What has happened to Flashy ??????????

March 1858 Britannic Times has shown up and once again the heroic Flashy ended up tied to a pole! The good news however is that chiefs in Ambik have a bit more info on the HEIC than the local villagers who captured our hero, and have now set him free and it looks like the railway can go through.

1) In related news the Directors of the British India Steam Navigation Company have complained to no less than the House of Lords about the discounting practices of the HEIC owned India Ports & Harbour Comany which has set very high harbour duties and then discounts heavily for favoured clients..........up to 80% for the HEIC owned P & O Shipping Line.

The House of Lords who include many Tories & HEIC shareholders are expected to take the view "Its their Ports and they can charge what they want............anything else is Socialism."

2) Socialism currently has a very bad press in the Lords following the revolutions in France & Germany with talk in London of British Army Troops being sent to save Berlin from the "Reds".

3) In Berlin itself the Reds have not attacked and the Kaiser is rallying his troops ordering them to "CHEER UP"..........news which may or may not cheer them up is that Russian Troop Trains are now on the border. Seems that the Czar has spotted the fact that the Ballet Rus European Tour is due to play Berlin probably about the same time the city is taken by the revolution. So showing true devotion to culture & to "The Show must go on" Anna Pavlova is going to dance with a ring of steel round the venue if required. Surely it would have just been easier to cancel the show?

4) While anarchy & revolution spreads back home what is Otto Von Bismarck doing??????? Well might you ask gentle readers......he is actually in Tripoli trying to compose a dirge for a dec'd nun! Not easy on a Tuba.

In other news:

5) The Brits are basically involved in their twin loves of trade/making money & sport. The Rawipindi Cup being won by the crack Polo team from the Poona Light Horse while prizes are being put forward for the fastest Liners on various routes in a year.

In theory prizes like the Blue Riband Atlantic crossing could be won by a non British Ship but most people are just pleased to get across without hitting a ice burg at high speed.

6) We have a civil war in Yalu which looks like it may become three sided...........Nippon? Opium Cartel? Sima? Russia?

7) The Russian Army has won the war for the Crimea but Khan Sahin avoided all attempts to bring him to battle and went for Russian Railway/supply Lines in Inkerman catching one Russian Battalion isolated from its fortress artillery and other Infantry. Attacked from all sides by x17 Squadrons of Cavalry in a remarkable feet of arms this battalion held firm on its Railway Embankment and left the ground littered with fallen men and horses.

It is reported that following this defeat Khan Sahin has suffered many desertions to the to the happy hymn singing cossack hosts.

The Yankee's or "Damn Yankee's if you come from the good old CSA" have appointed a new Gov of the West.

This will only be a poor synopsis compared to what Stuart normally does - In London the bankers squable - I have never been able to understand the different companies in England and whose side they are on. The British government decides to send an anti revolutionary British Forces Expedition to Germany. While back in Germany, Bizzie finally returns home.
In the United States politics behind closed doors seems to be going on. In the Ukraine the Russians have taken over another province but resistance is still continuing.
The Honourable East Indies Company supprted by Flashman are taking over more of India.
In Yalu, which may be Korea, the traditionalists and modernists are fighting it out. I suspect the hand of the Japanese behind this.

Basileus wrote:- In London the bankers squable - I have never been able to understand the different companies in England and whose side they are on.

Its fairly simple really - The Tea Cartel & the Hon East India Company are all 1st rate chaps and good Tories who support the Queen and the most honourable Prime Minister, Lord Derby.

On the other side we have the Opium Cartel (also known as the Albion Corporation & the French Secret Service) who are a bunch of Cads, Bounder's, Thuggee, Reds, Triads, Finnians, Suffregettes and other pinko revolutionary drug dealing scum who support Gladstone and the Liberal party and want to replace our dear Queen with a Republic on the French Model.

The Butterfield Private Bank, The British India Steam Navigation Company, The Times Newspaper & Punch are all fronts for the evil revolutionary activity of the Opium Corporation.

Armstrong Sidney, P & O Shipping, India Railways, The India Ports & Harbour Company, Standard Chartered Bank, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, etc, etc are fine upstanding subsidary companies to the HEIC.

