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

J Flower wrote:

I blame the SiFan for all of it.

How can you blame the SiFan for everything........at least 50% of the time its the Opium Corporation who are to blame.

Of course if you could show Dr Fu-Manchu is a Opium Corporation member that would explain a lot!

May 1861 copy of the Britannic Times has shown up and for non players in Scabble here are the headlines:

1) The news from old London town is that the Tea Cartel has settled its outstanding tax bill but really, really wants to know who pinched its money before it made it to HM Revenue and Customs! Reward for this is £10,000,000!! Wonder if Dr Fu-Manchu will own up and claim the £10m? Perhaps as a result of this taxation failure (not that the Govt lost any money) Gladstone and his liberals are calling for a general election.

London also has a new Fire service to go with its Policy Force but 4 men of Admoral McGough protection squad seem to been murdered this month so is it actually any safer? It is possible that Admiral McGough men were murdered by the Si-Fan as a warning to the British Navy to stay out of Chin.

On other Naval matter Lord Henry Temple, Viscount Palmerston new CEO of the HEIC has made new sure the Navy has new Torpedoes. He has also handed over to the Navy the results of HEIC submarine development work. But with the advise that the HEIC is not going into submarine production as drowning its customers is not good business practice.

2) Down in Somerset Lady Catherine Weatherbee is expecting her first child. The news that a heir to the throne of Britannia is half American is no doubt news but why does it dominate page 3 of the paper????? Surely the Britannic Times does not expect 243 people ahead of Baby Weatherbee in the line of succession to to suddenly drop dead?

3) Some Jap has bought a building site in Berlin ready to set up a new "House of Silk"

4) In St Petersburg Polovtsov welcomed the new Chin Envoy but expressed feeling that Rossia was very sad because the Chin have given treaty ports to everyone else but not to Rossia and the Czar is now feeling hurt and left out! Polovtsov seems to think Wei-hai-wei would make a nice Rossian treaty port. Wonder what Dr Fu-Manchu will think if another treaty port is given away?

5) The captured Si-Fan agent in Tangier is reported to be talking to his German captors. Meanwhile in order Orient news the now free Sultan Moulay of the Muurs and his followers have made it to Mauritania and maimed Christian King of Mitassawa has been returned to his Kingdom by the Germans. Are Buzzy and Model etc trying for a bit of peace in the Orient before stepping were Angels fear to tread? Or is Mexico back on the Agenda?

6) Various dinners and diplomacy in the West but probably most worrying is the news that the most infamous Hong of them all Lord Francis Farnworth is now in Lafayette.

7) Indea witness the Cambridge Old Boys defeat the Oxford Old Boys in their annual cricket match and the retirement of Lord Hardinge. Minus a foot but much richer following a spell in Indea Lord Hardinge is returning to this Chairmanship of the HEIC, a seat in the Lords, 20,000 acres of prime shooting in Scotland, a place in Oxford, another in Hampshire with 5 miles of Trout stream plus his London residence No 1, 3, 5 & 7 Sloane Square. Is this the flight of English Nobles from the terror of the Si-Fan or evidence that that the Hong Lords are winning in their struggle for loot, plunder, market share etc?

In more evidence that the spirit of Flashman is alive and well many junior want to be Flashy types were feasted in the Hanging Gardens of Kashgar by his old companion in arms Queen Yehonala of Transoxania. Can anything now stop the Queen and her allies from spreading railways and cricket from Sea to Sea?

10) In Chin the Japanese have rebuilt the Fire of Fire Brewery but seem to have lost all contact with the Warlord Yan Xishan and his men in Shansi. This may be evidence that Shansi is about to fall to Nippon but were is Yan Xishan? Is he now pleading with the Chin Govt and Fu-Manchu for help? Queen Min of Korea has also vanished on a visit to the Doctors but is she now fleeing to seek the help of the Emperor of Nippon or the Emperor of Chin? Meanwhile the Province of Benxi has joined the Russian Empire.

