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| A study in hope over reality |
And you've less than 30 hours to sign up for the Blogday Draw! There are less entries than usual, so you've a better chance than ever.
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Paint Table Saturday (And Comp Last Chance!)
And you've less than 30 hours to sign up for the Blogday Draw! There are less entries than usual, so you've a better chance than ever.
Friday, 5 September 2014
Catch-Up (With Melons!)
Welcomes
Welcome to another new follower! This time it Jon Yuengling of the always interesting Basement Games. I must say, that Jon falls in that category of 'people I thought were already followers'!
Distractions
After getting distracted by the purchase of a Wallace and Gromet rocket-ship, I saw some of these being thrown out in Sainsbury's -
So, what do you see? Craters? Mars habitats? Dino nests? Enough stiff to make all of the above?
The problem is that it's quite flimsy. Any tips on ways to get around that? Would painting it in a PVA solution help? Should I mix some filler in with it?
Playing By Blog
The business and tiredness I complained the other day was affecting my social networking is still here.
As far as Clint's PBB game of 'Blood, Bilges and Iron Balls' goes, this means that I only got around to adding last week's move to my BBIB Page this afternoon. And the results of another turn will be announced tomorrow (the fleets will finally engage!). I was actually two weeks behind updating my own game table, but I think Clint's photos are so good I needn't bother with mine.
Where I do need a map, charts, coloured pencils and a communications log is in making sense of The Mad Padre's PBB game of Diplomacy!
These turns are fortnightly, and I only just managed to get my orders in due to some heavy prompting from Michael. I'm a complete newbie to this fascinating game, and I must admit that I hadn't then finished reading the rules! Now I'm being bombarded with in-game messages from other players floating all sorts of 'understandings'.
Confusing, but fun!
In the on-line game Pirates Glory, I've decided that attacking other players isn't too good an idea (they're all bigger and meaner than me!). On the advice of my Guild Master I'm sticking to trading and wooing governors' daughters.
It's all a bit sexist really (you can only woo governors' sons if you register as a female). At the moment, I have romances with a Plain, a Cute and a Gorgeous; I also have an Exquisite wife!
Reminders
First, the HeroQuest expansions are still for sale. I haven't yet put them up on the LAF, but will do so over the weekend.
Secondly, don't forget to enter the draw for the Prize Give-Away (and tell me if you qualify for a bonus!). The draw will be made on Monday morning.
Secret Santa
Another sort of give-away has been announced. Yes, it's that time of the year! Ian over at The Blog With No Name has announced the terms for this year's Secret Santa and put a call out for participants.
Welcome to another new follower! This time it Jon Yuengling of the always interesting Basement Games. I must say, that Jon falls in that category of 'people I thought were already followers'!
Distractions
After getting distracted by the purchase of a Wallace and Gromet rocket-ship, I saw some of these being thrown out in Sainsbury's -
So, what do you see? Craters? Mars habitats? Dino nests? Enough stiff to make all of the above?
The problem is that it's quite flimsy. Any tips on ways to get around that? Would painting it in a PVA solution help? Should I mix some filler in with it?
Playing By Blog
The business and tiredness I complained the other day was affecting my social networking is still here.
These turns are fortnightly, and I only just managed to get my orders in due to some heavy prompting from Michael. I'm a complete newbie to this fascinating game, and I must admit that I hadn't then finished reading the rules! Now I'm being bombarded with in-game messages from other players floating all sorts of 'understandings'.
Confusing, but fun!
It's all a bit sexist really (you can only woo governors' sons if you register as a female). At the moment, I have romances with a Plain, a Cute and a Gorgeous; I also have an Exquisite wife!
Reminders
First, the HeroQuest expansions are still for sale. I haven't yet put them up on the LAF, but will do so over the weekend.
Secondly, don't forget to enter the draw for the Prize Give-Away (and tell me if you qualify for a bonus!). The draw will be made on Monday morning.
Secret Santa
Another sort of give-away has been announced. Yes, it's that time of the year! Ian over at The Blog With No Name has announced the terms for this year's Secret Santa and put a call out for participants.
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
International Big Box Day
Welcomes
With a comp running, there will be a spate of new followers to welcome. First off the blocks are
Welcome to you both! I hope you enjoy the ride.
Big Boxes
Today is International Big Box Day - no, wait! That's just at our house isn't it?
First is this, a charity shop purchase:-
And then there was this...
More has been revealed on the Diplomatist Books' Facebook page.
