VOLLEY FIRE COMMENTS After years of not sending in article ratings to Volley Fire, I was bound and determined to send them in this time, and hit the old problem again, to which you allude at the bottom of the Volley Fire ratings for Courier #85: I don’t want to kill a type because I don’t play a period. Broadly speaking, I should have given top marks to Bruce Weigle’s terrain article, medium points to Zuparko and Whitehouse, then NIQ’d everything else for being out of period. That’s not fair to good writers and articles. As far as I’m concerned, the best articles are good accounts of historical battles, with enough detail to set them up as a wargame - map, OB, narrative. Even after all these years in the hobby, and an immense clipping file, there are plenty of horse and musket battles in Poland, Hungary, Latin America and South Asia I couldn’t put on as a game. Second best are VERY SHORT tactical or campaign rules. Third are “how to” articles on writing rules, tied with your famous comparisons of different rules. A favor please: when possible, either rules for the same size battle, or rules using the same basing. Ideally both, but admittedly this is rarely possible. (Zuparko rates lower than he should, because he seems to be taking a long time to make obvious points. Still, I look forward to the next installment.) Fourth are uniform and organization guides. Fifth are “craft” articles. (I’d have rated Weigle high, not because I’m a big fan of terrain articles, but because it was a really good terrain article.) Sixth are product reviews. Most articles on “we refought a battle and somebody won” don’t rate at all. If they would follow the old Wargamers’ Newsletter advice—describing how the interplay of rules and decisions led to that result—-they could be quite useful. (Howard isn’t NIQ’d because he always tells a good story, and anyway my son enjoyed his Robin Hood game. Also, I’d have to sit down and decide what a wargame is, and I’m not going to do that.) When it comes to period, I want my people in uniform and out of camouflage, so I can stand on my captain’s hill and pick out regiments. Thus, broadly, no earlier than TYW/ECW, and no later than c. 1880. So you see my difficulty: If Pete English had been clearing the road to Cawnpore, he’d have been perfect for me. As it is, I read him, but he’s no use at all. That said, I’ll keep subscribing as long as the money holds out, and I know you have to work with whatever comes in over the transom. You’re doing a great job. Just, when you get the chance, tilt things a little toward bright uniforms and flags, will you? --Robert Piepenbrink The goal of The Courier has always to bring a wide range of periods to the attention of the reader. When I started gaming, I only gamed in Napoleonics (C.L & S) and thought I was seeing the best of the hobby. But then a member (Arnold Hendricks) introduced us to WWII land and Naval gaming and we never looked back, adding periods and rules to our repertoire like there would be no tomorrow! A few of our club members specialize in one period or another, but most have developed an eclectic taste for many and varied periods. It is this enjoyment that I try to convey to our readers. Sometimes our articles are general like the terrain articles, or specific to each period. Most often an article about one period has plenty of interest for other periods or, the best of all worlds to my mind, they pique your interest in another period. If an article is not in your area of interest you should only give them a “0”. As a goal, I want to have about 1/3 of the articles rate “0”, while the remainder are in the 6.5 - 8.5 category. Obviously we have a long way to go. By having 1/3 of the articles rate “0” we are probably covering everyone’s interest to a fair depth. If it goes above 1/3, its time to drop some of those articles. The main thing is to respond to Volley Fire as this is our main means for knowing what the reader wants. - DICK BRYANT RECRUITING AMONG THE YOUNG I set my 9 year old son up with some 15mm WW I Austrians (Minifigs given by a friend). Very easy figures to paint, one being Minifigs, and two easy uniform. He did a good job, and we mounted them for Command Decision, and use them along with my Germans and Russians. When we play, he prefers his own figures. My gaming group is all beginners, so I do not have any nitpickers to notice that they’re WW I infantry in a WW II game. The recent coverage of younger gamers in The Courier has been great. Not only with your grandson, but also with the group Belfast, Maine (if I remember correctly). You know as well as I do that kids turn off some of the snooty gamers. Where would the hobby be if we didn’t make an effort to keep it growing? I am glad that a few gamers have enough foresight plus the skill, desire, and patience to help recruit new gamers of all ages. Therefore my thoughts are that POSITIVE coverage of recruiting needs to continue. Those that make an effort need to be recognized, so that they continue, and those that are wavering, will find the courage to help too. I think that our hobby is still a long ways off from broad social acceptance like (model) railroaders or sports card collectors, who can recruit from Mall shows. Slowly and gradually the hobby will continue to grow, just like my very small local group here in Auburn. --MICHAEL TRIBOU, AUBURN, ME Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #87 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com