Publications, Figures, and Other Products of Interest

1 Courier

No. 90, PO Box 1878, Brockton, MA 02303. $19 for one year, four issues, what a bargain for a great magazine. The three previous issues contained “African Warlord, the Rise and Fall of the Empire of Rabih Fadl Allah” by Ian Croxall, very good reading and full of great ideas. This issue contains “To The Mountains of the Moon, being an expedition with Mr. Henry Morton Stanley, the Famous Explorer, A Campaign Game” by Howard Whitehouse (he certainly is a prolific writer for having been eaten by cannibals, 1887, killed by Rhinos, captured by white apes etc, etc, what an exciting life he leads). The game is based on a portion of the Emin Pasha relief expedition (If you haven’t read any of the expedition’s accounts it is a truly remarkable tale). A typical Howard game – great background information – interesting rules – disgusting safari food (you have to play this game with Howard) – great events. If you have never played in a Whitehouse spectacular you are missing a great game, a great time and nothing is sacred. I can’t believe that some people find humor/fun in wargaming a totally foreign concept (must not be colonial gamers).

Another interesting read is “90 Years and Counting, counting down to the centennial of Wargaming, Celebrating Conan Doyle’s 1st set of rules “Little Wars” a personal reflection” by Bob Beattie a joy to read. If you haven’t read Doyle’s Little Wars or “Robert Louis Stephenson at Play” you should.

Interesting ads include:
The Complete Brigade, Frying Pan and Blanket Amalgamated, 2283 Apache St. Mendota Heights, MN 55120, carry 20mm US Cav and Plains Indians.
Mirliton carry 20mm Italian Eritrean Askari gun crews 65mm gun, 6 crew in 1929 uniform?
Minifigs 15mm WWI Africa and Tauregs.
Irregular 15mm African Explorers and Porters.
Quick Reaction Force 15mm from their Spanish Civil War line have Spanish Foreign Legion for Morrocco.

2. Tradition and Willie

Figures, Tradition USA, 12924 Viking Dr. Burnsville, MA 55337. Willie figures include Zulu War, Sudan, NW Frontier, Boer Wars, 1st and 2nd Sikh Wars, the Old West. Tradition figures include the Zulu War, American Indian wars, NW Frontier, Home service uniform band, Camels, WWI Middle East Brits and Turks, pilots and mechanics. I have some of these figures and they are very nicely done. I plan on buying more soon and will review them in a later issue as soon as I can make up my mind what I want. These are 30mm so will fit in with 28, are slightly taller and thinner than Foundry and Old Glory, and should fit in quite well with Castaway Arts. Prices are $2-$2.25 each fig. They also have 25mm figs but I only have the 30mm catalog, I’ll try and get the others soon.

3. Wargames Illustrated,

198. Has three interesting articles “Good Grief, Carruthers! Or What is this Victorian Adventure Gaming Thingy?” discusses various aspects of Victorian Adventure Gaming (rules/RPG), Victorian Science Fiction (scenarios, people and literature) books gaming, scenario ideas, organizing expeditions. I found it very useful. “Playing with the Big Boys, Wargaming in 54mm Part 2 Big Scale Colonial Wargames” by Mike Blake discusses colonial games played by the Skirmish Wargames Group. Includes organizational info for their games, conversions, makers and retailers with some outstanding color photos.

“The Attack on Sher-Li, a 1920s Central Asia Scenario” by Phil Robinson. Includes the OBs , scenario, discussion of rules (Contemptable Little Armies versus Principles of War and Pulp’s free rules), and Copplestone and Pulp figs. Issue 199 contains part 2 of “Good Grief, Carruthers! Or What is this Victorian Adventure Gaming Thingy?” and discusses source materials, figures, rules, web sites, and has nice photos. Ads for 199 show Copplestone’s new figs for Back of Beyond.

4 MWAN,

Issue 128 definitely has a new look, all the same type, ‘professional’ look to the ads, unfortunately the ads could have been better placed rather than the middle of an article. The only colonial article this issue was Don Featherstone’s “British Wars and Campaigns, 1837-1901. This is a great introduction into the colonial wargaming period.

5. Tin Dictator,

IT Miniatures, 39 Adeline St., Hampstead, NH 03841 has 20mm East Africa WWI figures including Germans, Brits (KAR, Nigerian Bde, Gold Coast Bde, and Northern Rhodesian), Masai, Belgians, and Portugese.

6. Castaway Arts

has new foot Tuaregs, Arabs and Berbers for the FFL. See the Review.

7. London War Room,

41 Beverly Hills Loop, Petal, MS 39465. sent a loads of new figs in 15s to go with The Kris and The Flame, 28mm Fighting Men of India, and 28mm Indo-China Armies of Viet-Nam. See the Review.

8 “And That’s the Way It Was”

announced that Howard Whitehouse’s “Astounding Tales” rules for the Pulp period would soon be available.

9 Chaosium, Inc.

I bought “Dark Continent” (about $50) an RPG game for African exploration in the Eastern coastal interior. The boxed set includes a Players Guide, GM Guide, Gazeteer of the Principal Personalities and Important Places of the Island of Zanzibar, a Catalogue of Goods from the Topan Trading Co. (based on character points rather than money) and two blank maps of Masai land and Abyssinia to be filled in by the player. If you do a lot of DA this might be a good idea, certainly for campaign ideas. More later.

10 BOOKS

Ever the big reader I bought a bunch of (fiction) books recently from Amazon.co.uk for my favorite English authors whose books are hard to find here or those not here yet, or whatever.

I must be behind in my Sharpe reading because I found three books I didn’t know were in print Sharpe’s Christmas (2 stores S. Christmas takes place after S. Regiment, and S. Ransom after S. Waterloo), Sharpe’s Skirmish the defense of Tormes, August 1812 (both thin paperbacks). Sharpe’s Escape (or S. Charge in the US) is about the Bussaco campaign in Portugal 1810.

Anthony Conway’s character Captain Caspasian is back in action in Brigadier’s Outcast fighting against the destruction of the Empire 1929 aboard two English Zepplins. Great action, Pulp fiction stuff, Back of Beyond, all that Great Reading. Conway’s other Caspasian titles include Viceroy’s Captain with the 12th Gurkhas on the NWF frontier, General’s Envoy in China and Central Asia with loads of warlords and trains, and Colonel’s Renegade in Egypt.

Allan Mallinson’s fictional Matthew Hervey of the 6th Dragoons is off to 1826 Portugal to stop a Civil War in Rumours of War.

SM Stirling’s books Island in the Sea of Time, Against the Tide of Years and On the Ocean of Eternity (first published from 1998 to 2000), take Nantucket of 1998 and the US Coast Guard’s Tall Ship Eagle back to 1250BC where you will meet historical characters, people and places. The evil power hungry former coast guard officer is the foil and these are all great reading, using muskets and breech-loaders, 19th century technology and great action scenes to make three great reads.

All-in-all these books provided great reading and are full of scenario ideas. On-the-other-hand unfortunately, I have not seen any new books worth reading on the non-fiction side.

11 The Man Who Would be King.

No not the Kipling story, The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan by Ben MacIntyre a true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker who spent 20 years traveling in Central Asia 150 years ago. Aparently Harlan rode into Afghanistan on an elephant declared himself to be royalty and heir to Alexander the Great. His adventures are believed to have inspired Kipling. MacIntyre’s book comes from Harlan’s journals. The book was just published, I have not seen it yet. Further information on Harlan can be found at www.harlanfamily.org