The Chateau Hougomont in Second Life

The Famous Landmark recreated in Antiquity Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo is, arguably, the most famous battle in modern times.
The defense of the Chateau Hougomont was a key factor in the victory of the Allied forces in the overall Battle. Wellington, in overall command of the Anglo/Belgian/Dutch side, established a fighting line on a ridge just outside of a sleepy village called Waterloo. As was oftimes the case with armies under his command, he positioned his troops on the reverse slope from the direction of the French advance, to protect them from artillery fire. The three notable exceptions were (from left to right) a small walled Chateau named Hougomont, a small village named La Haye Sainte, and a smaller village named Pappelotte. These were occupied and frotified with the intention of breaking up a general advance by the French. This tactic certainly contributed to victory for Wellington. Napoleon was not in form the day of battle, and concentrated on the center at La Haye Sainte, to the detriment of maneover. Napoleon planned to draw Wellington's reserve to Wellington's right flank in defence of Hougoumont and then attack through the centre left of the British and allies' front near La Haye Sainte.

Wellington recorded in his despatches "at about ten o'clock [Napoleon] commenced a furious attack upon our post at Hougoumont" The historian Andrew Roberts notes that, "It is a curious fact about the battle of Waterloo that no one is absolutely certain when it actually began." The house and its immediate environs were defended by four light companies of Coldstream Guards and the wood and park by Hanoverian Jäger and the 1/2nd Nassau. Elements of the 95th Rifles were also nearby in the famous "sand pit", skirmishing with the advancing Frenchmen.

Before the battle started, Hougoumont and its gardens, located on the allies' right flank, were hastily garrisoned and fortified by the light company of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards under the command of Lt-Colonel Henry Wyndham, in the farm and chateaux, and the light company of the 2nd Battalion, Third Guards, under Lt-Colonel Charles Dashwood, in the garden and grounds. (Both part of General John Byng's 2nd Brigade of Guards.) The two light companies of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, First Guards were initially positioned in the orchard, under the command of Lt-Colonel Lord Saltoun. Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell, Coldstream Guards, had overall command of Hougoumont. It was Macdonnell's men, in the main, that would bear the brunt of the furious French attacks during the course of the day.



A VERY SMALL portion of the attack is recreated below by reenactors:



I received a very excited summons from Colonel Exrex Somme last night, to show me the new build in Antiquity Waterloo.



The build appears to be the work of Alonzo Rosca and delacanardiere Pera and is very "early days" yet-- nowhere near complete. Yet one can already see the lines of the famous Chateau taking shape in world.



The texture and scaling seem fairly accurate to me; certainly the layout is close to 1:1







One can hope that the designer's goals of a full scale inworld RP of the Battle of Hougomont come to fruition.



If wand when it does.. some of us will have already have the means of dressing appropriately. (grin)



I was quite thrilled to see this build taking shape. I can easily envision the grounds to be perfect for inworld skirmish and military roleplaying.

Sailing around Saint Kitt's Island.

I visited the new Crown Colony of Caledon, Saint Kitt's Island, the night it opened up. Seems like a nice place.. already looking a tad like a Victorian yard sale, but that's to be expected when people let their hair down.

For more on Saint Kitt's, I refer you to the authoritative article from the Royal Society.

There's plenty of sea room around Saint Kitt's; it has a channel down the middle and sea room all the way around it.. Here I am, sailing a small Tako around the island.. but rotoscoped as an experiment. Do indulge me. The music is "The Sicilian Clan" by John Zorn.

Aloha, Chaps!

More storytelling at the Anvil

A most satisfactory tale-spinning session at the Anvil last night. There were a few newcomers, both of which composed as they told. The theme was "May Day", Rites of spring, etc.



The traditional beer garden setting was passed over in favor of the informal cluster around the tables as in days of yore.



After last month's chilly reception to OIL OF DOG, I opted to retell a few traditional Cambodian folk tales.

The first was THE ORIGIN OF THE TIGER:

A long time ago, there lived a great king who ruled over a rich Kingdom. He had a wise and beautiful Queen, four Chief Ministers, a Royal Astrologer, who always helped the king make decisions, and a whole class of Mandarins and great Officials to perform all the honors for the king.

But unfortunately, neither the King, nor the four chief Ministers knew anything of magic practices, which were so necessary for victory in battle. Because of this the king was very worried about his kingdom. As he got older, he worried that if an army should invade his Kingdom, it might be easily overrun.

One day, early in the morning, the King, accompanied by the Queen, went to his Throne Room. The Royal Astrologer, all the Mandarins and Officials, and the four Chief Ministers were prostrated for the Royal Audience. It was then that the King formed the idea of going to learn magic with a great and famous teacher called Tisabamokkha, who lived in the far-off kingdom of Takkasila. There they found Tisabamokkha and asked him to instruct them in magic, which the great teacher did.

So the King and his whole retinue were taught magic practices. They learned how to change themselves easily into all kinds of animals and heavenly beings.

