(Reviewer’s Note: There is, of course, no better way to start the New Year than by reviewing the SGS’s President’s web site, and hopefully gaining His Excellency’s favor with all its implied benefits. This reviewer knows that it is only a matter of time before he is basking in the President’s reflected glory. And, if not, impressing Schloesser still has to be easier than sucking up to Phillies. Then again, George’s name was easier to spell.)

It has long been known that most games, especially wargames, are played solitaire. This factor explains why traditional players are put off by role-playing and card games, since they usually require one to interact with actual human beings. It also accounts for the popularity of computer ones. After all, monitors rarely make fun of your inept play.

With this in mind, it is somewhat surprising to find a hundred game clubs listed on Web-Grognards. For one thing, a club requires the dreaded human contact. These groups also tend to be small and subject to high member turnover, financial problems, lack of publicity, the dominance of lengthy, complex games, and the always ominous closing of the nearest fast food restaurant. Still, with proper planning, a library of fast-playing German products, and the use of the Internet for publicity, a group has at least a chance to survive.

The Westbank Gamers of New Orleans is typical of these types of clubs. It is small enough (fifteen members) to minimize location problems (they meet at Greg Schloesser’s place), has a healthy obsession with German games, and wages a relentless assault on the Internet from its home site at home. earthlink.net/~gschloesser. Club maven Schloesser routinely posts updates on his group’s activities on various web organs and thus gives his club an Internet presence far in excess of its size.

The site itself includes forty-five game reviews, mostly German-style, and club variants for twenty more. Supplementing these are game session reports which also function as reviews, and convention reports. There is also a small news and editorial section, lists of the members’ favorite games, a photo album, links, and members’ biographies which contain enough information to give any Internet stalker a decent head start.

Overall, this is a site which accomplishes what it set out to do. It publicizes the club, contributes to hobby discussions, and enshrines some nice memories. Founders of other groups could do worse than to use this site as a model.