An Exciting Discovery --

I've been looking for something inexpensive to base figures on . . . and I wanted steel so that I could use a magnetic base. But I'm in Canada and shipping across borders isn't cheap.

Sure, I could use washers . . . but the hole in the middle makes it awkward.

Well tonight I had a stray thought and tried something. I knew that most countries had stopped minting copper pennies because of the rising cost of copper.

So I took a chance and tried a magnet on some Canadian pennies . . . zing! . . . Some of them jumped right to the magnet.

I said some, not all.

All of the nice shiny 2007 and 2008 pennies did, as well as a few earlier ones. I have since learned that Canadian pennies are now supposed to be 94% steel. Supposedly the change-over happened in 2000, but almost all of my pre-2007 pennies were not magnetic (although a few were).

My guess is that they continued using their zinc mixture until the supply (or contracts) ran out. Anyway for those of us in Canada, the newer pennies are now usable with magnetic movement trays . . . and they only cost pennies.

This was a good day.


-- Jeff


,

Very Disturbing News --

(a report sent to Cavenderia by their ambassador, Monsieur Dashiell Jeansonne)

Your Grace,

I find myself the bearer of terrible news. Before I even had a chance to reach the borders of Saxe-Bearstein, I found myself in a coach with another foreigner.

He was a grenadier, one Nils Norberg, in service to Lutelande and bore terrible news. He too was on his way to the Saxe-Bearstein Court. He had be dispatched by his commander to carry this news to Saxe-Bearstein . . . and, since it also concerns Cavenderia, he passed it on to me as well.

They discovered that those vile Stagonians have newly recruited 8 full battalions of additional soldiers!

These 6,000 men are being secretly trained and while they have not yet been issued uniforms, they do represent a very significant threat to all nations in the area.

It seems that the new vile King, Ludwig the Mad, is brewing some sort of mad scheme . . . but where and when he will choose to use these troops is unknown at this time.

As for Furst Bruno von Ursa, he received me most graciously and has welcomed me to his Court. However he then retired to his counsels to evaluate the news that Grenadier Nils Norberg of Lutelande had brought.

I will write further when I know more.


Your obedient servant,

Dashiell Jeansonne
_______________________________

Or, in other words, I got some 200-odd infantry figures today for the army of those nasty vile Stagonians.

(note that the photo to left shows Monsieur Dashiell Jeansonne and Grenadier Nils Norberg.

Both are 25mm figures. The former is from Eureka and the latter is one of John Bertolini's Lutelande Miniatures.

Sadly the flash has distorted the colors. Both figures look much better in person.)


-- Jeff

A New Look --

Well I've decided to "upgrade" this blog. I was using the old "template" system that required me to code in HTML (which isn't that difficult), but which didn't allow things like followers to show.

Anyway, I've now moved into the new "layout" system so you might see several different appearances in the next few weeks as I decide just what look I want.


-- Jeff

"Bad People" --

One only needs to read a newspaper or turn on the TV to know that there are a lot of bad people in the world. This isn't about them.

This is about those "bad people" . . . people like Stokes Schwartz, Bill Protz, Jim Purky, Phil Olley, Henry Hyde, Charles Stewart Grant and so forth . . . all of those people who are tempting me to go the "big battalion" route.

Oh sure, we know them as really nice guys who enjoy our hobby . . . but they post photos and write articles and books extolling the virtues of large units . . . and soon the desire to add more figures begins to seep into our subconsciousness . . . becoming a siren's song luring us toward financial ruin.

But they look so good . . . *sigh*.


-- Jeff

Scene: the faculty rooms of the University of Saxe-Bearstein.

A special messenger from the Grand Duchy of Hetzenberg is finally admitted to the presence of Doctor Iago Knappenburger, who has been busily engaged in establishing the legal faculty of the university.

However, upon examining the seals on the thick packet that the messenger carries, the good doctor sets his current work aside and opens the packet. After reading for a while he calls for his secretary to cancel all further meetings for the day . . . he has much to research and much to think about . . . the situation presented in the Grand Duchy of Hetzenberg is one of grave import for the peace of all Uropa.