It's "Dispatches"' birthday, but the presents are for you!

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URGENT URGENT URGENT URGENT URGENT
PRIZE NEWS UPDATE!! PRIZE NEWS UPDATE!!
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Thanks to the generosity of Andrew Taylor and Antediluvian Miniatures, the "Lost World" prize has been augmented by an Iguanadon and a Megalosaurus. While the explorers will ship from my place in the States, the dinosaurs will ship from Antediluvian central in the UK.
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July 8 is the third blogiversary of "Dispatches from the Rim," and I've decided to do a giveaway to celebrate. It's also a celebration of my upcoming birthday (next Wednesday) and a milestone that I overlooked about a month back -- "Dispatches" passed 50,000 pageviews!

There are going to be there different prizes, each geared toward different areas on which we steampunk skirmish wargamers tend to focus.

· MARS
A boxed set of Games Workshop Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii. They can be assembled as either rangers (hoods) or as vanguard (helmets).

I know plenty of us are planning to use these figures as some faction on Mars. Here's a chance to get a jump start.

· THE LOST WORLD
A set of the three new Lost World explorers from Antediluvian Miniatures. Who doesn't want Peter Cushing, Doug McClure and a fur bikini-clad Raquel Welch fighting dinosaurs in the Earth's interior?

· GOOD OL' BLIGHTY
A set of five Victorian firefighters from Brigade Games. Set to defend Trumpton or wherever you decide, these firemen bear a certain unkempt dignity. Are they putting out fires or setting them? Up to you!

So, how do you get in on this giveaway? Simply comment on this post and tell me which order you would rank them as your favorites, or which you would want most. You don't have to be a public follower of this blog, but it would make me very happy if you were. We're nearing 100, and it would be cool if this were the event that pushed us over.

On July 15th, my birthday, I'll randomly select three commenters and award the prizes as best I can in order of their preferences.

All the minis are brand new, unpainted plastic or white metal.

When you comment, don't forget to tell me the order in which you would prefer the prizes. All you have to put is "Lost World. Blighty. Mars." for example.

Feel free to share this around on your own blogs, Facebook pages and groups, or other social media. The more, the merrier.

OK, back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the table soon.

Happy blogiversary to me!

Somehow, in the chaos of the past several weeks, I failed to realize that "Dispatches from the Rim" is now over a year old! We passed that date on July 8.

Thank you, readers and followers and innocent passers-by. Thank you to those I can count on for comments and conversation, both here and on Facebook. Thank you for your kind and encouraging words about the brief pieces of fiction I've written to introduce you to the denizens of my steampunk London. And thank you to my fellow bloggers covering this corner of the wargaming world: You all are ever a source of delight and inspiration. 

As we go forward into the next year of "Dispatches" -- having passed over 14,000 page views, something that totally shocks me -- I promise I'll give you more of the same. Expect reviews of the minis and materials I buy, explorations of the many Kickstarters that lure me in, write-ups of the war bands I'm going to field in my Victorian steampunk games, as well as some new factions I've been thinking about for same. And expect more characters from that same dark place, who will contend, confront and consort with the likes of Synryll Voolge, the beautiful Miss Rossum and Gulth Deathroll.

I also intend to give you entirely new things. Like pictures of minis I've painted. As soon as I paint some. But I swear on the beard of John Blanche that I will get some newly painted minis completed and posted to this blog. Definitely! I mean, the painting is my favorite part of the hobby, really. It's just making the effort. Which I promise you I will. After all, you -- and I -- deserve it.

Once the minis are painted, that opens the door to some games, and to battle reports, and to something I'm looking forward to: setting up a way for Tracey to observe the gaming table on her computer without having to leave her chair. I've a few ideas bubbling away in my subconscious, and I look forwarding to sharing them with you when I get ready to begin the project. I've already chatted a little with styx about this, and I hope you'll all join in with your own ideas once we begin.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, and thanks again for a wonderful year. Here's to many more!