11) Along with dealing with Engineers gone mad on Tiwan, bodyguards who behead post men, being attacked by cats and parrots Akaba Kazuyoshi Prime Minister of Nippon is also dealing with British Hongs who want trade deals while publically employing men wanted for murder and God knows what in the British Empire. Can he also cope with a Queen who wants to borrow his Army and Navy to fight the Russians as well? At least its unlikly that the forces of Nippon will not be able to find the Golden Horde or the Siberian Host will hide in the Mountains.

I must protest Stuart, Mr Glover isn't mad in the least, he & his imainary friend are actually loosley based on someone I used to work with, he actually had a note from the Dr saying he was perfectly sane, just prone to talking to himself( aka Eric). It was sometimes a worrying experience ot go on guard duty with th eman as he was also allowed to carry a gun!

Also it was only the one postman who had an unfortunate industrial accident whilst on his delivery rounds, to date nothing more has been heard from the mysterious figure of Dr Fu, although a TWEET Parrot communications device has been despatched to a location as yet unknown.

The new slogan for the Ring of Fire Brewery is" If the bottom has dropped out of your world, drink our beer & the world will drop out of your bottom!" It may of course lost something in translation from the original.

The cat mentioned in the papers was actually part of an on going line of experiments, Apparently there is a type of monkey in the Java rain forest called the the beared brass monkey if Que manages to get an animal then further experiments may follow, involving low temperatures.

Think this Que chap needs to be reported to the RSPB and the RSPA!

Do not know why but some how I see Dr Fu Manchu as a cat lover and having a long haired white one.

Have just noticed something:

When Queen Min pulled the old "I need to visit a Doctor" trick on the Russian Navy (who seem pleased to see the back of her).

Did anyone think to ask which Doctor? And where?

Following the death of her husband the Queen is know to be on the look out for a "real man".......so with Flashman dec'd is the Queen now going to hook up with Bizzy or Fu-Manchu who is a Doctor?

If Dr Fu-Manchu who hates Brits, Germans, Americans and JAPS meets up with the Queen who hates Russians and JAPS what do they have in common?

Latest turn has appeared,

Seems after the mayhem they caused last month tht the SIFAN  of that naughty Chin Dr chappie are having a bit of a break this month, probably means a double dose of sabotage, murder  general mischief & skullduggery next month. Or Will Bismark land his army on the coast of Chin & blaze a trail to the secret hideout Bier & Bretzels alround.

Wonder if the Rossian navy will send one of it's amazing sinking ships to Nippon so Que can conduct more experiment.

Nippons diplomatic corps has once agian failed to impress, looks like wher ever they tip up to try & make friends some one has already been there first hoisted the flag & either dished out the vodka or marked out the cricket wicket. Bugger.

Maybe the Queen is still looking for a man, Eric the firend of Mr Glover may be just what she is looking for.

Is there any game where the Russians can keep at least one ship above the waterline?

Jason2 wrote:Is there any game where the Russians can keep at least one ship above the waterline?

How many ships have the Russians lost this time? And is it enough to take them to the true and natural place at the top of the "Most Ships lost leader board?"

From memory the Russians have lost a ship or two in action and we have had the famous incident of blocking up their own major Naval port with sunk submarines. Not even sure if these count as "lost" since the Russians know exactly were they are......sat on the bottom of St Petersburg Naval Harbour and not moving.

By my estimate this puts the Russians behind the:

Germans - who are now onto their 4th Fleet - 1st shot up so badly by Ottomans and Russians that they decided to scrap it and rebuild 2nd Fleet so badly built that they scrapped it and shot the builder 3rd Fleet......all Submarines which just sunk.

Amerika (North) - who managed to sink a whole fleet and their Admiral in the ice.

Nippon - who managed to sink a whole fleet in a "divine wind".

French - Lost a lot of ships in two major battles with the Russians.

The question is how many ships do the Russians need to sink to over take some of the above?

With the Russians it's not the number, surely it's the regularity across games? Glory, Scramble...the constant is the Russian fleet will sink.

June 1861 Britannic Times has shown up and for non players of scabble here are the highlights:

- Ship spotters of the world were sad to note that the Russian Navy seems to have put submarine development on hold untill certain technical problems (such as not drowning the crews) can be solved.  Current short and fat design of Russian battleships seem to favour lots of armour, slow speed and gives them ability to operate in enclosed and shallow waters like the Baltic and the Black Sea.  Basically they do not suffer that much damage if you run them aground or crash them into a harbour side.  But now the Russians are trying to built faster class of ships with deeper hulls!

