Even more model buildings

Bouyed up by my recent success, I decided to paint and base some more model buildings. I started with a 15mm resin farm barn that I bought some time ago on eBay. (It was sold as being manufactured by Hovels ... but I am not absolutely sure that it is.)

I then painted two model buildings that I bought during out last visit to Tallinn in Estonia.

I used the same technique that I had used on my previous batch of buildings although I did use white rather than beige as the main colour used to dry brush the buildings.

Note: The left-hand model is based on a real building in Tallinn, the bar/restaurant Peppersack.

I am now looking around for even more buildings to paint.

The Imperial Japanese Navy … in 1/1200th-scale: The collection continues to grow … as does the rest of my model ship collection

My collection of Imperial Japanese Navy warships continues to grow. The latest additions are:

IJNS Uranami, IJNS Asagari, IJNS Shirayuki, and IJNS Hatsuyuki (all Fubuki-class destroyer), as well as a Natsushimo-class destroyer (although I’m not sure that the listing is correct as it looks like it is yet another Fubuki-class destroyer to me!), …

(2,090 tons; 38 knots; 6 x 5-inch guns; 18 depth charges; 9 x 24-inch torpedo tubes

…a Kaba-class destroyer, …

(850 tons; 30 knots; 1 x 4.7-inch gun; 3 x 3-inch guns; 4 x 18-inch torpedo tubes)

… and a Chikuma-class light cruiser.

(5,000 tons; 26 knots; 8 x 6-inch guns; 4 x 3-inch guns; 3 x 18-inch torpedo tubes)

The latter pair of ships were out of service by December 1941. The Kaba-class destroyers served during World War I but were scrapped in the early 1930s. The three Chikuma-class light cruisers were either scrapped before World War II or were retained in secondary roles and didn’t see active service.

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I was also able to add a model of the pre-dreadnought USS Idaho which was sold to Greece before World War I and became the Kilkis. She had become a static training ship by 1939 and was sunk by Luftwaffe aircraft in the Salamis Naval Base on 23rd April 1941 during the German invasion of Greece.

(14.465 tons; 17 knots; 4 x 12-inch guns; 8 x 8-inch guns; 8 x 7-inch guns; 12 x 3-inch guns; 6 x 3-pounder QF guns; 2 x 1-pounder QF-guns; 2 x 21-inch torpedo tubes)

Some more model buildings

Once I had the bit between my teeth, I decided to paint and base some more model buildings. I found two 15mm resin buildings that I bought some time ago on eBay. They were described as being made by Hovels, but I have no idea if they were.

I used the same technique that I had used on my previous batch of buildings, and they ended up looking like this:

I am now looking around for some more buildings to paint.

The Imperial Japanese Navy … in 1/1200th-scale: Some resin aircraft carriers

Before I bought a metal model of the Japanese aircraft carrier IJNS Kaga online, I had already ordered a 3D printed resin model. It – and a model of the IJNS Akagi – were recently delivered.

IJNS Kaga

(38,200 tons; 28 knots; 10 x 7.9-inch guns; 16 x 5-inch AA guns; 22 x 25mm AA guns; 90 aircraft)

IJNS Akagi

(41,300 tons; 31.5 knots; 6 x 7.9-inch guns; 16 x 5-inch AA guns; 28 x 25mm AA guns; 91 aircraft)

I have yet to paint these models, but hope to do so soon.

I am still thinking a lot about my future wargaming ... and I have been keeping myself busy whilst I do so

Last month, I mentioned that I had been doing a lot of thinking about my future wargaming and that I had been considering several ideas and possible strategies. That process is still ongoing, although my ideas are beginning to crystallize.

In the meantime, I have been trying to use my time constructively. Rather than paint figures, and spurred on by the success of my repaint of the resin model of Tallinn's famous Viru Gate, I decided to paint some model buildings that I constructed whilst I was bedridden last year.

I used the same basic technique (and colours) that I used on the model of the Viru Gate. In other words, all the models were given a dark grey undercoat (Humbrol No.67) and the majority were then dry brushed with beige (Revell No.314). The roof tiles were repainted using carmine red (Revell No.36) and dry brushed with a 3:1 mixture of carmine red and beige. The details were then picked out in a number of other colours. Once they were finished, each building was mounted on a 3mm-thick MDF base that was flocked with fine cork granules.

The resulting buildings looked like this:

I was so impressed by the end results that I have actually bought another example of Faller's 1965-vintage 'Old town block' model (Code number B-924) to build and paint.

REINSTATED!

My Amazon KPD account has been reinstated and all my books are back and on sale again!

Thanks to everyone for their support and advice … and particularly to Graham Evans, who pointed me in the right direction when it came to communicating with Amazon KPD.

At 12.20pm I was sent the following email by Amazon KPD:

Hello,

Thank you for your email concerning the status of your account.

After reviewing your response, we have reinstated your account and you may submit titles for possible publication.

To ensure the account remains in good standing, take the following actions:

• Review your catalog and unpublish any titles that do not comply with the Content Guidelines: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G200672390
• Review your catalog and unpublish any titles where you do not have the necessary publishing rights
• Ensure that future titles comply with our Content Guidelines and that you hold the necessary publishing rights.

As a reminder, finding additional violations of our Content Guidelines may negatively impact your account status. You can find our Terms and Conditions here: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G200627430

If you have questions or believe you've received this email in error, please reply to this message.

Thanks for using Amazon KDP

SNEH

Amazon Content Review Team

It would appear that my ‘evidence’ was sufficient enough to prove that I had not published anything that I did not have the right to publish ... BUT in future I will be even more stringent when I check articles that have been contributed to the next (and subsequent) compendia.

