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Agema Publications

A forum for the disscussion of the Play by Mail games from Agema Publications


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revvaughan
Stuart Bailey
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    The curse of Fu-Manchu and why Opium is bad for you

    J Flower
    J Flower
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    Post by J Flower Sat May 15, 2021 12:40 pm

    Nippon view of the latest Scramble Turn, not as detailed or informative as that furbished my Mr Bailey Esq

    So it seems Tobasco , or at least the man claiming to be the President of the region has agreed to become a Client of Nippon, Why do I get the feeling the men with special "Give yourself a hug" Jacket are just waiting behind the next bush to bring the President somewhere safe & probably padded.

    Will Mr Glover find the owner of that hat? Where are all the people of Diablo Canyon, will they make Glover Marshal? & Eric his deputy?

    Can Que draw any scientific conclusions form his experiments & attempts to understand Western Culture. The Bull in a China shop just made left him confused, although his measurements of room needed to swing a cat seem to be progressing.

    Are there enough recruits to fill the new years quote at the Kamikaze School of Aviation.

    Why is a German Diplomat dresses as a Moor seeking shelter from a Chinese mob in a Japanese Brewery & what will he make of the Beer, of the "Ring of Fire" brewery, will it live up to its advertising slogan "If the bottom has drooped out of your world Drink Phoenix Beer & see the world fall out of your bottom!" The slogan may have lost something in translation.

    The Albion Corporations move to Nippon for tax reasons is something that obviously needs to be discussed in detail The Tax oasis of Tokyo awaits them.




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    Stuart Bailey
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Tue May 18, 2021 12:43 pm

    Nov 1862 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scrabble players here are the highlights:

    - Sultan Bandaran of Kandy has ended diplomatic talks with the British and started a bombardment of Major General Cavendish Tea Cartel Ceylonese Infantry dug in on snake hill covering the port of Colombo. The Ceylonese Sepoys are starting to waver under the bombardment but have held fast on a sticky wicket for long enough to enable Sir Thomas Canterfield to land in Colombo with two battalions of the 33rd foot and a battery of artillery.

    - The Sultan would seem to be set on a re-fight of Waterloo in the east trying to overwelm outnumbered and outgunned British forces and take Colombo before the General Sir John Nicholson and his HEIC forces do copy of rather dusky Prussians.

    - The Sultan best hope would seem to be that the HEIC decide not to spoil Sir Thomas Canterfield sport and nicely stay on the beach to spend their end of year bonus and dividends. The HEIC having just paid out £120m in dividends and £10 in staff bonus payments inc to their Sepoys. In scrabble the Sepoys of the John Company and the Tea Cartel are classed as 2nd class company security force and vastly inferior to American, Nippon or European regulars. Some how the message does not seem to have got through - "Dash it all these chaps play cricket! How can they be inferior to Americans and French?"

    - Speaking of the French in Paris they repaired a fancy clock. While in over in Versailles the produced a draft statement for European Union and Prime Minister Thier had a interview with a engineer. Naturally being French they had to take up a large chunk of the Paper with their latest plans.

    - In reply to French proposals for a European Trade Union the first reply has come in from Russia. The Nationalist Government tried to be polite but its clear they think free trade will mean their markets flooded with British Opium, Dodgy German sausages and Rossian wives, daughters and maids seduced by French merchants flogging God knows what. The fact that Rossian wives, daughters and maids might like to be seduced with Parisian haute culture is not material - its not being allowed into Rossia to undermine moral fibre and scare the horses.

    - Russians spent a lot of month going to church services for and naming things after their fallen Admiral. With blood in its eye the Rossian Navy also set itself to complete his final mission and land General Model and his German Army in Mismiyah. The fact that General Model has now decided that with the element of surprize totally lost the best option was to abandon the whole operation was ignored by the Rossian Navy out to "do it for Razvozov".

    - No doubt to the great surprize of General Model the Africka Corp had a trouble free landing with the Ottoman Army and Navy being noticeable by their absence. The Navy seemingly decided that an attempted attack on the Transports would be a one way trip while the Ottoman Army clearly wants to avoid fighting in range of Rossian shore bombardments. Model can now claim a great victory and probably the whole province for Germania but what happens next????

    - In London the residence of the Prince Imperial of France (in exile) has seen many mysterious visits. Also back in town and currently a resident of Millbank Prison is Mr James Cornel. James is expected to face a House of Lords enquiry over the great Wardha mining disaster and charges of corporate Manslaughter under the Rylands-Fletcher principal due to negligent storage of water which escaped and flooded a mine leading to death and injury amongst the miners. James is fairly sure his lawyers will get him off......but when the Jury includes Lord Derby?

    - Archbishop Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour returned out of the desert to Tripoli a "changed man". Its not sure how he has changed.

    - In Diablo Thomas Glover found a French hat, a raft and a abandoned town. What will he make of them?

    - Tobasco has become a client of Imperial Nippon. No doubt influenced by accouts of a French invasion force off the coast of the America's.

    - In the event the French invaders of Mexico landed in Oxaco but to date have done nothing but drink coffee and get over sea sickness. They have also faced no opposition at all.........perhaps the Spanish, native and clients of Nippon have decided that the one thing the highly strung French forces will not be able to cope with is total boredom down Mexico way? Perhaps as well with Mexico split between Royalists in Mexico City and about a dozen Republican Governments the French are confused about what side they are on?

    - In Jaipur the HEIC has ended the Tata steel mill strike with anoffer of 2% pay rise and what some people might consider to be threats but construction of the Postal sorting office is still held up by strike action and some railway tracks have been damaged which delayed trains.

    - More industrial damage happened in Tsing-Tao where the Ring of Fire brewery had fire bombs thrown at it. What effect a German dressed as a Moor and a dodgy looking type called Wu Chang had on these events is currently not known.

    - Also playing with fire are certain Captain Nemo who seems to be plotting strike action against the HEIC and blackmail against the Albion Corporation at the same time! And the Nippon tax office who seem to think the Albion corporation should pay them tax. Not sure if this is instead off or on top of the corporation tax is already does not pay in London.
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    Stuart Bailey
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:05 am

    Dec 1862 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scrabble players here are the highlights:

    1) On the Holiday Island of Ceylon the troops of the Sultan of Kandy continued to bombard the Tea Cartel sepoys holding Snake Hill and eventually forced Maj- Gen Cavendish and his Tea Cartel chaps to withdraw into the Port of Colombo.  However, before Mataran foces could occupy the hill and advance on Colombo the hill was re-occupied by Britannic Troops under Sir Thomas Canterfield who engaged the Mataran artillery with counter battery fire with both sides artillery finally running short of ammo and feeling very "tired".

    2) While this was going on in the south of the island in the north of the island Sir John Nicholson and the troops of the John Company dragged themselves away from beaches and favoured bars were they have been having a spot of R & R (Its a tough life in the HEIC !) and headed south.  With Sir John and his men annoyed about their messed up leave and holding view that people should not be allowed to shot with impunity at British Sepoys in case it caught on.

    Nothing said in the Britannic Times about offering's to the Spirits but clearly the spirit of Flashman was with the HEIC and against their foes since the HEIC captured the Palace at Kandy and arrived in the rear of the Mataran forces without a shot fired.  The whole Mataran force then surrendered even after some iffy behaviour by their Sultan which got him hung.  

    Some may claim that the Mataran Army gave up because it was outnumbered, disordered, outgunned, trapped and about to be ridden down by the Poona Light Horse but clearly they are wrong and the Mataran's were struck down by the mighty spirit of Flashman.

    3) On the subject of Flashman according to his press office Dr Fu Manchu is very upset about claims from the camp of Prince Dakkar that people other than the Doctor had a hand in the death of the Hero of the HEIC.  

    Perhaps linked to the Doctor being upset, in Jaipur: Hardeep Johal the strike leader and noted backer of Prince Dakkar as Maharajah of Jaipur got blown up by a box of Bibles "sent" by the Rev Charles Parker.  The Rev Parker has now left Jaipur having being made Bishop of New York which is probably just as well for the good clergyman as the ISB has a bit of a reputation for working on basis of Crime + Person punished for it = correctly completed paper work.

    4) Reports in the Press also indicate that the long time missing Prince Dakkar who claims the abolished throne of Jaipur and Captain Nemo may be one and the same person. Press claims also indicate that when he is not getting upset about people making claims on his glory and prestige, Dr Fu-Manchu may be worried by dreams that his plan's against the British, French and Germans have worked too well allowing a Russian threat to develop against the Middle Kingdom.

    5) Russian troops still trying to take over Yonwa but without marked success.  Meanwhile after dropping the Germans off last month in Ottonia the Russian Navy made its way back to its home port of Savastopol.  On route they picked up some of their ships left to blockade Istamboul and proceeded to shell the the port facilities of Istamboul wrecking it as a base for the Ottonian Navy. They then had a clash with Ottonian ships which were trying to blockade Savastopol which damaged several Russian ships and sunk a Ottonian Line ship.

    6) Question now is do the Rossians think they have done enough to help their Germanic allies or could 1863 see further Rossian military intervention in the long lasting Ottonian-Germanic war?  The Ottonian Sultan has declared himself baffled on this subject. While no doubt seeking to find some answers to this question Lord Louis Lamour has shown up in Istamboul from the the Sultan's Franconian ally and famous war reporter Victor Hugo has set out with team of guards, translators and grooms looking for the Ottoman-German front line.

    Going with Hugo is the female English photographer Jenny Forthingbrass-Smith.  No doubt some photo's will help Victor win more awards but a cynic might also suggest that while General Model may not bother much about a shot French reporter he will probably not want his men shooting a English woman who's work is used by the Times & Telegraph etc.  Not if he ever wants to sail home that is.

    7) Back in Franconia Adolphe Thier very expensive Congress on European Unity has started attended by representatives from Italia and Germania.  While Lord Derby joined the Czar in saying he is not going, through he made no comment on the Russian position of last month which seemed most influenced by distrust of Lord Derby's trade companies "The Hongs".  Lord Derby also claimed that it was the British who saved Germany from the Reds and had stood ready to destroy the French fleet in order to save everyone from the threat of the Islamic Republic.  Oddly he again made no mention of the part played in these events by the Czar merry hymn singing hordes.

    - Outside the doors of the Congress on European Unity Franconia itself seems to be spiltting into a Royalist South and West and a Republican North with Republican feeling most strong in the Isle de France and northern mining communes.

    Cool Various Christmas type events esp in Britannia and Rossia - with Tea Company shareholders in particular getting a very merry Christmas as that company paid out £250m end of year dividend and another £25m in staff bonus payments.

    9) The Imperial Army of Nippon has seized Diablo and declared it a colony of the Empire of Nippon.  There was no resistance to the actions of Japanese 1st Division as no one actually seems to live in the mountains of Diablo in the winter and the place seems abandoned.

    10) Japan continues its diplomatic efforts in Tobasco and now has permission to build railways.  Oddly no news about the French forces who landed near Tobasco......it is assumed they are still resting and trying to get over being badly sea sick.