Private ship builders are believed to be considering the sale or hire of of Salvage Tug's to the Russian Navy.

- Meanwhile in other Russian news the Siberian Host seems to have taken over Lao the last province of the Kingdom of Korea and have been joyfully proclaiming the advantages of living under the rule of "Great Czar Alexander, Supreme Hetman & Khan of Khans!" compared to say rule by Manchu, mad postman killing Samurai or opium dealing British Merchants.

- They did not claim any advantages over rule by Junkers and it seems that our Hero "Bizzy" and the Africa Corp are heading east to Chin to sort out Dr Fu-Manchu and people who set fire to German Beer.  What it that about XXXX rush in were Angels fear to tread?

- Not really sure about what is going on in London and in darkest Somerset.  Some girl is up the duff, someone is building a new ship, oh and a load of rifles got lost.  Sounds to me that some people need to take greater precautions!

- Nippon continues the spread of its trade, R & D and culture round the globe inc the silk trade in Berlin, mining in Taiwan helped by mad Scots Engineers with an invisible friend called Eric and the first Nippon Diplomatic delegation sent to the America's.

- Oddly the Japanese diplomats did not go to Washington or even the CSA but to Williamsport in the free Republic of Sonora.  With each passing month the Monroe Doctrine is sinking ever lower in the water.

- Meanwhile in the lands north of the Hindu Kush the "philosophy" seems to be getting ever more intensive with Shangra-La declaring itself a free Greek Polis while in Zanda Abbot Atisa has entered into a debate with followers of the way.

Finally thus months issue ends with more dread words from the Doctor!!!!

"Not really sure about what is going on in London and in darkest Somerset"

No one is ever sure what is going on in Somerset...well, apart from the drinking of cider, that you can be sure of

Jason2 wrote:"Not really sure about what is going on in London and in darkest Somerset"

No one is ever sure what is going on in Somerset...well, apart from the drinking of cider, that you can be sure of

Esp since this year Somerset win the cricket county championship and end 140 years of hurt!

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Jason2 wrote:"Not really sure about what is going on in London and in darkest Somerset"

No one is ever sure what is going on in Somerset...well, apart from the drinking of cider, that you can be sure of

Esp since this year Somerset win the cricket county championship and end 140 years of hurt!

I am still trying to work out if this is linked to the news reports of men running around Somerset in gimp suits...

Brittannic Times for July 1861 has shown up and for non scabble players here are the highlights

1) No news from Somerset but the curse of Dr Fu-Manchu has hit again! Francis Spelding engineer, member of the Opium Cartel and wanted criminal (in India & China?) was working late into the night on a new Port for Osaka when the the Si-Fan came for justice and the life of the Opium Lord. The engineers four body guards killed three attackers for the loss of one of their own, unfortunately their were five attackers and two of them plunged their blades into the Opium smuggler who bleed out shortly after.

2) It has since turned out that the reason Spelding was working late was that the Siamese have supplied the wrong sort of cement for the Osaka docks and the non marine cement is starting to wash out. Prime Minister Kazuyoshi of Nippon has asked the Tea Cartel if they can supply a good quality marine cement but its not clear if he now needs a new Engineer to oversea remedial action on his crumbling Port.

Oddly the now Engineer less Albion Corporation has now gone past the dodgy cement suppliers from the Kingdom of Siam in the Prestige list. Even more oddly the Britannic Times is showing a picture of Czar Alexander as CEO of the Albion Corporation. Does Lord Fernworth the CEO
of the Opium Cartel think the eyes of Justice and the Si-Fan can be fooled so easily?

3) In London the staff of the London Docklands Cantonese Restaurant are trying to post bail for the three knife carrying chefs arrested last month. A job not made easier by the knife murder in Osaka and the the latest claims from Dr Fu-Manchu that he walks unseen in the west. One wonders if the lastest events will lead to attacks all out war in China Towns across the globe between the Opium trading triad gangs and the anti Opium Si-Fan.

4) Old Hickery in the CSA of Amerika is now open. A mining town which mines China Clay.......wonder what the Opium Cartel wants with tons on white powder?

