Tuesday 28 December 2010

What figures to use...

Having started this blog to devlop 'Rivets and Whimsy' and not really doing that, I thought I'd start to get my thoughts in order.

"The Extraordinary Adventures of 'Rivets' McGurk (a gruff aeronef engineer), and Miss (or Lady, can't remember which) Whimsabella Pootling (the daughter of McGurk's former employer)" and their fin de siecle high-jinks in a clapped-out aeronef... that's how I described it back in March.

Shortly after I described as "a sort of VSF 'Odd Couple', where 'Rivets' McGurk, an irrascible aeronef mechanic (probably played by Robbie Coltraine c1987), was thrown into a tangled love-hate relationship with Miss Whimsabella Pootling, the posh daughter of the man who fired him (probably played by Felicity Kendal, c1972), with corsets, flying goggles and big spanners..."



One of these two will probably end up as my 'Rivets' I think. I don't yet have a 'Whimsey', but I have a potential mini for McGurk's daughter, Peggy, who also helps run the 'nef, getting into much smaller spaces than her dad:



Both of these are from the gorgeous (but very expensive) Warmachine ranges.

After that there are a couple of other characters I want to source - one is Kapitein Horst Van Dango, the dashing but deadly Dutch sky-pirate, and a pistol-popping French assassinatrix called Anna Baptiste, one of the sky-pirates that are on Rivets' and Whimsy's trail... both of these I'm sure I could use Warmachine minis for... but I'm hopelessly undecided. Watch this space (or not)...

Friday 24 December 2010

Look to the Future now...


Sorry, no more gratuitous Christmas references.

It's not VSF, but I thought I'd post a photo of something in the heady future of the 1930s or there abouts - scientifical-speculative fiction for VSFers of course, but due to an imbalance in the Chronic Aether, it has been possible to extract a kind of temporal luxograph... the colours may be a bit washed out (which is why everyone looks grey) but there it is.

These are the members of an elite Investigation Unit of the 1930s... now, to make a 1890s version...

Thursday 23 December 2010

More links

Added links - four sites of Martian maps and information, just the thing for a chap who wants to hop on an Aether-clipper and bag some six-legged beasts. One of the links is a PDF and I'm having a problem accessing it at the moment, but ho hum...

More fictional Eastern Europe


Hard on the heels of the Central Europe map, here is the corresponding South-East Euope version. I'll admit, I don't know as much about Samavia, Jiardasia, Wallaria and Molvania as I do about Ruritania, but it seems plausible enough for an alternate-history 1890-1910.

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Fictional Central-Eastern Europe



After an evening messing about with google images and picture-editing software, I have this - a map of fictional Central-Eastern Europe as it might have existed in a VSF late 19th century.

Included are Ruritania, with Strelsau, Zenda and Hentzau marked; Molvania, with its capital Lutenblag; Graustark, with Edelweiss and Ganlook; Leutha, from Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories, and several other fictional territories.

It may have some relevance to the question of what exactly Whimsy's father was up to - then again, it might not.

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Fictional British Army Regiments, part II

For the sake of completeness, I've compiled most of the other British Regiments from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_British_regiments into a list (part I of this list, known or presumed regiments from before 1800 to 1900, is in my listing for November and can also be found listed under 'British forces' to the left). Some or all of these may have existed in fictional Victorian times; if so, their early histories remain to be discovered, perhaps by intrepid chaps with large moustachios. Again, the format will be, under the date of the earliest reference, the name and number, if known; where they saw action, if known; and any pertinent info about them.

Fictional Regiments 1900-1920:
The Loamshire Regiment - saw service in WWI: Bulldog Drummond's regiment: in WWII - 1st Battalion the Loamshires in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'; 5th Battalion the Loamshires in 'Men At Arms'
Weald Light Infantry - still in existence after WWI?
12th Gurkha Rifles (Colonel Arbuthnott's regiment in 'Murder on the Orient Express')

EDIT: apparently the 43rd 'Prince Rupert's' Regiment of Horse, also known as 'The Fighting 43rd', was not involved in the Boer Wars, at least according to the Captain Cadman website listed on the left. However, the regiment's postings include both France and East Africa during WWI.

South Oxfordshire (Light Infantry?) Regiment - have battle honours for Mons and the Somme (Endeavour)

1920-1940
Caledonian Highlanders - served in NW Frontier province c1935 (Laurel & Hardy film, 'Bonnie Scotland')
Walmington-on-Sea Local Defence Volunteers (fictional Kent or Sussex town of Walmington-on-Sea in 'Dad's Army' - not included on wiki list)

1940-50
Bombadier Guards (first mentioned c1848) - 'Put Out More Flags'
Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry, 'The Dogs'- North Africa, 1941
Royal Corps of Halberdiers (early history goes back to Elizabethan era) - Fall of Crete, 1941: 'Sword of Honour' trilogy; Guy Crouchback's regiment
Loamshire Regiment (1st Battalion; 5th Battalion) - Loamshires first mentioned in WWI; 1st Battalion in WWII in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'; 5th Battalion in WWII in 'Men at Arms'
4th Musketeers (surmised to exist before 1800) - North Africa 1941-3, Italy 1943, France 1944
Wessex Guards
Wessex Fusiliers
12th Indian Lancers
South Oxfordshire (Light Infantry?) Regiment - have battle honours relating to Tunisia campaign in 1943 (Endeavour)

1950-1970
1st King's Lancers (must precede 1952; first mention 1964)
King's Own Fusiliers (must precede 1952; first mention 1990s)
Queen's Own Scottish (Infantry) Regiment
Queen's Own West Mercian Lowlanders (Major Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott's regiment)

New addition to 1950-70, not from the wiki article:
South Oxfordshire (Light?) Infantry - deployed from Cowley Barracks, Oxford, to BAOR 1968, where they merged with other regiments (possibly to form the Light Infantry Regiment); they appear from the cap-badge to be Light Infantry (like the Ox & Bucks who were actually based at Cowley); saw action in Korean War (1950-53); they also took part in the Battle of M'Boto Gorge, c. 1892 in West Africa; regimental motto: Death before Dishonour

1970-1990 Light Armoured Brigade
Royal Wessex Rangers - N Ireland, 1979, Germany 1980, Hong Kong 1981
Wessex Light Tank Armoured Brigade

New addition to 1970-90, not from the wiki article:
North Wessex Fusiliers - Falklands War, 1982: from 'Ashes to Ashes', series 3 episode 3


1990-2010
Bedford Light Infantry
The Cumbrians (Duke of Rutland's Own)
The Derbyshire Regiment
King's Own Fusiliers (must precede 1952; first mention 1990s)
The Malvern Regiment
The Northdale Rifles - Iraq
Royal Cambrian Fusiliers
The Wessex Regiment
The West Yorkshire Fusiliers

I haven't placed 'special forces' in this list, nor the regiments from the 'Carry On' films or the 'Goon Show'. The world is not ready for the 56th Heavy Underwater Artillery I feel.

And for those who like that sort of thing, a Beyesian analysis of the locations of various fictional British place-names (I found this looking for Walmington: http://keithbriggs.info/Bayes_placenames-2.html#Walmington-on-Sea)

Later additions to this list after the original posting have been italicised.