Hello and welcome to issue No. 3. With this Issue, I'm glad to be able to report that The Gauntlet is going from strength to strength, which is particularly heartening after our somewhat uncertain beginning. Subscriptions are picking up, soles through Callver Books are increasing, and we now have the active support of several traders and worgomes societies. Reviews in other journals have been very complimentary, all of which bodes well for the future. At this point I would like to thank Stuart Asquith who alone of the professional 'glossy' editors has acknowledged our existence and given The Gauntlet a boost. Perhaps the last paragraph of Mike McVelgh's letter in the Chainmail column gives the answer why this is. Thank's for the telephone calls and letters, please keep them coming. Of the letters, I especially enjoyed Mike Buttle's chatty style and would like to see more of this type of letter in the future. By the way, if any of you have played out the games and scenarios presented in Gauntlet so far, why not let us know how you got on? Plans to finish Gauntlet for the end of September were shot down when Heather's father was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery on a malignant cancer. We packed her off to France to be with him through his ordeal and see him through the convalescence. Whilst the whole thing was a very harrowing experience for her, she admitted that the highlight was taking the small Air France 10 seater plane to Carpiquet Airport, Caen. Flying in low over the French coast, with the D-Day invasion beaches stretching out below the window, she found it all very poignant, and could imagine herself back 50 years in time. Heather returned with a leaflet for flights over the invasion beaches in a C47 Dakota, a one hour fight costing £90. I'll find out if it's running next year and bring you details in the next Forager. This summer when not producing The Gauntlet, It was spent painting figures from Peter Pig's new 15mm Spanish Civil War range. I began well. First, spray undercoating all the postings, with the intention of painting them on a production line basis. However, I found that as the colour began to 'flesh out' the figures, there was so much detail it was almost impossible not to paint each figure individually. I ended up mounting three to a lolly stick instead, and finishing maybe six figures a day! Eventually finishing a battalion of Thaelmann International Brigoders and a Tabor of Moors, with the aim of refighting some actions based around the University City. Madrid, as detailed in Esmond Romilly's evocative book 'Boadillo'. (The solo platoon/company level skirmish rules I developed for these actions appeared In 'El Aficianado' no.3. See Forager column for details). I was reminded by The World Cup of Don Featherstone's Wargamers Newsletter editorials back in what must have been 1974. Of how he finished painting two whole wargame armies during the televised tournament (Franco-Austrian 1857. I think ). At that time I could only look forward to when I would be able to afford and point metal models soldiers of my own. The Harrow Model Shop, an absolute Aladdin's Cove for the wargamer/modeller, provided my first -- Jacklex 20mm. Chosen over, Hlnchliffe and Garrison 25mm for their life like proportions, there were Colonial, ACW and WWI figures, which happened to match Airfx plastics perfectly. Infantry were 8p. cavalry 17p and equipment sets like the mounted maxim gun detachment only 77p. Pocket money would stretch to 14 figures a week. Back in those uncomplicated days my red coated and white pith helmeted Highlanders would march across the scorching Sudan to the skirt of the bagpipes, often giving (sometimes recieving) a good drubbing to The Mahdi's hordes. Next time, they would be storming the trenches at Tel-El-Keblr, or launching punitive expeditions In mountain passes of cork bark against the fanatical Afghan tribesmen of Mohat Maeoat Moghandi. Cheers for now. Back to The Gauntlet No. 3 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Craig Martelle Publications 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