5) In Conroe the wild west show if making its ways to Europa via New Orleans while Prince Gaia is off to Texas were the deer and the Antlelope live and a Cossack can be happy all day. With the Monroe doctrine looking more defective by the day clearly what scabble and the good old US of A needs is a hero even a Yankee Fu-Manchu

6) Talking of Hero's Field Marshal Model's Germans marched into the Mountains of Neme to suffer from Altitude sickness and the locals saking pot shots at them.

7) Someone has destroyed German railways in Bourliuk.

In Bombay Lord Hardinge has handed over to Lord Temple and the HEIC continues building railways as if nothing has changed. The Classical Cambridge scholar Lord Temple has been trying to sort out the claims of Shangra-La to have the rights of an Hellanistic Greek Polis due to its original founding by Alexander the Great. Oddly some locals are claiming that Alaxander the Great is still their rightful ruler and is due to return.

No one is sure if Alaxander is due to return as a new Balkai leader who will reclaim Constantinople and the throne of Persia or if they think Alexander the Great has been reborn as Alaxander II, Czar of Russia, Supreme Hetman and Khan & Khans. The Russian Czar may claim to be a lot of things but the claim that he is Alexander the Great reborn will no doubt be news in St Petersburg.

9) Meanwhile in Zanda the locals responded to the invasion of the HEIC not with Philosophy but with Theology. Its as if the locals have decided that fighting the HEIC is a good way to lose and lose quickly so trying to drown them in red tape and stage claims is the way to go.i

August 1861 Britannic Times has shown up and there must be some mis-print since even through tons of nasty stuff happened to the poor old HEIC this month its actually showed up on the Prestige list! Ok at the bottom behind a anti-semitic, xenophobic and russocentric Czar, two drug smugglers and the Empire of Nippon (enough said).

Actually their is (I hope ) a mis-print since on the front page the Britannic Times has a picture of Czar Alexander II headed CEO of the Albion Corporation!! Meanwhile away from the front page.

1) Lord Derby returned to London and reports of a Police Raid on a suspected Si-fan or Triad base which turned up £218,135 profits on a declared restaurant revenue of £569. Pity the courts had just freed the suspects on £30,000 bail.

2) Lady Weatherbee is with child and staying in Darkest Somerset.........really not sure why this is news....unless the new Master Weatherbee is called Damian.

3) In Lady Weatherbee homeland Private Detective Gavin Williams has reported that the Lutheran Sisters of Mercy are actually Satanists. Since he reported it to General Grant who is normally drunk by 10.00am due to the self medication he takes due to a tomahawk wound to the chest its unlikely that this report will get anywhere.

4) Also in the America's the the Brits seem to be going in for a lot of building inc Lord Francis Farnworth new town of "Franton" near the "Franton coal mine." The Russians are buiding railways, The Confederate States are testing Nippon made Mauser Rifles while in the first HEIC linked disaster the London & Canada fur company managed to lose several factors and a lot of rifles in a fur trade deal which went really, really wrong!

5) In Sapoune Patriarch Vakulovsky latest sermon sent some of the congregation to sleep......one hopes its not the opium!

6) In 2nd HEIC linked disaster the ISB lost a whole squad

7) In 3rd disaster some total ***** wrecked my train lines and telegraph lines in Chitral. The Oxford types and Classical scholars in the HEIC were perfectly happy so discuss the rights of a Greek Polis over a nice cup of tea and an angel cake now it looks like someone is have to get shot!

The good news for the HEIC is that Dhule is now a client and Zanda is now part of the HEIC aligned Kingdom of Transoxania. But Kashgar is still not seeing the "way" which is a pity since the troops in action here really need to be elsewhere explaining why you do not ruin a chaps railways! And esp not the really expensive ones in "Artic" area's.

9) Japanese forces have withdrawn from Shansi which is probably only going to encourage Dr Fu-Manchu. However his assassination of Francis Spalding only seems to have delayed not stopped the dock development with the Tea Cartel taking over the job from the Albion chaps.

Looking at 7, do you think it was the SiFan or someone else?

Jason2 wrote:Looking at 7, do you think it was the SiFan or someone else?

