself beyond the ordinary soldier with his virulent love making prowess.

These I say to you are the qualities of an Officer that set him apart from the lay person and the common soldier"

Lieutenant General Hubert Worthington
Commander In Chief
5th Royal Indian Mountain Division
Bombay
12 December, 1907

A Journey into the Hindu-kush!

...well maybe not quite that far!

This Officer has received marching orders from their Lordships at the Regimental Appointments Office, and so its time to clear out of this barracks and move into new quarters. As long as the new place has a decently oversized drinks cabinet and a good menu I'm sure all will be well...

It will take me about a fortnight to get myself sorted out and back online regularly. In the meantime I trust you will all carry on with this sillyness and continue to have fun in this world of aeronefs, land ironclads, aquanefs and VSF!

Yours in a Whte Wine Sauce,

Tas

Battle in the Skies

The Basement Generals, noted for their high quality VSF and Pulp gaming, had a slight diversion into things aeronef and you can see at this page of thier great website.

In this stouch, a Britis Aero-fleet is ambushed by foul Frenchies and the vile Hun. Then a mad professor intervenes with his array of experimental weapons....




Have a look to find out more about this battle and their "Master of the World" campaign!

http://basementgenerals.mtswebsites.com/basement_generals17.htm

Martian Tripods on the way!

It has been reported that Brigade Models will soon have

1/1200 scale Martian Tripods as designed by Germi.

This will increase the threat to the Human Race, but then that is how Heroes are made.

Let us prepare for this onslaught and ready our resolve to win for the Human Race and for the Empire.

White Dwarf!

(being an aeromobile, and not a magazine...!)

Following Monday 8th's post about aerial bicycles, Steve Blease (of Wessex fame......or should that be infamy?) sent me this email with a link:

"Following the White Wine posting I spotted this in the local freebie paper..."

Yes, the "White Dwarf" is a true bicycle dirigible! Of course a pintle mounted Gardner gun or Gatling to cover the front arc would make it a tad more 'neffish, but still - I'm rather impressed!

Follow the link to read the story behind the White Dwarf and see more pics of her in action, including some canyon flying:
http://home.teleport.com/~reedg/whitedwarf.html

Thanks for the link Steve!

...of Weybridge and Shepperton

In these times there seems no dearth of interpretation of the machines visited upon us by the Martians. The latest of these are reportedly based on the illustrations of Alvim Correa (1906). The expected arrival was to have been for this past Christmas but there have been, as yet, no sightings.

For a more detailed account... http://www.retrokit.net/79.html

Le Grand Cirque

"The Grand Circuit Races (aka 'Le Grand Cirque' by the French and everyone else) is a game of "Conveyance racing" in a weird but whimsical Victorian age loaded with technological possibilities. Players assume the role of racers, competing on behalf of their nation or political faction. "

You can find Walt O'Hara's fun game as a free download here:

http://mrnizz.tripod.com/legrandcirque.htm

There is even a clever variant for racing on Horsell Common during the martian Invasion - watchout for the falling cyclinders!

So let out the brakes, activate the dynamo, and wind up the springs - you're off and racing!

Ingenious Engines and Clockwork Enigmas!

"Being in the main a utile and eclectic compendium of information and resources for simulating the fantastical adventures and speculative conflicts using vigorous imagination, miniature figurines, and scenics cunningly crafted."

A great page with some interesting VSF links for both Wargaming and RPG

http://www.circagames.com/Resources/IECE_Index.html

Raptors!

Well chaps, here are some pics I snapped while out hunting with the Chaps from the International Society of Leviathan Hunters.

Nasty critters these Raptors, small and agile. One cant hear them bashing through the jungle toward you like those big Sauropods or big Carnivores. These beasties stalk you themselves and tend to attack in packs. Its always good to have a smart chap with a shotgun or something to help put them down in case of a suprise attack.


Modelling Notes

I got these models from the ever friendly Nic Robson and the perpetually helpful boys at Eureka Miniatures, in Melbourne Australia. These come from his 28mm Pax Limpopo range, though they are quite useable as bigger game for 15mm figures.

All models, including the pack of 3, are very flexible and can be manipulated quite easily into different shapes. All models painted by yours truly and based with static grass and kitter litter 'rocks'.


When you arent hunting them on a private reserve for exhorbitant fees, you can use your raptors for playing Wagers of Sin:

'Street urchins race savage velociraptors around the fetid sewers of Victorian London in a base travesty of the sport of kings. You can wager your ill-gotten gains on the outcome"

Sounds like a jolly good lark eh?

You can find Nic's Eureka Miniatures site here: http://eurekamin.com.au/
and the Wagers of Sin rules here: http://eurekamin.com.au/images/WAGERSOFSINRULES.jpg

2X2L calling CQ

Imagine if you will a matched set of ship-identification cards and social calling cards. Further, please call to mind this set as being quite specific to our beloved white wine sauce.

