1. The Age of Empires. Issue 14. Available from Caliver Books and Partizan Press, 816-818 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 3NH. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Six color illustrations of Southwest Africa German uniforms, seven color illustrations of English Colonial reenactors, WOW, WOW, and double WOW (I think that's enough wows here). For the whole magazine Ian Knight and Partizan Press deserves an big excellently, well done. Articles include:

1. "German Camel Corps in SW Africa"
2. "Bobbie the Hero of Mawandi"
3. "Departure of the Balck Watch for the Egyptian Campaign"
4. "The French Campaign in Dahomey" (contains a great illustration of a French sternwheeler).
5. "Leliefontein, November 7th 1900"
6. "The Prettiest Thing I Have Ever Seen in Real Fighting: British Tactics in the 6th, 7th and 8th Cape Frontier Wars (1835, 1846-47 and 1850-53)."
7. "Survivors' Tales of Great Events 2: The Charge of the Light Brigade"
8. "Chasseur's d'Afrique 1855"

Not having seen Savage and Soldier in, how many years has it been already (since Jan 1995), The Age of Empires has taken its place very nicely. I am hard put to figure out which might be the best article of these eight. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED <>Along with Age of Empires came Caliver Books latest list includiong several interesting colonial books. And a flyer for Brassey's History of Uniforms series which includes Mexican American War, and the Spanish American War each with about 150 color and B&W illustrations for somewhere around $40 each.

2. Guernsey Foundry figures, available in the US from Pendragon Miniatures, 1549 Marview Dr., Westlake, OH 44145, 440-871-4587, fax 440-892-5887. Guernsey Foundry, Hubert's Lane, Off Doyle Road, St. Peter Port, Gurnsey, GY1 1RG, Channel Islands, Great Britain. Nothing new since the last issue.

3. www.magweb.com While searching through the list of 50 magazines I stopped at The Courier since I had not seen it in awhile, well duh! since my sub ran out with 70. Anyway I checked out their last issue 73, which had an interesting set of rules "With MacDuff to the Frontier" by Ross Macfarlane. Check it out some interesting ideas to steal for your own rules.

4 Lone Warrior US edition, Solo Wargamers Assoc. 1707 Ridge Rd., Leavenworth, KS 66048. Issue 123, July-September has two articles of colonial interest. "A Spanish-American War Naval Wargame 2: Manila Bay" by Marvin Scott and "Zulu Armies" by Carl Holliday. The Naval game looks interesting but no comment as I don't do naval wargaming. The "Zulu Armies" on the other hand was a very interesting read, full of useful information if you are going to write your own rules or need a quick refresher for an upcoming game. The Zulu Campaign was probably the most interesting part of the article. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED reading.

5.S-gaugian: News and features for 3/16" model railroading. Available at most hobbyshops that cater to model railroading. It's not the magazine that's important but what ads it contained, one in particular for Scenery Unlimited, 7236 W. Madison St., Forest Park, IL 60130. S guage is equivilant to 25mm, somewhere between true and larger. The 156 page catalog includes, besides trains, structures, figures, scenery, vehicles and more for $7.50. The trains could give you new scenarios to work with, Boer War, ACW, Franco-Prussian and more.

6. Miniature Service Center, 1525 Bridge St., Yuba City CA 95993. Still have their 15 percent discount available on all orders. Nothing specifically new for colonials. They have some new ACW camp sets that are impressive looking and price wise at 89.95 each, although you do get quite a bit.

7. Barnes and Nobles, 1-800-the-book. The latest catalog contains a few good military history books. E165894 By the Orders of the Great White Queen, Campaigning in Zululand by Ian Knight $14.98 and B134100 The Spanish-American War, 1898 by AA Nofi $17.46 Both are good deals and good books.

8. Wargames, Box 278, Route 40 East, Tridelphia, WV 26059. I ordered and received with a very good turn-around time (5 working days) an Osprey book and the Photographer with camera (WGV1A) from the Dixon 25mm Wild West figures. The consists of two pieces: a large box camera on tripod and a man holding his hands to the side of the camera when set together. Both pieces are well detailed. They will sit in front of my next native cavalry charge just to see what happens.

One of their latest flyers announces Franco-Prussian War 15mm figs Prussians, Saxons, Bavarians, Wurtenburg, equipment and cavalry, they also have French, including the African regiments. They also have 25mm Indian Mutiny. Otherwise, I doubt their colonial range has changed in a decade. Good figures but not a 'deep' collection. Still, at $1.49 each they are a little pricey. I recommend them as they are good figuresÑwell designed and nicely animated.