Could be the Si-Fan but I doubt they would go past lots of much more attractive targets to spoil what at the end of the day is a fancy hill station?

What I do suspect the Si-Fan may be behind is No 6 and the missing ISB squad in Bombay.

Sept 1861 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scabble players here are the light lights:

1) In Darkest Somerset were the cider apples grow it turns out that the mother of little Lord Weatherbee can not count and he is now due to enter into his Kingdom.....I mean bor....in October (probably all sauls eve?). Sure everything will be fine provided they do not call him Damian.

2) Meanwhile in Darkest Washington .....General Grant has shut down the Sisters of Mercy mission on the ground's that they are Satanists. But surely the American right to freedom of Religion applies to everyone inc the Church of Satan?

3) General Grant is not however getting everything his own way since in the Satanic stronghold of New York work has started on a new Albion Bank Branch with special twisty tower. And while the good General is dealing with new foes.........if you go down in the woods today your chances of getting shot and scalped by old foes of General Grant (the 5 Nations of the Mohox) seem to be getting higher by the month.

- The Brits seem to have adopted the long term plan of dumping a lot of free ex-griata rifles in the Mohox lands. Probably in the hope that the Mohox will later trade furs for bullets but as a side effect the America (North) drive to the west is now even more bogged down in miles and miles of trees than before and its no Teddy Bears pic-nic.

4) Down South parts of the CSA is mulling over train deals, while one Augusto Santos Belaude (who he?) is talking about the cattle trade in Senora. Sadly alongside all this civilized talk in San Angelo the Old Abe gang is talking ransoms for one Prince Gaia Dmitrievich:shock:

- Is Old Abe aware what happened what happened the last time someone mis-used one of the Czars diplomatic staff?

5) King Mongkut is back from his religious retreat - not sure if his Majesty achieved enightenment or not but Siam diplonats suddenly active in southern Africa and Siamese Brothels in Europe are now liable for 14% tax on profits at home and a 2% tax has been placed on cat exports to Nippon - and I have no clue as to what is behind his majesties tax changes.

6) In India Lord Henry Temple Viscount Palmerston is looking for missing police in Bombay, Captain Fisher has sun stroke in El-Bakti and the Alexandrian rebels in Chitral have wrecked schools and dug up cricket pitches to show their dislike of their Queens alliance with the HEIC and her policy of trying to drag Chitral into the C19 and give it the advantages of railways, telegraphs, trade, tourism, wider selection of foods and its children an education and a life long love of cricket.

- Across India the general opinion is that the Alexandrians have been smoking too much of the Opium corporations finest & the HEIC and the Royalist will now smite the defilers of cricket pitches with furious anger and hanging the defilers telegraph poles with telegraph wire is too good for such opium sodden degenerates.

7) In Jaffna Sir Ian Steele is talking to Sultan Dravidi about a British alliance while even further east the talk is how to complete the Port of Osaka after Dr Fu Manchu ruined its development by a mix of sweet (supply of cement as wrong and its no all washing out) and sour (his Si-fan murdered the Engineer in charge of Port Construction).

- With the Prime Minister of Nippon & Henry Puttman now involved it would seem that Osaka is to get a modern port but one no longer under Albion Corporation control.

October 1861 Britannic Times has shown up and for in particular fans of the Russian Navy here are the highlights:

1) After battling through a huge and prolonged hurricane in the Sea of Mexico which sent ten Russian merchant ships to the bottom a Russian Naval force made it to Galveston and the Russian Imperial ensign in now flying over the sparkling waters of the Galveston Bay and Cossack Cavalry is riding in the Streets.

Apart from Russian Tour companies wanting to put their beach towels out on the best sea side spots ahead Germans people can see two possible reasons why the Russians are visiting Western Waters a) Some nasty people have kidnapped a envoy of the Czar and b) Galveston in one end of the cross America Russian train line.

2) In the Wild West the kidnapped Russian envoy tried to talk his way out over a friendly game of Poker. Sadly, he totally failed to lose to Old Ambraham Dalton who stormed of in a huff which ended the chance of any talks. Looks like the Czar will need to pay the ransom if he wants his envoy back. The question then is will Old Abe live long enough to spend it? Some people view paying ransoms and the like as part of the cost of doing diplomacy but the Czar is not one of them. Already one Russian General has issued that famous Western Challenge to the kidnappers of "are you feeling lucky punk?". Some how I do not see this ending well!

