Getting used to using the 'new' Blogger

It has taken me over a week, but I am gradually getting used to using the newest version of Blogger. I still prefer the so-called legacy version ... but I am slowly getting there.

Part of the problem that I have is that I like to format my blog posts as I type them, adding any images as I go. With the 'new' version of Blogger, I am currently finding it easier to type first, then format and add images.

What I do not like is the way it is no longer easy for me to scroll back through my previous blog posts. As I scroll down, I keep getting a message that it is 'Loading more posts ...', and then there is a time lag whilst it does. As I have written nearly 4,500 blog posts since I started back in 2008, you can imagine how tedious this can be.

As I expected, once you get used to its 'new and improved' features (whatever they are!), the 'new' Blogger is all right to use. It does mean that I can no longer use HTML as much as I did (something that I actually enjoyed!) but things change, and so must I.

Indian Mutine-era

Hot on the heels of his recently-published TAIPING ERA: TABLETOP WARGAME RULES FOR LAND CONFLICT IN MID-19TH CENTURY CHINA, Graham Evans (AKA Trebian) has published INDIAN MUTINE-ERA: A SUPPLEMENT FOR "TAIPING ERA" COVERING THE USE OF THE RULES FOR FIGHTING BATTLES IN THE INDAIN MUTINY.

The book does contain some period-specific changes and clarification to the TAIPING ERA rules, as well as relevant Commander Cards. Also included are a number of linked scenarios for battles fought by General Havelock during his first campaign in Oudh. These include:

• Fatehpur: 12th July 1857
• Aong: 14th July 1857
• Pandu Nadi: 14th July 1857
• Maharajpur: 16th July 1857

The back page of the book has a very useful QRS on it, and this should prove of assistance to anyone using these rules.

This supplement contains some colour illustrations and maps, and is very reasonably priced, and only costs £5.00 from Amazon.

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INDIAN MUTINE-ERA: A SUPPLEMENT FOR "TAIPING ERA" COVERING THE USE OF THE RULES FOR FIGHTING BATTLES IN THE INDAIN MUTINY was written by Graham Evans and published in 2020 by Wargaming for Grown Ups Publications (ISBN 979 8 6827 1876 4)

New Madasahatta Map: The basic work has been completed

I managed to spend a bit of time over the past couple of days to get the basic work on the new, colour version of the Madasahatta map completed ... and it looks like this:

I now need to finish off the key and add the location names to the map, and it will then be complete. However, David Crook and I want to add some more detail to the as yet empty northern part of the map. On the original map this is described as being 'unexplored bush country inhabited by the Dodgilot Tribe', but we would like to at least add some geographical features such as native settlements, rivers, and watering holes.

We don't want to rush this, as we want to make sure that what we do add is in line with the sort of thing that we think that Eric Knowles would have included.

Nugget 329

Yesterday, I collected the latest issue of THE NUGGET from the printer, and I posted it out on Friday afternoon. With luck, it should be with members of Wargame Developments in a few day's time.

I have uploaded the PDF version to the Wargame Developments website, and it can be downloaded and read online using the password that was sent to all members when they resubscribed.

As a bonus to this issue, a PDF copy of D Wayne Thomas’s rules OVER THE HILLS (AND FAR AWAY!) can also be downloaded from the Wargame Developments website.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the second issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2020-2021 subscription year. If you have not yet re-subscribed, a reminder was sent to you recently. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

New Madasahatta Map: Another progress report

Work on the map continues apace, with more and more of the details being redrawn/overdrawn in colour.

Now that the main features have been added to the map (e.g. the locations of the towns and settlements, the rivers, the main roads, the hills and mountains etc.), further refinements will need to be made. This may require some changes to the original colours used, and the addition of slightly more detail so that it is easier to identify the differences between jungle, marsh/swamp, oasis, and bush.

This will be more time-consuming that might be expected, but I feel that I am now 'over the hump' with regard to completing this project.

New edition of Table Top Battles

Back in November 2008, I bought a copy of TABLE TOP BATTLES - TABLE TOP WARGAMING WITH MINIATURES (by Mike and Joyce Smith) at Warfare ... and it proved to be one of the influences that set me on the road that led to the development of my own PORTABLE WARGAME books.

In the most recent issue of MINIATURE WARGAMES, Michael Smith wrote a two-page article about wargames that are fought on a gridded tabletop. In it he mentioned that he had published a new edition of his book, which was now entitled TABLE TOP BATTLES: GRID WARGAMING WITH MINIATURES 2nd EDITION, and that they were available in both PDF and printed format from his website.

I visited his website, and after contacting him to find out if he had any printed copies available, I ordered one. It was delivered on Saturday, and I have been dipping into it ever since.

Although it is similar to the original book, the newer edition includes a number of colour photographs and better-quality illustrations. and it production values are better. For its price (£16.00 in printed format and £14.00 in PDF format in the UK) it seems good value, and for anyone who enjoyed fighting their wargames on a gridded tabletop, it has much to offer, especially as it covers historical periods that my own PORTABLE WARGAME books do not.

