Tom Wham and I ventured forth from our rural isolation long enough to attend Sparta's New York convention the weekend of 7 & 8 July. It was held at the Hotel McAlpin in the heart of downtown Manhattan, and we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get into New York on a Friday night and to find a place to park.

It was neither as pleasant nor as surprising to find that (a) the hotel hadn't received our advanced registration, (b) there was a demonstration outside the hotel Sunday afternoon (nothing to do with the convention) (c) someone managed to get into my car and steal our cashbox and a bunch of Guidon Games booklets and (d) thanks to the gasoline shortage we managed to run out of gas on the way home in a town with five filling stations, all closed!

Damian Housman had predicted a minimum attendance of 250, maybe up to 500. However the count was 185 Saturday. This really wasn't too bad a turnout for the space available, and everyone seemed to have a good time. In general the events seemed to be well run-- though I was disappointed with the very slow start to the NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION game. Other dealers there were Simulations Publications Inc. (S&T), Lou Zocchi Associates, and Johansen Miniatures. Notables included Don Greenwood and Randy Reed of Avalon Hill (the former was the founder of PANZERFAUST, the latter is the designer of RICHTHOFEN'S WAR and also AH's next military game), Lou Zocchi (designer of BATTLE OF BRITAIN, LUFTWAFFE, STAR TREK BATTLE MANUAL, and many others), John Young and Al Nofi of SPI (the former the designer of many of their games, and the latter author of many of S&T's historical articles), and of course, Russell Powell, founder and head of Spartan International, Inc.

By the time you read this I will have been to the SGC convention in Connecticut and possibly even our own "Down East Convention", but reports on these will have to wait until next time.

We didn't attend the "Intern Show" in Chicago this year, it's just too far to travel from Maine. We hear, however, that the turnout was disappointing. Since we couldn't attend we sold Guidon Games and Panzerfaust products to Lakofka and Blandin for them to retail at the convention. This was supposed to be a cash deal but due to lack of time we agreed to ship the stuff and trust them to send a check at the same time. That was in mid June and now in early August we're still waiting. Lakofka doesn't answer his mail or his phone, and the DIPLOMACY magazine he publishes is almost two months late.

John Bobek writes that he is working on more issues of the IW (now about one year behind schedule I believe), to appear soon. But the IFW appears to be dead, as an organization. No one wants to run for office. Evidently the club is badly in debt. And nothing is being done.

Meanwhile a new organization has been announced called the American Wargaming Association (AWA) whose announced purpose is, "to make wargaming more fun, not to make it more professional." Acting President is George Phillies who says neither he nor the other present, acting officers will run for their present positions. Elections are to be held when membership reaches 50. A newsletter is being printed (typewritten, offset printed) which is called the AMERICAN WARGAMER and will appear monthly, "on time", and will not carry history articles, only news, reviews, strategies, etc. Dues are $4.00.

Other new organizations include the Simulations Games Committee (SGC). It is a group of gamers doing the little things that the "big gaming institutions" won't bother to do. They publish the SGC DISPATCH, a monthly newsletter. For more information see Passing in Review in this issue.

Also new is the Professional Wargamers Association, a new play-by-mail tournament organization offering substantial cash prizes. For more information contact: Harley Anton 2313 Wexford Lane Birmingham, Al. 35216

In its heyday the IFW used to have a player rating system similar to this one. This collapsed due to neglect by those IFW officers in charge of the calculations. Now there is a new group taking up the challenge. A new publication, GAMES RATINGS, will publish player ratings for the United States and Canada, as well as details such as total wins and losses against stronger, equal, and weaker opponents. The ratings are, of course, computerized--the program is set up so that a player will receive a large number of points for defeating an opponent of equal or greater caliber (players are given the same initial rating), and a small number for defeating a weaker opponent -- conversely, you lose a lot for losing to an equal or lesser opponent, but only a little for losing to a stronger player.

Because the accuracy of the rating is increases with the number of opponents played, and to some extent, number of games played, this is ideal for members of clubs, although it will work for anyone who plays, even occassionally against several different opponents.

The system is applicable to all board wargames (even multi-player) and miniatures. However, in order for a game to be valid, your opponent(s) must subscribe also, since otherwise there is no basis for comparison. For a year's subscription (6 issues, starting in December 1973) send $7.50 Canadian (get a postal money order), to: The Wargames Statistics Service 522 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario Canada