    11) Some odd stuff inc reports on petty crime mentioned in reports from Indea and Nippon. Such as who pinched a load of trained parrots in Tokyo? and who stole £1000 and a pistol in Delhi? In scrabble for crime to get into the Britannic Times it normally means horrible murder, rival factories blown up or torched, trade caravans ambushed, millions of pounds stolen or perhaps a train load of modern rifles gone missing. It does not involve the activity of pick pockets, minor house thefts or parrot nappers!
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    Stuart Bailey
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Jul 23, 2021 5:31 pm

    Quick glance at Britannic Times and poor Lord Derby in-tray is going to be rather full of complaints from annoyed tax payers:

    - Leading light of British business and American (south) family needs to be saved from the perils of the sea after ship sunk in storm.

    - Another British ship with a Bishop on board blown to bits. Might be a sea monster but Captain Nimo and submarine attack more likely.

    - Anglo-Canadian house of very expersive furs torched by revolting French Republican types in Paris. While French troops stand by a cheer this attack on private property

    - Indian Prince takes payment for railway and telegraph concessions plus £1m per annum in duties and wants to welsh on the deal and take over British property without compensation !!

    - Finally Chinese Pirates (sorry Authorities) seize 163 British merchant ships in Shanghai

    What do we pay out tax for? What is Lord Derby going to do about it? And is this any way to treat the Honourable East India Company, Tea Cartel and other spiffing chaps trying to earn a honest crust?

    Not saying the two facts are related but the same month as things turn horrible for British and Canadian merchants the American (North) Government starts to get active.
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:09 pm

    Britannic Times for Jan 1863 has shown up and for non players of scrabble here are the highlights:

    1) Passenger ship Winchester carrying Chairman of the Tea cartel, his southern states born wife and their son on route to the CSA sunk in an Atlantic storm. Final fate of the passengers is currently unknown.

    2) London underground railway completed with Queen Victoria being one of the first passengers to try out new system. William Gladstone charged the engineers with being reckless with Queen but fortunately system worked as designed and Queen still safe and well.

    3) Friends of India Society founded in Britannia to host dinners, talks and give Hardinge scholarships to students of Oxford and Cambridge.

    4) French Government recruit Professor Babbage in London.

    5) The good Professor may wonder what he has let himself in for since Paris currently gripped by outrage over Government waste and Republican riots one of which resulted in the burning down of the London and Canada fur Emporium and some very, very expensive furs. While the heart of French fashion burnt troops of the French Army stood by and did nothing which will probably resulted in their General and the French Government hearing from HEIC lawyers.

    6) In St Petersburg stories are spreading that the French left are arming Russian rebels and want them to rise up against the Czar. Though no one seems to have actually taken too the streets to take on the Black Hundreds, Police, Cossacks, Guards Regiments and the other forces of reaction. Meanwhile Russia is actively sending whole ship loads of modern rifles to friends and allies in the wild west worried about the French to their south and Nippon invaders to the North.

    7) Oddly not much news about the invaders of the Wild West, nothing at all about the Nippon forces and the French troops seem to be mostly drinking coffee, landing scientific equipment and calling their general a idiot. While Rossian friends and allies seem to be drinking Vodka and wondering what too do about things.

    Cool But while the French Left sing the Marsellaise over burning HEIC "vanities" and look forward to bringing down Monarchy and the forces of reaction. The actual French Government and Diplomatic corp seem to have doubts about this policy. Since with the Ottoman-German-Russian war on pause due to storms in the black sea French diplomat's took opportunity to advise their Ottoman allies to say sorry to the Czar for calling his flag two faced.

    9) French war reporter Victor Hugo went looking for the war in order to report on it. But found nothing to write about, it is assumed that the Rossian fleet is loading up on ammo, food and water while getting the paint work repaired after recent clashes and Ottoman fleet is now doing the same. But God knows what the armies are doing.

    10) Rossian army did take action but in Yonwa where the Siberian host finally convinced the Tribes that the Czar is indeed "The Khan of Khans" and "Supreme Hetman."

    11) Man called Montgomery Blair spent month not talking to the Mohox. Is this because he is worried that the Tribes trappers might be upset about all of their hard work being burnt in Paris? The Mohox are known to be Christains and fur traders who are violently against white settlement in their lands or even railways being pushed through their virgin woods. The Brits-Canadians esp the Fur Trade companies have accepted this position but in the long run is it a position President Johnson of the USA will accept?

    12) President Johnson men currently seem more busy trying to get Norfolk to join the Union and raise new army units in San Diagio in the Arizona territory. Couple of problems encountered including how a slave state like Norfolk and join a none slave Union and fact that territory of Arizona is controlled by Indian Tribes who do not currently want to join the Union or the Union Army.

    13) Canadian Tories loyal to Queen Victoria and the sacred mission to spread cricket and tea drinking across the wild west also running into same problem with natives who are not interested and sink holes eating their prospectors.

    14) In India no such problems reported with cricket and tea drinking but plenty of the usual stuff ......murders most horrid, police and other investigations, tiger hunting and rows about cash. But by end of month Matara taken over by tea cartel, strikes over and everyone fairly happy apart from Mr Holt (straggled) & the Rev Charles Parker and other people on the good ship Camelot (blown up by Captain Nemo ?)

    15) Meanwhile in Chin Kami Nokazi the wise dispensed words of wisdom to Nippn troops. It is unknown if he also said anything to Xia Zhelan and Chin administration of Shanghai who impounded 163 British Ships. Words like "He who steps on Lord Derbys tail should expect to be clawed."

    Her Majesty will not be amused, Lord Derby is going to have a fit and Lords Hardinge and Farnworth will probably choke on their Port. Sir Thomas as well only its not known if his life boat has any port on it.

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    Post by Stuart Bailey Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:35 pm

    Feb 1863 edition of the Britannic Times has shown up and for none scabble players here are the highlights:

    - Too the great relief of merchants and marine underwriters everywhere the Imperial Official Xia Zhelan ordered that the impounded British ships and cargo in the Port of Shanghai be set free and allowed to go about their business. It is not known if Xia Zhelan was over-rule the local administration anyway or ordered that they ships be freed in reaction to the British Royal Navy turning the river forts guarding Shanghai into piles of smoking ashes.

    - Things might have been a bit clearer if Lord Admiral Cahill had been on hand to send a an envoy ashore but both the Admiral and his envoy are currently stuck on a downriver island which Cahill flagship managed to run aground on. It was a testiment to the skill of the Royal Navy that HMS Nelson and other following ships managed to avoid raming the stuck Warspite in the rear and complete the original action minus their Admiral. But can the Navy now get the Warspite off the Island and how much damage has it taken? Will the Navy now demand the Chin pay for damage to the Warspite as well as the cost of the shells they have used as well as merchant compensation for disruption to trade?

    - On subject of writs more than a few flying around in Paris. The makers of Sludgemite are being sued after claims that their product is a danger to health. Meanwhile the London & Canada Fur & Hat Company sued General MacMahon and the French Government for negligence with troops under their command not doing their duty and standing around watching while a French Republican mob set fire to the heart of the French Fashion Industry ie their emporium. The Company and their insurers lawyer put in a demand for £3,598,789 pounds, 8 Shillings ans 6 pence for repair of building, loss of stock, business interruption, uninsured losses, staff loss of bonus, etc, etc, etc.

    - No admission of liability or comment on the other losses made by the French Governenment but they did order French Government builders to restore the Emporium which Judge Larousse took as an admission of liability by the French Government. At this point things got messy as the French Government contractors then put in a bill for £8,807,267 for a rushed job taking less than a month! The Government paid this bill and the French Courts ordered the London & Canada Fur & Hat company to pay the French Government £4,928,537 which is French Governments builders costs less the company claim and £100,000 costs.

    - This means that the London & Canada Fur & Hat company which had a much, much lower quote circra £450,000 to clean and repair its building has had no compensation for its lost contents etc and has been forced to pay x18 over the odds for less than a months work on one building. To put these rip off rates into context you can buy the whole of Cavendish Square including the land for £5,760,000 !!!

    - Other info about the losses inflicted by the French Republican mob came to light this month: including in the 3rd party furs in for cleaning and repair was a blue fox fur property of Daisy Hardinge, a full length mink owned by Otto von Bismark and marked "gift for a lady" and worst of all a Russian Imperial Sable. Who exactly is going to inform the Empress Catherine of all the Russ that her family heirloom owned by her Husbands mother and Grandmother is now a French Republican "bonfire of the vanities" and its priceless jewels probably stolen?

    - Is French Republicans burning a Russian heirloom sable and stealing the family jewels a worse insult than calling a chaps flag "two faced" ? If it is it may explain why Adolphe Thier now seems keen to restore the Monarchy in France in order to get away from low thuggery under a strong and noble leader.

    - The French leader was not the only one going "how much?" on getting builders estimate. According to Sir Archibald Anderson the total cost of repairs needed across the Royal Estate is £369,000,000. Which raised three questions a) Who large is the Royal Estate and b) Do you really need solid gold bath taps in say Government House in Dayton or Bonika since the Queen will probably never stay their for more than a day and c) Why the hell is Sir Archibald using Paris Builders?

    - The Imperial Romanov Navy has launched a new class of destroyers "The Empress Catherine Class" claimed to include lessons learnt in combat against the forces of the Ottoman Junta.

    - After pressure from their French allies the Junta has offered the Czar an apology and joint sovereignty over the City of Jerusalem and Mount Carmel but said nothing about the Holy Land.

    - Meanwhile German troops under Field Marshal Model have taken control of the Ottoman province of Mismiyah.

    - In rather better new Lord and Lady Weatherbee their son and other passengers and crew of the good ship Winchester have been saved from any icy grave in the the North Atlantic and taken to Liverpool instead.

    - In the America's : a) The CSA is claiming advances in Manufacture b) The South Eastern territories are still considering their options helped by a Russian envoy, in order to stop anyone else trying to kidnap, shoot or scalp a envoy of the Czar Prince Iszhishkian is now escorted by a Squadron of Cossacks as well as Sancho Panza c) Meanwhile further south the French Army was escorting a Scientific mission and the French Navy was on the coast trying to get a sun tan.

    - In Indea the HEIC seemed to have a busy month trying to restore law and order and faith in the government but had to set free most of the people they pulled in for questioning. They did however manage to finally exile Nagesh Singh to Ragoon allowing them to return to really important matters like the uneven bounce on the wicket of the MCC (Madras Cricket Club)

    - On the Island of Ceylon the Tea Cartel chaps seem to be doing much the same type of thing. With the ex Mataran Army joining the Tea Cartel too a man probably on the basis that if you can not beat them join them.

    - Finally Mok Chung-Ho the Monk passed among Joo-won Choi's warriors in Musan - trying to give them some spiritual enlightenment? Most think that with the spring grass the Siberian Horde will ride again spreading its message that the one and only Great Khan and Supreme Hetman is Czar Alexander ....all hail the Great Khan or die. And on that great and glorious day what the warriors of Musan will need is not so much good morale as artillery, machine guns and greater numbers.
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    Stuart Bailey
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Wed Nov 17, 2021 10:31 pm

    Britannic Times for April 1863 has shown up and for non players of scrabble here are the highlights:

    1) Players worried that the dreaded Russian naval curse has got weaker in scrabble after their great victory at Sinope in March 1863 will be relieved to know that its now back!  As the might of the Russian Navy prepared to finish off Admiral Piri Reis and his last six ships in the ruins of Sinope port.  The Russians firstly got hit by a storm - not exactly the "divine wind" but it might have done something to the Flagship Borodino as a lucky shot early in the fight caused her to capsize and sink with all hands including the victorious Russian Admiral Nepenin. Who's fleet then retired Sevastopol in some dismay due too the sudden turn of events which leaves:

    - The Czar with a huge fleet but no one to command it as he has now lost two ships and two admirals in action against the Ottomans, too lose one Admiral is unfortunate but two!?

