Another board isn't the end of the world. I regularly use two boards, eg. to send from one to the other.
Also if you have a second board you can set it up to program the bootloader on the first board, once you get the replacement chip. From the sound of it you zapped the processor with your 12V.
Yeah, seems like that would be handy. (Like now for example!)
The replacement chips are only about $5 so you have probably only wasted that.
Yep, that's what I'm hoping!
Robotics Australia has them with the bootloader for $5 but postage is $6.95.
Jaycar has the Uno-compatible "Eleven" for $39.95, so it might be worth the extra $28 to get the board in addition to the ATmega328p
Cheers and thanks for the reply!