Greetings and Welcome to what is planned to be an ongoing and definitive gaming resource that addresses warfare in an age when the very face of Europe was changed. I refer to the period of 1848-1878, when the breechloader became king of the battlefield and Krupp became armourer to the Reich.

I believe that many colonial miniature gamers often share an interest in "the big picture" on the continent. While Great Britain was pursuing her policy of "masterful inactivity" with regards to Europe, most of the other colonial powers were, at one time or another, knee deep in one another's internal affairs. It seems to me to be natural for Clash of Empires to complement The Heliograph.

Period Definition

With regards to period: perhaps, unlike the Colonial Period, the age of imperial Europe is simple to define. The aim of "Clash of Empires" is to examine the armed conflicts of middle to late nineteenth century Europe from a miniature wargamer's point of view. This means CoE will feature uniform painting guides, rules and miniatures reviews, campaign notes and of course, scenarios. Lots of scenarios. We will examine tactics and strategies with an eye to recreating them on the gaming table.

This is your chance, all you aspiring, cross-addicted lead/pewter junkies out there! Send me your views, observations, pictures, scenarios, research, biases, prejudices, scenarios, complaints, petpeeves, scenarios, questions - did I mention scenarios? - so we can make our neglected corner of gaming history fly!!!

Quick word about your editor. I am working on the second edition of Soldier's Companion - my only claim to wargame fame. I think that Soldier's Companion is possibly the best set of skirmish rules out there, ever! I also "liberated" the "Clash of Empires" title from the TFP game of the same name. It's a cool title, the authors live way over in England, and I won't tell if you don't, either. Besides, The Heliograph was already taken, and "When Empires Clash'' sounds like a bad George Pal movie.

One thing about small press newsletters that I have always found bothersome is the concept of theme issues. My thinking is that if you receive your issue and are not especially interested in the topic featured, well that's so much more to recycle, right?

Therefore, I will try to vary the context of each issue to form semi-themes, so that if you have read about battle of Gravellotte-St. Privat for the umpteenth time there will also be an article or two about the Crimean war, or a topless picture of Empress Eugene', or something!

Field of Topics

The field of topics for our period is a rich and varied one. Below I have listed a sample of associated campaigns:

1848	The Year of Revolution (Austria, Prussia, Italy, France, Poland)
1848-49	Italian War of Liberation (Austria, Italian States)
1849	Rebellion in Hungary (Austria, Hungary)
1854-56	Crimean War (Britain, France, Russia, Sardinia, Ottoman Empire)
1859	Franco-Austrian War (France, Austria, Sardinia)
1860-2	Second Italian War of Liberation (Italian States)
1861-7	French Intervention in Mexico (France, Mexico)
1863-4	Rebellion in Poland (Russia, Poland)
1864	Danish (Schleswig) War (Prussia, Denmark, Austria)
1866	Austro-Prussian War(Austria, Prussia, German States, Italy)
1870-71	Franco-Prussian War (France, Germany)
1873-76	Second Carlist War (Spain)
1877-78	Russo-Turkish War(Russia, Ottoman Empire)

This is not to say that Clash of Empires will not stray outside these guidelines from time to time. We are planning to look at the First Carlist War of 1834-1840, which saw a British Legion as well as the French Foreign Legion serving in "The Iberian Maw" against antigovernment forces.

We also expect to eventually do some articles on the Mexican-American War (the Mexicans being rather European), as well as covering the Canadian border clashes that occurred after the Civil War.

As we go along CoE will probably expand its coverage to encompass a secondary period that will extent from 1816 - 1913; the year after Waterloo to the year before Sarajevo. Again, this coverage will concern itself with Europe and continental affairs, anything that you consider "Colonial" should be passed along to The Heliograph.

Immediate Plans

Regarding my immediate plans for CoE; I think it best to initially focus on the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and Italian War of 1859' mainly because I believe there is less available information (and no Osprey books) on these topics.

In fact, with the exception of some fine articles by Pat Condray in the Courier about ten years ago, and two outstanding booklets by Luigi Casale, there has been next to nothing printed in the small press on these subjects lately, if ever. Which is odd, since these two campaigns seem be be second only to the Franco-Prussian war in genre popularity.

Within a few issues we will then look eastward to the Crimean War and the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1877-78.

In the spirit of the some of the great wargaming magazines, we will include a feedback form on the mailing cover, as well as an opporutinity to vote on future articles. After all, a periodical belongs to it's readership, so let them vote for the topics that interest them.

Finally, concerning rules support: I think it important to not become too obsessed with a single rules system. Rather, CoE will attempt to present scenarios that can be set up for most of the popular rules sets available, "popular" being defined, at least initially, by what can be observed at HMGS conventions. Therefore expect at least some focus on such systems as In the Age of Bismark and Napoleon III, Fire and Fury, Volley and Bayonet, and Fields of Honor, among others.

Good Luck and Good Gaming!

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