Victorian Names For Heroes, Cads & Others!

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If you’re looking for an authentic name for your Victorian-era characters, heroes and cads, here are a couple of sites that may be of assistance:

“Victorian Era Names circa 1840’s-1890’s Being a compilation drawn from old census and vital statistic records” offers a lengthy list of the same

This site also has some crackers!
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~poindexterfamily/OldNames.html

Enjoy!

The Martian War

The other book I read while touring the Kingdom of Thailand was this:

The Martian War: A Thrilling Eyewitness Account of the Recent Invasion As Reported by Mr. H.G. Wells
by Gabriel Mesta (AKA Kevin J. Anderson)

This is a very different take on the WOTW concept, one in which all of Wells's stories are based on factual events. Working for the secret Imperial Institute in London, he cannot divulge his adventures in any fashion other than fictional stories for the paper. Cavourite spheres, invisibility potions, germ warfare, lunar beings, tentacled Martians, battle tripods, Professor Huxley, Dr Moreau, Percival Lowell - it's a grand cast of period characters and materials.

The plot of this book is therefore a completely different one to the traditional WOTW stories and I found it quite enchanting. An easy read in the Victorian period literary style, I found it quite compelling and hard to put down.

I give it 9/10

You can read other reviews of this book at Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Martian-War-Thrilling-Eyewitness-Invasion/dp/0743446550/ref=sr_1_2/102-9120740-3087328?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179136658&sr=1-2

War of the Worlds: Next Millenium

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War of the Worlds: New Millennium

by: Douglas Niles

I just spent 10 days in the Kingdom of Siam, enjoying this book that Maksim, fellow White Wine Saucer and ace reporter, most kindly sent me as a gift a few weeks ago. Thanks awfully, old boy, and to thank you, here is White Wine Sauce's first ever book review!

The traditional WOTW story translated into a contemporary context, but it is NOT a novel of the recent Tom Cruise film. Think more Wells with Tom Clancy techno-military detail.

Its a very easy read with a fast paced and engaging story, though some technical blunders along the way do marr it just a little (...then again, VSF'ers aren't normally too interested in such nuances!).

Almost all the plotlines of the original Wells masterpeice are represented here including the Battle of Maybury Hill, the Artilleryman, the Thunderchild, etc. but are not the same as the original. Spotting the similarities was fun. The only one I couldn't see was the parson episode and being trapped under a cylinder. Without spoiling the plot, the ending also has a nice twist on the original.

Overall, an absorbing and enjoyable read which stays true to the spirit of Wells.

I give it 7.5/10

You can read more about it here:
http://www.amazon.com/War-Worlds-Millennium-Douglas-Niles/dp/0765311429/ref=sr_1_6/102-9120740-3087328?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179115096&sr=1-6

Thanks again, Maks! I haven't read a novel for ages and this was just the tonic I needed for a bit of R&R!

Zeppelin Raid Safety Tips

I'm off for a week or so on Her Majesty's service, so I'll leave you to ponder this safety tip in the meantime!

When the Zeppelins Come
A FEW USEFUL HINTS FOR PERSONAL SAFETY

The following rules of what to do in case of a Zeppelin raid are given on the authority of the Home office:-

Get indoors as soon as you hear the first bomb fall or the first gun fire, and stay there until the firing is well over.Find the best cover you can. Go down to the lowest floor-the cellar, if you have one. Keep away from the window. Flying splinters of glass are highly dangerous.

Make sure of a plentiful supply of water to put out fires due to incendiary bombs. Dry fine sand and dry fine soil are useful for putting a fire out, but water is the easiest and best safeguard.

Never touch an unexploded bomb or shell.

If you are in the street when a bombardment begins keep cool and make for the best cover you can find. Excitement and thoughtlessness are as bad as fright. If no shelter be available and bombs are dropping near you, throw yourself down on your face. You thereby reduce the mark for rising splinters, and you have a better chance of saving your face.

Do not be in a hurry to come out of your shelter. Remember that even when the Zeppelin had passed over you a shell aimed at her miles away may conceivably drop missiles into your street.