While Royal Southampton Lines, The Canadian Railway Company etc are fine upstanding subsidaries of the Tea Cartel.

(This report was provided by a source not a million miles away from the HEIC Press Office ..........so you know its honest and totally without bias)

May 1858 Britannic Times has shown up and for Gods Chosen people (The English) only one story matters......but for some strange reason its been exiled to page 5!

- In a major scandal rocking the elite of the English speaking world Oxford old boys defeated Cambridge Old boys in the cricket but this was followed by charges of ball tampering and the Oxford Hospitality Committee getting Cambridge batsmen beastly drunk.

For lesser breeds without the law (Americans etc) the Times had some other articles of interest:

- The Reds have marched on Berlin but the Socialist Revolutionary Army were stopped at the gates. The Kaiser now thinks he has things under control but the Govts of England & Russia seem to be taking no chances and have sent troops to help crush the pro French Republican revolutionary forces before the "cancer" spreads.

- In Yulu traditionalist & royalist forces have moved against the Yalu Workers Party. Turns out that recent revolutionary activity in Yulu have been organized by the Japanese. This is probably not going to do much for Japanese relations with Chin, Yulu or the Czar.
You also wonder what the English Tories will think about their Nippon allies backing revolutions and putting them up in a Osaka brothel rather than a hotel.

- In Washington a new Newspaper "The Washington Post" has been openned and Amerika North is showing signs of getting over its
humiliations in recent years. But the CSA looks as solid as ever and the Brits seem to be growing ever stronger to the north......esp if they ever sort out the funding of the Canadian Railways Company.

- In London the Canadian Railway Shares will be priced at £10 each but will not be on offer prior to early 1859 when the Financial Times Stock Exchange is ready. Along with delays in getting the Canadian Railway Company up and running..... William Gladstone is also having a moan about the Indian Railway Company and the Indian Ports and Harbour Company. HEIC subsidaries who seem to operate a price policy of:

- Chums of Lord Hardinge rates
- Special mates of "flashy" rates
- Good chaps rates
- Normal rates
- Dodgy looking type rates
- Very iffy looking chaps - are they Frogs? rates
- Possibles links to the opium cartel and we really dont like you rates.

As well as using its control of Ports, Railways & telegraph systems to benefit itself and its friends and hinder its trade rivals. Gladstone also believes the HEIC also uses its control of the Police and Courts to drown its rivals in red tape and generally terrorize them if required.

- On subject of the HEIC and its rivals. The Company strung up three Thugee assassins from the walls of Fort Wellington......The Thugee cult have sworn revenge on white men.

- The Russian Army has finally forced the surrender of Sahin Giray and what was left of 18 Squadrons of rebel cavalry.

- Sultan Moulay of the Muurs (a French ally) may be on the verge of War with the Germans. The sultan is known for hanging HEIC bankers and his to date failed attempts to conquer the southern Muurs.

- Russian ballet dancers in Lisbon.

Just re-reading Stuart's last post, am a bit confused. Have Britannia and Russia sent troops into Germania? I thought in Scramble that the homelands were out of bounds, so you couldn't invade other players, just their colonies etc.

Jason wrote:Just re-reading Stuart's last post, am a bit confused.  Have Britannia and Russia sent troops into Germania?  I thought in Scramble that the homelands were out of bounds, so you couldn't invade other players, just their colonies etc.  

You are correct - in Scramble the homelands are out of bounds ref conquest and invasion.

But you can send a agitator or a rebel character to another players home country as well as colonies (see write up's for these type of Character).

In theory if your character uses the "Rebellion" order successfully in a Home Country his will cause troops to either stay at home or even be recalled from the colonies to put the revolt down. Aside from diverting the military such a revolt is probably going to be bad for trade and the Home Governments standing.

I assume that when the rules were written Richard probably assumed that the diverted troops would be those of the Home Country suffering the rebellion but they dont actually say they have to be home country troops and if you take 1848 The Year of Revolutions for example troops from Russia helped crush revolts in Poland, Hungary etc.