With a comp running, there will be a spate of new followers to welcome. First off the blocks are
- paulalba2004. Paul is from exotic Carluke and has two blogs Modelling in Miniature and Napoleonics in Miniature.
- Donogh of Once Upon a Time in the Apocalypse and Land War in Asia
Welcome to you both! I hope you enjoy the ride.
Big Boxes
Today is International Big Box Day - no, wait! That's just at our house isn't it?
First is this, a charity shop purchase:-
Anyone remember me saying that I wasn't going to be distracted from Pulp in Egypt?
But after the success of the last charity shop rocket, I couldn't pass up this much larger one (especially at £1.25!)
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| And the other bits and pieces look useful too. |
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| "Guard it" he said. "How long for?" I said. "Until I come back!" he said. That was last week... |
And then there was this...
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| Can you tell what it is yet? |
More has been revealed on the Diplomatist Books' Facebook page.
Monday, 1 September 2014
And (At Last!) The Giveaway
I'm sorry for the delay, but as promised the other day, I've having a giveaway to mark the blog's third anniversary.
The old hands among you might even notice a few prizes left over from the last time - you will see them (and the others below) again and again until they go! Some of them verge on the educational, but be not afear'd, knowledge is power!
How to Enter
Three names will be drawn on 7 September and prizes awarded. No individual will win more than one prize. To enter the draw:
The old hands among you might even notice a few prizes left over from the last time - you will see them (and the others below) again and again until they go! Some of them verge on the educational, but be not afear'd, knowledge is power!
- £10.00 worth of goods of your choice from Diplomatist Books (the postage will be extra on this). No jokes about first prize being £10.00's worth and second prize being £15.00's worth please! (I'm looking at you Mr Amos!)
- Hunter Davies, Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans: My Search for Britain's Maddest Museums (paperback book)
- Sci-Fi Art: A Pocket History (a small book and lots of fun fridge magnets)
- Susanna Clarke, The Ladies of Grace Adieu (pb book). Faeries stories from the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell. I'm a fan of Clarke and recommend this (don't you want to know how the Duke of Wellington reacts when the faeries steal Copenhagen?)
- Life on a Medieval Street by the Norwich Survey (actually an excavation report) and P Clark & P Slack, English Towns in Transition, 1500-1700
- Thomas Dugdale, England and Wales Delineated: Historical, Entertaining and Commercial. Basically a gazetteer with lots of fun info. Vol I (A-F) only. A little tatty, but it's been knocking around since the 1840s...
- K Rushby, Hunting Pirate Heaven (hb book). According to Amazon, "Rushby's objective is to locate the descendants of the 16th century pirates who had carved kingdoms for themselves in the remote jungles of north-east Madagascar. Hitching rides on a motley assortment of freighters, dhows, yachts and fishing smacks, he sails up the African coast, then east towards his goal. It is a story full of incident: voyages to islands where forgotten Portugese forts lie covered in jungle, places where some have tried to shoot their way to paradise, and where the ever-present ocean can destroy lives and dreams as quickly as men and women create them."
- Mike Spick, Great Aircraft of WWII: Avro Lancaster; FE Dymond, A Very Special Lancaster: A History of Lancaster Mk1 R5868; Flying Legends Air Show 2004, Duxford.
- Airfix 1:72 Spitfire Mk2A. JB Models 1:76 LWB Landrover (soft-top) with trailer. Hawker P.1127. Sea Hawker.
- A couple of Italeri 1:32 plastic watchtowers (unpainted and I'll probably take them apart to post)
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| Figures for scale only - the pirate on the left tower is 52mm; the Santa on the right is 28mm |
- Three vans (two Lledo, one Oxford Diecast) and a Rolls-Royce (Days Gone By)
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| 28mm figures for scale only |
- Serpent-men figures from Asylum Books and Games and a book of scenarios that came with them
- The current freebie figure from Wargames Foundry - "It is the the 30th anniversary of Wargames Foundry on Monday 18th of August. This is also the birthday of our founder Clifford Ansell. So we have an unusual giveaway for you: It's a model of Cliff . The Cliff model comes with four models of model soldiers. Cliff has had four careers in his life: coal mining, the navy, teaching maths and making model soldiers. We have provided four appropriate models of model soldiers as part of the giveaway."
How to Enter
Three names will be drawn on 7 September and prizes awarded. No individual will win more than one prize. To enter the draw:
- Be a public follower of this blog - either an existing or new one.