[Shropshire Archive reference: Shrewsbury Chronicle, 16 February 1916] http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/roots/packages/war/war_z06e.htm

Hollow Earth Theory

The Hollow Earth Theory, long discussed by the cleverest minds of our time, but never proved by anyone who came back that it, has been patented!

United States Patent 1096102:The Hollow Earth Theory
by Mark Harp
http://www.nemesi.net/patent.htm

More on Hollow Earth theory here:

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

http://www.hollowearththeory.com/articles/hollowEarthHistory.asp

VSF Rules Updated

Patrick's draft VSF rules have been updated:

"I have some a few more tweaks to The Colonel and Co. located in the shed annex. Mostly just some streamlining of the turn sequence and fiddling with the morale charts. I also separated the templates from the charts.Check them out if you get a chance and let me know what you think.We need another play test, though. I might enlist the boy to help me tonight."

Patrick's Hobby Shed: Updated VSF Rules

If you try them be sure to drop Patrick a line and let him know what you think

The Land that Time Forgot

Bored? Run out of holiday amusement?
Give this cracking read a go!


THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT

by Edgar Rice Burroughs
© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. ~ Tarzana, California




You can find a free online version here:
http://www.erbzine.com/craft/o8ltf.html

Beneath the Waves

Just cant wait for Aquanef any longer? These interesting rules may keep your boiler steaming in the meantime!



"BtW is a simple fast played board game where you battle steampunk submarines against each other. The game involves crew management, planned movement, all sorts of weapons and more. All you need is provided here except some dice and luck.BtW is played as a board game but can also be played an as huge floor-top game the way we done it at shows. But you don't need to go that far, using cardboard and paper gets you far enough, or you might build some small submarines from scratch. Take a look of what we have done to find some inspiration for your game."


http://www.pm-production.nu/beneath-the-waves.php

Brigade pre-Release sneak peak

David has followed his review of his Brigade pre-releases (see entry for 26 April) with some pics.
"I've gone for a size-comparison approach, using some of the well-known bits of Irregular's scenery (don't ask we which bits!) and a couple of downed nef's (advantage of magnetic inserts) for comparison."

First of all, the new naval platforms with a few larger Aeronefs for size comparison:

Next, some closeups of the LI and Martian bits next to some Irregular terrain and AA batteries for scale

Many thanks indeed David - those ranges fit very well togetherand the scale comparison is very useful. Its obviously a picture of Mayberry Hill with that crashed cylinder there!

Cheers!

Green Blood and Red Blood for Mars

Found this interesting tidbit today...from the wonderfully named "Deep Fried Happy Mice: The World’s First Online Miniatures Restaurant (Please Wait To Be Seated)"

"Green Blood and Red Blood for Mars was originally published to cover tactical mass warfare on Mars during the Victorian Science Fiction Era of the late 1800s. Units with twenty men as well as those with 500 men can be represented on the board.

Scales
One casting = 10 men
One turn = one minute
20mm+ castings : One inch = ten yards OR One centimeter = 5 yards
15mm /6mm castings : One inch = twenty yards OR One centimeter = 10 yards."

http://www.deepfriedhappymice.com/html/gw_vsf_ice.html

Hmmm....Blue, Green and Yellow Martians, 6 and 8 legged natives beasts...I wonder how they would go with a conversion for 2mm?

Brigade website updated

As promised, the Brigade Models website has been updated with pics of their newest releases, including this lovely Turkish war Balloon! (several of which will shortly be deployed to my garage for scientific research)

You can see "whats new" from the Brigade Home page here, with direct linkages to the pics of the new Nefs - enjoy!

http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Frames/index.html

New Brigade Models reviewed

David from the Wessex Games VSF has posted some reviews on the latest from brigade which he managed to pik up at SALUTE. This is what he says:

Here's my thoughts on the pre-production stuff from Brigade.
Please note that the production moulds may differ!

Naval
Landing craft and mortar barge.
Cracking models, well finished to usual Brigage style/standard. Landers come in large (45x20mm) & small (13x10) Is there a medium? Barge is snappy, deep with seperate mortar, 20x10 All could supply nef conversions.

