Dear Mark, Hi there! Remember me from Wargames Developments? I picked up issue no.1 of 'The Gauntlet' from one of the Traders at The Nationals and I must say that I was quite impressed. Well done chaps! The following are some notes and comments on the contents. I will be sending to Paul for the next issue. Being a wargame designer at heart I was particularly interested that several of the articles were sets of rules or even complete games. Indeed that was the main reason that I parted with some hard earned cash to buy a copy. It was particularly nice to see two games using the EDNA system - remember you sow it first in 'The Nugget'. I was also interested in 'A Day of Battle 1', but must confess to being a bit puzzled by the bit about the Unit Die - it didn't tie up with the rest of the rules on page 17. I assume that the Unit Die should be used instead of a D10 on the results table (the one just above the ranges table) and that bit under the Effects of Melees table about generate with units should be deleted. 'Alfred's Wars' seems like a nice little game that I shall try out sometime. I was intrigued by Steve Turner's article 'Worgaming on the Cheap'. There's nothing new under the sun is there ? I endow a photocopy of a letter that appeared In 'Lone Warrior' Issue no.45, January 1983 (that's more than 10 years ago) from yours truly on the very some subject !I! As a matter of fact I still have two large ACW armies constructed from hair rollers as described by Andy Callon in Miniature Wargames issue no.9. It was really nice to see Don Featherstone In print again. It was dear old Don who introduced me to wargaming through his books bode In the sixties and I also subscribed to 'Wargamers Newsletter'. I still have copies dated back to 1968. I have one small quibble with Don's rules for the Khyber Pass Patrol Action game. Surely it should be more difficult to hit a target that Is moving or behind hard cover, not easier! I suggest that if the firer or target Is moving or the target is in hard cover then the score should be 0 or over (i.e. 2 more than normal). On the whole, an excellent first issue and best wishes for the future. Best regards, Mike Elliot Dear Paul, Thanks for the lost Issue of Gauntlet 1. I placed an advert in this month's Practical Wargamer to sell my Peter Laing, Spencer Smith and painted Williamite figures. Response has been nil. I did receive a letter from someone who wants to advertise / set the old Peter Laing range. I will continue to advertise mine in Miniature Wargomes until they sell, but may keep the Williamites and use them for Renaissance Games as this seems to be the conformist thing to do with an army of 1680 odd. I rang a bloke who advertised In Miniature Wargames that buys painted figures. Well, he only pays out a maximum of 20p a figure, which means he'll probably offer even less. If I sell at 20p a figure, I will lose £75.00. Whereas at 30p, I would recover what I paid for the figures ... £240. On the other hand if I do keep my Williamites I have to consider how much more time, effort and money has to be spent to make it acceptable to the wargaming world ; 1) Must re-paint half white as red coats must fight white cooled French, not grey coated Dutch. 2) Use It for Renaissance because that what seems to be required. Mmmm, tell me more about the model train hobby Paul. The Renaissance has two popular sets of rules for the playing of wargames, WRG 1420-1700 & Tabletop's Tercio. If I must learn both sets then I'll concentrate on Renaissance as my period of gaming and say goodbye to both Ancients and Napoleonics. Figure reviews, along with the letters page are very often the features that I buy a 'zine for. It was a bloody nuisance to learn that Peter Pig now sell 15mm Spanish Clvll War, as I can now have large scale 20th Century games, (using WRG rules) buying my armies at a price I can justify. In the last Gauntlet I found 'Veni, Vidi, Vino' an amusing little piece of a type that cheers up a magazine with a bit of light relief. 'Wargaming on the Cheap' had some sound and good ideas. I've often used plastic counters in solo games. He (Steve Tumor) says that one's wargames club colleagues won't be fond of matchstick armies because they don't look as good as metal. H'mm, more likely they'll think one a skinflint if you tried fielding a 1500pt army in matchstick, BUT if the army represents 15,000 pts, they'd probably say what a sensible and practical person he is to fight major world battles in wood. I liked 'John Has A Lang Moustache' even though I haven't played it. Strangely before reading the article, I hod just now been reading the book 'Dos Reich' that was mentioned in the tailpiece, where the Marquis attempt to liberate a town. This was the town of Tulle. The communist resistance with 3000? attacked Tulle in the sense that armed fighters advanced Into the town engaging the garrison. The resistance believed the garrison to be smaller than it was. Of the three positions the Germans held, two surrendered or evacuated, whilst the 3rd held by middle aged reservists were getting very distressed and failing morale throws, when the 7th Cavalry arrived in the form of the SS 'Doe Reich' Division. They drove out the resistance with little effort. Claiming that German prisoners had been shot the SS took reprisals against the civilian population who had played no part. 