- Leave a comment on this post telling me you want to be in the draw and indicating three prizes of interest to you (with order of preference). Do not say "Prize X, Prize X and Prize X" - the whole point is to be able to give you a prize if yours is the third name drawn and Prize X has already been allocated.
- Bonus entries. There are several ways of earning bonus entries:
- Promote this giveaway (blog, Facebook, Google+), and let me know you've done so.
- Follow the Diplomatist Books Facebook page
- Send me £200 in used tenners.
- An extra prize will be awarded to the person who gives the most interesting/amusing reason why they (or someone else) should get it.
Good luck!
Sunday, 31 August 2014
For Sale: HeroQuest Expansions
In both these sets the cards have been punched out and the miniatures removed from their sprues and partially painted. There is no damage, and they seem to be practically unplayed-with. For some reason I don't seem to have photographed the scenario booklets, but they are there and in pristine condition.
I'm sorry for the fuzziness of some of the photos! Open them in a new tab for the option to supersize them.
The links are to reviews on BoardGameGeek.
If you want to email me, my address is diplomatist2 "at" gmail "dot" com.
HeroQuest: Kellar's Keep - £30.00 (plus postage) - RESERVED
I'm sorry for the fuzziness of some of the photos! Open them in a new tab for the option to supersize them.
The links are to reviews on BoardGameGeek.
If you want to email me, my address is diplomatist2 "at" gmail "dot" com.
HeroQuest: Kellar's Keep - £30.00 (plus postage) - RESERVED
HeroQuest: Return of the Witch Lord - £28.00 (plus postage)
As far as I can see ,this is missing three small counters - two of the rubble ones and another.
Saturday, 30 August 2014
The Return of Paint Table Saturday!
I would like you to get the wrong idea though - I haven't actually painted anything! But I've moved a little closer to it....
As I reported the yesterday, I'm going to focus my efforts on Pulp in Egypt. However, I feel honour bound to finish off the nephew's Zulus (at least before Christmas!).
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| Terrain from Fenris |
Friday, 29 August 2014
A Tale of Two Orders; Playing at a Distance; Selling Stuff
I'm sorry to to have posted this week - I seem to have been too busy or too tired.
At some stage after midnight on Monday I placed two on-line orders, one with Amazon and the other with Wargames Foundry. Yesterday there were developments with both orders: first I got an e-mail from Amazon telling me that they were just debiting my card; secondly, my order from Wargames Foundry arrived. I've not ordered from WF before and I am very impressed with the speed (and lack of fuss!) at which this was done and sorted.
Before ordering, I had a sit down with The Wife, and we discussed gaming priorities and needs.
The best thing to do would be to concentrate on finishing the stalled Pulp in Egypt project.
Accordingly, I did a mental audit of what we've got and haven't got (I know I should do a proper audit and get pieces onto a table, but "too busy or too tired"). I've primed some terrain pieces and vehicles (yes - there will be a Paint-table Saturday post this week!).
The order from WF was two packs from their Egyptian Adventures range.
Good stuff!
Playing at a Distance
Clint's PBB game of Blood, Bilges and Iron Balls goes on great guns (ha-ha!). The events of Turn 5 will be announced tomorrow and there's the possibly that we'll see gun-smoke. My take on events will be here.
Tomorrow is also the deadline for the first round of orders the Padre's game of Diplomacy. Now, despite my moniker I know nothing of Diplomacy and I'm up a tree - I haven't even finished reading the rules yet! Given the nature of the game, I won't be giving a turn-by-turn report (I'm not even going to let on as to which nation I'm playing).
And on-line, Pirates Glory is proving interesting. I had a bit of a run-in with a guild of zombie pirates who are a little too happy to place voodoo curses on anyone who upsets them. On a happier note, I've liaisons with three Governors' Daughters - and I feel a proposal coming on!
Selling Stuff
Just a heads-up that I've got a couple of HeroQuest expansions (Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord) that I'm selling. I just need to check everything's in good condition and complete, and then take some photos. I put them up for sale here first and a day later on the LAF.
And, of course, there's always Diplomatist Books...
Apart from adding new stock, my main task this week will be to make the Military & Naval History list more manageable by separating and re-arranging the WWII material.
I'm expecting a shipment from a supplier of remaindered books, but no sign of it yet. Sign-up to the FaceBook page for announcements and updates - and the occasional special offer!
At some stage after midnight on Monday I placed two on-line orders, one with Amazon and the other with Wargames Foundry. Yesterday there were developments with both orders: first I got an e-mail from Amazon telling me that they were just debiting my card; secondly, my order from Wargames Foundry arrived. I've not ordered from WF before and I am very impressed with the speed (and lack of fuss!) at which this was done and sorted.
