And now, live in the ROK, Seoul brings you Craig Martelle, bringing down the house! O.K., well I'm here in the Republic of Korea in any case, been to the DMZ, still at war, and all that... The wargamers here are going to be hard to find, although there is a full time Magic the Gathering group, maybe some of them will convert… I'm counting on finding some closet wargamers, but my job is a little more intense than what I envisioned and 80-hour work weeks don't leave much time for goofing off. The Gauntlet and research I do for it is about all the time I have to spend. I'm still painting my one poor little 15mm Pirate schooner. I have high hopes that I can finish it in the rest of my year here. But let me retrace my path over the last three months. Just after Gauntlet #11 came out, I was the Convention Director for HMGS South's Recon. Since the little details were taken care of ahead of time and everything ran smoothly due to great help from the Zizo family and numerous others, I had plenty of opportunity to spend time with Hal Thinglum. I picked Hal up in Orlando and we had a good ride back to my house for the evening before the show started. We are cut from the same cloth and I hope that I continue for as long as Hal in this business of historical miniatures magazine publishing. Hal said that if he ever got tired of doing MWAN, he would seriously consider passing the torch to me. I am both flattered and honored. Although, I don't ever see Hal stopping… The show was a big hit and Hal was in a terminal state of happiness! It was my honor to host Hal all weekend and I must admit that he was very easy to please. John Hill got a little over-worked running his Johnny Reb III games but he wouldn't have it any other way. The show staff did their best to make sure he wasn't strapped to the table or to any one game. Bob Jones is a true gentleman and it was my pleasure to finally meet him. What can I say? I had a great time and the guests had a great time. The PEL only showed about half the games that really ran so we were WELL over 100 games run at the show. Attendance ran in the vicinity of 250 folks but the room was full at all times. All in all, a great show with great people! This is what the hobby is all about. We didn't have to win the games we played in; our victory was in getting together and simply being able to play... South is really going to have to look into expanding the facilities a little bit. If you are a dealer and you want some tables at Hurricon, South's next show (25-27 Sep), then you better get them early. There is no way I see for the number of dealer tables to increase because the space for gaming is needed. For the next show, South may be able to get a couple extra meeting/ball rooms for overflow and for tourney play. The standard is maintained for the highest quality shows! Expect nothing less from HMGS South. Here first and hot off the presses - Recon 99, 19-21 March, 1999. Let me take a couple of moments to mention some folks I met whom I now consider good friends. Starting with Bob Jones and Hal Thinglum, I am honored. These two gemtlemen are so well known throughout the hobby and have a history of teaching history through miniature wargaming. I hope that I can carry on their tradition through the Gauntlet and Gauntlet Publications. John Hill and Pat Condray are also both elder statesmen who's knowledge of history I have only scratched the surface of. I'm glad I put The London War Room next to Regimental Colours. I had plenty of opportunities to talk with Vince and Sharron Clyant. He is an English gentleman and she is a southern belle. They make a very classy pair and I am proud to count them as my friends. I will probably end up taking out a monthly allotment to the London War Room for Vince to build me a number of custom pieces. His work is superb and is done at what I consider Bargain Basement prices for the superior quality. Another fine gentleman is Rudy Scott Nelson from Time Portal Hobbies. I wish I had more time to spend talking to him about rules sets he has written and some of his future projects (which include having Martelle (Gauntlet) Publications republish a couple rules sets and some of his other historical research works). It was very nice to see Tim McGraw from Flight of the Phoenix in Savannah Georgia and his crew again. He is a great guy to talk with and work with. Mark Hershberger (352-622-4943) from Ocala, Florida is an incredible airrush artist and did some phenomenal works for a couple 40K guys. Dave & Jennifer Samol brought out Warchests. Dave's enthusiasm is contagious and he invigorated all he met. He custom builds chests for wargamers. These things were very, very nice. Completely functional, made of wood, brass, & steel. Nothing short of a direct nuclear hit would affect figures protected there in. Give them a call if you want only the best for your armies (813-861-7650). For everyone else at the show, don't feel slighted at not getting mentioned, my memory is short and I don't want to bore the readers with a long list of great people! I'd like to thank Nick, Liz, Christie, and Alex Zizo for their help in running the show. They completely ran the front desk and ensured that the check-in process ran as smoothly as possible. They accounted for all money and kept an exact count of gamers at all times. Chuck Holabird kept all the game tables in order and kept the games running when and where they were supposed to go. Chuck Kennedy & Mike DiRaffaele set up and ran the flea market. I'd also like to thank Mike for his flawless execution of the security plan for the convention areas. Jeff Lista was able to obtain a number of sponsors for HMGS South's Recon: Old Glory, Wargames Inc., Brookhurst