In theory the use of foreign & trade company troops helps the home country and makes "rebel" characters less valuable. But I suspect that it may damage the prestige score of home country if foreign or church/trade company troops are used to put down a revolt and a paranoid (is there any other type) Scabble player may wish to leave some troops at home just in case.

In the case of recent events I suspect that Lord Derby & the Czar sending troops to help crush the "Reds" has little to do with wanting to help the German Govt and a lot to do with how it looks in the papers. The Czar and his ministers has long postured as the champion of Christain Monarchy while Lord Derby is generally against French backed revolts by the lower orders..........as being bad for trade and liable to upset the horses and the Queen.

July 1858 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scabble players here are the highlights:

1) The heroic Flashy was once again in chains......now he is still a captive but in silks rather than chains. And no he is not being kept as a sex slave by Nuns but he is the captive of a nutty Indian chief who's fortune teller has warned him that Flashman needs to be kept healthy for the benefit of Chief Prada own health.

2) Meanwhile while our hero suffers in the dark back water of Ambik his lady friend and the Poona Light Horse have been stopped from dashing to the rescue by delays on the trains in Gujran. Seems the bridge over the upper Indus is closed for essential renovation work or something of this nature.

3) And what is the British Prime Minister and Flashman's own boss doing about our hero's suffering and strikes in Liverpool dockyards????? Seems they are in the dark backwater of Hampshire Fly Fishing and watching the cricket.

4) But to be fair on the Britannic govt they did arrange some music concerts - "Fiddling while Flashy/Berlin/Manipur - delete as required - burns" and send some troops to Germany.

5) In Berlin while the Ballet Rus put on a show to keep up morale and Archbishop Schonmuller also attempted to improve the morale of the city..........Bismarck suddenly decided that the Germany was being invaded by "Imperialist, Capitalist & Reactionary forces" and the socialist revolt was not French revenge for his attacks on their republic but was actually due to British Agents jealous of the mighty Germanian Empire.

Where this courting of the German Left Wing by the mad tuba player of old Potsdam town would have ended is not clear since before his words could be communicated to them the Red Guards outside of Berlin were attacked not once but twice. Firstly by the Russians who wiped out the Red Cavalry and left the Infantry worn out. Then by the Brits who claimed the final victory and packed the Reds into full retreat.

A cynic might suggest that Lord Derby's men let the Russians do all the hard fighting and the claimed Victory.

In other news:

6) Nuns are doing "something" in Tripoli..........dont ask me what scabble Nuns do! Something and its got brass nobbs on it OK

7) A mad man with a pistol called Charles Darcy Jnr has been seen running across Delhi threatening people......the arthorities have been informed. Clearly white men should not go out in the Delhi sun without a hat in July! It is to be hoped the authorities can find a nice padded cell for Charles and the ISB etc dont shot the poor chap.

In Osaka Peter Ward Fay left his brothel and set up a new branch of the Albion Corporation (AKA the Opium Cartel).

9) One hopes that that business partners of the Opium Cartel in Nippon do better than they have done in Manipur.....The west most part of the Golden Triangle and where the Triads of the Cartel rub up against the HEIC.

- With Flashy tied up & Hardinge on his hols Gen Sir John Nicholson and the hardmen of the HEIC decided to settle a few scores with their rivals. The results were not pretty and showed that tampering with the trade of genial sporting coves and trying to block the spread of cricket can be really bad for your health.

I always enjoy Stuart's write-ups of Scramble...admittedly it does read like a mix of Boys Own and Carry On...

Jason wrote:I always enjoy Stuart's write-ups of Scramble...admittedly it does read like a mix of Boys Own and Carry On...

Blame Germania for the "Carry On" the Brits for so much of the game write up being influenced by the Flashman books & cricket.

But I have no idea who introduced the emphasis on Nuns, Jules Verne engineering plus opium.

And to think issue 1 started with the Emperor of Austria-Hungary getting all high and mighty about the evils of slavery! The moral tone has been all down hill since.

Personally, I blame the French.

I find myself watching Penny Dreadful and thinking that it is the inspiration for the orders of some the chaps involved! A strange world indeed that does seem to follow the rest of the purple elephant crowd from the opium cartel.