3) Meanwhile the other end of the Russian Railway in Sonora seems to be getting flooded with Peruvians as "El Presidente" aims to spread the influence of the Peruvian Republic northwards. The Peruvians will not doubt be more welcome if they include an engineer as the railway line from Williamsport in Senora to Gallveston currently seems to have a large gap in the middle!

4) In other Russian Railway problems the construction of railways in Slavya has had to be abandoned due to rock falls

5) In contrast the Brits now have a north/south link operative in the America's and line from Osaka to Tokyo even if the later achievment almost cost them the life of a second engineer at the hands of the Si-fan. An attack foiled by Mr Puttman bodyguards. Also in Latur the Brits signed up another railway concessions.......Rajah Atharva Dutta welcomed Sir William Hamilton over a nice cup of tea and cake and secured £50,000 downpayment, a annual fee and a planning deal which included a network of schools (with cricket pitches). Clearly the correct way of dealing with the HEIC is spreading.

6) In other diplomatic dealings in the Indian neck of the woods Sultan Yakub Beg and the clan chiefs of Kashgar finally agreed to swear loyalty to Queen Yehonala. This was a more old style diplomatic deal with gold & Indian cottons given to the clans backed up with the threat of being shot full of holes as the alternative.

7) Not such good news for the Brits in Indea was the sad death of Admiral Fisher from a fever and the robbery of the Delhi Branch of the Standard Chartered Bank by four masked and armed men. Plus the finding of the Judicial investigation that the Wahda mining disaster was nothing to do the Si-Fan and a lot to do with the gross neglience of the Mr James Cornel and the Wardha Prospecting Office in allowing the escape of stored water from their property onto another property they own. The Rylands-Fletcher rule established in British Law a strict liability for allowing the escape of Hazard subsidences so legally Mr Cornel would seem to be toast!

In other news:

Someone ransacked the Brest Home of the inventor Msr Giffard.

9) Some German merchant ships almost had a nasty accident when they sailed onto a British Naval Gunnery range.

10) Lady Weatherbee has given birth to a son down in darkest Somerst......to the relief of many he has not been called Damian.

11) General Model tuba in hand has lead his troops deep into the baking sands and genie infested wilderness of the El Hamra desert. From which it is said only the strongest and best protected minds return as sane and not nutty as a box of peanut brittle with extra nut sauce.
But as Model is close to Bismark and the Kaiser its doubtful if anyone will notice the difference.

12) Meanwhile as if things could not get anymore messed up in Chin our hero Otto von Bismarck has stepped ashore in Tsing-Tao minus Army, bodyguards, mistress and Tuba. What is that about were Angels fear to tread? Bizzy would seem to be stepping into the Heart of Darkness that is Si-Fan but what exactly does he hope to achieve?

Nov 1861 Britannic Times has shown up and here are the highlights for non players of Scabble

1) German light forces lead by Admiral Max von der Goltz raid anchorage of Ottoman fleet in Istamboul - resulting in German Naval Disaster. Particular problem being that German Submarines had to surface to fire their torpedoes and Ottomans were already on alert after torpedo boat attack which had been driven back by Ottoman Cruisers.

German losses 4 Submarines, 1 Torpedo boat and an Admiral V 1 damaged Ottoman Cruiser which some how survived a torpedoe amidships and below the water line to limp into Port.

2) London Govt has put a massive £50m price on the head of Doctor Fu-Manchu......which will probably just make him even more big headed.

3) HEIC paid out £120m in dividends to shareholders plus bonus payments to staff and some shareholders still moaned

4) Reported dark doing's in Somerset & what are Suratis doing meeting with William Gladstone in Oxfordshire?

5) Also what are Wolves doing in Washington DC? Apart from knocking over the bins of Eugene Francois Vidocq (PI)

6) The CSA has confirmed that the Russian Trans Pacfic Railway company can build railways in Texas & Louisiana. With the CSA already linked to Canada and the British via a North South link President Stephens no doubt hopes to link the CSA linked with the West Coast before his damn Yankee rivals get round on the bins knocked over in their capital.