Hobbies, Wargame Accessories, Flight of the Phoenix, Johnny Reb Wargames Company, Regimental Colours, and Martelle Publications. Finally, a special thanks to the gamemasters who excelled at running the fine games that we were able to enjoy over the weekend. Thanks to an early morning jaunty, Hal can now say that he has run with a greyhound! What else did we do? Besides demonstrating to Hal how the internet can steal your life away, I showed him my computer system. I think Hal was considering upgrading and getting on the web, ostensibly for his daughters. Sure. More importantly, I walked thru the process of how I draw flags on the computer for Regimental Colours. I think Hal was a little bit surprised to find out that one of the most complex flag sheets had over 56,000 individual objects. Each object is drawn separately and combined to create sub-components of a whole flag design. Repeat this over nine flags and that makes one flag sheet. Drawing flags is relaxing. No, really… That's enough, you're saying. What about historical miniatures? ACW, SYW, and Pirates! This issue is bursting with good stuff and plenty of food for thought. I doubt after this issue you won't have new ideas brewing. I always find it interesting to talk with people who have jumped into new eras because of what they've read in a magazine like The Gauntlet. I plead guilty as charged! I liked the pirates I saw in some ads and my MWAN collection didn't provide me with a set of rules, so I had to write my own. I'm sure there are plenty of gamers out there who've said exactly the same thing. Well, get those home grown sets in here! Trust me, they'll look good in print. What's the best era I've found so far? For me, it's the American Civil War (ACW), due mostly to Foundry figures and a fine set of rules called Brother Against Brother. For skirmish and ease of play, it all works together so nicely. I hope my Pirates! game hits home as well, but I expect it to brew for a couple of years before folks are running Pirates! games at a show like Historicon. I can always hope for sooner, but there's no rush, this is a hobby of historical research. What will I do now? Besides my full time Marine Corps job here in Seoul, I have about a million flags to draw to get caught up for Regimental Colours and then finally is Gauntlet Publications. I have a few more rules sets to get out on the street, then I need to work on a couple of my own to get into the Gauntlet. How's that for a work day? Of course, being a Marine Captain defending (or training others to defend) the southern peninsula from the hordes in the north also has a certain level of satisfaction. But what does all that have to do with Historical Miniatures?!? Just me rambling. Let's see some projects ongoing. Figures, Models, Rules and Things. I restrained quite nicely at Recon (because I didn't know how things were going to turn out financially in Korea). I did buy the complete Peter Pig Pirate line, to include the Brig and the Schooner. Brookhurst didn't have any frigates in stock, otherwise that would have been on my list as well. Add this to my complete Peter Pig Wild West line and I have all I need for good skirmish games. I also picked up some Spanish Bourbons from The London War Room. These are sculpted to fit in with The Foundry's Wild West figures and look great! The Spanish Bourbons were in America's wild west in the 1700's and fought the Indians out that way. They were the original Gauchos, i.e. cowboys. I have enough to run up against my Foundry Apaches in a good little western pass scenario. I also picked up a bunch of Colour Party paints. These are thick water-based acrylics. Add a spot of water and you really get a nice smooth flow from the brush onto the figure. I picked up all their stuff in order to paint my Foundry ACW figures. Additionally, I picked up a couple old copies of S&T mags (one on the Russo-Japanese War), some back issues of Wargames Illustrated, and a copy of Bryan Stroup & Lon Harris' Six Guns & Saloons. I'm looking for that rules set to get all my wild west figures into action. They're just sitting there right now, unpainted and feeling unwanted. I really have to change that. So look for the Wild West variant of Pirates! next issue. I think I captured the flavor of swashbuckling, cutlass waving, and hearty yells of Aaaargh, Matey! I would like to get a copy of Limeys and Slimeys, but I am having a hard time finding anyone around who still has it. As everyone well knows, you can't buy it either. I am very curious as Limeys & Slimeys is supposed to be very fun. At Recon, I met so many dealers who have great stuff. The London War Room is now my new and most favorite dealer. Vince's scratch building ability vaults him to the top. Then for out of print periodicals, there's Modeler's Mart and Scott Nelson's Time Portal Hobbies. If you need a current book or well-painted miniatures, there's Tim McGraw's Flight of the Phoenix. Don't forget the Tactical Edge for a little of everything and they've expanded their Old Glory lines! Wulf's HQ in Ocala runs a painting service that's worth a look. Of course, if you play Seven Years' War, WAS, WSS, or Spanish Civil War, Editions Brokaw/Historical Products Company has just about everything you need. A new return to the hobby is Huntington Forge - his lacquer river was exquisite and he is taking special orders for them right now. Play 54mm? Try Don Ducote's Heritage Toy Figures, Inc. What a great line up of available toys! Look for addresses and more info inside this issue & good luck on the morale rolls! Back to The Gauntlet No. 12 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Craig Martelle Publications 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