August 1858 Britannic Times has shown up and for non players and those looking for a game were you can make real progress (Kingmaker) or alteratively have characters hung, drowned, eat, or thrown into dark cells. Or even worse develop a fetish about nuns, weird science, tuba playing or cricket. Here are the highlights:

1) Following the crushing of the revolt of the Germanic "Reds" partly by intervention forces sent by Russia & Britannia. Our hero Bismarck decided that the Brits were a bunch of anarchists for ignoreing Germanic paperwork and ordered a military attack on the Black Watch Regt (which failed badly).

One wonders how Lord Derby will react to the news that Bismarck is a "Red in the Bed"

2) Some people seem to be mucking around with "Time Travel" in Germania & North Africa. Seems to be on a par with the Austrian Airships.........if it does not blow up on take off its probably going to crash.

Ex-Nuns seem to be involved again........another bad sign.

3) Oddly the All England XI due to play the All India Cricket team is being captained by the "Doctor" (W G Grace).

4) When not watching cricket or attending grand opennings Brits seemed to spend the month drinking......including the Hon Charles Darcy who having avoided mad priests, the police and a lady shrink spent most of the month drinking tea to settle his nerves.

5) HEIC seems to have spent month building up its diplomatic and military influence on the sub continent. The Czar sends a message to "Accept the authority of the Czar as supreme Hetman and Khan of Khans or die".......the HEIC version seems to include a 200 page treaty which gives the HEIC control over the Military, Trade, Foreign Affairs and Planning. Plus a application form to join the All India Cricket Union.

For non cricket lovers the other option seems to be a case of port and a revolver!

6) A Russian Fleet escorting a lot of transport ships showed up at Bombay but seem to be heading further East

7) Indeed a fair bit seems to be going on in the far east with a British Telegraph cable getting to Hong Kong from India, stories of revolt and unrest on the streets of Tsing-Tao and Nippon Generals moaning about the lack of wars against the Chin.

Meanwhile in the good old USA someone has set up a club for Gentlemen in Washington.

Really is this the best American players can do? A new club? We expect accounts of Wars, Mad Scientists or at least Mad Tuba players, Nuns, the trade in the Wacky Baccy with cast of Triads, Nuns & Hongs.

So where are the scalpings & range wars?

If Kingmaker is looking at options I think the following may be going free:

- Franconia .......large well equiped position. But following the overthrow of a rather dodgy Emperor and its backing of revolts has a bit of a PR problem.

- Kingdom of Sima......still No2 on prestige list. Comes with own harem and probably of treasury bulging with Triad profits.

- CSA.......no longer a Slave State but still seperate from the damn Yankees.
-

I have it on good authority from Lord Derby that "Gunnery Practice" will occur and Germanic Stocks will be falling. That is all!

I don't believe the Austrians or Espania are played are either.

I do miss reading about the Austrian airships and their attempts to not-crash.

If we now have time travel, is anyone planning on doing some archaeological excavations in Egypt to see if they can find a stargate?

Oh dear is it to late to say sorry........ sorry revvaughan

Jason wrote:I do miss reading about the Austrian airships and their attempts to not-crash.  

If we now have time travel, is anyone planning on doing some archaeological excavations in Egypt to see if they can find a stargate?

So what you want to see played is Captain Von Draken VI (Great, Great Grandson of the current one) working for the Austrian Air Service in Egypt.

Think the only things currently waiting to be found in Egypt is a several loads of modern rifles and the Mad Mufti but I could always be wrong.

Dont think we have lost any characters due to Mummey rot or a cursed tomb.........but a few have already upset the odd mad priest and dodgy cult.

Basileus wrote:Oh dear is it to late to say sorry........ sorry revvaughan

While Lord Derby is famous for his easy going nature but I think its fair to say the following people are rather upset with Biamarck:

a) Music lovers the world over due to that Tuba
b) The French
c) Dear Queen Victoria & Prince Albert..........when trying to save relatives from being murdered in their beds by the Reds one does not expect ones favourite regiment to be shot up by ones relations ministers because the paper work has not been stamped.
d) General Caine & the British Army
e) The Kaiser......one does not expect relatives retainers to get shot for trying to help......it makes it so difficult at family dinners.
f) The German high Command....well when the troops are so baffled as to what is going on that they can not win with odds of 7-1 in they favour it rather humiliates the High Command.