'Alton Church', Why does the ECW excite wargamers and 1685 bore them? How many readers who were pleased on reading ECW 1643, would have lost interest Immediately in on article filled Alton Church 1690? After all that. I liked the article which was nice and short, holding interest and useable for other periods. Useful list of the composition of the armies. I like the quoting of contemporary accounts as they are more valuable than a C20th Interpretation by on amateur historian. I'm not over fond of skirmish games like '1879'. Why not use one's everyday wargames rules using the factors and casualties inflicted by one figure. 'Angry Shore' had nothing that a reader couldn't invent for himself, and can't see the need for this type of article. I liked 'Crossing the Rappahannock'. If was not overlong (4 sides +), provides the basic facts and 3 scenarios for a solo game. This is the sort of article I would need as a soloist, as is 'Domain Los Aura'. I enjoyed the cartoon accompanying 'Vilhelm Brandt'. Fantasy will always suffer from the fact that the troops it uses are associated with fairy stories / little kids. The map was useful as it saves me inventing my own, whilst the article was interesting in showing how a wargamer plans / creates his own particular solo campaign. 'Cabbages and Kings', is something I would use myself, being quick to set up and aimed at the soloist. I liked the 'large Quiz' as it's informative and the 'Targe' is as good as always. Today I received a blue covered cloth divided into hexes from Martin in Bournemouth. Well, I wonder sometimes if I should give up all land wargaming and choose naval wargaming instead. Out of interest, how much would you pay for an adequately panted figure. All the best, Mike Butte  Dear Paul, Thank you for the Gauntlets. I hope to be able to read them with closer attention when the Scots in my group have finished reading them. I have passed your suggestions about articles to Bill Roy for the Last of the Mohloans and Alan Hamilton who Is responsible for Flashmon and his relatives appearing In several of our actions, even 'Alto, Alto.' I am keen on Fantasy myself and enclose the background bumper and account of the skirmish we fought fast night. My fantasy world Marval Earth obviously owed a lot to Tolkein at the start but as Tony Bath said years ago, these things develop a life of their own. It was very loosely designed to provide a setting for skirmish actions in notions based upon those of the middle ages with not too powerful magic thrown in. Characters tend to die more easily than In D&D etc. but I try to bringlinks to former incidents when making up a new story. For instance, Friar Molgre of the Friars of SL Frederick last appeared in 'Witchcraft at Dainvills' when the Order of St. Judas was investigating reports of witchcraft and heresy and worse in a distant village (all true and more). Thentis worships the neutral God ERU and only clerics are permitted to practice magic. Thus the poor alcoholic Molgre was forced to become a friar and have some poison meant for someone else recovering only when the several days actions were over. I was given the Kingdom of Thentls in i postal campaign 'Son of Hyborta' years ago and fitted it into Marval Earth with all It's families and feudal organisation. The two knights posted with Norman Montmorillion have background stories. The 'Court Scandalmonger' Gllbert Du Rhelne happens to be married to one of King Eudes mistresses. In the mythology, under ERU are 50+ Maio or demigods divided Into Lawic, Neutral and Chaotic alignments. The Lawics under Valerian follow a creed of do as you would be done by, and the Chootlcs believe might is right. The Chaotics are led by Hagoth who claims to be brother of Tolkeins Mogroth and who has appropriated Saurons Eye symbol. (After all Souron was destroyed, he won't need It any more). I am getting carried away again. Anyway good luck with the magazine. Slim Mumford Dear Paul, Just received the second edition of 'The Gauntlet' and was again pleasantly reworded by its contents. I certainly liked the Zulu War skirmish rules by Ray King, and being an ACW enthusiast 'Crossing the Rappahannock' went down well. All round edition no.2 was a good read with a number