Mark Stevens

The new Old Glory colonials are nice for the most part. Some of the poses seem odd. Some of the firing British Camel Corps figures have their heads turned in the opposite direction from the direction the weapon is pointing! The French naval officer looks like a ballet dancer but the sailors are nice - I plan to use some as Belgian sailors. The Italian Bersaglieri are quite good.

I plan a force of Belgian askari with native allies to fight my Mahdist army. They will be supported by a gunboat and a Krupp gun or two. Keep up the good work.

PS Just got the new Belgian officers and askari today - great stuff!!! We would like to hear more about your Belgian force versus the Mahdists as you progress, please keep us informed. If you have 7.5 Krupps those are ethe ones to use according to Hinde's book.

John Baxter

The pirates aren't bad are they! We ran our Darkest Africa participation game at the Western Suburbs Club open day a couple of weeks ago and it was a success. It was based on the Stanley skirmish I wrote about in Heliograph 110 and involved two groups of six Askaris trying to retrieve some lost bullocks/baggage from villages at opposite ends of the table with points earned for getting men, bearers/herd boys and the Leader figure back in the village in one piece. I have attached the scenario for your interest for other readers if you see fit. The Chance cards give the game some flavour and allow for random appearance of groups of Rugas and tribesmen (spear, bow and musket armed). I place these on the table at random locations in groups of 4-6 figures, usually designed to cause maximum grief to the two players. The two players should start from a village in the middle edge of a 6x8 ft table with the two target villages at either corner. The loads/bullocks should be placed in the villages and once the Askari groups reach the village they must spend one move locating the goods. The umpire shouldnt place any unpleaseant surprises in the village itself.

The game is designed to last around 45-60 minutes and should be controlled by the umpire as a quick fun game. We had the benefit of more Wes Palmer-designed terrain which made the table a spectacular sight. I was able to get some excellent palm and banana trees from a toy shop which, repainted and based, looked very effective.

You will note a Chance card involving Tippu Tib, Zanzibaris and three phrases in Arabic. These I obtained from an Arabic dictionary and I attracted some strange looks from the bookshop staff whilst hastily scribbling them down!

The game was run six times over the day with most players getting some points, usually at the sacrifice of two or three askaris who were left to fight off hordes of tribesmen. The Askari groups have the benefit of moving second/firing first, but the umpire should use common sense when figures move in and out of cover, or attempt to outrun natives. The Askaris have a higher base factor than the others which gives them an advantage, but beware the spear-armed natives who can very quickly make a mess. Melee is simultaneous.

All of this brings me to my point. This game was designed to use small groups of figures fighting other smaller groups, usually one group at a time, but occasionally two groups. There are no morale checks. What I want to do next is a larger game with the following rough OBs:

Zanzibaris

16 Arabs
Say 10 Askaris
2 guns

Ruga or warlord

16 Ruga, plus say 10 more Askaris
16 tribal spearman
8 tribal bow
8 tribal muskets

Each side would be split into 3-4 rough groups with leaders. I don't want to use individual quality factors for each figure (i.e D12 for Elite, D6 for novices as per Warpaint or Sons of the Desert rules - this would involve too much record keeping), but I do want to fire figures individually with different weapons (i.e some Arabs will have Martinis or Winchesters). I do want to use morale checks, but on a group basis and I want some random movement.

What rule set does that sound like to you? TSATF? When is this being re-released and where can I get it from?

I have had trouble down loading John's scenario but will print as soon as we can get it to come here from his computer in one piece. TSATF 20th Anniversary edition is available from: And That's The Way It Was, 213 3rd Street NE, Hickory, NC 28601-5124, $25 in the US, $31 USD rest of world. I received my copy about four days after ordering it, so I had good service. This does, in large bits and pieces to be a TSATF style game rules variant.

John Hollyoak

I have just finished issue 114 on the train, another excellent issue, as ever I am dumbstruck by your ability to get these issues out with such regularity. The next issue of PoWmag is out (at long last!) and I have pleasur  e in enclosing a copy. I also enclose details of the resubscription costs. Couple of points: 1 Could you tell me exactly what you think Ôcolonial' means in terms of the magazine. Several times you have reviewed magazines and said there is nothing of a colonial nature but at other times you have mentioned specific items which I would not consider to be colonial. Perhaps you could give a bit of explanation. 2. Do you or any of your readers have a decent picture/drawing of what Acacia/Mimosa scrub looks like? I would like to make some but am struggling at the moment. There is a very brief glimpse in "The Four Feathers" where some Egyptians go off to cut branches to build a zeriba but it's not really enough. Any help would be appreciated.

John's address is John Hollyoak, The Farrows, Offmore Court, Offmore Farm Close, Kidderminster DY10 3XJ.

This address is also good for a subscription to Principles of War. John's question threw me a little but he is quite correct. What do I consider colonial: confining myself to the 19th to early 20th century; any European power in a struggle with native inhabitants for control of a portion of any continent but Europe. Generally, I do not consider the Boer War as colonial, more of a struggle between European powers, which I understrand is not quite correct for the Boers. I do not consider the Spanish American War colonial, however, the Philippino Insurgent War with Spain and then the US is, as is the Cuba struggle against Spain. I do not really consider the wars with the Plains or Southwestern Indians as colonial. Although it could fit in my definition above. I have no trouble having articles concerning these conflicts in the Heliograph because other people consider them as colonial struggles. After 23 years as a historian, mainly concerned with colonial America and sort of defining what the colonial 18th century is, but never on paper, I leave the US off the list because I do not consider the US (in the 19th century until Hawaii and former Spanish colonies become US property) a colonial power, yes I know you all might want to debate this but not here. In a different or 180 degree turn I do consider Russia in the 19th century in Central Asia a colonial power. Does this make sense, may be not but this is how I perceive Ôcolonial'. I take that back if you have coherent thought, that will not make me nuts I will print your ideas, not just you John but anyone that makes a coherent comment. AND I KNOW I DON'T ALWAYS MAKE COHERENT COMMENTS geez. enough of the dissing.

Patrick R. Wilson Editor-Not-So-In-Chief, BY JINGO! (http://members.spree.com/sip/byjingo/)

With some regret over the passing of an era, I have been asked to post the following for Richard Houston who is now letting go the last of his production line. While I appreciate that some of you have little or no interest in the matter yourselves, I respectfully request that you might forward it to any manufacturers anywhere of your acquaintance who might wish to know about this remarkable opportunity.

Announcement!

For Immediate Release

Mr. Richard Houston is offering for sale his "Battles In A Box" series of 15mm wargame and figure sets. Four titles make up this line: "San Juan Hill, 1898," "El Caney, 1898," "Moro Wars!," and "Rorke's Drift." Sale of these lines includes all 57 production molds, 4 full color box art covers, two full color flag sets (for the 1898 games), 3 different rules sets (one for both 1898 titles, another each for the other two), three full sets of 15mm scaled color cardstock buildings, and all headers for packaging bags of figures. There are also approximately 1,100 to 1,225 production master castings, including 21 artillery sets representing six different guns types. A full color master set of Unit Action Cards printed on cardstock for the rules set "A Splendid Little Wargame" is included. Additional color cardstock game aids accompany the other rule sets. Asking price for the complete production package is $10,000, which includes $300 for freight charges within the U.S.

Complete details (numbers of figures/poses per mold), questions of publishing rights, etc. are available upon request. Serious inquiries should be sent to Mr. Patrick R. Wilson at patrick.wilson@prodigy.net who will forward them to Mr. Houston.

Ian Knight

Check out a new Zulu War website with some interesting images on www.mcewen.co.uk/Zulu.