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As an aside, I did give some thought as to the title of this blog post. I was unsure what the opposite of ‘terminated’ might be … and toyed with ‘ex-terminated’ … but decided that word had far too many Dalek/alien intelligence connotations. I settled for ‘reinstated’ instead … but I still think that ‘ex-terminated’ might have been more apposite.

Getting in contact with Amazon KPD

I have still had no reply to my original email to Amazon KDP, so this morning I followed it up with a second email, the text of which follows:

I sent a reply to the termination email that was sent to me but as yet I have had no reply. I attached screenshots to it that showed when I created the original document that formed the text on the book that was cited as the reason for the termination. When I uploaded the file for publication, I made sure that the book - which is a compendium of articles written by a group of people - listed all the contributors (including biographies) and made sure that they were cited as authors on the book's entry on Amazon's relevant bookstore webpage.

The reason given for termination was 'you do not have the necessary rights to publish the book(s) listed below.' (The book was DIID/ASIN: 58756726-Title: The Third Portable Wargame Compendium.) I would like to know how that decision was arrived at as the email seems to have been created automatically and that no human was involved in the process.

I am particularly concerned that I received no warning that there was a problem, especially as the book was published a year ago and you had plenty of time to determine that there might be a problem and informed me so that it could be sorted out. What seems to have happened in this case is that something has triggered your AI system and it has acted as accuser, judge, jury, and executioner ... and I had no right to defend myself before the termination took place.

What I do not understand is why my account was terminated and all my books published by Amazon KDP were removed from sale when there seems to be no issues with the other books ... which include two earlier compendia that were created and published in the same way as The Third Portable Wargame Compendium.

The Portable Wargame concept has been around for eight years and has spawned thirteen books since then ... and another is in the process of completion! It has a very active Facebook group with over 1,700 members and many thousands of copies of the books have been sold. May I strongly urge you to re-examine your decision and if there is a problem, begin a dialogue that can lead to a mutually beneficial conclusion.

Bob Cordery

I received an automatic response that assured me that I should get a reply withing twenty-four hours ... or longer if they have to investigate more deeply.

I am not holding my breath.

The current availability of the Portable Wargame books

Further to the 'termination' of my Amazon KDP account, the books previously published by them are no longer available. I therefore decided the list what PORTABLE WARGAME books are still available and from where.

• The Portable Wargame (2017): Available from Lulu.com, Amazon, and Wargame Vault
• Developing The Portable Wargame (2017): Available from Lulu.com, Amazon, and Wargame Vault
• Gridded Naval Wargames (2018): Available from Lulu.com. Amazon, and Wargame Vault
• The Portable Napoleonic Wargame (2018): Available from Lulu.com, Amazon, and Wargame Vault
• The Portable Colonial Wargame (2020): Available from Lulu.com, Amazon, and Wargame Vault
• The Portable Pike & Shot Wargame (With Antoine Bourguilleau, Alan Saunders, and Arthur Harman) (2020): Available from Wargame Vault
• ¡Arriba España! (Spain Arise!) including The Portable Spanish Civil War wargame rules (2021): Available from Wargame Vault
• The Balkan League: A Matrix Game Campaign, including the Portable Balkan Wars Wargame Rules (2021): Available from Wargame Vault
• The Portable Wargame Compendium (With David Barnes, Justin Barrett, Mark Cordone, Arthur Harman, Marc Pavone, Martin Rapier, and Mike Taber) (2022): Available from Wargame Vault
• The Portable Ironclads Wargame (By David Crook with Bob Cordery) (2022): Available from Wargame Vault
• The Second Portable Wargame Compendium (With Mark Cordone, Arthur Harman, Nick Huband, Paul Lesson, Marc Pavone, Ryan Recker, Gary Sheffield, and Stephen Smith) (2023): Available from Wargame Vault
• The Third Portable Wargame Compendium (With Archduke Piccolo, Mark Cordone, Arthur Harman, Nick Huband, Paul Lesson, Mile Lewis, and Gary Sheffield) (2024): Available from Wargame Vault
• Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: American Civil War (By David Crook with Bob Cordery) (2025): Available from Wargame Vault

It is worth noting that:

• The Lulu.com books are still on sale on Amazon because they were not published by Amazon KDP!
• The books on sale at Wargame Vault are all in PDF and not printed format ... at present!

TERMINATED!

I am in the final stages of putting together The Fourth Portable Wargame Compendium ... but I have had to put further work on hold because of the following email I received from Amazon KDP:

As the text of the email shown above is rather small to read easily, I have added it below:

Hello,

We have terminated your KDP account because we found that you do not have the necessary rights to publish the book(s) listed below. If you have documentation proving you have the necessary rights to publish this book, please reply to this message and attach it to your email.

DIID/ASIN: 58756726-Title: The Third Portable Wargame Compendium

We are committed to providing a bookstore built on trust between authors, publishers, and readers, and we take prompt action when needed to ensure a positive experience. As part of the account termination process:

• You can no longer access your KDP Account, Bookshelf, or Reports.
• We have removed your published books from the Amazon Store.
• You are not eligible to receive any outstanding royalties.
• You are not allowed to open a new KDP account.

For more information, view our Terms and Conditions: https://kdp.amazon.com/terms-and-conditions

If you have any questions or believe your account was terminated in error, please reply to this email. To help us respond quickly, please send a single email.

Regards,

Amazon KDP

There is no explanation as to why they have reached this conclusion, but I am at a total loss as to how I can provide the proof that Amazon KDP require.

I will share any updates as and when I can. In the meantime, I am going to find a dark room to sit in whilst I try to come to terms with what has happened.

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month

Today marks the one hundred and seventh anniversary of the Armistice that ended the fighting on the Western Front.

'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.’

‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.’

‘We will remember them.’