    - While our hero (20 points of plot armour?) Piri Reis is now the most experienced and seemingly the best Admiral in scrabble (and oh boy are good admirals in short supply in scabble!) but without a fleet. Aside from needing more ships he would also seem to need ships which are not totally outclassed even by the formerly cursed Russian Navy.

    2) One solution to our Hero problem was put forward by famous war reporter Victor Hugo as he made his way slowly across the Ottoman Empire looking for the front line - namely that the Sultan French ally loans him lots of francs (at high interest rates naturally) so the Sultan can buy a new fleet of French Iron clads and also build some railways and telegraph lines to make life easier for hard working reporters.

    3) The Sultan may have some time to make his mind up about this since while the Russians have retired to sort out their command crisis the Ottomans and Germans have made peace with the fertile province of Mismiyah ceded to the German Empire by the Ottomans.  Oddly news of this broke only in Berlin and seems to have come as a total surprise both to the French allies of the Ottomans who's diplomatic efforts seem to have been aimed at making peace with the Russians rather than the Germans and perhaps more importantly the Russians.

    4) Its unclear who the ending of the German-Ottoman war will upset more:- French war reporter now in the middle of no-where with no WAR to report on. Or the abandoned Russians who had just finished their celebration of the victory of Sinope and explaining that their terms were their terms and they were not going to haggle with the French or anyone else.  When the news arrived that they had lost another Admiral and had also been betrayed by the Germans.

    - Question now is will the Czar and his merry men be more upset by people who call their flag two faced or people who ignore Russian efforts on their behalf and betray them in the middle of a war and at such a time without even a word?  

    5) Also having a bad time were the security services in Delhi.  Following Thuggi style murders the ISB (7th Squad) with Military back up from the Royal Irish Regiment raided the Kalkaji Temple looking for known suspects and evidence of Thuggi gang operations.  Having taken the Temple's High Priest, Second Priest, Third Priest and other temple insiders in for questioning the Royal Irish were then distracted when someone(s) shot all four members of 7th Squad ISB in the back affraid

    - Then in the confusion all of the Priests and other Temple insiders escaped.  Which at least means they have admitted to the crimes of obstruction of a ISB enquiry, resisting arrest and probably obstruction of justice and helping in murders due to hiding and failing to report a Thuggi gang.  The wanted dead or mostly dead India Special Branch posters are probably now on way to the printers. As for the Temple of Kalkaji will the Delhi planners want a new cricket ground or a new hindu temple to say Sita or Shiva since after the ISB finish with pulling crime location to bits its probably going to be in a dangerous condition and against building regulations.

    6) In Madras were Lord Palmerston is staying its all much much nicer with new Railway and Print works going up and work starting on a new Test Match stardard ground for the Madras Cricket Club on the Bay of Bengal.  General view is that Lord Palmerston is down south being super nice to the Tamil Community and trying to repair some of the political damage done to his chums in the south after Sir John Nicholson shot the Sultan of Trincom and a lot of Tamils on Sri Lanka.

    - Will Lord Palmerston now have to get on his train and head back north after his military shot a lot of Priests of Kali and various hangers on who only have golden cords to hold their trousers up - honest!  Truely a politicians work in scabble is never done.

    7) In Paris and France in general the French doing a lot of French type things - Awards, Saints, fueding Scientists and bark seems involved along with various strange legal rulings which seem to have really upet the English.  Oh and you can now buy a machine which counts for £20m.......does it count up to 20,000,000?

    Cool Meanwhile in the America's the French Army decided it has had enough of Science and looking at trees - probably because lady Scientists keep knocking them back - and it is time to get on with the conquest of Mexico.  But being French and in no great rush they only "probed" into Zapata.  Having already been told by allies that the Mexican Banditos in Zapata are very violent men as well as smugglers and dealers in narcotics the military operation proved this to General Bazaine in a scientific as apposed to a unscientific manner based on "hear say" when the Banditos ambushed and shot his scouting cavalry Squadron to bits.

    - Unfortunately because all their scouts were shot dead it is still not clear to the French what these narcotic dealing banditos are armed with.  Old Spanish muskets or are they trade partners or even full members of the Opium Cartel?  If the French have stumbled into the operations of the Opium Cartel a) The Banditos may be very well armed and b) The French have a full house of upset British Hongs!

    9) A currently dry and warm Sir Thomas of the tea cartel is very upset about the French legal system and has sent a protest letter to the papers calling the French Government a bunch of socialists and threatened dis-investment in France.  Meanwhile the HEIC is probably even more upset about French legal bills and its lost investment in the London and Canada Fur & Hat Company broken by French attacks on its product quality.  The HEIC has not yet written to the papers or threatened anything in revenge.......which may be on a par with the Czar not yet saying or doing anything about his dead admiral or German abandonment issues.  

    10) Also in the America's the first Japanese settlers have arrived in Diablo........they are about as impressed with their new home as Mr Wong Suey of Tokyo was with results of Japanese Government animal experiments in his porcelain shop.  Looks like we are about to see if a Chinese merchant in Tokyo gets fairer legal treatment than English merchants in Franch courts.

    11) In the east HMS Warspite has made it too Colombo after a run in with an Island, a suspected underwater pirate vessel has made it too Rangoon (will local merchants risk the rage of the British and the HEIC and supply it?) and Chinese workers in Shanghai have quit working for Russian companies.  Which is odd since it was the English Navy which bombarded their town not the Russians - guess all bearded white guys look the same.

    12) Meanwhile the Russian Army has entered Chanbat and stopped........ looking up at the fortress monastery of the Lama of Siberia after the monks threw their herald down the mountain and then shot at them!  Clearly very advanced and forward thinking Monks in Chanbat have replaced the traditional spears of the area with fire-arms.

    - Russian artillery seems to be struggling with angle of fire so it may be a long siege but as both sides on a mission from God that probably does not matter.

    13) Finally the British have settled Bonika and brought in Railways and other mod cons to the latest extension to her Majesties Dominion in the West through oddly no mention of cricket pitches?????  But back in the Home Islands all is not well as honest Newspaper Editors in Nottingham are being menaced!!!  Is not even the sacred freedom of the press safe from the Doctor?
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:44 pm

    May 1863 edition of the Britannic Times has shown up and for non Scrabble players here are the highlights:-

    1) In Britannia the Hong’s seem to be doing the usual stuff – flogging valuable buildings, guns and engines too their chums for dirt keep prices without allowing anyone else even being allowed to bid. The Engines alone have a book price of £3.5m yet are being sold to the Tea Cartel for less than a million while in another example of “spiffing chap’s capitalism” and slight of hand the HEIC seems to be trying to conner the International fur market.

    2) However, the Hong’s do not seem to be having everything their own way as the Government of Chin has banned them from the Chin Tea Trade! In actual fact the Hong’s have been slowly switching away from the Green Tea’s of Chin and towards the Black Tea’s of Indea and Ceylon for a number of years. But they are likely to be madder than Mad Jack MacMad over this latest ban.

    3) On Subject to mad men the French spent most of the month talking to mad inventors and giving awards too mad judges. Too early to see any results but a good time seemed to be had by all and Franconia is now back on the prestige list.

    4) The government of Germania has sacked Bismarck – yet again! This may be because he forget to inform them that he purchased Russian support for the German conquest of the Ottoman Empire with an offer of four German provinces in the Ukraine. With Germania now saying the war is over after gaining one Ottoman province and the Czar asking for his four provinces General Model is clearly not impressed by the deal or the sacked Bismarck. But will he honour the deal or seek to void it on grounds that Bismarck was out of his mind on the Green Fairy when he agreed it?

    5) The Ottomans clearly think even after making peace with the Germans that arguing over technicalities with the Russians is not worth it and have agreed to Russian terms. They are now thinking over the offers of their French ally to help them rebuild. Problem for the Grand Vizier is do you really want to rebuild on the French socialist model? As this seems to upset people like Lord Derby and the Hong’s who you really do not want to upset.

    6) Victor Hugo still stuck in middle of Ottoman Empire with no war to report on and wishing he could catch a train. Perhaps he should try the Wild West were the first railway link from shining sea to shining sea has almost been completed by a mad goat and haggi shooting Scot who normally works for Nippon but sometimes sub contracts. Perhaps the Ottomans should seek help and alliance with Nippon? But French religious types in the Orient seem to be doing better than French reporters.

    7) Not doing so well with religious types are the HEIC. Following the gunning down of a whole squad of the India Special Branch and the escape of Priests of Kali in Delhi. The HEIC chiefs spent £20m on a rebuild of their police service, offered rewards for the escaped Priests/thuggi dead or alive and took the Temple of Kalkaji apart brick by brick. Finding a horse called Wellington and lots of evidence of Thuggee activity but not the actual gang members.

    Cool In other news from India. Oxford Old Boys thrashed Cambridge Old Boys in their annual cricket match in Bombay while General Sir John Nicholson and his lads are back in town after their trip too Ceylon were they enjoyed the beaches, over-tipped staff who brought them rum based drinks in Coconuts and shot a lot of people

    9) Meanwhile in the central America’s the French were “resting” while the envoys of Nippon tried to introduce the way of the Samurai to confused Mexicans and in Chin a dragon was spotted.
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Feb 04, 2022 12:24 pm

    The Britannic Times for June 1863 and for non scrabble players here are the highlights:

    1) The Russian Army has marched into Alma claiming that the now sacked German Chancellor Bismarck promised Russia this province plus three others in the Ukraine as well as the Holy Land in return for Russian help against the Ottomans. The local German administration is not really sure what to think as the Russians nicely take down their flag and run up the double headed eagle of the Czar.

    2) In London various Brits get annoyed about French lawyers and also about the Chin Government banning the British Trade. The Telegraph newspaper who some people consider to be the voice of the HEIC in the home country has started a campaign to get patriotic tea drinking Brits to abandon that green Chin muck in favour of black tea from India and Ceylon. Meanwhile British Naval power is massing off Shanghai and they are not happy campers!

    3) The bankrupt Liverpool yards have been purchased by the Tea Cartel for £950,672 which is viewed both as a bargain for the Cartel and a good thing for local jobs. Could it be that many small, older yards are now struggling to cope with the huge modern yards built by the HEIC in India and by the Russians to churn out cheap merchant tonnage? This would seem to make the Ottoman Naval contract even more important to many British and French yards.

    4) In order to give his struggling economy a bit of a boost and hopefully keep revolting socialists off the streets. President of the French Republic Thier decided to spend lots and lots of money he does not have on French Science and on building a copy in Paris of the Der Donauturm Tower in Vienna. Sadly all of his noble efforts have mostly resulted in the business community moaning about the burden of the increased National debt and the artistic community moaning that he will ruin the Paris skyline forever.

    5) In Berlin the Kaiser is saying no one told him about agreement Bismarck cooked up with the Russians. It also seems that the wandering Szgany people have a new mystical leader who they are calling “The Count”.

