Mark Keigwin

I'm enclosing photocopies of two items from the British publication "punch" published in 1879, and regarding the Zulu War. The Lord Chelmsford piece, under "Civil and Military," is a commentary on the defeat at Isandlawa and is very biting.

I thought these were so interesting that I just copied them into this Heliograph.

Civil and Military

Chris Nelson

I found #103 to be interesting but I had to read the Russian article twice before I was able to take it in. The maps were hard to read (could have been the copying or too much info) but were a good idea. I thought Ron's book review was well done , the Guernsey Foundry ad had great illustrations, if I had the money I would start over with their figures.

Regarding the decline of Colonials I think that there are many reasons - 1) The main wargaming mags have done more cover stories on WWII or Napoleonics, 2) we have just gone through the 50th anniversary of WWII and there has been a LOT of books and media attention, 3) media attention - magazines, books, TV and the movies have had a big impact on drawing peoples attention - WWII has had a lot of attention - the last major interest drawing to the colonial period was the Gulf War, and 4) there has been a massive release of figures in the 20mm scale for WWII compared to little for colonial. At the same time the price of 25mm has continued to climb.

Finally, regarding Emanuel Pentecost's letter. From what I have read criminal investigations were handled at different levels. The company commander would carry out an investigation and if need be he would refer the matter to the Bn Adjudent. This officer was given the responsibility by the Bn commander to investigate and if need be to bring formal charges. The Duncan MacNeil novel Charge of Cowardice would giveone some indication of what a British Army investigation would be like. One might try to write to the British Embassy in Washington to see if they could guide him more.

I agree with Chris about the decline of Colonials I would, however, add that the disappearance of Savage and Soldier several years ago surely helped the decline move even faster. As to Emanuel's request for information, I would refer you to a new Osprey Elite #65 Redcaps: Britains Military Police. I also remember reading about a book on Wellington's military police, unfortunately, that's all I remember.

Chris Ferree, cferree@fd9ns01.okladot.state.ok.us

Now, to answer your questions:

1. Determining figures that can fire- When the active unit wishes to fire, it first declares its target (i.e. the player points to and says "I want to shoot at them"). This is done before any measuring is done. After the target is declared then the range is measured. Only figures that are with in range are counted as firing. (the men of the unit which are out of range may actually have fired in real life, but because their fire has no chance of being effective they are not included in the calculation)

2. Nominating the target of a Charge- The chargers must have a Line Of Sight to its target, as defined in the shooting section. The charge must be directed at the closest enemy unit in the line of sight. (I would like to leave the last part of this to common sense, but that's just asking for trouble.)

3. Modifiers to the Adversity Test As for the Line of retreat, this modifier applies if there is not a gap of at least 6" between enemy units, or an enemy unit and impassable terrain, for the testing unit to pass through. This measurement can be adjusted by the terrain movement modifiers. (i.e. if the terrain movement modifier is 2" of movement rate for each inch, then a 3" gap is needed.

4. Pistols are considered Close Combat weapons only so no range factor is given. Should you wish to use pistols as a ranged weapon (should a unit be equipped with only pistols) then I would say : short range= 2" ; medium range= 4" ; Long range= 8". Battalion Commander Figure's are armed and fire as the unit it commands. Regimental Co's are not counted for shooting, but do count for Close Combat.

5. Line of sight in woods- Light woods= 1" Jungle 1/2" if inside the woods. Line of sight stops at the edge of woods if outside of the woods. Figures that are in woods or jungle and fire out can be shot at in turns that they fire.

6. Information on the Cards - Officer's name and rank, The unit he is with. His Rally Bonus and "Come On!" Point. The units Adversity Chart - The type and range of weapon it uses.

I hope this helps. We have not been working on this version of the rules, however. We have been concentrating on the "long" version. At this time the "long" version is being made San Juan Hill specific. (i.e. the Spanish are ran by the gamesmaster and all players are Yanks). Once this is finished, a two sided game can be played by simply playing the Spanish in the same manner as the Americans.

Chris: These designers notes/answers to questions I posed, answer any questions I had about the rules without having played them. I certainly will as soon as I can paint up the figures. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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