Before ordering, I had a sit down with The Wife, and we discussed gaming priorities and needs.
- Tiny little ships are too fiddly and too expensive.
- Old West figures, gangsters, pirates, dinosaurs and retro spacemen are fun, but would require some investment of time and money before there were playable
The best thing to do would be to concentrate on finishing the stalled Pulp in Egypt project.
Accordingly, I did a mental audit of what we've got and haven't got (I know I should do a proper audit and get pieces onto a table, but "too busy or too tired"). I've primed some terrain pieces and vehicles (yes - there will be a Paint-table Saturday post this week!).
The order from WF was two packs from their Egyptian Adventures range.
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| Arab diggers |
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| The Resurrection Party |
Good stuff!
Playing at a Distance
Clint's PBB game of Blood, Bilges and Iron Balls goes on great guns (ha-ha!). The events of Turn 5 will be announced tomorrow and there's the possibly that we'll see gun-smoke. My take on events will be here.
Tomorrow is also the deadline for the first round of orders the Padre's game of Diplomacy. Now, despite my moniker I know nothing of Diplomacy and I'm up a tree - I haven't even finished reading the rules yet! Given the nature of the game, I won't be giving a turn-by-turn report (I'm not even going to let on as to which nation I'm playing).
And on-line, Pirates Glory is proving interesting. I had a bit of a run-in with a guild of zombie pirates who are a little too happy to place voodoo curses on anyone who upsets them. On a happier note, I've liaisons with three Governors' Daughters - and I feel a proposal coming on!
Selling Stuff
Just a heads-up that I've got a couple of HeroQuest expansions (Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord) that I'm selling. I just need to check everything's in good condition and complete, and then take some photos. I put them up for sale here first and a day later on the LAF.
And, of course, there's always Diplomatist Books...
Apart from adding new stock, my main task this week will be to make the Military & Naval History list more manageable by separating and re-arranging the WWII material.
I'm expecting a shipment from a supplier of remaindered books, but no sign of it yet. Sign-up to the FaceBook page for announcements and updates - and the occasional special offer!
Sunday, 24 August 2014
Happy Blogday! Prizes to Follow...
Today is this blog's third anniversary. I wasn't sure what I expected when I started, but I've been pleasantly surprised - there's lots of nice people out there in the blogosphere and it'd been a pleasure to meet some of them. Blogging and blog reading has become part of my routine.
Some stats:-
Since I installed the flag widget on 31 Mar 2013, I've had visits from 131 different countries.
The ten most popular posts are
Some stats:-
- 438 published posts
- 83,178 hits
- 1546 comments - these are particularly appreciated (do comment, even if you haven't before)
| Ignore the x-axis - it's wrong |
Since I installed the flag widget on 31 Mar 2013, I've had visits from 131 different countries.
The ten most popular posts are
So I suppose the message is, fill the blog with posts about royals and with giveaways.
And with that bombshell I hereby announce there will be a Blogday Giveawy later in the week (when I get my act together)
Saturday, 23 August 2014
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
More on Depression. And Cancer
In blogging circles there is a widely held theory (proven I think), that if you title your post 'TITS! BOOBIES!!! MORE TITS!!!' you will get record hits. I think with this post I'll probably prove the corollary ;-)
I found the coverage of Robin William's suicide interesting. For a while he was almost literally the poster boy for male depression, such were the number of memes (like the one I shared the other day) that his death sprouted. In the media there were a lot of very thoughtful articles and reports about how depression, self-harm and suicide were hidden epidemics affecting the male population.
Yet, old tropes still came up. I can imagine editors sitting around saying "But what did he have to be depressed about? There must be another story here." So, as in the beginning of 'Citizen Kane', we seemed to have reported set out to find reasons. We got the old 'Tears of the Clown' stories with articles about how depression is the price of comic genius (just as alcoholism is the price of being a writer; or serving in Flanders is a required qualification for writing poetry); we got articles about how divorce and property deals had whittled away his fortune. And then came the statement from the family that Williams had be diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease: and you could practically hear a collective sigh of relief - "Of course he was depressed." The articles about mental health dried up.
Well I'm sorry, that's not how it works. Depression isn't logical, and suicide especially isn't. It would be nice if it was: the we'd only have to identify what was bothering someone and remove it, then they'd be able to snap out of it and pull themselves together. As if...