Aussie Ironclad.
Nice model, slick, crisp, good small detail. 55x11.

Other river monitor or similar?
Uses Yank turrets and lots of them, so I'm guessing this is a static defensive piece of Yank design. No doubt my attempts at assembly will differ from the intended! The high control tower (24) call out to be put on a carrier!

Martians
Oh! The cylinders! Showing them to a non-player, she identified them correctly. That's the way to do it! I have 2 different, one slightly longer base, second unscrewed. Martians are difficult to tell apart in a zip lock bag, but here goes!

3 legged walker
1) has 4 legs and a heat ray3 legged walker
2) has 3 legs and a long probiscus(!)
4 legged walker has 5 legs and 2 collector/close combat type claws

Tall walker
1) is 4 legged with heat ray Tall walker
2) is 3 legged with probiscus.

I didn't get any bases.As the bodies are all the same size with minor differences in attatchment sockets, you can mix & match to make a variety of models. The addition of extra legs is gonna lead to some interesting conversions!


Tony from Brigade has since clarified "We probably won't ship the bases with the models after all - they are such a chunk of metal that they will distort the price, plus they don't fit Li basing standards ! We might offer them seperately."

Land Leviathans

French medium, comes with double-ended top shown or second with one big gun. 25x10mm

Some of these have wooden decks! Remember the post about Venusians? Russian cheap production jobs? Love the tall wheeled job. A Yank, maybe, part of a new land train? I like the idea of seperate/changeable tops. I have the idea that a few real giants are coming, Ogre style!All smaller contraptions come on sprue of 3 different. Brits are 10x5mm, turn any of them over and there's enough detail to use them as destroyed decoration on bases. Germans and French are a little smaller. Lone possibly French large contraption, 18x7mm of sleek cruser? Really nice sculpt, tracks are quite seperate from main body, rear twin guns are very crisp. My Russian sprues come with only 2, one being the Dmitriev Land Cruiser, 14x4, and the other a fantastic little armoured car type reminiscent of a bren carrier or "funny", 4mm square!

That's all folks, now wait for the pikkies!

Tony from Brigade also said "I'll be updating our website with these (and more) this week."

Thanks very much for the detailed information David - Great stuff!

New Aeronefs Launched!

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Brigade have announced their latest releases, just in time for SALUTE (for those of you lucky to live in Old Blighty!)

US Lincoln class Battleship £6.00

US Baton Rouge class Cruiser £3.00

US Saginaw class Frigate £1.00

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US Decatur class Frigate £1.00

US Fleet Pack #3 £18 (contains two of each of the above)

Turkish Sakarya class Dig Destroyer £1.75

Turkish War Balloon £1.50

Russian Strashchni class Destroyer £1.25

German DA-19 class Torpedo Frigate

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A few weeks ago they also made available some bits for those who wish to up-gun their existing nefs, or even for loading into an indig. design

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VAN-7021 - US Single Gun turrets x12

VAN-7022 - US Twin Gun turrets x12

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Looks like the arms race is alive and well!

Hopefully, they will updates and have other pictures on their website shortly!

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WOTW by GASLIGHT

Giant (Reviresco) tripods smash through the English countryside, but the gunners of the Royal Artillery have set an ambush. Several are smashed down, their alien occupants splashed to oblivion!

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

Land Ironclads delayed, but new pics at Brigade Models

Sadly there is news that the Land Ironclad rules by Wessex (for which I was also fortunate to be a playetster) will be delayed. Initially due for release at SALUTE, the influx of real life work to the boys at Wessex has necessitated a delay. There is an official relase at TMP about it http://theminiaturespage.com/news/945758/



As Brigade Models are synchronising their LI model range's release with the rules, they will be delayed also. But the good news is that the Brigade Models Design Page has been updated with some nice pics of painted protoypes of their forthcoming LI range. There are some crackers there (such as the British contraptions shown here), and now you have more time to plan your purchases!

http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Frames/New/index.html