of little gems that might come in useful in the future. I enjoyed most of the WW2 articles (although it's a period I'm only very mildly interested in). The article entitled 'John Has A Long Moustache' certainly caught my attention, although I somehow expected a reference to "ello 'ello' or 'Night-'awk' somewhere whilst reading it. I've no doubt the basic Idea (and rules) of the article could well find themselves co-opted Into some of my own ACW actions of sometime, (I'm always looking for good Ideas for my games). The action at Afton Church was also interesting to read (still having Don Featherstone's book 'Wargames Campaigns' in which this battle appears on my shelves), but I was a little concerned to see a 'Fantasy' article taking up valuable space within The Gauntlet's pages. OK, so it was only one page, but please, please, please DON'T give us too much of this type of material as It numbs my brain senseless. In my experience, so called 'Fantasy' has little to do with wargaming and anyway aren't there enough magazines published on this subject already ? Do we really need to incorporate such things as 'magic spells', 'thunderbolts' or 'dragons' to enhance our wargaming? (Not if the wargaming is exciting enough already we don't!) Anyway, keep up the standard of the mag. I think it's terrific. It's a shame that it's only available 4 times a year as I'm beginning to look forward to the 3rd edition already. Cheers, Steve Turner Thanks for your vote of confidence. I understand about Fantasy/Sci-Fi and believe me that they have enough outlets. Historicals are the main part, but The Gauntlet caters toall wargamers, and so F&SF offer another aspect of the hobby. --MH Dear Paul, I am a member of a small club in Blyth near Newcastle, and we game just about everything and anything. Some of us though, won't touch fantasy which always makes for much friendly rivalry whenever a fantasy game is on. There have been about four shows in the Tyneside region this year although two are yet to come. The standard and in fact number of shows is variable; the best is probably Northern Standard which is the only really regular show. Congratulations on the second edition of The Gauntlet, it was very good and the presentation even better than the first. it looks very professional keep it up! On the subject of forming a society around The Gauntlet, my personal opinion is that it isn't necessary. What would its purpose be? I think that the subscribers (Gauntteteers perhaps?), can contribute quite happily on on informal basis. A society could cause divisions as In the unfortunate bickerings which have plagued the SWA in recent years My personal opinion is that The Gauntlet should be left as a magazine. Finally, Steve Turner's 'matchstick armies' are most interesting, perhaps a candidate for Kriegsplel with maps? All the Beat Paul Williamson Opinion expressed so far is to kep the 'zine an amateur wargame magazine, and not linking on the manes of a society.--MH Dear Paul, After reading the first Issue of The Gauntlet, I couldn't wait to get the second, and am eagerly awaiting the third. The best thing about The Gauntlet is the emphasis on practical worgaming material, especially the solo games. I am most definitely going to give 'Full Metal EDNA' a shot. HMGS (MidWest) - Historical Miniatures Gaming Society - is an organisation that promotes miniature worgaming in the Mid-Western United States. It's counter-parts are HMGS (West), HMGS (South) and HMGS (East) ; which have the some goals but different officers, newsletters and sponsor different conventions. The largest conventions for historical miniatures are Hlstoricon and Cold Wars, sponsored by HMGS (East). If one had to choose only one convention, I'd recommend Hislodcon first, Cold Wars 2nd. The convention sponsored by HMGS (MidWest) Little Wars is held in April and much smaller than those previously mentioned. In part this has been due to scheduling the convention during the Easter weekend over the past two years. However, before the convention site was less than optimal. Next year, the organizers promise a different date. HMGS (MidWest) also usually has a presence al the major fantasy convention GenCon, held in August. GenCon itself, has a draw of 20,000 and dwarfs whilst the largest historical convention -- Historicon with a draw of 2,000. Hal Thinglum's MWAN is an independent newsletter and not directly associated with HMGS (MidWest). In summary with respect to Gauntlet, keep up the good work. I was very impressed -- and the reason was the good mix of solo mechanisms, scenarios and worgaming articles, The 'glossies' should be this good! Mike McVeigh, Wisconsin USA Praise indeed! Thank's Mike, and we'll try to improve as The Gauntlet matures -- Mark 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