When they had learned all that their teacher could tell them, the King decided it was time to return to their own Kingdom. He set out on his journey again accompanied by the Queen, the Royal Astrologer and the four Chief Ministers. After they had traveled for three whole days from Takkasila, they got lost in a huge forest. They had eaten all the food they had brought with them and they began to eat all the roots and berries they could find. The king began to worry that perhaps he would die so he called all the other members of the group together. "Our end may be near because we have no food to keep us alive, what should we do?" The Royal Astrologer suggested to the king "perhaps we should use the magic which we learned to turn ourselves into a tiger, then we could catch other animals to eat. We could wait until we got back to our own Kingdom to turn ourselves back into humans again. The other members of the group all agreed with the Astrologer's idea. Which part of the tiger's body do you each wish to be?" the king asked. The four Chief Ministers wanted to turn into the four legs of the tiger, the Astrologer into the tiger's tail and the Queen into the tiger's body. The tiger's head was left for the king himself.

So they all recited the magic formulae to transform their bodies and . . . there stood a Royal Tiger. Soon the Tiger felt quite hungry and bounded off to catch deer and antelope to eat. After a time, the Tiger was so happy that he forgot to return to his own Kingdom. He did not regret his wonderful new life.

This is how there came to be tigers in the world which are stronger than any other animals. When the tiger goes off to hunt for his prey, the tail, waving from side to side and guiding him on is the Royal Astrologer; the supple, pliant body is the Queen, that wise woman; the four strong feet of the tiger, with their sharp claws, are the four Chief Ministers; and the head, awesome and majestic as it looks around, is the King greater and more powerful than all the other kings.

This got a good reception, so I told a Feghoot next and another Cambodian folk story, THE TRIAL. We heard a fairy tale from Sweetlyso and a traditional Hawaiian story from a Miss Lamia Lamington. Gnarli recited a poem by in the style of Poe. Gilbert told a very familiar fairy tale with a twist.

Thank, Mr. Stern, for opening your pub up for our monthly event!

The Second SLRFL Compliments Duel at Loch Avie

Second Life Relay For Life Compliments Duel, a reprise of last year's contest between Mr. J.J. Drinkwater and Colonel Exrex Somme. If you recall last year's contest, Colonel Somme pulled it off in one vote. This year, Mr. Drinkwater returned the compliment and won by one vote.







I have prepared a short magick lantern show for your edification.



Larger Images here

The Lancers were there in some numbers, to show support for their chief. The Skyplat where the event transpired was packed, between fifty and sixty people showed up.



The "Duel" trappings from contests past-- seconds, a formal volley of compliments of sorts, were done away with. So the "Duel" is more of a performance piece these days. Still, the event was VERY well attended and raised a substantial amount of money for cancer research.

Well done gentlemen, the real winner was RFL.



(thanks to Eva B. for a few of these)

Three Cool Dudes...

Mr. Tinlegs dropped by as we were getting the stage set for the Compliments Duel II. He showed Exrex and I his new Seraglio in the sky. Quite posh.



The ship, as yet unnamed, is a moveable palace in the sky.



Work is done on the stage for the Duel, which you may recall from last year in July, when I was a second to Colonel Somme. The new duel is set for Sunday, 11 May at 11 AM 2 PM SLT. Alas, my services as a second are not required this year!



I hope to see you all there!

Podcasting: 100 Word Challenge 108 voting is posted

The theme was "Gold"

If you care to vote, the URL to do so is here

My entry is below..

Steampunk.. hip enough for the New York Times

Check out Ruth La Perla's article in the New York Times: Steampunk Moves Between Two Worlds

Quite entertaining stuff, quoting a lot of sources many of us already know. We've hit the big time, chaps.

Sat Nav from 1927

The Daily Mail recently ran a story about this eccentric wrist navigation device, invented 80 years or so before the widespread use of satellite GPS systems for drivers. I'm impressed with the sturdy elegance of this simple concept. A scrollable map is loaded in the "watch" device. As the driver drives along, he or she scrolls up to show where the car is on the journey as it motors along.

I think it's ingenious, myself. I can see there might be a problem with widescale acceptance of the idea back in 1927.. some ideas are ahead of their time. This isn't exactly steampunk (by about thirty years or more) but it has a steampunky feel to it.

Photograph copyright Phillip Toscano 2008

The new Hobo Island..

The word went out last night from Orhalla himself.. Hobos now have an island to play on.

There's not much to look at yet.



Being hobos, the empty space started filling fast..



I rather liked the little miniature railroad.



The thing inside my hat seemed eager to register his approval.



Myself, I'm not so sure. It's early days yet. Thematically, the Calleta hub is far superior but the hobo builders haven't started in earnest yet.



In a larger sense, I wonder at the need for a "Hobo Homeland". I've been a hobo since 2006.. and their ethic was always about sharing, giving, and being homeless. Having a dedicated "Homeland" that someone will have to pay tier on seems a little against the grain.

/me shrugs. We can always call it Big Rock Candy Mountain, and turn it into Hobo Fantasyland..

GOLD: A short short story

Words here