Is It Really That Time Again?

It's hard to credit it, but it's time to sign up for the Christmas celebrations!

The Secret Santa

This is run by Cathy, partner of Ian of The Blog With No Name.

The idea is that she allocates you a target and you choose a gift of approx £15.00  value.  The target will have a blog and may or may not have published a wish-list.

You can sign up here

In 2014 The Kiwi sent me some Artizan cultists and a female explorer

The Santa Clause

This one is similar, but a little more involved (I freely admit to struggling with it last year).  The idea is to choose a figure or figures of £5.00 value and then paint them up for a fellow blogger.

It's run by Chris Stoesen of Wargamer's Odds and Ends.  The sign-up post is here.

Paul Smith sent me these in 2014

Various Santas

Well, I hope you all had a good Christmas Day and are enjoying the rest of the holidays.

I want to use this post to thank my Secret Santa and Santa Claus gift-givers, but first a shout to Ian and Cath Wiley for originating them and to Chris Stoesen who took over the reins of the the Santa Claus this year.  Congratulations on herding the cats!

So, what was under the Christmas Tree (or in my case, ladder) yesterday?

Both my Santas were rather good in feeding my Pulp demands.  First up were these rather splendid chaps from the Santa Claus (who, through the magic of recycled jiffy bags, I know to be Paul Smith).

And then some of Artizans' Cultists from the Secret Santa (please make yourself known to me).

Thank you both!

What else of interest to blog readers?  The Wife got me these 

I've also got a whole stash of book tokens, so have to have a think about what to get (it occurs to me that Waterstones sells boxed games).

Another Thank You

Yesterday I sent a public Thank You to my Secret Santa.

Today it's my pleasure to say thank you to my Santa Clause benefactor - your parcel arrived safe and sound this morning.

A Round-Up and PBB

Santa is Coming!

And he means business!

I'm been remiss in not promoting the Secret Santa (send a £15.00 gift) and the Santa Clause (paint a £5.00 figure), both of which I've signed up for.  Final shouts are now out for people to sign up.

WWI Centenary

I had intended to write centenary posts for the First World War, but only six weeks in have fallen behind!  And it's not as if it'll be over by Christmas.

Those of you who follow my geekery on Facebook, won't be surprised to find I'm going to concentrate on naval actions.  Which brings me to...

Prettiest-Killing-Ship-Spotted-on-Facebook Of the Week

Iltis, a gunboat of the Kaiserliche Marine, launched in 1898 and saw service in Chinese waters.  She saw service during the Boxer Rebellion (taking part in the bombardment of the Taku Forts).  She was awarded the Pour le Mérite (the Blue Max), which is the decoration on the prow - the only ship to be so distinguished.

Play By Blog - Clint's Game

This week's turn (Turn Seven) of the 'Blood, Bilges and Iron Balls' finally saw some gun-smoke!  Clint's report can be found here.

I'll do my own report on my BBIB page.

Play By Blog - Michael's Game

This week was also a 'turn week' for Michael's Game of Diplomacy (Fall 1901).

The Movement results are here.  Coming soon will be the Retreat Phase (Austria has been forced out of Trieste) and the end-of-year allocation of troops.

There's a lot to digest (and I don't want to give anything away about my gameplay), so I won't write anything here.  Fortunately, Michael has devised an in-game newspaper, The Daily Dissembler - "We make sense of a complicated, far-off world so you, dear reader, can enjoy the Gilded Age".