Fellow Historians: So it's been another three months without playing in too many games. I did get to see Faron Betchley at Little Wars in Fairfax, Virginia when I was back there for a week. I had to attend a law course. Ack! I know there's a lot of Gauntlet subscribers that are lawyers, but international law isn't very straightforward. Where have I been since Florence? Well, besides Seoul and warzone Korea, Almaty (Kazakhstan), Moscow (Russia), and from Florida to Pennsylvania across to Seattle (all driving in the States). I think that's about enough travelling over a three month period for anyone. In addition to racking up over 40,000 frequent flyer miles during this period, my wife and I drove over 4000 miles. Can you see why there wasn't much gaming? However there was a significant amount of time to read. I read the English Patient. I know that this is a romantic drama, but it is set outside Florence with a significant amount of action taking place in North Africa. It seemed to describe well the Sikh Explosive Ordnance Disposal Sergeant's life of clearing unexploded munitions and booby-traps. It delved into the trials and tribulations of a life in the military, even if these soldiers were on their own. I read even more on the Korean War. As you can tell from the scenarios in this issue, these are not hypothetical or alternative history. The Korean War scenarios are historically accurate. If a unit designation is not given, that means I couldn't find it. So the Communist Chinese Forces 40th Army Group Divisions defied me. I was unable to find designators for them. From the Korean War memorial and massive museum here in Seoul, I was still unable to find the information. How irksome trying to research and not reading the country's language (Hangul is what they speak in Korea). I won't have that problem in Russia. When I go to the Archives, I will take my camera and definitely get some pictures of the archives themselves in order to show Gauntlet readers something that very few historical miniature players will get to see. I can also read the language just fine. Look for translated articles and documents to start appearing here or in other historical miniatures publications. I am very curious about World War II and what the Soviet war machine came up with as far as history. In that era, everything was skewed by the master spin doctor, Stalin himself. The hard part for me as a non-native Russian speaker, will be to read between the lines to figure out what really happened. Most Russian soldiers were heroes of the Soviet Union if their stories got into print. So they were all God-like in their abilities. Sure. I will have to look for some stuff written about Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in order to see just how skewed things can get. And I think a trip down there may be in order, too. The largest free standing single statue - the tribute to the defenders of the motherland. (297 feet high). Let's see what's in the mailbox for this period. The nice supply of magazines from the various HMGS chapters. I really like Battlefield from HMGS West - Good Job to Chris Salander and to Great Lakes Mike DeMana for the job they do. Both put out an excellent mag. Mid-South's monthly Dispatch is also worth the price of admission, although, I still like South's color Rebel Yell. I must again address Robert Haworth's Painted Sunset scenario book. This shows what a good scenario book will do for a set of rules. Because of the scenario book, I bought both Yellow Ribbon (an old set of rules from Greg Novak) and Warpaint. I know, I probably should have bought Warpaint a long time ago. The first Warpaint scenario in the Gauntlet was six issues ago! Warpaint is a very good set of rules for the scale it addresses. Well done and highly recommended if you are still debating which set to get for larger scale cavalry and indian wars rules. I also would like to get a conversion into these pages for Yellow Ribbon to Warpaint for Painted Sunset. Yellow Ribbon was produced a while ago, but that doesn't take away from the quality of the rules. Sure, it's not in the high-speed format we're used to seeing nowadays, but it is a good set of rules. I picked these up through Pharaoh's Guard Hobbies, 45108 Garrett's Lake Road, Shawnee, OK 74804. Because of my not-so-unique situation, I buy everything on line. Craig Einhorn, the man behind Pharaoh's Guard was very accomodating and quick. And as usual, I sent the check as he sent the merchandise and we each received our due at the same time. Very congenial and that's how I like to do business with Gauntlet pubs, too. You can also readily do this from Warhawk Hobbies (see ad on page 97). Mike and Antina are super people and always willing to help out in any way they can. Ask questions if you're having a hard time finding something. If Pharaoh's or Warhawk can't find it, then you're going to have to get to the Flea Market at Historicon where anything can be found (and had, for a price). I also purchased a Warboard from Warzone on line. It took quite a while to receive, but that again is my problem living in Korea. From when I ordered it, it was mailed in less than five days. Very good service on that end. It travelled half way around the world and arrived in perfect condition! So, well packaged and a good product. I intend to use it for 20mm Napoleonics, 20mm WWII, and of course, my 28mm ACW skirmish. I don't think it will work for my wild west as it portrays nice lush green terra firma. I picked up a set of matching hills, too, just because you can always use hills. This is definitely Highly Recommended! Good luck on those morale rolls and enjoy Gauntlet #16! Back to The Gauntlet No. 16 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 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