Here's ISSUE 3! We must admit that increasing the number of pages to 20 was easier than we thought, but it is getting harder to put together! We started off with the idea of an issue every 5 weeks and have ended up with issue 3 in the post less than 3 months after number 1. So I hope you don't mind if we do a trade with you- 4 extra pages in return for giving us a bit more time. DONE! and it's a pleasure to do business with you, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Now the winter season is over and we are both polishing weapons and armour for the forthcoming Re-enactment season some of our 'editorial' time will be taken up by on the spot reporting. Also, I've promised to paint the kitchen and Hawk has 2 singles and an LP to record!!! I hope the issues will be worth the wait and who knows? We may get itchy typing fingers....

When our first publication, SCOTS ARMIES came out the picture (issue 1) of the guy firing from the hip caused, as we'd hoped, a lot of discussion and comment. We ignored people who outrightly disbelieved it and the Drill 'Purists' but what annoyed us the most was a unit of Musketeers, about 14-16 of them, in a Re-enactment society who liked the idea. Their problem was that ALL of them, as a unit an in volley, fired from the hip. the point Elton was making was that under pressure, when large numbers of bodies were bearing down at speed and you were on the verge of chucking your musket away and legging it, individuals, admittedly a lot of them, would resort to this quick method, not drill book precision firing!

When questioned these guys justified themselves by showing us the picture, of which we confessed some knowledge. What upset us was that this pic. we had put in to stir up comment was now being taken as 100% Civil War practice! THis, we think, is a danger with NOTES & QUERIES, that people will slavishly accept what we print as they accept other ECW writings. WE would say accept and believe facts and information because a lot of the authors have worked hard but try and bring your own opinions to the articles and WRITE IN if they differ.

Similarly, people like Stuart Peachey write DISCUSSION papers so please discuss! The magazine should cover all levels of knowledge of the War and we are as happy to see queries on coat colours and formation depths as those on the more pedantic ideas. It is so long since we asked our first questions about the War that we need you to remind us how uncomfortable it feels to be outside a discussion on where the little toe goes when you are at 'Charge for Horse' when you are desperately trying to get someone to show you the right end of the bloody pike to hold! So send those questions in, it's you fault if we are answering the wrong questions for you....

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