    6) The Russian Government has accepted the Ottoman offer of Jerusalem, the Holy Land and Carmel to finally end its long war with Germany and later Germany & Russia. The Ottoman Empire has survived but with some loss of territory to both Germany & Russia. In order to stop further decline it urgently needs to rebuild its smashed fleet and docks. But will it continue to look towards Paris? Or will it look elsewhere? French diplomatic and religious activity however remain the most active in the Orient, probably seeking to repair a belief in some quarters that an alliance with France is hollow in the face of the German Afrika Corp or even worse an upset Czar.

    7) Following the Russian take over of the Holy Land to show the good, kindly and pious nature of Alexander III Czar of all the Russ, Supreme Hetman and the Khan of Khans his loyal lackies provided millions of pounds to resort holy sites and on helping pilgrims visit these sites. While this is all very good and worthy Catholics in France, Italy, Austria etc are not so happy about the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity being turned into Russian Orthodox Churches.

    Cool Even less happy than Roman Catholics was Sir Henry Lawrence in Delhi…...some people tried to kill him and actually managed to kill all of his body guards who gave their lives to cover the escape of Sir Henry & his food tasters via an upstairs window. The murderers got away from the grounds of the house but were spotted and tracked down to their base by the India Special Branch. The HEIC military in Delhi then executed all eight killers out of hand.

    9) The Hindu Temple of Kali in Delhi which the HEIC took apart last month looking for Thuggee is being replaced by a new Hindu Great Temple only following proper advise from religious authorities in Bombay as well as Lord Temple Gardener and Housekeeper this one is devoted to the Goddess Sita. A fertility goddess favoured by farmers, women and shopkeepers or as they are known too the HEIC……..LOYAL CUSTOMERS.

    10) Also feeling less than happy is the Siamese merchant Ting Ho Min. Looking for new trade opportunities in Tatta he did indeed find some wonderful trade opportunities if you do not mind trading in slaves, guns and opium rather than in his more usual silk, spices and tea. Though with benefit of hindsight the old name of this coast:- “The Slave Coast” should have been more of a clue.

    11) Vastly more happy (mostly about not being in an open boat mid Atlantic) were Lord and Lady Weatherbee who spent month visiting their second home in New Orleans and taking a luxury riverboat ride. The fact that the majority of riverboats on the river are owned by Royal Southampton Lines would seem to show that in economic terms at least the CSA has been totally infiltrated and like Lady Catherine surrendered to the loving embrace of the Hong’s. Surely its only a matter of time before the CSA starts to see Cricket pitches, fly fishing, warm beer and wide spread tea drinking with milk. Or will Lady Catherine lead the Hong leaders onto the path of coffee and ice tea?

    12) Also showing the influence of the British Hongs, San Diego which is currently a very distant outpost ruled by the Union Army is demanding a free vote as to if it becomes a full part of the USA or becomes part of the Britannic Empire under the rule of her Majesty Queen Victoria.

    However west and south of CSA the Hongs may not be having it all their own way since:

    13) Japan has established its first American colony in the mountains of Diablo. What the “yellow peril” as some locals are calling it means for the future…….who knows.

    14) The French Army is still conducting scientific experiments and gathering plants in Oxaco. What their long term plan is…..who knows.

    15) Meanwhile between the fancy dan want to be English Lords of the CSA to the east, Japs to the north and frogs to the south lies a land of free-spirited cattle breeders – The Cossacks of the Wild West. Who are still considering their options to keep their way of life safe from cricket and having weird science being tried out on them and their cattle.

    16) In Tokyo after being the victim of such weird science including cattle Mr Wong Suey has closed his shop and left for Shanghai.

    17) Finally in Chanbat the Russian military continue to lay siege to the sacred mountain and the Lama of Siberia in the hope that the Lama obtains enlightenment concerning the status of Czar Alexander.
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:53 am

    July 1863 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scabble players here are the hightlights:

    1) In London the solicitor Jonathan Harker meet no less a person than the former Empress of France drinking coffee in a fashionable salon. No doubt with the current economic mess being made by the Republic of France Royalist hopes are once again on the rise.

    2) Also in London the Opium Cartel now known as the Albion Corporation announced it no longer trades in opium, slaves, firearms or alcohol and does not ally with fanatics or enemies of the British Empire. Which had some people wondering what they do trade in? And who their allies are?

    3) The Opium Corporation corporate rivals in the HEIC was at the same time busy letting everyone know what it traded, manufactured, mined etc with photo's in its interim report too prove it. With its interim report the HEIC also paid out £150m in dividends, £10m in staff bonus payments and £10m too good causes but oddly remains less popular with its shareholders than both the Tea Cartel and the Albion Corporation (AKA mostly to the Britannic Govt and its Hong rivals as the Opium Corporation).

    4) In Paris they were as usual doing lots of French type things including waiting for building work too start, getting drunk and talking and even singing about Vampires. The main point of interest to the Republic was the fact that the English Gentleman and inventor Charles Babbage had taken £5m in French Government grants too set up La Babbage Labortoire as a joint exterprise between himself and the French Government and also manufacture x10 of his machines which he had then sold to the French Government for £20m each.

    Some parts of the Government and Mr Babbage considered this to be a bargain which put France at the centre of a brave new world of technogical advance. Unfortunately combined with vanity building projects it also almost bankrupted the Republic and President Adolphe Their ordered the immediate liquidation of La Babbage Labortoire. An action which resulted in the Government of France getting £97,500,000 back on a mere £5m investment.

    After having his company liquidated by order of the French Government, Mr Babbage has returned too England with his £97,500,000 share of the profits. After obtaining such stunning profits for shareholders in Babbage Labortoire the question now is what is next for Mr Babbage? Surely he muct be in the running for a seat on the board of one of the great British Hongs? Does he like Tea, India, Cricket or Opium?

    5) German troops under Field Marshal Otto Model have marched into the Holy Land (which a recent Ottoman/Russian treaty gave too the Czar) and declared they will not move until Alama is returned to German sovereignty by the Russians. They may have a long wait as the Russians marched into a further two provinces in what was the German Ukraine and nicely took down and folded up German flags before running up their own glorious double-headed eagle. As per their agreement with the ex Chancellor Bismarck.

    - Only exception is the German flag still flying over the Bourliuk Fortress.

    6) Unfortunately, it seems that the Russian foreign office has thrown out the Bismarck letter which offered the German Ukraine to the Czar in exchange for help against the Ottomans and transport which they provided at the cost of two admirals and two ships of the Russian Navy. The Russians do not consider this a problem as they clearly provided the requested help at some cost and as the good book says "the labourer is worthy of his hire". However, if the Germans so wish they can now go back on the agreement and argue that the Russians can not prove it ever existed. Only problem with basically calling the Czar of all the Russ liar is that they never found all the bits of the last man to say this.

    7) Model other problem is that he is now invaded and occupied territory that he has no right at all too and others may object including a) The Czar of the Russ by virtue of his treaty with the Ottoman Sultan b) Said Sultan has now been shot dead by the Janissary Corp and it is not clear if the new (who is actually an old) Sultan accepts Russian treaty and Czar claim. If new Government does not accept the Russian claim then Germans are in occupation of Ottoman territory and one of their most Holy Mosques c) A anti German French President who badly needs something to divert the attention of French tax payers from the National debt and who badly needs backing of Catholic Church in France against the Reds and the Royalists. The opportunity to act as protector of Catholic interests in the Holy Land v bunch of jack booted protestants may be just what the embattled President needs even if the French Catholic Church in Tripoli seems to currently be getting very close to heresy and some really weird stuff like magic, fortune telling and claims too be able to rise from the dead.

    Cool Free lance War Reporter has made it too Sinope. Late for the last war but perhaps in a really good spot for the next one! With luck he may even be able to find out what the Ottoman Navy thinks of recent developments in both Istamboul and the Holy Land.

    9) Baroness Weatherbee has given birth too twin daughters while on board the Delta Queen while heading up river to Memphis.

    10) The French Army finished collecting tree samples in the America's.............what next for these brave men?

    11) The HEIC in Indea spent most of the month playing cricket in various locations including a triangle tournament against touring parties from Cape Colony and
    Australia. It was horrid !! The combined strength of the Gentlemen of India meet a bunch players from Bondi beach (probably ex-convicts and Irish) and were savaged by savaged by short pitched and very hostile Australian quick bowling. William Kelly known as "Digger" to his mates........Cavalry whiskers, broad of shoulder, narrow at the hips and 6'5" of pure Aussie Macho quick bowler was almost as big a hit with the ladies inc the fair Miranda Smith as he was at hitting batsmen. According to Indian Yogi this type of thing can happen if you people go around getting pretty girls to make offering of gin and cake too the spirit of Flashman.

    12) Also feeling battered - The British Royal Navy as sailed into Hong Kong after running into great storms in the South China Sea. Is this the start of the tea wars?

    13) The Russians have resettled Peak with happy Serf families granted Cossack status and ten tax free years. However their troops in Pusan were not so happy after being spat at and insulted by their own people, clearly these particular Cossacks have not fully grasped a yet point of being a Cossack of the Czar. Namely that if someone insults the Czar uniform you make them bleed. It being a bit hard to spit on the Czar's uniform if your head is in the gutter.

    14) The Chin envoy to Nippon Ki-Ming called in to see Mr Peter W Fay in Osaka and asked him how his hunt for Dr Fu-Manchu was going..........its not going.

    15) Paper also included a account of the travels of Ting Ho Min a merchant-adventurer who has crossed the Indus river to explore trade opportunity away from territory dominated by railways, telegraph lines, cricket and the HEIC. Could he be one of the last adventurers to explore the native culture of the slave coast before Lord Derby forces them all to give up the slave trade and play cricket instead? Bit like he seems to be doing in the Wild West.

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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Apr 22, 2022 8:24 am

    August 1863 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scabble players here are the hightlights:

    1) HMS Nelson has blown up in Hong Kong while undergoing repairs. An accident or something else?

    2) After being spat upon and laughed at the Russian Army in Pusan decided that an insult to the Czar's uniform was same as an insult to the Czar and the results where not pretty. Its not yet clear if anyone is still laughing at the Kuban host and other elements of the Czar Far Eastern Army?

    3) Lama Thubten of Siberia remains under blockade by the Russian Army in his great Monastery fortress in Chanbat. But its possible that the Lama and his Monks are getting closer to enlightenment concerning the Czar being the "Khan of Khans". Seems that enlightenment will be easier to obtain if they have a really, really large solid gold Buddha to focus on.

    4) British seem to be busy in Indea and Colombo seeking enlightenment via educational and technical progress. Progress which also seems to be spreading north into Transoxania who's Oxford Educated Queen now sits on the Board of the HEIC. Does this mean the HEIC is now by Royal Appointment?

    5) Russia and Galves are now allies. But nothing more

    6) Lord and Lady Weatherbee are on a grand tour of the nicer (ie British) parts of North America.

    7) The French Expeditionary force left Laguna Bay in stormy conditions. The sea sickness and other concerns may explain why they forgot Anna de Diesbach and abandoned her on this wild coast. Will France now need to send Lord Louis Lamour to find Anna in the same way as he has now located the lost “Limace Volant Extraordinary Amazing Balloon Steam-Powered Airship” in the deserts of Tanez?

    Cool Various people have returned to Franconia from Tripoli including a French engineer who arrived just in time to turn around and Sister Julie of the odd diet needs.

    9) Germans and Russians are playing a nice game of pass the colony with General Model taking down a Russian flag in the Holy land and running up a German one. While in Eupatoria it was the other way round.

