Balloonatics!

Le Grand Courses Des Aérostats!

The page may be a few years old, but its darn impressive !
http://www.novag.org/images/cw03/Balloonatics/


Walt, of 'Le Grand Cirque' fame, is responsible, saying:

"This page contains a few images (courtesy of and thanks to Bill Rutherford) of the Balloon Racing game event put on by Walt O'Hara at COLD WARS 2003. This was a NOVAG event, held in our NOVAG club room (New Holland?). LGCd'A is a game of chaos, for the most part. Players take the part of balloon pilots in the first running of the Coup Gordon Bennett, a prestigious international balloon race that has been held annually since 1901. The mechanics are pretty simple-- cards tell you what the wind (or other players) are doing to your balloon, cards tell you when you activate, and cards tell you what terrain is coming up next. The course was held on a "rotating conveyor belt" of terrain boards that gradually moved down the course. The race was two 'legs' of six boards. Terrain features were all in two dimensions (mostly these were obstructions, like a mountain, hills or a volcano, but some terrain can change altitude as well).

SUMMARY: The game was a hoot to run and I think people enjoyed themselves. I am working on ways to speed up and streamline a few design points that were clumsy. I will run this at HISTORICON 2003."

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