Only one barrier stands before these unique treasures occupying your gaming table and your pocket. Please inform me of your opinion on the maximum, wieldy width for ship-identification cards. The project as planned will match the proportion of Victorian era calling cards to the smaller gaming aid.

Flying Bicycles!

Sick of the traffic in London these days? All the horses, pedestrians, carriages and steam conveyances? Then this is just the thing for you - a pedal powered flying bicycle to solve your woes!

Scaled for 1/64, so its ideal for use with 28mm figs
http://www.tin-soldier.com/cgi-bin/ustorekeeper.pl

Wessex Games News - a White Wine global exclusive!

Steve Blease of Wessex Games announces a new Aeronef Supplement!

"Aeronef Over The Channel is the first in a series of Aeronef PDF campaign supplements planned for release in 2007 by Wessex Games. Concentrating on the air war over the English Channel and Southern England during the Great War 1889-91.

Aeronef Over The Channel provides Aeronef gamers with a comprehensive background to the war, a day-by-day theatre of operations timeline, stats for the aeronef and aerostat used by the combatants, bios of famous personalities, as well as a number of tabletop scenarios and strategic games to refight some of the more famous actions.

Wessex Games plan to release Aeronef Over The Channel in the first quarter of 2007.

I thought White Wine could have the honour of announcing this WG Aeronef news exclusively."

Thank you kind Sir, indeed it is an unparalleled honour! You can be sure that a squadron of Australia's finest will be rushing to the mother country's defence in this time of crisis.

Glider tank unveiled!

From the long dormant Vanmullikan Industries factory (which has been devoted to other outputs for some time) comes the innovative Glider Tank !

Want to launch a surprise attack on the daft old enemy using heavy tanks? Then fly in a force of gunwagons on glider wings!

Rocket-launched, preferably off a cliff-edge, or released from 'nefs, they then glide silently towards the drop zone and into action. And of course the VSF Pathans, with their huge cannon mounted on wheeled/tracked carriages, think it would be cool too.... ;)

V's Modelling Notes: Tank is a standard GW Epic scale Ork Braincrusha. The wings and the two struts come from a 1/48 scale Hawker fury by Airfix. Bit of a waste if it were not for the fact I had this idea of finishing it as a monoplane. The camo: just white sprayed over black, with some green spray; all covered in the usual chestnut wash.

Another brilliant Vanmullikan recipe of 75% inspiration, 10% insanity and 20% design ingenuity!

Craving your own Hereditary Title?

These chaps can fix you right up as a Laird (Lord) of your own estate in Scotland!

Sure its cold, indeed it is bleak and desolate, and yes its hard to get anything but a fine malt wiskey, but it is a nice way to introduce yourself!

http://www.scottishhighlandestates.com/?gclid=CIyzjK7ks4kCFST9YAodqFLNMQ

Not sure about the kilt though....

WOTW Tripods and Flyers

If you havent seen them before (and I hadnt), Studio Bergstrom offer a range of WOTW Flyers and Tripods, directly out the the 1953 Film. Neat!

A review by Thomas Pope said:
"The sculpting is pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but then again, there isn't much detail here that needs to be replicated. The tripods are much closer in style to the invaders from the movie (sleekness of the lines, etc.) than they are to the book cover illustration.

Casting was much better than I had expected. I wasn't sure about this "tumble bright finish" he mentioned on the web page, but it didn't hurt the detail at all and did saved me a lot of work with a file. Mold lines were present but easily cleaned off. One word of warning, the alloy he uses is extremely hard! I almost broke my drill bit trying to drill a hole for the flight base. On the plus side, the relatively thin necks of the invaders were not damaged in shipping and look very sturdy.

A final note on the castings. The tripod legs were not cast in pewter. Instead, they are pins soldered into the body exactly like his prototype. I actually prefer this, he did a neat job of soldering them and they are much stronger than pewter legs would be."

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/4155/index.html
You'll find the details on the Order form page

Spring clean at Brigade Models website

Brigade have updated their website:

"Welcome to 2007 and to our updated website. We've given the place a spring-clean and a lick of paint. I'm afraid we've also had to introduce the previously-threatened price increments to compensate for the rapidly rising price of white metal and also the Royal Mail's new pricing structure which has affected us more than we thought it would."

The updated site looks great and the increases are very modest. Well worth it for their high quality products and in my experience their customer service is unequalled. They have replaced models damaged in transit without question and been very courteous and friendly.

Italian Monitor unveiled!

Peter Fulgoney has posted pic of the wonderful 1:700 scale Regia Marina monior 'Faa di Bruno' in its WW1 configuration.
A concrete reinforced sunken buildng, it sports a whopping 15inch gun turret! Designed by drunken Italian naval architects, it sprints at a bone jarring 3 kts and it likely to be swept away in any king tide!

http://www.steelnavy.com/RFaaDiBrunoPF.htm

The Steel Navy site is a great place to spend an hour or two, particulalry with G&T in hand!