Greetings!! Welcome to the first issue of The Art of War magazine, covering the "...mad game the world so loves to play..." to quote Jonathan Swift. We are devoting the time and effort to making it a serious improvement on our regular newsletter. So why did we do it and what's the catch? After all, Harry Rowland, the owner of Australian Game Design Co. remarked in a past F&M interview that for the time involved, he could have made a better return cleaning toilets in a fast food restaurant than by publishing games. The "wages of sin" have not increased much since then, but the price of paper and postage have been sky- rocketing as of late. What's a mother to do? One choice was to upgrade the newsletter into a regularly published magazine and charge a cover price, thereby having it compete with everyone else's rag on the newsstands. We liked the idea of producing a professional looking magazine but we very much wanted to keep it a freebie and published irregularly. With those two goals in mind, we were then forced to seriously evaluate just who should receive it. Obviously, those gamers who support our firm to the fullest. And certainly those gamers who follow a certain designer or line of games we publish. With these thoughts in mind we came up with the following guidelines. First, we made the decision to upgrade the newsletter into the improved format you see here. Second, to keep the postage costs down, most issues will be sent bulk mail, so if you change your address and don't tell us, we've lost you. Third, an "end of subscription" number is now printed on your mailing address sticker in the bottom right corner. If the number matches the current issue number, then this is your last issue unless we hear from you in one of the following two ways. If you place an order for a game or book directly from us, we'll cancel your present subscription and open a new one renewing your subscription to The Art of War for another 6 issues (maximum). Also, if you buy a recent COA release at your favorite store and send us the enclosed game response card, you'll get the 6 issue extension as well. Last, write and tell us how you like, the new format. Reader responses will be critical in determining what kinds of articles appear and in what order. Vive L'audience! Back to Art of War Issue #20 Table of Contents Back to Art of War List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Clash of Arms Games. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com