Of course if you have worries it all adds up, but depression strikes everyone, millionaires and members of supportive families just as it affects the unemployed, the homeless and the lonely. And that's not even to mention Anxiety, which I'm not going to touch on.
And now a happier story
This isn't something I'm involved in, but news of it popped into my Facebook feed this afternoon.
The Aftermath Gaming Club in Norwich will be running a 24-hour gaming event in aid of WAAC, starting at 10.00am on Saturday 23 August and lasting 24 hours. Details here.
WAAC is 'Wargamers All Against Cancer' set up after a wargamer's mother was diagnosed with cancer. It is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support - details of WAAC can be found on their Just Giving page, where you can make donations (they're already very near their £3,000 target, hopefully they will make more).
I found the coverage of Robin William's suicide interesting. For a while he was almost literally the poster boy for male depression, such were the number of memes (like the one I shared the other day) that his death sprouted. In the media there were a lot of very thoughtful articles and reports about how depression, self-harm and suicide were hidden epidemics affecting the male population.
Yet, old tropes still came up. I can imagine editors sitting around saying "But what did he have to be depressed about? There must be another story here." So, as in the beginning of 'Citizen Kane', we seemed to have reported set out to find reasons. We got the old 'Tears of the Clown' stories with articles about how depression is the price of comic genius (just as alcoholism is the price of being a writer; or serving in Flanders is a required qualification for writing poetry); we got articles about how divorce and property deals had whittled away his fortune. And then came the statement from the family that Williams had be diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease: and you could practically hear a collective sigh of relief - "Of course he was depressed." The articles about mental health dried up.
Well I'm sorry, that's not how it works. Depression isn't logical, and suicide especially isn't. It would be nice if it was: the we'd only have to identify what was bothering someone and remove it, then they'd be able to snap out of it and pull themselves together. As if...
Of course if you have worries it all adds up, but depression strikes everyone, millionaires and members of supportive families just as it affects the unemployed, the homeless and the lonely. And that's not even to mention Anxiety, which I'm not going to touch on.
And now a happier story
This isn't something I'm involved in, but news of it popped into my Facebook feed this afternoon.
The Aftermath Gaming Club in Norwich will be running a 24-hour gaming event in aid of WAAC, starting at 10.00am on Saturday 23 August and lasting 24 hours. Details here.
WAAC is 'Wargamers All Against Cancer' set up after a wargamer's mother was diagnosed with cancer. It is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support - details of WAAC can be found on their Just Giving page, where you can make donations (they're already very near their £3,000 target, hopefully they will make more).
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
New Follower Welcomes
Welcome to two new followers who have joined in the last few days
- Ken Reilly of the Yarkshire Gamer which is a very nice looking blog covering all sorts of wargaming areas (including tiny ships).
- MarkG of the interestingly named Repple Depple Club House who seems to wargame WWII onwards.
Hello guys!
And as is traditional, here's a couple of random images I couldn't squeeze in elsewhere.
The pictures above are from the great Dark Roasted Blend website (which I mine often), the one below comes from the website of the artist, who I saw being interviewed on the TV.
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| A 1938 Kamm Stromlinie |
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| Calculator designed by J H von Müller (1746-1830) |
The pictures above are from the great Dark Roasted Blend website (which I mine often), the one below comes from the website of the artist, who I saw being interviewed on the TV.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
This Week's Obits of Interest
A tough week this one, with "the world's funniest man" and a Grand Old Dame (or Grand Old Broad?) of cinema dying...
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Lauren Bacall (d 12 Aug 204
Actress
Daily Telegraph obit 13 Aug 2014
Guardian obit 13 Aug 2014
Independent obit 13 Aug 2014
|
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Maj-Gen Peter Istead
Soldier awarded the George Medal
Daily Telegraph obit 13 Aug 2014
|
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Ian McMillan (d.19 Jul 2014)
Marine Engineer
Guardian obit 14 Aug 2014
|
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Robin Williams (d 11 Aug 2014)
Actor and Comedian
Daily Telegraph obit 12 Aug 2014
Guardian obit 12 Aug 2014
Independent obit 12 Aug 2014
Scotsman obit Aug 12 2014
|
Saturday, 16 August 2014
A News Round-Up
I've been a little under the weather for the last couple of days, which is why I haven't blogged as much as I'd intended. So today's post is by the way of a catch-all round-up.
Bloggers for Charity
The end of the BfC auction means the end of active fundraising for BfC 2014. I was able to post an announcement that the total raised for Help for Heroes was £718 - a very nice sum indeed!