7) One possible problem for the CSA is that they wanted to meet Prince Iszhishkian to confirm deal. But the Prince is still held captive by the Old Abe gang.

Peruvian influence influence continues to spread north in Sonora and California or should that he "tries to spread north" as some perple "do not like their sort"..........perhaps Peruvian influence would do better in Mexico and away from area's full of Gringo's???!!!

9) Mr James Cornel and the Albion corporation have been found responsible for the damage and deaths caused by the escape of water from their mines with the Public Inquiry finding that strict liability for the storage of dangerous material under the Rylands V Fletcher rule applies. The enquiry also wants Mr Cornel to be charged with manslaughter but Mr Cornel seems to have vanished. Is he on the run from Indian Police or has Dr Fu-Manchu caught up with a man responsible for hundreds of dead Asians and trusted aide to infamous Opium smugglers ?

10) Adding to Albions problems the Tea Cartel wants to take over the building of a new Port for Osaka but they are offering toasts to Francis Farnworth in Hong Kong.......Is Sir George looking to get sacked?

11) Finally, the Czar might have believed that the rock falls which caused work on Russian Railways in Slavya to stop but he is probably not going to believe cut down telegraph poles had a natural cause............escaped Japanese Beaver?

Thanks for the update Stuart

Am I missing something though, looking back at your recent summaries, I can't see why Germania is attacking the Ottomans...

On Dr Fu Manchu, I am not sure about big headed but I do recall he was supposed to have a large forehead.  Interestingly in a Sherlock Holmes-Fu Manchu crossover book "10 years beyond Baker Street" it is noted they both look vaguely alike, including  a large forehead...perhaps in Scramble Fu Manchu is just Sherlock in disguise?

Dark going-ons in Somerset...ism't that just Normal For Somerset?

Jason2 wrote:Thanks for the update Stuart

Am I missing something though, looking back at your recent summaries, I can't see why Germania is attacking the Ottomans...

On Dr Fu Manchu, I am not sure about big headed but I do recall he was supposed to have a large forehead.  Interestingly in a Sherlock Holmes-Fu Manchu crossover book "10 years beyond Baker Street" it is noted they both look vaguely alike, including  a large forehead...perhaps in Scramble Fu Manchu is just Sherlock in disguise?

Dark going-ons in Somerset...ism't that just Normal For Somerset?

Germania and the Ottomans have been bickering mostly at sea for most of the game.  With various Naval attacks on each others forces.

The fact that Germania has had to rebuild its fleet at least twice (now three times?) has however resulted in large gaps between these clashes.  I do wonder if the Germans had been able to take out the Ottoman fleet if they would have then followed up with a proper invasion of the Ottoman Empire?

Sherlock Holmes = Fu Manchu ........oddly Sherlock was around in early issues but vanished after the HEIC caught his side kick Dr Watson leaving one of their works with Blue Prints for a new machine gun.  To the great horror of his solicitors Dr Watson was up before a Military Court and was shot the next day.  Just before they got a civil Judge to order Dr Watson's freedom.

Think this case or one like it went all the way to the House of Lords which proved to be packed with HEIC shareholders.  The Judge who ordered the freeing of Dr Watson is now believed to be Lord Chief Justice of St Helena or perhaps a Scots Island and Sherlock vanished with a HEIC price on his head.  The HEIC is noted for getting very upset when people damage its railways or pinch its blue prints.

If Sherlock Holmes is Fu-Manchu could the death of Flashman be revenge for Dr Watson?

Now there's an interesting idea behind Flashman's death...and in the book I mentioned, there is a scene where Holmes impersonates Fu Manchu, with such conviction that not only are Nathan Smith and Dr Petrie taken in but so is a member of the SiFan (who mistakes Holmes/Fu Manchu's instruction to "cower" for "commit suicide")...so maybe there is something in my casual musings (it's a habit I have I'm afraid)

Thanks for the Germania-Ottoman explanation, must admit had forgotten that.

