Welcome, readers, to the premier of the North American Edition of Lone Warrior. Lone Warrior is the quarterly journal of the Solo Wargamers Association and if you are a subscriber to Lone Warrior, then you are also a member of the SWA. John Bennett and George Heath founded the Solo Wargamers Association in 1976. The aim of the SWA is to encourage and support solo gamers by expanding the opportunities to exchange ideas. Virtually all aspects of solo gaming are within our charter: boardgames, miniaŠtures, fantasy, roleplaying, computer assisted games and postal gaming. Membership is worldwide and expanding as evidenced by this North American edition. Besides Lone Warrior magazine, what are the benefits of membership in the SWA? Well, first are the SWA Advisors. These are members with a particular knowledge or interest in a period and they welcome other members to contact them by mail with questions or just to open a dialog. And if you feel that you qualify as an advisor, by all means volunteer your services. There can and should be more than one volunteer in each period. The second benefit of membership is access to the SWA Library, sometimes referred to as the largest free loan wargaming library in the world. The library's collection of books, rules, boardgames, and magazines is located in the United Kingdom and you can borrow any item for thirty days for the cost of postage. The SWA also publishes a Beginners Pack with a wealth of start up information. The Beginners Pack is being updated and will be available for sale to members shortly. Watch LW 110 for details. Back issues of Lone Warrior and a complete index are also available for purchase by members. Members of the SWA receive a letter of instruction on how to access these many services. Now let us talk about Lone Warrior. LW is written and produced by amateur wargamers for wargamers. In addition to articles on solo wargaming and campaigning, a reader will also find a lively forum for members to express their views; up to the moment reviews of figures, rules, and books; and information on postal wargames. The focus is on going it alone and the name of the game is ideas. Some of our readers game by themselves out of necessity for any number of valid reasons. Others prefer to go it alone; perhaps because the intellectual challenge is best satisfied when one can take the time to reflect upon one's decisions. One purpose of the SWA and Lone Warrior is to help readers think their way through the obvious problems and maximize their enjoyment. The articles in Lone Warrior will, I believe, address these issues in a lively, intellectually stimulating way. Now, how is the North American edition different from the original published in Great Britain, you ask? The original Lone Warrior is available only to members of the SWA as it contains information about services available only to members. The North American edition can be purchased in hobby shops and only a subscription brings with it access to member services. We ask each subscriber/member to fill out an application form which is kept both in North America and in Britain. The original version has no advertising however advertisers will be solicited for the North American edition to help keep costs down without subtracting from the amount or quality of information. The North American edition will contain everything printed in the original version except for matters pertinent only to European readers, such as dates of shows or conventions. When the original is printed, the Editor mails a disk to your North American distributor who reformats and prints here. The North American edition will also contain some material not in the corresponding original, such as articles reprinted from earlier editions of Lone Warrior and some original material as well. The Original version measures 6 X 8 1/2. This edition is 8 1/2 X 11 and punched. The punching is done for a reason. I expect many of our readers may want to pull the staples and place Lone Warrior into a three ring binder. To this end, your editor will try to keep material segregated so that all the articles don't end on the same last page. As you receive more issues, you can readily organize as best serves your interests. Try it. Of course, readers may want to receive the original version for $30 annually and can join the SWA directly by writing to the membership secretary. North Americans who are already members of the SWA may renew their membership as they always have or may renew for the North American edition. Let me encourage all you folks to become active members. Consider writing down the techniques you have developed and sharing them with fellow members as an article for publication. The editors use Word for Windows or Word Perfect 5.1 if you wish to send disk (and they can read just about everything except MAC). But they are happy to accept anything legible! Your letters to the Forum are most welcome! Send your contributions to either: Richard Barbuto Solo Wargamers Association 1707 Ridge Road Leavenworth, KS 66048 or to: Kenn Hart 14 Gallows Hill Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 1RF Annual Membership/Subscription $20 US/$30 CDN (4 issues LW). Canadian members can send $25 in US currency if they choose. State which issue you want to receive first. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #109 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com