Pirates at Ocean Edge-Flotilla #3

You might notice that this list only has four "ships" listed instead of the five that had been presented in the past two lists. I broke another ship while it saw under construction. The tabs on the masts are very brittle and easy to break even when I am being so very careful.

Name of Ship:	Shal-Bala
Nation:	Cursed
Point Cost:	20
Masts:	4
Cargo Capacity:	0
Basic Movement:	D
Cannon:	S2, S2, S3, and a L2
Keyword/ Abilities:	Sea Dragon, Fear Once per turn Shal-Bala can fly to any location on the board, land or sea.
Name of Ship:	Pioneer
Nation:	Pirates
Point Cost:	10
Masts:	4
Cargo Capacity:	3
Basic Movement:	L
Cannon:	L3, S3, S3,and a S3
Keyword/ Abilities:	English crews may thier abiliites on this ship.
Name of Ship:	Lusca
Nation:	England
Point Cost:	16
Masts:	5
Cargo Capacity:	0
Basic Movement:	S
Cannon:	S3, SW3, S2, S3, and a S3
Keyword/ Abilities:	Sea Monster: This sea monster get a +1 to its boading rolls. If it seccceds at a boarding party it also eliminates one mast.
Name of Ship:	USS Jame Madison
Nation:	America
Point Cost:	9
Masts:	2
Cargo Capacity:	3
Basic Movement:	L
Cannon:	S3, and a S3
Keyword/ Abilities:	This ship gets a +1 to her boarding rolls.

The First Joke and Other Matters

Aslen prowled about in an ever larger circuit creating Narnia as he went. First he created the grass and the fields, then the trees and the forests. Next, he created the creatures, of all sorts.

“Out of the tress wild people stepped forth, gods Fauns and Satyrs and Dwarfs. Out of the river rose the river god with his Naiad daughters.”

And then Aslen gave them voice and the creatures came by two, as they had been chosen, around Aslen in a large circle.

“ All of the the beasts and birds in their different voices, low and high or thick or clear replied. ‘Hail Aslen. We hear and obey. We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know’.”

The Chronicles of Narnia, Chapter 10

A Fanciful Nautilus Design

When Jules Verne wrote his Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, he envisioned his nautilus in a rather conical design, it sort of resembled are large cigar. Not a very fanciful design at all. Disney came along and redesigned the Nautilus and gave it Victorian aspect. Although many have taken to envisioning what the Nautilus could have looked like. Some of the designs were rather fanciful like Disney’s, however the Disney design became one of the most popular. You might have seen miniatures, and scale models using this very design.

However, there is Nautilus design in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that is even more fanciful than all others. It is big and ominous. It sports an orange livery and features several, what look like tentacles like a squid or octopus have. These tentacles do not seem to have any purpose except to give the vessel a frightful appearance. In addition, there is coat of arms of Captain Nemo, or should I say Prince Dakkar on the submarines conning tower and the vessel spouts water like a whale would from its blow hole.

Terror from the Deep

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The image portrays two per-historic creatures battling to the death. According to Verne the battle is between an Ichthyosaurus or great fish lizard and an ancient sea crocodile or Plesiosaurus. One of the creatures had swept under our adventurers raft and nearly swamped their craft.

“We remain still and dumb from utter horror. They advance upon us, nearer and nearer. Our fate appears certain, fearful and terrible. On one side the mighty crocodile, on the other the great sea serpent. The rest of the fearful crowd of marine prodigies have plunged beneath the briny waves and disappeared!”

“Two liquid columns rose to a vast height above the level of the sea, into which they fell with a terrific crash, waking up the echoes of that awful place. We stood still—surprised, stupefied, terror-stricken at the sight of this group of fearful marine monsters, more hideous in the reality than in my dream. They were of supernatural dimensions; the very smallest of the whole party could with ease have crushed our raft and ourselves with a single bite.”

I am sure there are more adventures and discovery’s to be made in the upcoming chapters.

Quotes from Chapter 30: Terrific Saurian Combat-A Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne

1/72 Scale British WWI Scout Car

I purchased this 1/72 model (72102) sometime ago from Squadron. It is manufactured by RPM , a Polish company, and represents a 1916 Ford Model T. The model package is small as well are the parts. The package contains two spruces with many small, well formed, and delicate parts.



There are no figures included in this kit, much to my dismay, however there a sheet of decals, a good set of instructions printed on the back of the box, and some illustrations indicating how the model could be painted.

A couple of the models enduring features are its small size, its unique lines and its Lewis gun. There aren't any ammo boxes included in with this kit, but these can be easily fabricated out of some scrap plastic strip.

Heroics and Ros WWI 1-300 scale Figures and Vehicles

Heroics and Ros offers a whole line of 1/300 scale figures and vehicles, from the ancients, to modern figures and military vehicles. What got my attention was their line of 1/300 scale WWI figures and vehicles.

I have not seen any other supplier of WWI miniatures in this scale. The detail of these miniatures looks pretty good on those featured in their gallery. I look forward to ordering a few of these miniatures for a WWI skirmish game.

A Journey to the Center of the Earth-Another Meal

I picked this novel first because of its cover. The A Journey to the Center of the Earth epub has an illustrated cover that depicts several giant mushrooms with the professor and his nephew admiring these specimens.

This is another case where an author mentioned food and detailed what was consumed by the characters of the story. The last time a menu was described was in my reading of Redwall, where a grand banquet was held for the friends and occupants of the Abbey. In both cases the meal was described before some great event took place. As was the case in Redwall, it was the battle with Cluny the Scourge and his forces of evil. In A Journey to the Center of the Earth it was before the departure of the Professor and his nephew to Iceland.

