SURVEY COMMENTS Several people commented that they liked the larger figures (25+mm) but that their period of interest was not covered. E.g: I am interested in the Spanish Civil War but I do not like 15mm or 20mm. What 25mm or 25+mm figures are available or can be substituted for that period. which figures are compatible with each other, where can I find vehicles that would be in scale that can be converted. What scenarios can get one started. The one article you ran at the end of the Theme Year of the Sudan with various figures and rules that were available was the best of its kind. While by no means extensive, it got one going. - H. LIEBSON, Elmira NY. This issue contains a survey article on the larger figures available for WWII many are directly useable in the SCW period. Next issue (#86) will have a similar survey of vehicles to this scale - many can be converted. Miriliton (See their advt. in this issue) has a very complete line of WWII Italian figures in 25+mm that will work for the SCW. As to what fits with what, the Barret Measurement that we use in our reviews is designed JUST for that purpose. I will try to get more survey articles that cover different periods that include available figures and rulesets as well as research material. - DICK BRYANT SURVEY RESULTS We had 263 respondents, about 1.5% of our readership. This was somewhat disappointing as it represents only a 1/3 of those who took the time to respond to Volley Fire! 1. Age group: 12% in the 30-39 year age group; 79% were in the 40-50 year age group; 9% in the over 50. There were no respondents in the under 20 to 29 year age groups! 2. Spent on hobby per year: 29% spent over $1500/year! 21% $1000-$1500 29% spent $500 - $999 and 14% spent $251-$499. Less than 4% spent under $200/year. 3. What % of B spent due to ads in The Courier: 52%! 4. What % of B spent due to reviews in The Courier: 37% 5. What is the % spent in Hobby Stores: 29% 6. What is the % spent at conventions: 17% 7. What is % spent by mail: 54% 8. How many people besides yourself read your copy of The Courier: Average 2.4. 9. How many people in your wargaming group/club: 11 (Ed Note: this number is skewed somewhat by what are, obviously very large clubs or stores that have a gaming club. Several people reported numbers like 80, 75 and 115!. If I keep those out the average drops down to 5). 10. How many periods do you game in: Only 8% gamed in 1 period exclusively. 48% gamed in more than 5 with the average number of periods gamed in by these respondents being 8! (Ed Note: some people consider gaming say WWII Pacific and WWII Europe or WWII 15mm and WWII 20mm as two periods, etc. which may skew these results. The question should have been better cast.). 11. What keeps you from trying another era: This may, in retrospect seem like a stupid question based on the results of 10, above but even those claiming 12 periods answered!). 41% said Time (not surprising if you are gaming in 8 periods) 16% said money (see above - Ed.) 16% said lack of an opponent 9% said no local resources and 13% said lack of interest. 12. What scales do you game in and what is your order of preference: (Ed Note I applied a ranking number of 1-6, added the results for each scale and divided by the number of respondents. No response for a scale earned it a “1” for that respondent.) Ranking 15mm 4.2 25mm 4.0 20mm 2.6 25+mm* 1.6 6mm 0.6 10mm 0.3 * some respondents may have thought this to mean 54mm figures, where I meant to ask about the 28 mm figures. - ED. 13. Do you use plastic figures for some of your gaming: 60% answered in the affirmative. 14. Do you use the internet for wargaming information and research: 68% replied in the affirmative. 15. What is needed to improve Napoleonic gaming: 10% responded that they didn’t play Napoleonics. In order of importance the ratings were: Better Rules; New Scenario Ideas; Campaign Rules; More Historical Info. and Better Terrain. 16. What is your preferred Napoleonic rules scale: 12% Skirmish; 48% each (or as near as can be) Battalion and Brigade; 12 % Division; 0% Corps. The answer is greater than 100% because many put down mover than one choice. 17. What is your favorite Napoleonic rules: As expected there were almost as many different answers as there were respondents, many answering with rules that i had never heard of in 35 years of gaming! But there were also some surprises. 27% use home grown rules, which shows that no set has met everyone’s standards as yet and over 50% use more than one set. 13% play Napoleon’s Battles; 8 % Empire III, 5% play Piquet, Napoleonic Fire & Fury and Shako; 10% still play Column, Line and Square! This is a major surprise, as these are the rules I first learned in 1968! There you have it. I hope that more of you will respond next time as this helps us immensly with advertisers and in our understanding of what The Courier has to be to meet your needs. - DICK BRYANT Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #85 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com