9. Miniature Wargames July 1998 #182. Available from Wargames, Box 278 Route 40 East, Tridelphia, WV 26059. There is an interesting game about becoming an officer due the Victorian period. I have read through it several times but have yet to figure out how much money you start with, which makes the game somewhat confusing. August #183 Two articles that are quite worth reading. "The Other Sikh Wars" by Greg Blake contains three color illustrations with good uniform detail, I must try this with my Foundry Ghorchurra cavalry troops. The article has lots of good information and eight scenarios that could be used for most any Indian Colonial period. The second article is "Up the Creek with Rajah Brooke" by Jim Webster concerns mid-eighteenth century Sarawak and pirates. Very good article, has five scale drawings of local and pirate boats/ships, two contemporary illustrations and a color figure photo very nice. Contains ideas for scenarios, Highly recommended reading! Anyone know where to find swivel cannons for small ships/forts??

10. Bob Burke, 4726 Apaloosa Court, Antioch, CA 94509. Until further notice, all original back issues of Savage and Soldier are on sale for only $2.50 each (photocopies of earlier back issues are still $2.75). He has the following originals available: Vol 17, #1; 18, #2; 19 #3-4; 20 #2 through 24, #4.

11. MWAN #94, Hal Thinglum, 22554 Pleasant Drive, Richton Park, IL 60471. Two interesting articles out of many include: Wes Rogers "Map Making Ideas" using the PC program Gamemapr to generate maps of several types. Very interesting, but I got a Mac. "Gaming the Old West in Miniature Part One: Issues, Figures and Accessories" by Rob Lusk in which Lusk discusses Hollywood's West versus the real West and a general description of figure and building manufacturers. I never realised there were so many figures for the Old West. Overall a great issue. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

12. Clash of Empires by Keith Frye, 33 Ridge Road, Bloomingdale, NJ 07403. Double issue 3 and 4 Spring 1998. HA! to you Keith, the Heliograph jumped from wherever to 7th place on the latest MagWeb listing well by-passing Clash of Empires. Several articles caught my eye in this issue: "Prussian Infantry Uniforms 1870-71" by Pat Condray just what I needed to finish off my troops since there is no Osprey Men at Arms for the Prussians. "Sources for the 1864 Prusso-Danish War" by Scott Hansen and "Second Schleswig War, Battle of Kjaer 29 June 1864" by Scott Hansen. Both articles by Scott are good. To the source list I would add the series of articles in Practical Wargamer from Oct/Nov 1994 to Mar/Apr 1995 by John Pocock with color uniform illustrations. There is a museum at the Dybbol Banke Battlefield, near Kjaer that has a small gift shop with a few booklets and uniform postcards their address is Historiecenter Dybbol Banke, Dybbol Banke 16, DK-6400 Sonderborg Denmark. I was there three years ago and they were still putting it all together so they should be done now with more material. Some of the booklets were not available in English but they were mostly photographs and I thought well worth the money. Some of the material is also available from the Tojhus Museet that Scott mentioned, actually the Tojhus has a large collection of uniform postcards and three uniform plates. The plates are quite good but are Napoleonic (1 and 2) or WWII (3). If you are ever in Copenhagen go there, they have a huge collection of firearms and cannons. Finally, if you are interested in the Schleswig-Holstein Revolt 1848-1850 Johs. Nielsen has a booklet by that title with color uniform plates in English, very good. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

13. Old Glory see Bob Giglio's review below. WOW.

14. Victorian Military Society, Michael Parker, 11 Fennel Close, Cove, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 9XD, Great Britain. Soldiers of the Queen, issue 93 June 1998, has two very interesting articles: "The 36th Sikhs and Samana" by Rod McNeil contains lots of useful information for deploying a regiment of Sikhs, 1897 in the Samana Range fighting the Orakzais and Afridis, actions, casualty reports and biographies of officers and other participants. The other is "3rd December 1893: The Day the Matabele War was Lost" by IJ Cross contains a description of the campaign, great for scenario ideas. Soldiers Small Book #44 contains updates on each of the societies study groups. I have sent my money to each group that pertains to colonial warfare and will fill you in on information. The newest study group is the Uniforms Study Group. As soon as I receive the first issue I will pass on information.

15. Needing a magazine fix while my wife nurses her mother back from a hip replacement I ventured into the not so local board gaming store and found three of the last four issues of Wargames Illustrated. GREAT STUFF HERE.

#128, May 1998, the cover shows the French Foreign Legion defending against the Arab hords. Contains three articlesÑ"Basing in the Grand Manner" by Jerry Miller is a step-by-step guide to some simple but very effective basing methods to make your figures and small scenery pieces come alive. "Starting Wargaming? Part 4 - Scenarios" by Peter Tanner is a discussion of three basic scenario types, interesting reading. Continued on page 18. "Spot the Boer" by Adam O'Brien is a very interesting idea that keeps the British on the move and on their toes.
#130, July 1998, cover shows a scene from Mark Copplestone and John French's Darkest Africa Game at the British Partizan show. WOW GREAT SCENERY. An interesting article by Chris Peers "The Dagomban Civil War: A Modern African Campaign" talk about out of the headlines gaming this is it. While modern this contains some system ideas for the next issue article by Peers and Copplestone.
#131, August 1998, forget the cover check out page 4, Darkest Africa figures painted by Steve Dean and Kevin Dallimore. WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW this is a great painting guide, these two guys are really in the top ten of figure painters in the world. I would love to see what the Ardent Adventurers and Expedition Command figures look like.

