Unless something unforeseen happens, it looks like we are going to be on time again - maybe even gain a few days! We have finally found a printer who, while not fancy, is reliable, and doesn't charge an arm and a leg. Also I now have Julie chained to the drawing board, so she has nothing to do, after finishing her bread and water, but paste up articles, etc. Now if I can only figure out how to teach a four-year-old to proof-read (no wise cracks, now!) ...

We've had a couple of nibbles about taking over CAMPAIGN but have been so busy preparing this issue of PF that I haven't followed up on these leads yet. But maybe I'll have some good news to report next time. Meanwhile, we have yet to have one single subscriber take us up on the offer to extend your subscription 1 issue for every new subscription you bring us. You guys all so rich that you can't use a free issue? Lifetime subscribers are slowly increasing, but there's room for plenty more.

The last issue was fairly well received. The articles were rated as follows:

The Winter War 7.05
The War At Sea 6.81
ISSUE #61 AS A WHOLE 6.36
The Tactics of PANZERBLITZ 6.10
What I Don't Like About SPI 5.83
Passing In Review 5.81
Thumbnail Analysis 5.76
Game Review: CONQUEST 5.65
PANZERBLITZ Potpourri 5.62
Line of Communications 5.57
Game Design 5.55
Book Review 5.52
Mail Call 5.48
Russian Victory in ORIGINS 5.40
Miniature Warfare 5.36
USN Modifications 5.36
Aux Armes 5.24
G2 Reports 5.21
STAR TREK Revisions 4.69

For the first time in 4 issues an article rated below 5. But the overall rating is up from #60's 6.16. Improved printing probably accounts for most of this increase. WINTER WAR must be a popular game for a little 2-page article buried in the middle of the issue to fare so well -- even if it was written by our old workhorse, Harold Totten. In fact, I sat on that article quite a while waiting for an issue that wasn't already saturated by Totten's work. I also notice that Gary's "Warfare in Miniature" column rated higher than it ever has before. Perhaps because what he had to say could also apply to board games as well as miniatures. The voting for best three articles stuck closer to the ratings line up than the last few issues, yet the first two swapped places:

1. War At Sea - Dick $5.00
2. WINTER WAR - Totten $3.00
3. Tactics of PANZERBLITZ - Easton $2.00

Fourth in the voting was "Aux Armes" which shows that those who like it really liked it. But in the ratings it was hurt by a lot of zeros from people with no interest at all in Napoleonic miniaures.

By the way, I've noticed we now get a lot more want ads since we started charging for them than we ever did when they were free!