My quess is that Bismarck is going to have to flee Germania in a Airship (Ships could be bad for his health) and join the Mad Mullah in Sudan or perhaps the Chin.

Yup, thats what I thought. Time to build another time machine and escape to the new Rome based game.

Basileus wrote:Yup, thats what I thought. Time to build another time machine and escape to the new Rome based game.

Between Jason Flowers ambition to play a fiddle/lyre/flute while Rome Burns (seems like a Insurance Job to me).

And a mad German Druid type who claims to come from the future and wants to unit the tribes things are not looking good for the Roman Fire Insurance Industry!

Weirdly both of these Character types (well criminal Roman builders & a German Priestess) are in the Falco Novels by Lindsey Davis which are set in the period of Vespasian & his sons.

If anyone wants to do some very light reading on this period I think they should try some of these books to get a feeling for the city in this age and perhaps a slight flavour of the period.

It is never too late to apologize... Certainly next month is not too late either. Could be some fireworks first.

SFE certainly has its twists and turns doesn't it. Some of the oddities that occur tend to frustrate the straight historical gamer.

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Jason wrote:I do miss reading about the Austrian airships and their attempts to not-crash.  

If we now have time travel, is anyone planning on doing some archaeological excavations in Egypt to see if they can find a stargate?

So what you want to see played is Captain Von Draken VI (Great, Great Grandson of the current one) working for the Austrian Air Service in Egypt.

.  

I was more thinking someone with a slightly more realistic archaeological knowledge ...maybe Daniel Jackson has an ancestor who was also an Egyptologist...

Sept 1858 Britannic Times has shown up and for non players here are the highlights:

1) Our hero "Bizzie" has put on a musical festival to celebrate victory over the "anarchist, decadent, British Imperialist schwein".......music taken from his new work "The Twilight of the Dwarves".

2) While considering his options Lord Derby has taken tea with the Queen and Lord Hardinge.....currently he is only asking the Kaiser to sack Bizzie but some in Lord Derby his own party seem to think Bizzie head on a plate may be a better option.

3) As well as threats from the Brits to turn the German Merchant Fleet into scrap metal because Bizzie caused them to miss part of a cricket match German trade is also suffering problems in China were assassins have hacked the German Trade Minister and four other Germans to death.

The Boxers (?) also murdered the local rep of Lloyds of London, a Balkai and a Russian Merchant who's warehouse was ransacked.

4) Murdering Russians and stealing their goods may not be a good move since a Russian Fleet has just sailed into Hong Kong packing enough fire power to remove Tsing-Tao from the map.

5) Flashy has been declared a God in India.......while Charles Darcy was been declared to be Demon Spawn.  Poor Charles now seem to be being hunted by the followers of Kali for being a Demon and the Indian Police for breach of the peace.

6) Meanwhile in the good old USA honest English Merchants & Club owners are being threatened by local thugs and gangsters.  Dont these poor American fools know that picking fights with English Traders can be quite dangerous for a chap?

Thanks as ever for a useful and amusing update

[quote="Jason"]Thanks as ever for a useful and amusing update

Sadly nothing really to report about Nuns, time travel or the great race between France & Austria to see who could crash the most airships in the most hard to get home from places.

I would say the nuns & time travel theme is still bubbleing away in dark Germanic Woods and in the amongst the sands and dodgy market places of North Africa but I am worried about the lack of mad men in flying machines.

Clearly this game needs new players in charge of Vienna & Paris with a passion for the skies.............actually they can have a passion for anything but we probably have enough passionate tuba players, nuns and cricket lovers.

I believe that our world needs a Van Helsing type? At least to combat the lunacy of some of the nuns.

revvaughan wrote:I believe that our world needs a Van Helsing type?  At least to combat the lunacy of some of the nuns.  

Von Draken Nun Slayer ?