    10) Not get exchanged is the territory and fortress of Bourliuk. Where the Hetman Salim Dey is claiming to be a sitting tenant who the Russian’s can not evict and send him back to Berlin. Russian field guns have proved to be very effective in keeping down defensive from the fortress. However, something seemed wrong with Russian siege guns or to be exact the fuses of Russian siege artillery shells. The gunners are now having to go through the whole stock and amend the factory setting from “safe” to something which actually goes bang after penetration of the ramparts.

    11) In Versailles while the government of France remains basically skint and in debt its Director of Trade, Alexandre Dupuy has made a personal fortune using the power of the Babbage Array to study the news and other sources of information and play the markets faster than any human investor can manage. Lord Hardinge, Derby, Blandford, Weatherbee you are so yesterday, bow down before the mighty scientific power of Franconia! What can possibly go wrong? Answers on a post card to Prime Minister Thier of Franconia.

    12) In particular Alexandre Dupuy is reported to be sitting on a huge paper profit after taking a “shorting” position on the Albion Corporation before the markets could react to comments critical of the amount of hidden risk this company is exposed too. “Shorting” involves Alexandre Dupuy agreeing to sale Albion shares he does not yet own at a fixed price in the future. Effectively it is a gamble that the Albion share price will go down and not recover by the contract date and that Dupuy will then be able to buy the shares on the open market at a lower price and sale them at the higher price he has fixed by contract. Pocketing the difference at a huge profit!

    13) For some strange reason it seems that both Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Weatherbee have turned against the French market and investments in France viewing French finances, market, industry and indeed the who country as unstable and too “clever” by half. Clearly these are more of yesterdays men………..that or they are experienced, clear eyed, pragmatic investors with a very clear view of risk.

    14) The Chairman of the Banque de France has taken to hanging out with a bankrupt Hotelier in Istamboul. Ok, so a chap can take a holiday but who exactly is running financial regulations in France?

    15) In St Petersburg Grand Duke Polovtsov welcomed the overthrow of the Janissary Junta and the restoration of the legitimate Sultan. Also in St Petersburg the Rossian Secret Service has broken the infamous Looky Zeenome German spy ring. It is believed that before Models chief agent in Rossia
    was arrested trying to infiltrate the Rossian Arms Bureau he was responsible both for the theft of the Bismarck letter from Rossian state records and the sabotage of fuses for Rossian siege artillery.

    The Rossian secret service may also want to find out what Looky knows about the failure of a new class of Rossian submarines which sunk and then failed to surface as well as an explosion which destroyed a major arms factory in St Peterburg.

    16) Finally in a major scoop reporter Victor Hugo was the first western newspaper man to interview the legendary Ottoman Admiral Piri Reis since the coup which restored Sultan Murad. It would seem that the Admiral remains loyal to the French alliance but will welcome help from anywhere to help restore the Ottoman fleet after its brutal mauling at Rossian hands. Even with Victor’s famous charm the Admiral could not be drawn on what he thought of the coup which restored Sultan Murad or on the validity or otherwise of treaties agreed with Germania and Rossia by the now overthrown and illegal prior revolutionary Government.

    Victors reporting goes to many European papers and some even further away. In even Russian editorials the Admiral is viewed as a plucky sea dog and respected foe even if he sunk the Russian flagship and two of their Admirals as well as a couple of German ones. British editorials when more gushing viewing the Admiral as a true hero let down by his French allies and the inferior ships purchased by the Ottoman government. Buy British or sink when taking on the Russians is a common view in many papers
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Tue May 17, 2022 11:49 am

    Majority Chin owned Albion Corporation (legit part of Opium Cartel like the Times newspaper) has now moved its corporate HQ to Paris.

    Does this mean a further rebranding as the "Franconia Corporation".

    You can take the company out of its drug smuggling past, but can you take the drug smuggling criminal culture out of the Company? Surely if its now the "French connection" for the Opium Cartel its new Corporate HQ should be in Marsailles?
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Thu May 19, 2022 5:15 pm

    Can someone please explain why the HEIC has just spent £100,000,000 on buying about 9% of a company which never pays a dividend?

    Might it be linked to 100% failure of an attempt to mess up a £4,000,000 French attempt to "short" shares in this company.

    study scratch
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:21 pm

    Oct 1863 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scrabble players here are the highlights:

    1) British Royal Navy conducted a major inquest into why one of its battle ships blew up and decided that its current weapon handling drill was actually "cooking" the ammo in very hot conditions. Seems that when its really hot you need to air to circulate round both your magazine and your knees. Reports of nefarious acts and Hong Kong being a giant brothel with a opium den in the basement and being run by Triads, Boxers, the Opium Cartel have been dismissed by Andrew Rates of the Hong Kong Police.

    2) Back in good old blighty Lord Derby has cut the tax rate and charged Louis David Riel and his Metis rebels with treason against her Majesty. Meanwhile the Press and some of its shareholders have been wondering why the Albion corporation has moved its tax base from London to the higher taxed city of Paris?

    One reason may be to get away from questions from HMRC about its business dealings, books and how much tax it should pay compared to how much it does. Seems that the British Government currently gets £46m in tax from the Tea Cartel and the HEIC alone and info on their business affairs is open to the Government, shareholders and press. Same can not be said about the Albion Corporation widely viewed as a front to launder Triad cash.

    3) With bishops visiting its red light districts to look for a missing Nun (well he would say that), a lot of underground activity with charges of betrayal and double crossing, plus huge financial gambles being made. It would seem that Paris is turning into the city that its police force says Hongkong is not. The Opium Corporation (Aka the Albion Corporation) should feel right at home.

    4) After checking the Paris Red Light district the Archbishop of Notre Dame then moved onto check the Vienna Red Light district for his missing nun but with no luck too date.

    5) The Russians have taken over the province of Bourliuk and posed for Photo's in the breach of the Bourliuk fortress.

    6) Following explosion which wrecked HMS Nelson x2 Russian merchant ships blew up in the North Sea. One while returning the ex-Hetman of Bourliuk to Germany.

    7) Some stuff happening in the wild west but not really of interest as no one got shot.

    Cool The Lama of Siberia is poorly.

    9) The British marched into Derajat looking for slavers to fight and piles of opium to burn. Slavers and Opium smugglers did a runner and local leaders welcomed the John Company and the alliance of Britannia with open arms, cups of tea, smiles and photos all round. Sadly Nicolson column lacked a diplomat or a treaty could have been signed on the spot. But what will Drost say and do as the Brits press across the Indus?
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:36 pm

    The January 1864 copy of the Britannic Times has shown up and for non Scrabble players here are the highlights:

    1) Following the Babbage Array starting a price war to gain French trade additional market share, prices and profits across the Globe have continued to spiral downwards. Well what do you expect if you basically take your trade and foeign policy out of the hands of Politicans and Trade Experts and had it over to Engineers and their machines !!

    It would seem that that Babbage Array made the logical deduction that the great British Trade Houses would not match French price cutting as it would cost them too much money. But can you put a financial price on a English Lords honoured when he feels he is being shown up and challenged by a machine and a damn froggy machine at that!

    2) Avoiding such material concerns Archbishop Marie-Dominique took himself off to Transylvania to look for the missing Julie Billiart la Chaste.......no sign of the missing Lady but he has had dinner with interesting people and it now feeling poorly.

    3) As if having its corporation tax returns mugged by a damn French machine (invented by an Englishman) was not bad enough the English Government also suffered loss of X6 lots of Enfield Mk II rifles in the province of Hafir in Anglo-Egytain Sudan. Said rifles were taken from the dead hands of 6 Battalions of Hafir Colonial Infantry overwelmed by the followers of the Mahdi, question now is how many bullets has the Mahdi got for his new rifles? And is General Gordon going to do anything about this outrage?

    4) Forted in its Indian home market behind its control of Ports, Railways, Telegraph lines and ability to drown any serious rivals in red tape and God knows what else the HEIC was expected to last out the French Trade war better than most. Unfortunately someone seems to have stolen £100m of the Corporations money ............Auditors, tax lawyers etc, etc and Scotland Yard are now doubt in hot pursuit of the missing funds and various Banks and Lawyers who mislaid said funds are busy checking their liability cover for gross malpractice, negligence with Clients money!

    5) Better news for English Traders is that the Tea Cartel and upgraded its Global communication networks with the Edison Supior Transmitter. Which means that bad news like Hafir can get back to London ages well as least an hour earlier!

    6) In Paris the Louvre Art gallery was declared open by Adolphe Thier to great fanfare, with the Prime Minister of France taking the opportunity to introduce a mystery benefactor to the Louvre................no less a person than the formerly exiled Prince Imperial returned to France in its hour of financial need.

    - Many now think Adolpe Thier now plans to use the probable future bankrupcy of the French State to bring down the Republic and restore the Empire.

    - What the Red Quarters in Paris and the cities will think about this is anyones guess but its probably why crack units of the French Army have been re-named as the Emperors Guards even though in theory France is still a Republic and not a Empire.

    7) To help France avoid going bankrupt Mr John Dunning of the Albion Corporation has offered the Government of France £20m in exchange for 0% future corporation tax on the Corporation. Reds and Republicans will no doubt point out that £20m is less than 1 months interest payments of Frances large and growing National Debt and with 0% Corporation tax Thier is turning France into a tax haven for English drug smugglers. Better news for Mr Thier is that his Cinchona trees are doing well alongside developments in the French Drug production industry.

    - It is unknown if developments in the French drug and tree/bush growing industries are in any way linked to the move of the Opium Corporation (AKA the Albion Corporation) to its territory.

    Cool In Saint Petersburg Max August Scipio von Brandt was unset when the windows of the German Embassy got smashed during a demo against the Kaiser calling the Holy Land and birthplace of our Lord and Saviour disease-ridden hellholes and abandoning Christians to the Madhi.

    - No arrests were made as Russian police were on a tea break when the incident happened and the rest of the Black Hundred Demo was very legal and orderly with all the correct paper work completed days in advance.

    - Listening to the voice of its Church, Duma and People the Russian Government is claiming the abandoned German colonies of the Holy Land, Calamatia and Mismiyah. It is also offering to protect the Christain People of Massawa from the Mad Mahdi (surely that's General Gordons job?)

    9) France is still trying to work out which colonies the Kaiser has abandoned as disease ridden and which he has not actually abandoned at all. A press interview with Field Marshal Model in the Holy Land failed to shine any light on this subject. While General Macmahon the hero of the Republic (now in a desert while the Prince Imperial returns to Paris) managed to occupy Jerada but found the City of Tangier held by the German Army of the Orient under General Luddendorf.

    10) British forces have taken over the province of Shammata in the Wild West but have encountered swamp fever. Meanwhile the Republic of California has allied with the Russian Empire.

    11) Meanwhile on the Slave Coast the British military continue with efforts to surpress the Slave and Opium trades which help fund both the Mad Madhi reign of terror and Drost Muhammed favourite boggy man of the HEIC and all the hard working, lawfull, cricket playing chaps on the Indian side of the Indus.

    Of couse some people would say its the HEIC which is raiding into Tatta and Bela with some of the most infamous reivers and killing gentlemen ever seen gathered in one place outside of the French Foreign Legion and a Cossack Host.

