A colour cover? On a small press publication? Isn't that usually reserved for a fanzine's swan-song?

Usually, perhaps, but not in this case. With a healthy portion of this issue dedicated to the Crimean War, and having access to the stunning artwork of Cadogan, not to mention the good offices of Pat Condray and Stuart Penhall in sending me some brilliant colour plates, at the end of the day, it seemed the thing to do.

In fact, it is hoped hereabouts that the lovely colour cover will attract new subscribers, create attention amongst distributors, clear-up pimples, and excite the interest of the opposite sex…

That's the plan, anyway.

Regrettably, for the immediate future, colour covers will only be occasional, to mark a special event (like getting back on schedule,) or to encourage readers (like those on the internet, or that fellow we all know who borrows an issue to make Xeroxes for himself) to take the plunge and subscribe.

Clash of Empires continues to plod along. In this issue, we have several articles on the First Schleswig War. We also look at The Crimean War, or as it was known at the time, The Russian War. In so doing, we skirt the boundary of British Colonial wargaming, however, Crimean War seems to belong in its own niche, much like the Mexican American War of 1845-48. Of course, that's merely an impression – I'm certain that a British soldier storming Aaland Island in 1856 wouldn't see a distinction between himself and his fellow soldier storming a hill-fort on India's Northwest Frontier.

Yet wargamers seemingly enjoy the act of classification, and while that P.B.I. up to his elbows in dust and Khyber knives has appeared hundreds of times in dozens of magazines, our stalwart Tommy clinging to a rocky headland while being shelled, compliments of the Tsar, has been relegated to History's footnotes.

And so, at CoE, we plod along. How can we do else?

Next Issue: (another Double Issue, full of all of the off-cuts that we couldn't fit in this issue. A masterpiece of Historical Head-cheese!...), The Crimean War's Forgotten Front: the Baltic War, Spicherin, 1870, Øversee, 1848, Garibaldi and his Thousand: Calatafami 1860, Another article by Uncle Pat Condray, and much, much more!!!

-Finis-