Intelligence

News Items

by Richard Brooks


1. Guernsey Foundry figures, available in the US from Pendragon Miniatures see ad. If you are writing them directly they have a new address which means a new production facility and probably better service - Guernsey Foundry, Hubert's Lane, Off Doyle Road, St. Peter Port, Gurnsey, GY1 1RG, Channel Islands, Great Britain.

2. Caliver Books/Partizan Press, 816-818 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 3NH, Great Britain. I haven't seen any new magazines (Age of Empires or Battlefields) but their Christmas list has several books for the colonial period. They also list Princess Ryan's Space Marines by Avalon Hill. My son and I played this while it was in development over several years at both Historicon and Cold Wars. If you have kids this is a great game to play with little ones (anyone over 5 or 6). In the original game you could use their toys as good guys/bad guys and the game is really a lot of fun for fathers/mothers and their kids to play together. Recommended for subscribers in Europe and the US.

3. Cromwell Productions, History and arts catalogue, 11 Central Chambers, Cooks Alley, Stratford-upon-Avan, Warwickshire, CV37 6QN, UK I have reviewed their Zulu War production in the past and this catalogue includes all their productions,; for us this means "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "The War Against the Zulus", "The Battle of Rorke's Drift", "The Boer War" and "The Franco-Prussian War". They are £9.95 each. They also have two cd-roms of interest "The American Civil War" and "The English Civil War". They include battles and events, chronology weapons, tactics, flags, uniforms, biographies, and much more all searchable for £19.95 each. This is only the tip of the iceberg, they have lots of really neat videos, unfortunately I have no idea where in the US to get them.

4 Lone Warrior "Best of Lone Warrior, North American Edition", Solo Wargamers Assoc. 1707 Ridge Rd., Leavenworth, KS 66048. All the articles are worth reading, however, four caught my attention.

    "The Cannonade of Sandgate" by John Bennett is a brief discussion (four pages) of H.G. Wells' contribution to wargaming. Wells' contributions, literary ones, to wargaming apparently embarrasses literary critics and biographers because they avoid the subject like the plague. Both H.G. Wells and before him Robert Louis Stevenson deserve quit a bit of credit for the way we play wargames now.

    "Ambush for Beginners" by Kevin White has some really good ideas for use in both skirmish games and campaigns.

    "Some Solo Wargaming Ideas for the French Foreign Legion" by Hal Thinglum. The ideas, for both Arabs and Zulus, in the article help to lend an air of unpredictability to your games.

    "Into the Unknown - A Simple Campaign Method" by Billy Brand is a short but very good article on some campaigning basics, maps, villages, water and diary to name a few.

5. Wargames, Box 278 Route 40 East, Tridelphia, WV 26059. The latest list from Essex includes 15mm figures for the Franco-Prussian War, part 1 French Infantry. There are 58 different packs listed. They also sent the Osprey New Books list for July-December 97. Several things of interest: "Messenger" Osprey's magazine with news and reviews, I have never seen this before but will try to get a subscription to this; New Men at Arms - Boer Wars II 1898-1902 #303, The Algerian War 1954-62 #312, and The Italian Invasion of Abyssinia 1935-36 #309. I have yet to see these but will try to get them at Siege of Augusta so more later.

6. Miniature Service Center, 1525 Bridge St., Yuba City CA 95993. Still have their 15 percent discount available on all orders. Doug also has a Zulu War skirmish rule book "Spearpoints Gleaming" $15. He also has a Napoleonic Peninsula War skirmish rules book "First in the Field" $14.95. And new Spanish Guerillas to go along with them. Doug announced that he will no longer be carrying Battlegroup figures. Battlegroup bought out Village Green and they have decided to carry everything under the Village Green name, handled by Keith Leidy.

7. Barnes and Nobles, 1-800-the-book.

8. Scholar's Bookshelf, 110 Melrich Road, Cranbury, NJ 08512. Robert Conroy's "1901: A Novel" (catalog #6TB6E) is available in limited numbers from The Scholars Book Shelf mail order company for $5.95, plus $4.50 p&h. Unfortunately, they seem to need a minimum $10 order, if by check, and $15 if by Visa or Master Charge. 9. Miniature Wargames. Issues 174 and 175 arrived

174: While there is nothing colonial this issue, there is an article "Wargaming The Battles of Chacabuco and Maipo Chile 1817-1818" by Greg Blake that is interesting as is the page of uniform drawings.