    12) On subject of Cossack Hosts and reivers someone pinched a lot of Russian horses in Pusan after they were "rescued" from a fire at their stables. Did someone say inside job? Or has Fu-Manchu branched out into theft of livestock?
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Thu Nov 10, 2022 4:37 pm

    February 1864 copy of the Britannic Times has now shown up and for non scrabble players here are the highlights:-

    1) A “Lady” seems to be trying to start a strike in Jaipur. But is it for the good of the workers? Or does she have ulterior political motives? Sadly for some it seems that the paid lackeys of the HEIC rather like the pay and after being hit with hard objects (cricket balls) and drugged up with tea and cake are not politically aware enough to appreciate their own oppression alongside that of poor oppressed slavers and thuggee.
    2) On the Slave Coast (West of the Indus) the British/HEIC campaign against the Mad Madhi and slaver allies suffered a second military disaster when B Battery Royal Artillery was over run in a night attack and died to a man defending their guns from the slaver hordes of Emir Mazyan Razavian of Tatta. Who then used the captured guns in a so far successful defence of an inland caravansary against a John Company attack with Infantry and artillery. Meanwhile another caravansary base of the Tatta slavers on the west bank of the Indus continues to foil attempts by the British Navy to get close enough to erase it with Naval gunfire.
    3) Better news for the British/HEIC campaign against allies of the Madhi came from the province of Bela where Sir John Nicholson and his powerful combined force of artillery, infantry and cavalry withstood raids from outside their siege lines to wipe out another caravansary slaver base. Sir John quick victory in this instance may be down to the defenders being weakened by an earlier battle in the open. Alternatively Sir John does have with him such crack formations as the Jaipur Grenadiers, Ceylon Regiment and the regimental polo Champions of all India and holders of the Rawipindi Cup the socially elite Poona Light Horse. All viewed as at least the equal of best quality European regiments.
    4) In actual fact they may be in better condition that some European regiments as both the British and Russian Cavalry have reported incidents of winter sickness in Canada & Siberia. Fortunately no such illness got in the way of the Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans but perhaps its a bit more mild on the Gulf of Mexico.
    5) British Naval ships made it into Bombay and Hong Kong, the latter having the great good fortune to just miss a Typhoon.
    6) A Russian merchant ship was not so fortunate in the Baltic when it was hit by a fish which then exploded after said “fish” was fired by a floating whale. Quite why the papers think they need to write naval reports in a style suitable for a four year old is a mystery when the Germans are on their 3rd Submarine fleet and the Russians are also busy with a re-design of the submarines after having to save crews from bottom of Saint Petersburg harbour is a mystery. Perhaps its to keep keen letter writer to the Britannic Times the Prince Imperial of France, Emperor in waiting Louis-Nappolean XX happy?
    7) The French Emperor in waiting may have to keep waiting a bit longer as the Hero of the French Republic General Patrice de Macmahon managed to convince the Germans to leave Tangier and sail for Calamita. A action which will not doubt annoy the hell out of the Czar who claims Calamita was given to him by Bismarck only his staff lost the “Bismarck letter”. But at least the Prince Imperial will have somewhere comfortable to staff while waiting to be restored too his French throne as the Prime Minister of the in debt French Republic has some how found the spare cash to keep funding the money pit which is the Eiffel Tower and also the restoration of Versailles were the Prince Imperial is staying.
    Cool Oddly while President Adolphe Thier is splashing the cash like a drunk sailor on shore leave. In London the HEIC is complaining about the theft and fraud of its money last month happening in London while Baron Quentin Lee Chamberlain of the Metropolitan police is saying this crime like earlier ones against Sir Charles Babbage was planned and ordered from within France.
    Question some are wondering about is does this mean that the Metropolitan police think crimes in London are due to the now French registered Albion Corporation? Which means its property and business interests in Britannia could be seized to compensate Sir Charles and the HEIC for their losses? Or does the police think that the French Government of Adolphe Thier has dug its way out of a fiscal black hole by criminal means on the Streets of London?!
    9) In St Petersburg the German Embassy has closed and Max Scipio von Brandt has gone home to Berlin. Probably feed up with the Black Hundreds throwing stones at his windows and painting rude slogans on his embassy doors while the police are on a tea break.
    Also in St Petersburg Grand Duke Polovstov has declared that Russia is fed up with the Anglo-French trade war and asked the Un-Russian Activities Committee to investigate dumping and predatory pricing in Russian markets.
    10) Archbishop Marie-Dominique Sibour finally had tea with the missing engineer Msr Giffard at Castle Dracul in Transylvania. Very unfortunately for a Frenchman he now seems to have developed a garlic allergy. Can you still be 100% French and allergic to garlic?
    11) Patriarch Vakulovsky has condemned the evil deeds of the Mahdi in particular the fact that this leader of a strange and heretical Shia Muslim cult keeps Christian Nuns in sexual slavery as his concubines. The Patriarch wants to know what the French and British governments as the colonial powers in North Africa indeed to do about this outrage? He suspects nothing at all.
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Thu Jan 26, 2023 5:41 pm

    April 1864 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scrabble players here are the highlights:

    I) After the French Government guided by a machine decided to write off £200m plus of French Government debt and effectively go bankrupt various people have been trying to work out who has lost what due to French Government actions. Of the £202,800,000 worth of French Government bonds written off it seems that £70m was owed to French investors with £131,820,000 owed too foreign investors.

    No news in Paris of French Banks and Insurance Companies going bankrupt (did they have advance notice) or bond holders rioting in the streets, building barricades in the Streets of Paris or hanging the French Prime Minister from a meat hook......but its still early days.

    2) In London the HEIC worked out that it had lost £8,112,000 due to the French move having accepted French bonds as security for Bank Loans etc. But set against that was the recovery of £100m of its stolen money by the Bitish CIB (Counter intelligence Bureau).

    - The HEIC then proceeded to buy another £5m of distressed French debt for £500,000 and joined with other British Investors to lobby the Britannic Government to get the French to settle their debts with one proposal being that the Britannic Government could buy French colonies and use the money raised from the sale of French colonies to pay off French debts to British investors.

    3) About 25% of the French international debt (£30,420,000) is owed too Russian Banks and other investors. Even Emperor Alexander II commented that when other states had failed to pay French investors the French Government had often taken the lead in sending a gun boat to collect on the debt, take control of assessts in lieu or even change the Government to one which will honour its international obligations.

    - Could the Republic see Russian or perhaps British gunboats sailing into Paris to back a Royalist Government which will honour French debts?

    4) After Russia too action over the damage to its markets and trade caused by the Anglo-French trade watand then paused it. The HEIC took advantage of being the first Hong to clear its good name and restart its investment program in Russia following payment of a £10m fine for a small technical offence which HEIC directors have viewed as a small slap on the wrist.

    Other British Hongs like the tea cartel have paused some operations but backed by the full legislative, financial and diplomatic might of Lord Derby and his Tory Government expect to settle matters fairly soon. Currently Lord Derby seems to have accepted that Russia and other powers were hurt by the side effects of the Anglo-French trade war but takes position that it is all the fought of the French since they started it!

    The fact that Russia is sulking about being owed another £30m for French bond failure and a German Army dumped by the French Navy on land claimed by Russia may make the Czar and his government more agreeable to the the Lord Derby position that "ITS ALL THE FAULT OF THE FRENCH"

    5) A British Fleet lead by Lord Cahill sailed into Port Said. But is it carrying troops for the campaign against the Mahdi? Or is going to be on French debt collection duty from French colonies in the Orient?

    6) The Duke of Suffolk has resumed civilian control and administration for her Majesty Queen Victoria in the Canadian province of Shammata.

    7) In Washington the US government seems to be considering a ransom demand for the Bishop of New York. Oddly the demand for £10,000 seems to come from Nemo Prince of Jaipur. Who may be the same Captain Nemo wanted for crimes by HEIC authorities in India.

    Cool Meanwhile back in Jaipur the local authorities are arranging repairs and are in hot pursuit of criminals who damaged local rail and telegraph lines......only one crime the HEIC authorities likely to be more upset about and that is damage to cricket grounds. But all three are likely to see the criminals shot out of hand. For anything else even slave trading and gun/opium running for Drost and the Madhi you will probably get a trial before being hung unless taken by the Ceylon Regiment or Skinners horse. Both of which units seem to have problems understanding the need to take captives so they can be hung later.

    9) In Tatta as the resistence of the Slaver bands to HEIC forces and the RN finally fell to bits. The Jaipur Grenadiers did manage to take infamous slaver Emir Mazyar Razavian captive so he had least should get a fair but rapid trial to show the majesty of the law before he gets hung.

    10) In Paek the outbreak of disease amongst the Czar Cavalry seems to have ended. Though in Chanbat some of the Czars new recruits came too blows over religion. Seems that when the Cossacks can not find anyone too fight they end up fighting amongst themselves so perhaps its time the hordes started to move again. But will this mean southwards to Chin? And what will Doctor Fu-Manchu think?

    II) Oddly no news of Vampires, Nuns, French Royals in exile, Bismarck or strange flying objects. All very quite on the steam punk front.......too quite if you ask me, are they plotting?
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Mar 24, 2023 2:39 pm

    May 1864 Britannic Times has shown up and the only item which really got my attention was that fact that my lead character the CEO of the HEIC has been assassinated by a member of his own staff while watching cricket in New Delhi. I like to think its the way Lord Henry Temple, Viccount Palmerston would have wanted to go but its just not cricket to stab a chap in the back before the game is even over.

    Since in last few turns the HEIC has had £100m of its cash robbed in London, its railway lines blown up and its CEO assassinated I am starting to think that someone has got it in for the HEIC. Though what anyone could have against this fine bunch of chap's and a chapess is a mystery.

    Of very little importance compared to the above in other news:-

    1) The Russian Army of the Kuuban moved into Wanda and got ambushed. No great surprize there but what was a surprize to General Yudenitch and his Cossack host was how it was done........Chief Bu of Blackwater ordered the breaking of dams which flooded the valley and the Cossack Horde below.

    A rather wat Yudenitch and his host retired back into Chanbat with losses which included the Golden Command tent of the Horde. Joining him in Chanbat to plot his revenge was General Brusilov with more Cavalry and Machine Guns from the Army of Siberia.

    2) In London they seem to be building more infernal counting machines like the one in France and the Hyperloop vacum-powered transport system. Ref the later system which is backed by the Albion Corporation, past experience of world leading transport system designed by mad scientists and the the Albion Corporation would seem to indicate that investors are going to loss a lot of money and someone is going to get their brains sucked out via their ears.

    3) Also in London the hunt of the Harkers in relation to the now recovered £100m stolen from the HEIC as so far drawn a blank but the couple may have links with the French Government or the Albion Corporation or even both. Other investigations by Standard Chartered Bank into holders of defaulted French Government Bonds have shown that French Citizens held £70m, British Citizens £40m, Russians £30m, Austrians and Germans £20m each and Italians £10 and others £12m.

    Considering the domination of world markets by British based concerns the £40m seems like a very small percentage but may reflect an adversion to French debt promises in Britannia.

    4) In St Petersburg the Czar has helped out Russian holders of French Bonds by buying them at full value, bundled them up with fines against France/Albion corporation for damage to Russian markets due to the Anglo-French trade war to make one debt of £40,420,000 at 10% interest per month. Then offered the French Government £60m for Khorrom in order to clear this debt and some other debts.

