I have been surfing the net, namely the Historical Miniatures Web page at http://WWW.erint.com/bp/hist.html and have been impressed by the discusions of rules, their accuracy, realism playability, etc. Of course there is a lot of name calling and acrimony behind a keyboard, seem to lose all sense of propriety and type things that I would probably get them some loose teeth if said face to face. But if you can get through that there is a lot of great ideas being passed about. Our recent survey showed that only a small percentage of readers of The Courier are on the NET and able to participate in the exchange. So that all our readers can join in discussions such as these, I want to try a paper net or discussion group within these pages.

The first subject will be better simulation through innovative rule ideas. The detailed subject - to start things off- is how can we better simulate on the table top, without a sand table, the undulations of ground that made so much difference in battles. Often battles turned on some unit being caught unawares by the enemy hidden by a slight undulation of the ground, or a target was not really a target to artillery, say, because of the undualtions of the ground between them . This is not very well simulated on the table top and I would like to open that subject for discussion. The solution may be in the form of rule modifications (e.g. the longer the distance between target and artillery, the greater the chance that a miss will occur -therefore throw % dice even for ball) or the use of computer mapping suystems, or some mechanical method. You are all free to offer other subjects for discussion. Keep the comments as short as possible (I will edit only for length - and to prevent loose teeth). We will run the discussion in a new column for as long as there is interest.

POLITICAL COMMENT

I was much taken to task by a few individuals last year for offering my support to particular candidates in the HMGS election which takes place at Historicon. Some went so far as to accuse The Courier of being the reason that they did not get elected. I guess I should be humbled at being thus compared to TIME Magazine or to a Large National Newspaper. I offer my opinion as to who is would be good for HMGS -East. Why the interest? The Courier Staff was instrumental in founding HMGS and its progress in promulgating and supporting the hobby is of special interest - see the HMGS East newsletter, Feb. 1996. The members running for election at Historicon '96 are listed in an article in The Courier Dispatch, page 50.

RULES COMPARISON

This issue has an article comparing three of the new sets of Napoleonic rules to be published in the last year or so. Next issue we will do the same for 3 sets of WWII rules. When Pat Condray wrote "Three Roads to Paris" comparing Franco-Prussian rules by playing the same scenario with each set, it raised a lot of discussion and some controversy. Most praised this technique for bringing a better understanding of how the rules work and which might best fit the readers interest. So we plan to continue running such articles.

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Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com