175: Unfortunately there is nothing colonial in this issue.

10. MWAN #90, Hal Thinglum, 22554 Pleasant Drive, Richton Park, IL 60471. While there are no real colonial period articles there is still loads of great stuff to read.

11. Siege of Augusta VI January 9-11, 1998 at the Sheraton Augusta Hotel, Augusta GA. Jim Birdseye is once again on the prowl for a great convention. This is usually a well attended small convention. Last year Don Featherstone was the guest. This year Howard Whitehouse will be the guest. And believe it or not besides my dealers table (where I sell my extra plastic figures and books) I have been roped into putting on a game and a discussion of the exciting opportunities in the field of colonial gaming, oh boy, thanks Jim!. I have put together: a simple scenario based on the figures I already have; bought some blue board insulation to make scenery; and came up with some extras for TSATF rules I will use. I will lay out the whole thing next issue. If any of yoou live close enough to attend please come for a good time. See you there Howard!

Report on Siege VI

12. On Military Matters, 55 Taylor Terrace, Hopewell, NJ 08525. Catalog 15na contains several books in this New Book Supplement. Highly recommended service. They also have magazine subs for Miniature Wargames, Practical Wargamer, Wargames Illustrated, Battlefields, and Age of Empires.

13. GAJO, 930 Mellish Drive, Lapeer, MI 48446 (810) 664-5655. This service provides painted, pre-owned armies for sale. Mostly ACW, SYW and Napoleonic, prices aren't too bad. 14. Wargames Illustrated, issues 118 and 119 (July and August 97).

    118: The Defence of Duffer's Drift' Swinton's Boer War Primer" by Adam O'Brien takes the dreams and puts them on the table top, an interesting but way to short article.

    119: "Imperius Maximus" by N.F. Laird. This is a set of rules for any European versus Native combat, the example given was 1885 Sudan. These are pretty interesting rules and should provide for a fast play game. The rules are made for at least battalion sized units, definitely not for skirmishing. Give these a try if you like playing by brigades and divisions.

15. Old Battlefields Press, 5 East 600 North, Valparasio, IN 46383. If you are interested in the SYW you should have this catalog, several interesting books and maps. They also have a number of illustrated T-shirts including 'Battle of Isandhlawa' and 'Charge of the 21st Lancers' at $18 each plus $5 S&H (XS to XXL).

16. Victorian Military Society, Michael Parker, Treasurer, 11 Fennel Close, Cove, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU2 6NT UK. Soldiers Small Book # 42 as always full of society news and other colonial news and information, VERY useful. Soldiers of the Queen issue 90 contains six interesting articles. "A Brief Account of the Dooar War of 1864-66" by Conrad Bailey concerning the invasion of Bhutan by the British and includes OB. This would make a very nice campaign. "Who was responsible for the death of The Prince Imperial?" by Digby Hague-Holmes a new examination of the incident using unpublished primary source material. Good article, better ideas for a skirmish game. "Fashoda" by D.J.S. Murray interesting article which could be made into a campaign game. "The Veteran Yeomanry in South Africa, 1901-1902" by E.J. Peacock very interesting article on an area , the Boer War, that I know nothing about.

Overall, I highly recommend joining the Victorian Military Society, the journal is more than worth it, plus you can join any of the interest groups that will give you even more information on your favorite colonial area (Uniforms Study Group, Anglo-Boer War Study Group, Sudan Wars Study Group, Wargames Study Group, Zulu War Study Group, and the India Burma Study Group).

17. Tornado Alert #29, Journal of the Tornado Alley HMGS. Another great issue based on an ECW campaign, very interesting. This issue also announces "San Juan Hill - 1898" a "Battle in a Box" from the Richard Houston Collection. See the review in this issue.

18. Periodical, Journal of America's Military Past, published by the Council on America's Military Past, PO Box 1151, Ft. Myer, VA 22211-0151. This is my first issue and quite a gem. This is mostly about forts and such but two articles "Campaigns of the US Heqavy Artillery 1821to 1901" by William Dorrance and "US Army Field Artillery Weapons 1866 to 1918" by Konrad Schreier, Jr. I am not going to go through the entries, you will see what is appropriate to the Spanish-American War in that issue.


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© Copyright 1997 by Richard Brooks.

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