    The question now is will Lord Derby, Bismarck, The Emperor of Austria etc follow the same route as the Czar to avoid problems on world financial markets? Or will they inform Britannic and other international holders of French bonds to swallow the losses and it was their own fault for trusting French Government promises and buying their junk bonds.

    5) Admiral Bourgois and the French Squadron of the Levant has ended its naval blockade of the Coast of Jerada and returned to port for "maintenance". Cynics might suggest that the French Navy is trying to avoid annoyed French Government bond holders or its running out of coal and no one with sale them any more due to President Thier having sunk the credit rating of the French Republic.

    - Many also think that Thier is a closet Royalist who has arranged for the Republic to go bankrupt as part of a cunning plot to restore the Monarchy or perhaps the Emperor.

    6) In Delhi the newly built Great Temple to the Goddess Sita has openned between St Geoges hospital and the new Fruit and Flower market.
    Sita is a goddess of rebirth, fertility and the spring. Accordingly she is very popular with farmers, market gardeners and women. Fine upstanding "customers" of the HEIC and other merchants.

    The Temple to Sita replaces a earlier one on the same site devoted to Kali which the HEIC destroyed due to the Priests having links with the merchant murdering Thuggee cult.

    7) In Tatta the vile Slaver Emir Mazyar Razavian of Tatta has been blown from a gun and the bits thrown in a unmarked grave because the Ceylon Regiment could not be bothered with the paper work. Troops in Tatta were later joined by the Army of Bengal commanded by Sir Hugh Gough and it is likely they will be backing up the RN campaign currently being waged in Bela..........but currently held up by Monsoon rain which was making shooting very hard for Navy gunners shooting at a coastal caravansary base of the slavers.


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    Post by Stuart Bailey Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:58 pm

    June 1864 copy of the Britannic Times has showed up and for non scabble players here are the highlights:

    1) President Adolphe Thier has taken up smoking a pipe...............according to Msr le President this is to help his stress, a condition brought on by highly unreasonable international reactions to the French Government adding machine voiding over £200m plus of French Government 10% bonds.

    2) In London the HEIC board has named a new CEO the Honourable James J Speedicut Viscount Falkland. "Speed" as he is known to his chums is from a old India family, ex Foreign Office and was one of the immortal Flashmans oldest school friends from Rugby (see start of The Flashman Papers XII - Flashman on the March). As such he is clearly a good egg and suitable leader for the Hon East India Company.

    3) Reflecting the above changes - France has dropped off the Prestige list and has been replaced by the HEIC. Prestige list now made up of Rossia, Siam and three trade companies. Two of the trade companies the HEIC and the Tea Cartel are hard core British to such a degree that its hard to work out were the British Government ends and the companies start. The third trade company on the Prestige list started life as the Anglo-Chin Opium Cartel then charged its name too the Albion Corporation which currently has his Head Quarters in London, its registered tax residance is a broom cupboard in Paris and its just about majority shareholder spends most of his time in the America's avoiding various Police forces, writs, lawyers, Triad hit squads etc etc

    4) A fire broke out at Saint Pauls Cathedral but the local fire service stopped major damage so memoral service for Lord Palmerston was able to go ahead.

    5) Albion Corporation lawyers have demanded a apology and threatened legal action against Lord Derby for calling the company a bunch of traitors. Since the Opium Corporation/Albion Corporation has only ever been loyal to itself think Balhams Legal may have a point.......who are the Opium Corporation surposed to be traitors too? Chin, Britannia or Franconia?

    But I suspect Lord Derby will probably claim that his remarks are covered by "Parliamentary Privilege"..........the historic right of a English Lord to call anyone any damn thing they like in the House of Lords. Then call the merderous, double dealing swine of the now froggy Opium Corporation a few more choice names before ordering his tax officials to tax Balham Law to bits looking for evidence of money laundering, tax evasion and general links with criminal types and bad eggs.

    6) Lord Derby and the Britannic Government have paid full price for and taken over £40,560,000 of French Government Bonds held by British investors. In this they have followed the example of the Rossian Government to protect their financial markets from the reckless actions of the French Government and may have contributed to President Adolphe Thier taking up Pipe Smoking as both the British and Russian Governments seem to expect the French to now take steps to pay their debts in kind (colonies) if not in cash.

    - The Russian Government has proposed a conference of bond holders to settle the issue of repayment of French Government debt.

    7) Further talk about hi-tec transport systems - no doubt designed to a) not work b) seperate investors from their cash and c) Suck peoples brains out of their ears.

    Cool Social events in Somerset

    9) The ISB (India Special Branch) still looking for Mohammed Shah the assassin of Lord Palmerston. But they did manage to arrest Lakshi Ram an associate of Mohammed Shah (probably not his real name).

    10) Lakshi Ram was given up after the HEIC paid a reward for information, they also paid out rewards for the death of infamous slaver Emir Mazyar back in May and a third lot of reward money was paid out in Bela for information on slaver bands which were then attacked and destroyed by the Army of Bengal.

    - In the later case it seems that skinners horse held the women and children of various locals as surity for the quality of the information they were buying from their men folk which may be standard on the North West Frontier was deeply shocking to the 2nd Dragoon Guard chaps. Fortunately as the info was pukka no one got hurt apart from slaver bands who do not count and various locals got the women and children back with a large cash reward. Which seems to be a theme of the HEIC play fair and everyone gets rich, double cross or oppose them and unpleasantness is likely.

    11) In Siberia Russian Cossacks probed the flood waters blocking the advance of the Cossack hosts into Wanda looking to see how quickly the waters were going down and when the Hordes can ride again. This time their attempts were foiled by a charge of flaming pigs!!

    After the defenders of Wanda have torched the local livestock and flooded most of Wanda agricultural land in the middle of the growing season the question arises - Have they done more damage than Cossack raid's and what are the defenders now eating? Meanwhile the Siberian Horde has replaced it lost golden command tent with one which is bigger, better and gem studded and proclaimed they are a mission from God and will not be stopped by some flood waters.

    Questions have been raised about if this covers flaming pigs as well. But does Wanda have more pigs than the Czar has bullets?
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Thu May 11, 2023 11:30 pm

    July 1864 copy of the Britannic Times has showed up and for non scabble players here are the highlights:

    1) The forces of the Mad Mahdi poured into the German colony of Massawa looking for Christians to slaughter or enslave. The local German colonial Militia took station to protect mission buildings, German missionary families and their Lutheran converts.

    The locals put up a brave fight against the Islamic fanatics who had artillery as well as six war bands armed with Enfield Mk II rifles the fruits of their earlier victory over the British as well as the usual spear armed Fuzzy Wuzzies.

    But were finally over run by the forces of the Mahdi who went on to slaughter nine German missionary families and all the native Lutherans as well with no prisoners/slaves taken such was the battle rage of the Mahdi Army.

    After winning victories over British, Egyptian, French and now German forces the question now being asked is anyone going to stand up against this dire threat to Christians in the Orient? Perhaps even use regular European troops since colonial Militia alone seem unable too do the job.

    Though it probably needs to be said before any one gets upset that while the Cossack hosts of the Czar and the Regiments of the Honourable East India Company are in theory colonial Militia they do seem to be a cut above the colonial troops defeated by the Mahdi. Though no doubt the machine guns and artillery found in such formations would have helped the defeated Germans.

    2) Paris was a city bathed in flashing lights – something which upset the local dog population and people trying to get some sleep despite flashing lights and barking dogs. Plus no doubt had local and international holders of defaulted on French Government bonds wondering how the French Government is able to pay for all of this construction and glitz while not paying the interest on its bonds?

    3) On subject of French bonds Grand Duke Polovtsov confirmed that as no interest paid last month French debt to the Czar now stands at £48,908,200. The Rossian Government has offered £60m for a French colony in the Orient to clear this debt with some left over but no reply received on this offer.

    In attempt to stabilize the market the Tea Cartel has purchased French bonds owned by Italian and Austrian investors. Lord Weatherbee then confirmed that the French Government owes the Tea Cartel £50m and the Cartel will like the Russians accept payment in French colonies.

    4) In other financial news after a year of price wars and market crisis caused by the French the HEIC still paid out £100m in interim dividends. While the John Dunning the Albion Corporation director of European Trade seems to be in a spot of bother with his board of directors and shareholders who are not impressed by move of the Albion Corporation Corporate HQ to Paris just before the French Government goes bust or the hostility the Albion Corporation seems to have inspired in her Britannic Majesties Government.

    5) In the feud between her Britannic Majesties Government and some of the officials of the Albion Corporation latest round to the Government as Lord Derby used the concept of Parliamentary privilege to shot down the latest legal attack against him by the solicitors of the Albion Corporation. He then further used Parliamentary privilege to savage the professional reputation of Dalrymple Solicitors and make suggestions that the police should investigate the practice.

    6) While cutting legal challenges to bits in public it seems that Lord Derby social reputation is also under attack with accounts being spread that he fathered two illegitimate children on a visit to India.
    Quite why the papers are reporting on a chaps private life is a mystery.

    7) In Richmond in the CSA local politician Jacques Arnaud has been declared bankrupt. No reason for Jacques going bankrupt has been disclosed such as losses on French Bonds for instance.

    Cool Railway link from Sonora on the West Coast to Lavaca on the East Coast has been completed.

    9) Lakshi Ram has been taken under heavy escort to the dread stronghold of the HEIC deep in the Sunderbonds of the Ganges Delta. So far Nagesh Singh or any lawyers have made no effort to obtain Lakshi freedom.

    So far Lakshi attacks on the HEIC and admiration for her hero Nagesh Singh who she believes will avenge her has convinced the ISB that she knows more than she has said and that the assassination of the Honourable East India Company CEO was ordered by Nagesh Singh. But was Nagesh Singh the actual killer in disguise or the employer of the knife man?

    10) The province of Bela has come under the civil control of the HEIC while Prince Daulet Rai in Derajat has sold railway and telegraph concessions to the HEIC and allied them and the wider British Government. Thus the whole of the Indus valley is now safe and secure for the spread of modern commercial development and cricket.

    11) The Russians continue to probe the province of Wanda in the west the flood waters still show no sign of going down blocking the advance of Russian Artillery. Meanwhile in the south other probes encountered hidden man traps and also suffered stomach cramps and diarrhoea to the effects of the flooding.

    Question is after flooding or littering their best farming land with man traps and using their pigs as burning missiles what at the tribal defenders of Wanda eating? And how long can the tribal chiefs keep their starving men in the field before some of them decide that pay, ration, new pigs and membership of the Siberian Horde is the better bet no matter what Dr Fu-Manchu says.
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Thu Jun 22, 2023 3:25 pm

    August 1864 copy of the Britannic Times has showed up and for non scabble players here are the highlights:

    1) British Navy and General Gordon show up at Massawa Sands to save French Nuns and the German Colony of Massawa from loot, rape and pillage at the hands of the Mad Mahdi.

    The British were able to land at Massawa Sands without opposition but elsewhere in Massawa German colonial control has been replaced by a pro-Mahdi administration all without so much as a peep out of Berlin let alone General Model and the Africa corp being sent to deal with the problem.

    2) The French also seem to have ignored the possible rape, plunder and dishonour of French Nuns in Massawa in favour of sending an Army to Khorrom by sea. Which is sort of in the same zone as the Maddi and the distressed Nuns so the charitable might say there are on route – sort off. The less charitable may imply they are doing the typical French trick of hanging back and only showing up for the victory drinks.

