Another foray into eBay proves successful

At 8.30am a parcel containing my latest batch of auction 'wins' on eBay arrive ... and mighty pleased I am to receive them. (The service from the seller was outstanding! Not only did they combine postage without being asked; they also packed the items extremely well and sent them so that they arrived in twenty-four hours.)

The items were more figures to add to my growing collection of Del Prado pre-painted 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic wargames figures. The figures came in packs as sold with the original magazine, and the contents of today's parcel is shown below:

All seventy figures cost me approximately £1.25 each ... which I think is a bargain when one considers the cost of unpainted 25/28mm-scale figures. They will enable me to add several more units to my current armies ... and I still have some more eBay auctions that have yet to mature!

By the time the two hundredth anniversary of the Waterloo campaign comes around in 201, I might just have enough stuff to do something that I have never done before ... and that is to re-fight part or all of the campaign in miniature.

We can but dream.

Zulu Dawn

I have spent part of this afternoon painting my L-shaped built-up areas with PVA in order to seal the wood before I paint them. Whilst I was doing this I decided to play my copy of ZULU DAWN on the portable DVD player that I keep in my toy/wargames room.

This film has a mixed reputation. Compared with ZULU it is worthy rather than exciting, as its depiction of the events of and leading up to the Battle of Isandlwana are reasonably close to the historical truth. ZULU - on the other hand - is a great story whose historical accuracy is somewhat more doubtful. I always enjoy watching ZULU, but more for its entertainment value than its historical veracity.

If put to the vote I doubt that many people would place ZULU DAWN above ZULU. As the newspaperman says in THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, 'when the legend becomes fact, print the legend'.

L-shaped built-up areas: some more progress at last!

After what seems like an age, I have finally managed to get back to my L-shaped built-up areas project. (It is actually almost three weeks ... but it feels like much longer.)

I decided to finish off the buildings I had already begun rather than start any anew. This involved adding roofs and other details before fixing them onto their triangular bases.

They are shown below in pairs.

When placed together they form quite a sizeable built-up area in which it is quite easy to place troops.

The Cat and The Conservatory

In response to Conrad Kinch’s request for a photograph of our cat – who is now the proud owner of a newly refurbished conservatory – her she is:

Her name is Jazz, and she came to live with us some years ago when she decided that she did not want to share the home where she was then living with other cats. She is the fifth cat that has owned us … and is by far the most temperamental. (Some unkind souls might just say that she was mental … but we could not agree with that!).

You will note that I wrote that she ‘ is the fifth cat that has owned us’. Those of you who are cat people will already know what I mean, but for those of you who are not and never have been, here are a few quotes that might explain my comment:

• 'Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as Gods. Cats have never forgotten this.' – Anonymous
• 'Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God.' – Anonymous
• 'In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.' – English proverb
• 'As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat.' – Ellen Perry Berkeley

---

As proof that the conservatory is now finished, here are some photographs of it in all its completed glory:

It's curtains for the conservatory!

My wife and I have just finished hanging up the curtains in the conservatory ... and I think (and hope!) that this will be the last thing that we have to do before we can declare that this particular project is finished.

This morning saw me making yet another trip to the local re-cycling centre (my third in as many days), followed by a trip to the charity shop with a car full of bits and pieces that we no longer required. The donation was gratefully received, and it is good to know that the money raised by selling our unwanted goods will be put to good use.

Nugget 270 download problems solved

Thanks yet again to some excellent work by the company that hosts the Wargame Developments website, I have now been able to upload the latest editions of THE NUGGET and THE NUGGET COLOUR SUPPLEMENT to the website.

Just in case there are any further problems, I will still be making the latest editions of THE NUGGET and THE NUGGET COLOUR SUPPLEMENT available via the following links for the next week or so:

• NUGGET 270
• NUGGET 270 COLOUR SUPPLEMENT

I am sorry for the inconvenience that this may have caused to members of Wargame Developments who subscribe to the electronic editions of THE NUGGET and THE NUGGET COLOUR SUPPLEMENT, but the problem has been fixed as quickly as possible ... and hopefully it will not occur again in the future.

Nugget 270 download problems ... again!

For the second month running I have been unable to upload the latest editions of THE NUGGET and THE NUGGET COLOUR SUPPLEMENT to the Wargame Developments website. This appears to be due to yet another technical problem at the provider who hosts the website.

As a temporary measure I have uploaded them to another address, and they can be downloaded using the following links:

• NUGGET 270
• NUGGET 270 COLOUR SUPPLEMENT

I do hope that this is only a temporary problem (they were able to cure it last month in a matter of a few hours), and as soon as I am able to upload the editions to their proper locations on the Wargame Developments website, I shall inform you.

---

Please note that the temporary links to NUGGET 269 and NUGGET 269 COLOUR SUPPLEMENT that I set up last month no longer work.

All work and no play

I may have thought that the work needed to get our conservatory back into full commission was almost done ... but I was wrong.

It has taken my wife and I all day to move the stuff that we used to store in the conservatory back in there, sorting out what we needed to get rid of as we went. It turned out to be a lot more than either of use had expected, and we have only just finished. We still have dispose of the large cardboard storage boxes and packing material we used, but some friends of ours are also doing some work on their house, and we will be passing everything on to them during the early part of next week.

I have been so busy that I have not been able to spend any time today even thinking about wargaming, but hopefully this situation will change as the week progresses. At that point I hope that 'normal service will be resumed as soon as possible'!

---

Just how many of my regular blog readers remember that phrase being used on Britain's TV broadcasting systems over the years?

Quite a few, I suspect.

Lots of parcels to open

I have been so busy for the past few days that I have not had enough time to open the five small parcels that have been delivered by the Post Office since Wednesday ... but that all changed this afternoon.

The parcels contained some of the auction lots that I won on eBay over last weekend, and they contained enough figures for me to form eight new four-figure units:

• Four French Infantry Regiments (4 x Line Infantry Regiments)
• Four British Infantry Regiments (2 x Line Infantry Regiments, 2 x Rifle Regiments) 

I have a few more eBay auction bids waiting to mature over the next few days, and if I won them they should enable me to expand my collection even further.

Nugget 270

Due to all the work I have been doing getting our conservatory back into commission, I was unable to collect the latest edition of THE NUGGET (N270) from the printer yesterday or today as planned, and I now intend to collect it and and post it out to members of Wargame Developments on Monday.

I also hope to upload the PDF versions of THE NUGGET and THE NUGGET COLOUR SUPPLEMENT to the Wargame Developments website on Monday so that they will be available for members of Wargame Developments to read online or to download and print.

---

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the sixth issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2013-2014 subscription year. It is still possible to subscribe, and this can be done online via the Wargame Developments website. Please note that the subscription costs rose with effect from the beginning of the current subscription year.