Well the first year of First Empire ends as it started, late. Not very professional I know, but please have mercy on me, they say problems come in threes and this time they surely did. First of all I was laid low by my doctor who supplied me with a cocktail of drugs which although they made me very happy also gave me chemical poisoning. The resulting fortnights delirium, confined to bed was not very productive.

Secondly, we moved house. So please note the new address littered around the magazine. This was an unexpected move further complicated by it having to made in two stages. Domestic and then First Empire/Eagle Software equipment. The latter reduced two full grown men to quivering wrecks as we struggled to move over two tons of equipment. (Funny how heavy these computers get, the more steps you climb). This has resulted as expected, despite best efforts, in all paperwork disappearing into odd boxes, hidden under other boxes. So if you have letters or orders that you are expecting replies to please bear with me, normality in sight.

Finally the biggest delay is due to the Editorial concubine, Julie. It's entirely her fault. Her confinement was due to end on the 15th May. I planned everything around this so that issue 6 would have been winging it's way to you at the end of April. Then disaster struck. The dreaded NHS, not considering wargames publications for one minute decided that she would give birth on or before 28th April. Producing First Empire is very much like giving birth, (including the need for copious amounts of gas and air!), once you start its best not to stop! So First Empire went on hold until the infant arrived.

Of course said infant did not make an appearance as threatened until 1.33 am 29th April. Do not worry dear reader, your editor came through the birth okay and hardly felt a thing. The new edition was promptly coded sprog4/female and the customary debate as to the naming of the child began. Me, insisting on a suitable Napoleonic name, Josephine, Marie Louise, Caroline, (even Eugenie, but I got over that quick!), concubine being unreasonably stubborn as usual. Once again defeated, sprog4/female became Charlotte Elizabeth. Although I console myself, with the fact that a British Cavalry unit was named the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales Own) Dragoon Guards. Try fitting that on a birth certificate. I think I will just call her Dragoon Guards for short!

Finally on a more serious note, subscribers whose subscription commenced with issue 1 are reminded that, your subscription lapses with this issue. So whip out those check books and resubscribe today, after all I now have a Cavalry Regiment to maintain!