It looks unlikely that there will be a BfC 2015.
A Mile-Stone
Ste over at Monty's Caravan this week hit the 100K visitors mark. He promises prizes, so perhaps now is a good time to visit this excellent blog!
Wargame Bloggers' Quarterly
As surely everyone whose interested in this field now knows, a new e-zine, the WBQ was launched last weekend. It's of very high quality and has already had over 1,000 downloads.
I'm sure anyone who follows hobby blogs and forums realises that the growth of self-publishing on the internet will be the death-knell of hobby magazines unless they change their act drastically. Because of the visual aspect and potential for instant feedback this seems to particularly likely in the wargaming world. It would be an interest subject for someone with more knowledge than me to blog about.
Anyway, I wish all involved much success and look forward to future issues.
The Dawlish Chronicles
A blog I've recently started to follow might be of interest to readers. The Dawlish Cronicles is a blog by Antoine Vanner, author of the series of books of the same name (two so far) that chart the career of Nicholas Dawlish during the transition of navies from Age of Sail to that of the Ironclads.
We already have the following teaser about how the series will end:
The PBB BBIB Game
Clint's Play-by-Blog game of Blood, Bilges and Iron Balls continues. He published the results of Turn 3 today and, though we're still a fair bit from any action, things are beginning to mix up...
I'll update my PBB page once I've worked out the ramifications and transcribed the relevant section from Capt Fearless' memoirs.
Other Games
Given the success of the BBIB game, I've signed up for another play-by-blog one. This will be the famously devious board-game Diplomacy being run by The Man Padre.
It may be the worse decision I've made in a long time!
I normally avoid playing on-line games (because it then becomes difficult to pull myself away from the computer!), but suffering as many are from Piratitis, I found it difficult to resist Pirates Glory, a trading and plunder game. I'm actually enjoying it so far.
Bloggers for Charity
The end of the BfC auction means the end of active fundraising for BfC 2014. I was able to post an announcement that the total raised for Help for Heroes was £718 - a very nice sum indeed!
It looks unlikely that there will be a BfC 2015.
A Mile-Stone
Ste over at Monty's Caravan this week hit the 100K visitors mark. He promises prizes, so perhaps now is a good time to visit this excellent blog!
Wargame Bloggers' Quarterly
As surely everyone whose interested in this field now knows, a new e-zine, the WBQ was launched last weekend. It's of very high quality and has already had over 1,000 downloads.
I'm sure anyone who follows hobby blogs and forums realises that the growth of self-publishing on the internet will be the death-knell of hobby magazines unless they change their act drastically. Because of the visual aspect and potential for instant feedback this seems to particularly likely in the wargaming world. It would be an interest subject for someone with more knowledge than me to blog about.
Anyway, I wish all involved much success and look forward to future issues.
The Dawlish Chronicles
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| A bit French, bu you get the idea... |
A blog I've recently started to follow might be of interest to readers. The Dawlish Cronicles is a blog by Antoine Vanner, author of the series of books of the same name (two so far) that chart the career of Nicholas Dawlish during the transition of navies from Age of Sail to that of the Ironclads.
We already have the following teaser about how the series will end:
Admiral Sir Nicholas Dawlish is probably best remembered today for leaving retirement in 1914, at the request of his friend and sometime rival Lord Fisher, to assume responsibility for Unconventional Naval Operations.
His imaginative filling of that role, and his death at the age of seventy two on the Zeebrugge Mole, where he fell in a hail of machine-gun fire on St.George's Day 1918, (making him the oldest serving officer to fall in action in either World War), ended an illustrious career in a manner which he would have found wholly appropriate...The blog isn't about the books, but is the history behind this period of transition. It's great stuff and well-researched.
The PBB BBIB Game
Clint's Play-by-Blog game of Blood, Bilges and Iron Balls continues. He published the results of Turn 3 today and, though we're still a fair bit from any action, things are beginning to mix up...
I'll update my PBB page once I've worked out the ramifications and transcribed the relevant section from Capt Fearless' memoirs.
Other Games
Given the success of the BBIB game, I've signed up for another play-by-blog one. This will be the famously devious board-game Diplomacy being run by The Man Padre.
It may be the worse decision I've made in a long time!
I normally avoid playing on-line games (because it then becomes difficult to pull myself away from the computer!), but suffering as many are from Piratitis, I found it difficult to resist Pirates Glory, a trading and plunder game. I'm actually enjoying it so far.
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