    3) In France itself the Babbage array has predicted the end of the economic slide caused by the default of the French Government. While President Adolphe Thier has banned trade with Russia in a measure he has termed a “Pre-emptive act of protectionism”. Quite how this protects the interests of French exporters of Wine and Brandy to what was a major French market remains a mystery. Perhaps the Babbage array can provide an answer to the mystery of French economic logic?

    4) Having saved British, Italian and Austrian holders of French Government bonds from major loss. Lord Derby was less than impressed by articles in the Times that he should now help the French by waiving the French debt. As expressed elsewhere the concern is that if the French debt is just written off and no attempt is made to repay in land if not cash then this will give a green light to other financially reckless politico’s like Adolpe Thier to borrow as much as possible and then default on the debt.

    If such reckless actions become common then the International Bond market is likely to crash and honest Governments who do repay their debts will be unable to borrow at all or will face vastly higher interest rates that they may not be able to pay.

    5) In St Petersburg Grand Duke Polovtsov who saved Russian holders of French Government bonds was a bit more receptive to the plea to be soft on the French for the greater good of Europe. Since the very last thing the Czar wants is anarchy on the Streets of Paris and a “Red” take over. Accordingly Polovtsov has increased his offer for the French Colony of Khorrom to £100m which will allow the French to repay a very large chunk of their debts.

    6) The Grand Duke has sent Prince Gaia from America to France to see if a deal can be obtained since for reasons unknown none of the Grand Duke Letters and Telegrams seem to have arrived or got the good manners of a French reply.

    One wonders for how long Lord Derby and the Russians will wait for the French to react in a positive manner before Royal Navy Debt collectors and the like start to seize French property at sea in liu of debt repayment.

    7) The Grand Duke has also asked Berlin if they need any help with shipping etc in order to save the Christian population of Massawa from the Islamic hordes of the Mahdi. No reply has yet been made by Berlin, with Berlin seemingly in a state of shock due to the invasion and now the British landing without so much as a bye your leave. Hard to say what is a greater humiliation for the German government.

    Cool Lord Francis Farnworth has designed a steam-powered all-terrain armoured train. Which does not need rails. He claims it was inspired by the designs of Leonardo Da’Vinci and will be the end of Cavalry.

    9) Lord Weatherbee is on holiday in darkest Somerset. But did find time to invest in the CSA and make some nasty comments about both the French and the Mahdi. Who may even have gone past Fu-Manchu on the most hated uppity native list.

    10) In Vladivostock after a month of rest General Brusilov and his troops have made a full recovery but men of the Coastal Artillery have gone on strike over the fact that everyone apart from them seems to have got leave and rest. Problem seems to have been caused by fact that Brusilov and the rest are Army while they are Navy and seem to have been overlooked by Russian Admirals.

    Elsewhere in the Russian Far East the Siberian Horde is still waiting for the water levels to go down so the invasion of Wanda can continue. So far the defenders of Wanda seem to have flooded or trapped most of their best agricultural and torched their own pigs so some are now wondering if the defenders will starve before they can be brought too battle.

    11) In Zabol a Siamese merchant tried to set out on a trade mission but got driven back to start by a huge dust storm.

    12) The HEIC has started work on a new port city near the mouth of the Indus. Both banks of this mighty river and trade route are now free of slavers, pirates and thuggee and guarded by the HEIC and its allies. A fact highlighted when Sir John Nicholson and his troops having marched the length of the Indus and back returned to a victory parade and the granting of the “Freedom of Hyderabad”.

    Naturally the parade was dominated by the polo playing socially elite Cavalry of the Poona Light Horse while the Ceylon Regiment and others were more interested in the lashings of tiffin.

    13) With all of these crack HEIC regiments doing very constructive things like playing cricket, playing polo and eating piles of tiffin some talk in Bombay about a quick trip across the Arabian Sea to see if Gordon needs a helping hand. Admiral Sir Charles Collingwood even went so far as to charter 16 transports unfortunately one of which then sunk. The weather in the Arabian sea is terrible and cables too Bombay seem to have been damaged.

    14) In Jaipur self proclaimed pirate Captain Nemo who is now also claiming to be Prince Dakkar of the former Royal House of Jaipur (exiled for Thuggee involvement) has been trying to cause trouble. Some poor deluded or paid types gathered and chucked stones at troops on sentry duty. It was very lucky for them that the troops were not from Skinners Horse or the Ceylon Regiment or it could have triggered a mass slaughter. Fortunately the troops just fired some warning shots into the air rather than into the crowd who rapidly ran away.

    India currently split between people shocked that anyone could be so stupid as to throw rocks at HEIC allied troops with Lee Enfield India pattern rifles and those who are shocked that Prince Dakkar seemingly cares so little about the poor and deluded that he is happy to risk them getting shot.

    At least the HEIC repayed over paid tax with interest and compensation in Ceylon and provides the poor with work, food and education. And while its Sepoys may have to risk taking a bullet for the HEIC they are fully trained and armed with something better than a rock!


    15) Finally something a bit odd from the Britannic Times – seems that people on the Isle of Bitra have informed their Sultan that the Altanteans have returned.

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    Post by Jason2 Thu Jun 22, 2023 4:05 pm

    Upon Lord Francis Farnworth and his steam-powered all-terrain armoured train without rails, wasn't there a mad nun in North Africa who came up with something similar a few years back?
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    Post by J Flower Sun Jun 25, 2023 12:49 pm

    Que did have plans drawn up for some wind powered Land Battleships but they are still at the design stage

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    Post by J Flower Thu Jul 20, 2023 3:59 pm

    To whom it may concern, he will know what it means when he reads this

    " the key to 715 is under the flower pot with the tulips"

    Please close the door after. Last time the cat got in & made a hell of a mess



    If you are confused, or have no idea what this post means, good it may mean you avoid a session with the Inquisition & the comfy chair,

    Then maybe you need to start playing the game
    playable without extra orders
    Hagi hunting permits extra, tours of the Himalayas with afternoon tea with a local Yeti family need to be booked in advance. City tours of Atlantis are planned but site waiting actual confirmation of City.

    Easy to understand rules & no prior knowledge of period required, sit back & enjoy an entertaining game with occasional humours moments. Eric is willing to show all new comers around.


    Last edited by J Flower on Thu Jul 20, 2023 4:23 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Moving of the key to a new hiding place)
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    Post by Stuart Bailey Fri Jul 28, 2023 8:32 am

    September 1864 copy of the Britannic Times has showed up and for non scabble players here are the highlights:

    1) After taking advise from his dog and his lawyer. President Thier of the recently bankrupt French Republic decided that his attempt to ignore creditors in the hope that they would go away has not worked and he will need to talk to at least some of them.

    - So far Thier seems to have accepted a Russian bid for Khorrom which would clear French debts including interest to Russian bond holders and leave France with £40m plus to put towards paying other bondholders.

    - A similar British offer for French colonies which would clear debts to British, Italian and Austrian bond holders is also under consideration. Its not yet clear if these colonial sales will provide enough to clear capital plus interest on bonds held by German and French investors in the £200m of French bonds defaulted on or if Thier intends to pay anything to these people at all.

    2) As high interest rates in France following the French Government default starts to feed through into costs of production prices in France have shot up. Some also blame higher import costs, French bond holders putting up their prices to recover their losses and the Babbage array for the inflation which seems to have taken hold in France.

    3) As a result of the inflation and lack of faith in the Government caused by the default many inside and outside France like the Comte de Vigny now believe the Republic will fall shortly. But will the blow come from the Royalist Right as the Comte hopes? Or the Reds and the Radical left as the Czar and others fear?

    4) In London the talk is also about “revolutions” but in this case the revolutions concern science and art rather than any political challenge to our dear Queen or her mostly popular Prime Minister.

    5) Also in London Sir Charles Ogle is reported as visiting from the America’s and James Cornel has been set free from Milbank Prison.

    6) Strange people and doings are reported down in Somerset. Or is that just the effect of the Cider consumed by the locals?

    - Strange persons and doings also reported on the isle of Bitra which is put down to aliens from Atlantis or perhaps the effect of extreme heat or drinking washed ashore cider or its local version made from fermented coconuts.

    7) In Berlin another new roof has been fitted to the Japanese owned Berlin Oil Manufacturing Building (BOMB). Hopefully this one will last a bit longer than the last couple.

    - Japanese activity also reported from the West Coast of the Wild West were they are looking for Hagi and Jackalope. Not sure why they want to find Hagi and Jackalope but probably something to do with being bored with diet of rice, seaweed and raw fish.

    - But oddly no news or activity reported from Berlin or Paris about the fact that the Mahdi has invaded a German colony and slaughtered Germans and menaced French Nuns. Must be a first time ever that Berlin and Paris have not had an opinion on anything let alone an outrage like this.

    Cool New Government has been formed in Italy and yet another new dawn has been declared for Italy. Hopefully this one will last a bit longer than the last couple.
    9) Liberal opposition peer and Anglo-French Opium Baron – Lord Farnworth Junior. Has started work on the private Albion Arsenal in the Union capital of Washington DC. In view of the number of outstanding feuds of the House of Farnworth with Dr Fu-Manchu and others the decision of Washington planners to allow this can either be viewed as stupid, corrupt or really, really optimistic.

    10) Oddly rather more outrage directed at planners in the CSA capital of Richmond for allowing second Japanese House of Silk. Widely viewed as a danger to the moral fibre of red necks everywhere.

    11) In Massawa, British forces under General Gordon have ended the rule of the Mahdi and secured the safety of King Addis and Graham Shaw but were unable to stop the Mahdi’s men from killing some Russian merchants.

    - Some skirmishing but currently fighting in province is limited by fact that the British want to fight with Naval gunfire support while the forces of the Mahdi are staying inland and out of range of English Naval artillery.

    - It is doubtful if the Czar will be as silent as Paris and Berlin about this latest outrage. But he may show a bit more respect for the German Government rights over Massawa than the British.

    12) In Bela and along the Slave Coast after smashing up the local culture and trade routes. The HEIC is now reported to be forcing local children to attend schools where they at hit with hard balls and forced to play cricket. Its character building and good for them according to the HEIC.

    13) Showing signs of such character building or perhaps the effects of too many cricket balls to the head Mohammed Shah aka Ramesh Kapoor aka The Milk Tray Man. Decided to visit his lady love in Fort Albert not by catching a train to the front entrance and asking for an appointment. But by avoiding tigers and cobra’s as he crawled through the Sunderbonds mangrove swamps, swimming the moat and then scaling the ramparts.

    - After which effort he was then arrested by the HEIC company troops who wanted to know why he had broke into a HEIC military base without an appointment and why he had murdered their former CEO at the cricket?

    14) In the Far East the Russians continue to probe for a way into Wanda which the Japanese continue to experiment.

    15) In Canton Wang Chi the local Hong who’s titles include that of Imperial Governor of Fatshan Province, Canton Chief of Police and Prisons and big boss of the Lucky Company has extended his power and influence yet again to become Governor of Foochow province.

    - In theory Wang Chi is a loyal Mandarin of the Imperial Government of Chin. Theory is one thing practice is another amongst the various Hongs, Triads, Boxers and Warlords who dominate the Opium trade and southern Chin. Who truely knows the secret of the key in the flower pot? Or is that the key under the flower pot?

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