I would like to express my best wishes to all the SYWA members for a happy holiday season and a prosperous 1996. As we bring Volume VIII to a close with this issue, I would also like to thank all the members, contributing authors and advertisers for their support, for without it, this publication would not be possible. It's hard to believe, but I have just concluded my third year as editor of the Journal and it has been such a joy to work on that time seems to pass so quickly; and we have only begun to scratch the surface in terms of the type of information that we can uncover about mid 18th Century military history.

You will note that a subscription renewal notice is enclosed with this copy of the journal and I would ask that you kindly take a few moments to fill out the form and return it to me as soon as possible. I am also happy to announce that we will not have to raise subscription prices this year, so the price remains at $25.00 in the USA and $30.00 for the rest of the world (air mail).

In terms of what to expect in Volume IX, the first issue will feature the Italian campaigns during the War of Austrian Succession. I have received a number of articles translated from Spanish text for this issue that I think you will find of interest. Hopefully, translations will be the key to Volume IX and beyond. Translation software seems to be improving with each passing year, and a number of members, including James Mitchell, Dean West, Paul Petri and Rich Black have the collective ability to translate French, German and Spanish text on their home computers. This should enable us to uncover the treasure trove of foreign language sources of SYWrelated information in future volumes and issues.

There's much to look forward to, so please continue your support of the SYW Association by resubscribing right away; and if you know of anyone else with an interest in the period, then tell them about our group, because we can always use new recruits.

Michael Parker was kind enough to send me the Christmas card shown above and I took the liberty of reducing it for everyone to see. The cartoon was drawn by W.F.N. Watson for the Society of Friends of the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London SW3 4HT in the U.K. It's nice to see our period getting some of the attention that it so richly deserves. While we are on the subject of Christmas, I thought I'd put togeather a little holiday wish list that includes the following:

Enough time to paint all the SYW figures that I have in my basement, a Ted Turner movie about the military life of Alte Fritz, the ability to speak and read German, the ability to read German Fraktur fonts/type face, a copy of Chris Duffy's long-awaited book on The Army of Frederick the Great, a Duffy-like treatment on the army of the Duke of Brunswick in western Germany, for anyone to manufacture 25mm farm animals to use in skirmish games as loot, for someone to manufacture French Maison du Roi cavalry figures in 15mm and 25mm, and reprints of the Mollo and Savory books for anyone who wants a copy; and finally, another Duffy tour of Frederician battlefields -- this time in Silesia. That's not too much to ask for; is it?

New Address

Just another reminder that I have moved to a new address (see table of contents page (2), effective November 1, 1995. This will be my last move for at least the next ten years. Fortunately my telephone and fax numbers are the same, well almost. You see, the Chicago area is adding two new area codes in 1996 and mine will change from 708 to 847 effective January 20, 1996. The current fax number is (708) 733-8367 and all you have to do is change the area code to 847.

Wargaming

I have not done much wargaming lately, however, I am getting geared up to go on a post-Christmas painting binge so that I can get a suitable number of French and British units done in time to host a 15mm game at the upcoming SYWA convention. You may recall that I am doubling the size of Age of Reason battalions from 12 figures to 24 figures and substituting a regimental gun for one of the figures. ( i.e. 23 figures and I gun casting per unit). I received a package of 50 regimental guns from Hallmark in the UK, and these are the perfect size for the project that I envision in that they are not too large, but fit my base size and are in proportion with the Essex and Old Glory 15mm figures that I am using.

My painting production for the month of October was phenomenal: six battalions of French from the Dettingen order of battle. My current roster includes 5 British battalions and 9 French battalions plus a half-finished regiment of Cuirassiers du Roi. I have three more French infantry battalions primed and ready to paint, afterwhich I will turn my attention back to the allies and work on a brigade of Hanoverians. I understand that Old Glory will release five bags of French infantry in time for Cold Wars, but I can't confirm this for certain. I would like to take a look at their French before painting the next 12 infantry battalions. That would give me a total of 24 infantry battalions for the French and 20 battalions of allies (in 5 btn brigades of British, Hanoverians, Austrians and Dutch or Hessians). I have not determined an OB for the cavalry yet, but I will probably have three or four units per side by the time the convention rolls around.

Of course, these plans could all go down the chute if I keep looking at the new Old Glory 25mm Austrians and Prussians and the Elite 25mm Prussians. A good skirmish game might be just the thing. Perhaps I could have the Prussian Guards storming the Leuthen churchyard, stoically defended by the Rot Wurzburg Regiment. Or another possibility would be to create a Hochkirch scenario that focuses on the Austrians' opening attack on the town. Herb Gundt is building me a replica of the Hochkirch church and surrounding buildings in 25mm scale. A good hard fight for the church and town at the skirmish game level might be a lot of fun. Which leads me to my next topic, Kleine Krieg or the "small wars" which is the theme for this issue.