Dec 1861 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scabble players here are the low light:

1) In a shocking development infamous drug lord, CEO of the Albion corporation and known ally of criminals and liberal party leaders.....Lord Farnworth Junior (Lord Farnworth Senior gunned down in Berlin by a Nun!) has made it to the top of the Britannic Times Prestige list. Which just shows what you can do with a couple of Christmas parties and control of a large chunk of the Press.

2) But its not all good news for the noble(?) lord and his chums in the Opium Cartel. They seem to have made no progress with bring Dr Fu-Manchu to justice over the murder of Mr Francis Spelding but Peter Fay is now offering a £300,00 reward for information on the infamous anti opium & anti western leader of the boxer movement. Meanwhile James Cornel their man in India was so busy wining and dining chums in Nagpur that he failed to respond to a legal order to show up in person to the inquest into the Wardha mining disaster. James did send a legal team to talk a lot of rot about stuff nothing to do with the subject of the inquiry and who had no knowledge of mining safty and what went wrong in Wharda which resulted in the inquest making no progress at all..........probably what James intended all along.

- Sadly for James and his mates in the Albion corporation owned Wardha Propecting office the Law Lords in Bombay were not at all impressed by such dodgy legal tactics and have sentenced James to six months in Prison for contempt of Court and found the payment of compensation to dec'd miners to be an admission of liability under the Rylands v Fletcher rule on unsafe storage.

3) James Cornel chums in Nagpur seem to consider the deaths of the miners a "petty" matter and will no doubt view the contempt of court charge to be "vindictive" and yet another reason to be annoyed with the HEIC. To add to their current gripe that the HEIC is paying too high wages and starving its rivals of the best and most skilled workers. Such "gripes" are leading to talk that a new Prince of Nagpur is needed keep the workers in their proper place and challenge the HEIC dominance!

4) Meanwhile in Gujerat crack troops of the HEIC finished their desert training and over a spot of tiffin looked out over the Indus and considered that on the Indian side it is "civilised and a fair place of law, order, trade and cricket". While on the other side is a "land of darkness, crushed under the tyranny of slavers, bandits and Afghan warlords where the rules of law and cricket do not apply."

- Could it be that the John Company Army is looking the wrong way? And the Wardha Light Infantry Regiment should be looking at enemies rather closer to home??

5) Dark doing's in Darkest Somerset........Why are Chineses property interests looking to invest money in Somerset? What are troops from Yorkshire doing in Somerset? Why are members of the Police going missing? Why were seven Chinese Guests arrested at gun point in the village of Rodhuish? No one seems to have a clue but are dark and satanic forces at work in Gods own county?

6) Dark and satanic forces still are work in Washington DC but that is fairly normal. Gideon Nye tried to lift the mood of gloom with a party but the fact that security was provided by 150 Confederate gunslingers probably did not no a lot to lighten mood in Washington.

7) More news to darken the mood in Washington DC is the news that Mr Glover San and his Nippon business partners have won contract to build railway and telegraph lines in San Antonio, Texas and Louisiana for the Russian owned Trans Pacific Railway company.

- On completion this will put the western states within almost touching distance of the CSA and Canadian railway systems. Meanwhile the Union railway system ends in weeds and decay at the edge of the Mohox woods.

Offering more evidence to the development of the CSA compared to the Union........Al Crighton's Wild West show as premiered in St Petersburg to packed out audiences.

9) Not such good news for other merchants from the America's when a Peruvian merchant ship sunk in waters near Portsmouth after hitting the wreck of a Royal Navy target ship. Its not clear in Peru will sue the Navy in British Courts or use a diplomatic approach.

10) In terrible news from China our hero "Bizzy" is ill, while the German merchant marine can only transport a single battalion. Seems the German Navy transport fleet can not help unless it gets a new Admiral.....their last Admiral being sunk by the Ottomans.

11) Very, very baffling telegrams leaked by the office of the Prime Minister of Nippon. No one now has a clue who is building the new Port of Osaka.

12) Prince Gaia freed in San Angelo after ransom paid...........this is probably not the end of matter........revenge a dish best served with Vodka?!

Stuart Bailey wrote:Dec 1861 Britannic Times has shown up and for non scabble players here are the low light:


5) Dark doing's in Darkest Somerset........

So just a normal day?