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TABLE TOP BATTLES: GRID WARGAMING WITH MINIATURES 2nd EDITION was written by Michael & Joyce Smith, and published by Gridmaster Publications (ISBN 978 1 5272 3437 60).

New Madasahatta map: A progress report

Over the past few days, I’ve been working on redrawing Eric Knowles’s Madasahatta map using MS Paint. I started by superimposing a new square grid over a digital image of a scanned copy of a photocopy of the original map.

I then filled in all the 'empty' sea grid squares.

Once this had been completed, I used the original map as a guide as I began to draw in the northern coastline of the map ...

... and some of the inland features, such as the borders between different areas, rivers and streams, roads, hills, and oasis/marshland/jungle.

I then continued this process, mainly working down the right-hand side of the map.

Over the next few days, I hope to continue doing this until I have overdrawn the original map, and have the basis of a new, digital, colour version to work with.

Nugget 329

The editor of THE NUGGET sent the next issue (N329) to me yesterday, and I hope to take it to the printer tomorrow. With luck, I should be able to collect it by next weekend, and post it out to members as soon afterwards as I can.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this will be the second issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2020-2021 subscription year. If you have not yet re-subscribed, a reminder was recently sent to you. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

Two new books

When I bought my first car, I was keen to do my own basic maintenance ... so on the advice of a friend, I bought a copy of the relevant Haynes Owner's Workshop Manual. As I bought newer cars, I bought more of these very helpful manuals, and this continued until electronic ignition systems et al came along. No longer could I fix my car using a few simple tools; it now needed a computer!

Until recently, I've never had to buy another of Haynes's publications ... but in recent years they have begun to branch out and produce a range of Owner's Workshop Manuals about a range to non-car topics, and I have begun to buy them again. To date, I have bought:

• German Infantryman: The German soldier 1939-45 (all models)
• T-34 Tank: 1940 to date (all models)
• Panzer III: Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf A to N (Sdkfz 141)
• Panther Tank: Panzerkanpfwagen V Panther (Sdkfz 171)

I can now add a further volume to my collection, FLAK 88: 8.8cm FLUGZEUGABWEHRKANONE (MODELS 18/36/37/41).

This follows the same pattern as the earlier books, and is split into eight chapters, endnotes, and appendices:

• Introduction
• Development
• Design and basic operation
• Ammunition
• Crew roles and gun operation
• At war - anti-aircraft operations
• At war - anti-tank operations
• Transportation and maintenance
• Endnotes
• Appendices

It contains a wealth of information and illustrations, and was well worth the £5.00 I paid for it in the Tiverton branch of THE WORKS.

The other book I recently acquired was THE NAVAL WAR OF THE PACIFIC 1879-1884: SALTPETER WAR.

This is the second book by this author that I have bought (the first was RUSSO-TURKISH NAVAL WAR 1877-1878), and it is an excellent history of the naval side of the war.

The book is very well illustrated, and is split into eighteen chapters and a number of appendices.

• The origin of the conflict
• Opponents
• Invasion of the Bolivian costa and the outbreak of the war
• Blockade of the southern coast of Peru and the battle of Chipana
• Battle of Iquique
• Naval operations in the period between the battle of Iquique and the battle of Angamos (May-October 1879)
• Battle of Angamos
• Landing at Pisagua and the Chilean capture of the province of Tarapaca
• Capture of the gunboat Pilcomayo
• Change of leadership in Peru and Bolivia
• Landing operations at Pacocha Bay and the battle of Tacna
• The blockade and fall of Arica
• Blockade of Callao
• Lynch expedition
• Battles of Chorillos and Miraflores and the fall of Lima
• Military operations following the fall of Lima and the end of the war
• Naval operations on Lake Titcaca
• Outcome of the war
• Appendices

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FLAK 88: 8.8cm FLUGZEUGABWEHRKANONE (MODELS 18/36/37/41) was written by Chris McNa and published in 2018 by Haynes Publishing (ISBN 978 1 7521 133 1).

THE NAVAL WAR OF THE PACIFIC 1879-1884: SALTPETER WAR was written by Piotr Olender and published in 2020 by Stratus (ISBN 978 83 65958 77 8)

Return to Madasahatta?

I've recently been exchanging emails with my fellow blogger David Crook about Eric Knowles' famous MADASAHATTA campaign. As a result, I've agreed to try to update Eric's original map so that we can use it for Colonial campaigning.

I will be using MS Paint as I want to produce the map in colour, and I will be adopting a style that is similar to the one I produced for my ongoing Operation Barbarossa mini-campaign.

I hope to keep my regular blog readers up to date with my progress ... and if the end result is any good, I may even make it available online.

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As a matter of interest, I wrote this blog post using html on my iPad ... and actually found that it was not too difficult.

Perhaps the new Blogger isn't too bad, once you get used to it.