Kleine Krieg

Kleine krieg is a term for all the little skirmish actions in the European theatre of the Seven Years War. They were fought primarily with light troops such as Croats and Pandours, hussars, foot jagers, freikorps troops and others that collectively had a considerable impact on the WAS and the SYW. You might recall that Frederick's 1744 campaign in Bohemia was a disaster, and he had to withdraw from that country without engaging the Austrians in a large pitched battle. Those pesky pandours made life unbearable for Alte Fritz and his army with their constant harassment of supply lines, communications and isolated outposts. This issue then focuses on the klein krieg in the eastern or Frederician theatre of the SYW. We will look at western theatre in a future issue.

My own interest in kleine krieg stems from three factors: (1) my disbelief over the outcome of the destruction of the Prussian convoy at Domstadtl in 1758; (2) its potential for interesting wargame scenarios; and (3) a sense that skirmish wargaming is surpassing larger set-piece battles in popularity at US wargame conventions.

Imagine the idea of 4,000 light troops destroying a Prussian supply convoy, guarded by 9,000 soldiers. I had to learn more about this action. Fortunately, Peter Wilson rode to the rescue and supplied us with an excellent account on the ambush of the Prussian convoy at Domstadtl. His account, plus the accompanying orders of battle should provide plenty of grist for table top re-enactment. This leads to my second factor of interest: new subject matter for wargames. 

After watching General Braddock get wiped out at the Monongahela for the umpteenth time, I wanted to find something new and different. I recalled the fun that garners had in Kershner and Wood's Iroquois Terror scenario and envisioned a similar scenario set in Silesia or Moravia. I felt that SYW era wargamers were locked into a mindset that set-piece battles could only be fought in Europe while all skirmish wargames had to depict General Braddock thrashing about in the wild woods of North America. So I wanted to break the mold and try it the other way around.

I know a good concept when I see one, so I borrowed from Kershner and Wood and called my Silesian scenario, what else? but Croat Terror! When I first told people of my idea, the universal reaction was "Wow, what a cool idea! " , but methinks the title had more to do with their reaction than anything else. The title just oozes with bloodlust, pillage, terror and, well ...fun. So I ran the Croat Terror game at the SYWA convention and it seemed like everyone wanted to get into the game, so I kept borrowing Croat units from other game judges and without realizing it, I had turned an even scenario into one in which the Croats outnumbered the Prussians by a good 2 to I margin. The look of surprise and terror on the Prussian commander's face, when he watched his lads getting massacred by scores of Croats, is one that I will never forget.

I hope that this theme of kleine krieg will stir your imagination and bring forth a harvest of European theatre skirmish games at future conventions. The possibilities are endless. There are numerous examples of behind the lines raids on field bakeries or magazine stores, races to important towns or bridges by opposing sides, kidnapping attempts of certain VIP's, and yes, even ambushing ye olde convoy. So why not fight these skirmishes with Croats, Jagers, Freikorps troops and hussars, rather than with Indians, Rangers and Coureur du Bois?

This leads me to a final observation about skirmish wargames, and that is that they seem to have surpassed set-piece battles in popularity, at least at wargame conventions. This idea was driven home to me last summer when I attended Tod Kershner's annual Peninula Wars convention in August. I noticed that several large battles were begging for players while at the same time, most of the skirmish games were turning potential players away because they were all booked up. As a game judge, I need to take notice of such things, particularly if I am going to take all the time and effort to organize a game scenario and haul several tons of wargame figures and terrain pieces to a convention. A game judge's worst nightmare is to go to all the expense and effort only to have two players sign up for an eight to ten player game. It can break your heart.

We are fortunate that we live in a time of great abundance with respect to the availability of 25mm SYW figures. While prices of import figures (from the UK) are going up, we in the States are fortunate to have a company such as Old Glory churning out mass quantities of quality wargame figures as rock bottom prices. Even if price is a big factor in your purchasing decisions, you can still set up a reasonable skirmish game with less than 100 wargame figures and probably have more fun with the game. There is something about a skirmish game that seems to turn off the hidden rules lawyer that probably hides within all of us. We don't seem to take skirmish games too seriously, hence there is less arguing about rules and if bad things happen to our little men, we manage to find the humor in the whole thing.

Another advantage of the skirmish game is the fact that one can set up a terric-looking table with a modest amount of terrain. I've seen Lance Kizer host an Indians versus Mountain Men game on a standard 2.5 ft by 6.0 ft cafeteria table, using 10 figures per player and drop dead gorgeous terrain made by Herb Gundt. The whole layout can be set up and taken down in a matter of minutes and is easy to transport to and from your car. This seems to be the direction that convention wargaming is headed towards, and rather than buck the trend, why not do your own version of Croat Terror and Kleine Kreig at the next local convention?

Next Issue

The next issue will be mailed towards the end of March 1996 as Volume IX Issue Number 1. Please remember to resubscribe as soon as possible. Also, if you move, please send me your change of address so that I can get your copy of the Journal to you in a timely manner. I hope to see many of you at our convention on March 29 and 30, 1996 with our special guest, Christopher Duffy.

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