Keep your eyes open Gamesworkshop is producing rules for historical gamers see Jervis Johnson's article "The Ancient Greeks: A Warhammer Ancient Battles Army List". Ian Barstow's article "Skirmishing Wild West Movies No. 2: The Magnificent Seven" contains two scenarios and lots of ideas to use with the "Rules with No Name". "How to be an Umpire" by John Staverley you need to read this if you wnat to umpire a game or try to run one by yourself. John French's "Congo, 1876, or 'Another fine mess you got me into, Stanley...': Making Terrain for a Demo Game" is so full of...well, ideas it will soon be dog-eared from my reference. While this appears to be written for the mid-level modeller it contains enough detailed information to make it useful for the novice.

Chris Peers and Mark Copplestone wrote "In Darkest Africa, Part I Wargaming and Painting Guide" gets a five star rating with illustrations, photos, color drawings and color phiotos of painted figures, and more information than you can digest at one sitting, especially if your like me, who reads slow and takes time to understand the info. Several ideas about force make up are excellently done except for one thing, there is no discussion of the number porters necessary. I read somewhere that some expeditions had 2,000 porters, certainly a hundred carrying supplies would be necessary for either European or Arab led expeditions. I wish I could reprint this article for you. I will be including information of this type in the near future on French Colonial possessions then others as I find good period photos and illustrations. I hope that the Foundry includes Pygmies and Baluchis in their line up soon. If not Africans of true 25mm or large 15mm will work for pygmies.

16. International War Museum For the past two years Jim Birdseye and I have been discussing the possibility of of a museum which centers on world military history. The concept is to create a museum that would chronicle man's conflicts from the beginning of history and include the military history of every region of the world within its walls. The museum's exhibits would be based on the use of miniatures and hands-on displays (everything but the figures). The exhibits would be designed to be inter-active and touchable. All would be tied together with conferences and conventions.

The museum, in Augusta, Georgia, would become a center for the study of political, social, and cultural conflict. In relation to war all other human endeavors shrink in comparison. Yet, was is so destructive. We study was to first avoid it, but if avoidance is not possible, we study to win.

The History Channel, the Arts and Entertainment Channel and the Discovery Channel as well as Ted Turner all know that people are fascinated by war and conflict. They build their programming around military history. Why not create an institution to satisfy that interest? Why not create a world military history museum?

This is the basis we having been working on, and it is starting to pay off. We have contacted several people and been promised one full display on the French Revolution and Napoleonic War (uniforms, flags, painted figures and artwork). We have already received a case full of assorted Minifigs. There are others as well, a full hobby shop for wargamers, original uniforms and artwork. We welcome any and all support. We have received some city and state backing as well as a six storey building for nominal rent, hotel and tourist planning help.

The museum is planning to publish three magazines - one for kids, a popular and a scholarly journal. I already edit a scholarly military history journal under HMGS-East sponsorship that will add museum sponsorship. Further, the museum would become a place where kids could come to learn about history and miniatures.

There is much more but space is limited and I don't want to leave the impression I am asking for handouts for the museum (that comes later). So where am I going with this in regard to the Heliograph, well nowhere. I would like to know what you think of the concept and if you have any ideas that we might use.

17. Next Issue 109 Issue 109 will contain an article by Mark Keigwin on colonial German uniforms with original artwork. Very nice. And the next installment of the Spanish-American War photographs. Hopefully, it will be a shorter issue, at this length I can only offer four issues a year and want to keep it at six. So far I have nothing for the December issue so I would appreciate any articles. Any manufacturers should think about ads for the October issue for Christmas orders.

18. Other Issues It is very sad to see a distributor close shop for lack of business, I understand Richard Houston's motives and agree with him. I hope that his last hurrah in business, starting now, is fruitful. I have an order to go with his issue and will probably buy some more, of whatever might be left at Siege of Augusta. But don't wait that long. Richard has already sold his molds and they will be gone by the next Heliograph issue. Get your naval materials now and set them aside for future use. Richard told me he does not keep very much stock on hand, rather makes it by the order, so order now. I note from two sources that Greenfield Publishing (1-800-677-3625) those that publish The Sword and the Flame as well as other gaming materials is going or is already in receivership. However, they can still sell their remaining inventory of approximately 50 boxed TSATF sets of the 3rd edition and possible last edition. The time on this is even shorter than for Houston. They have less than a week left so do it now.

Chris Nelson informs me that the May/June issue of Practical Wargamer contains a note about a new rules set by Greg McCauley entitled "Beersheba: Wargaming Rules Sinai and Palestine 1916-1918". Available from The Light Horseman, PO Box 107 MacArthur Square, NSW 2560 Australia. The company also produces a line of 20mm figures.

Also from Australia a line a figures (25mm) from the Italian War of Independence 1848. Available from Stuart Penhall, 2 Broad St., Prospect 2149 NSW, Australia. Thank you Chris.