I was a little surprised not to see any mushrooms on the menu. In chapter one of A Journey to the Center of the Earth there a dinner mentioned. It contained the following items:

Parsley Soup
Omelet of ham, garnished with spiced sorrel
Fillet of Veal with compote of prunes

Sweet Moselle

Desert
Crystallized fruit

Back to My Voyages Extraordinaires

It has been awhile since I last read anything of Jules Verne and especially titles from his Voyages Extraordinaires. Here is a list of his works that are part of my spring 2014 reading list. Although some of these titles can be heard from readings, all of these titles will be read as epubs.

• A Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Five Weeks in a Balloon
• Robur the Conqueror
• Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
• Michael Strogoff, or the Courier of the Czar

I will start with the A Journey to the Center of the Earth and after that I will pick from these titles randomly.

My Readings of Zane Grey

Over the winter I read, among other novels, this set of Zane Grey’s novels. Zane Gray is a writer of westerns. Most of all of what I have read has taken place in Arizona and Utah and depicts the old west. Zane gives you quite a few glances into the forests, deserts, and canyons of Arizona and Utah. The beauty of these places see detailed for the reader where you feel like you right there with the characters.

Zane make use of many colorful characters: villains, rustlers, vigilantes, heroes and heroines. Zane tells stories about Navahos, Mormons, outlaws, horses, and of gold. His stories are spirited, full of adventure and intrigue.

All were read as epubs.

• The Young Forester
• The Man of the Forest
• Riders of the Purple Sage
• The Rainbow Trail (is a sequel of the previous title)
• The Call of the Canyon

Special Rules for the Lusca

The Lusca game piece is labeled as a sea monster and with that tag it does have a set of special abilities. However, whatever the special abilities, the vessel should probably have some additional attributes and special abilities. I would think this piece should include a shock value. In addition, like the Nautilus, the Lusca vessel would be made of steal and thus almost impervious to ordinary cannon fire.

There are more than a Few Reasons the British should (if they haven’t already) build a Submarine like the Lusca

The first reason for the British to build a submarine is to catch Captain Nemo, while he is under the sea. The mechanical tentacles could be maneuvered to catch and put a hold on the unsuspecting Nautilus

A vessel like the Lusca could also be brought into play against other enemies of the realm. The physiological effect on Britain’s enemies would be great. Think of the terror the vessel like this would stir among the crew from a vessel being attacked by what looks like a giant squid?

Books by Brian Jacques

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first part of the Redwall Adventures. With its interesting plot and characters I believe this series would make a great RPG (which it already is) or skirmish war game. So, it is off to read the rest of the novels in this series. I have a long way to go, but there is no time like the present.  Mossflower will be added to my next order with Amazon.

The Redwall Adventures

The list is in chronological order as to when they were published.

=============================================================

Redwall

Mossflower                                    

Mattimeo                                          

Mariel of Redwall                              

Salamandastron                                  

Martin the Warrior                            

The Bellmaker                                     

Outcast of Redwall                        

The Pearls of Lutra                         

The Long Patrol                                 

Marlfox                                                

The Legend of Luke                      

Lord Brocktree                                 

The Taggerung                                

Triss                                                       

Loamhedge                                        

Rakkety Tam                                     

High Rhulain                                      

Eulalia!                                                 

Doomwyte                                        

The Sable Queen                          

Is There a Hint of Steampunk in Pirates at Oceans Edge?

Evidently there is. One blogger reported seeing Steampunk like contraptions on the bows of some ships. The contraptions resemble pinchers that can be used to grab and hold a bow of another ship.

Another discovery that smacks of Steampunk is a playing piece called Lusca. Lusca, a sea monster and whether real or myth Lusca does figure in to local lore. The beast is said to be half shark and half squid and is said to live in the Bahamian blue holes. The version included in Pirates at Ocean Edge is depicted as a large squid.

There two clues that point to this creature as being another Steampunk invention instead of the sea creature as purported.



If you look closely at the creature you will see what looks like three green port holes. In addition to the port holes the vessel is said to belong to the English. How could the English train a sea creature like Lusca to do its bidding? Have the English built a submarine?

Phileas Fogg makes a cameo appearance in Anderson’s Captain Nemo. Whereas Fogg is self-assured in Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days”, he seems to be quite indifferent in Anderson’s Captain Nemo. After being pulled out of the sea by the crew of the Nautilus Fogg’s huffy demeanor puzzles Nemo. Fogg seems to haves no interest in the Nautilus or its workings. However, a bit later blurts out “You and this abomination of a vessel have just cost me a very large wager”. Because of some new found compassion in Nemo, Fogg does make it back to London on time to win his wager.

But what if Fogg was actually a spy and took in more than we first realized. Now the English government knows with out a doubt that the creature that has been raising so much havoc on the high seas is not a sea monster, but a manmade vessel. Why not endeavor to create your own. It may be the only way to catch the wily Captain Nemo at his game.

Situation Dice Rolls

Given two six-sided dice and wanting to provide as many different situations for my pirates Move, Shoot, or Explore actions I figured all the dice roll possibilities for these two dice.

Dice Roll	Situation
1 + 1	2
1 + 2	3
1 + 3	13
2 + 2	4
2 + 3	5
3 + 3	6
4 + 1	14
4 + 2	15
4 + 3	7
4 + 4	8
5 + 1	20
5 + 3	22
5 + 2	16
5 + 4	9
5 + 5	10
6 + 1	21
6 + 2	17
6 + 3	18
6 + 4	19
6 + 5	11
6 + 6	12