North American Edition

Greetings Readers! I don't usually add my editorial comments but some things have come up which I want to bring to the attention of my fellow solo wargarners.

First, I want to announce that the Best of Lone Warrior volume I is ready and waiting for your orders. I went through dozens of issues prior to the first North American edition (LW 109 for you older members) and selected those articles which struck me as having the strongest appeal. I collected enough material for three volumes.

Volume I contains forty-two pages of articles (no reviews, play by mail, letters to the editor, or advertisements) covering the gamut from ancients through to fantasy. It is formatted like LW and none has previously been published in the NA edition. It cost more to put together so if you want a copy, please send $7. I am sure you will enjoy it!

UK and North American Editions

Next let me address something that came up months ago and I would have disregarded except that not a few of you have brought it to my attention. In a review that appeared in MWAN, my friend Russ Lockwood noted that the current World Wide edition of LW had more articles than the NA edition of the same number. Awhile later another reviewer echoed that observation.

Okay, gang, here is how it works. The World Wide edition is about 58 pages of 5 '/: by 8 sheets reduced from A4 size (roughly 8 x 11 '/~). It contains, besides solo oriented material, much of general interest such as dates of European conventions, reports on British battlefields, a swop corner, and new additions to the SWA library. It also contains wonderful reviews by David Barnes (our SWA Chairman) and others which are concurrently published in Midwest Wargarners Association Newsletter (MWAN). I get David's figure reviews months before they appear in MWAN but I just don't see the point in "scooping" my friend Hal Thinglum.

My policy is to publish only solo-related material appealing to North American readers. I won't publish things that I suspect will soon appear in MWAN (If you do not subscribe to MWAN, let me encourage you to do so; it's terrific). I will try to use large type because so many of you are into bifocals (as am I).

Also, I try very hard to publish contributions from North American members as soon as possible and let Kenn Hart publish them as he chooses in a later edition of the World Wide edition. All this means is that some material that appears in the world wide version will not ever be published in the NA edition.

But it also means that some solo-related material published in the WW edition will appear later in the NA edition (just as Kenn publishes some material later than I do). Bottom line - if it is solo- related, it will eventually appear m the NA edition! I hope you all can live with that.

On a personal note, we have had a bad situation in the Barbuto household. My eldest son, Richard, age 23, was diagnosed with cancer early in January. We still have a long way to go to get him healed. So if I have been slow to answer your letters or get something in the mail to you, please understand my circumstances.

I have been trying to bring another play by mail game on line but that effort has been put on a back burner temporarily. My wargaming focus is to keep the publication of LW on schedule and that will continue. Remember us in your prayers.

I have enclosed the latest copy of the holdings of the North American branch of the SWA library. My continuing thanks to Ken Van Pelt for serving as librarian and let me encourage each and every one of you to use your wargaming library. We are also happy to accept your contributions of material. A special thanks to Hal Thinglum, Jon Laughlin, and a Mr. Anonymous for their substantial and generous contributions.

MagWeb

Finally, a wonderful report from MAGWEB. As you know, Russ Lockwood's MAGWEB is the web site for a score of wargaming/adventure gaming magazines. In his last quarterly report, it seems that LW received the second highest number of hits and ranked immediately behind the Courier and ahead of all other magazines. Royalties go to the SWA coffers so we can provide more services at less cost to the membership. That shows me that there is an abiding interest in solo gaming. Now if I can just get all those folks to join SWA and get a hard copy. MAGWEB features the World Wide edition of LW. Let me invite you to take a look at http://www.magweb.com, you won't be disappointed!

UK Edition

Editorial: Well, the Solo Wargamers Association is now been around for 21 years! I would like to dedicate this edition to all those who have contributed their time, effort and skills to ensuring that we have reached this milestone. This either by submitting articles, letters or working behind the scenes on the Committee or in The Team. Without their enthusiasm you would not be reading this today.

Perhaps it is now that I would like to say on behalf of the members a big "Thank You" to a friend of mine who puts in an amazing amount of work on our behalf and that is our Chairman, David Barnes. Just count his contributions over the last year and that is only the tip of the iceberg, because he submits much more than I have room for, I can assure you. David does lead by example and long may he continue to do so. For those authors who have articles published in the last few Lone Warrior's you maybe interested to know that 1,278 hits were recorded on the Magweb page during the last accounting period which put us in second place by just 3 hits. HTTP://WWW.MAGWEB.COM.

Re-sub time is here again and so we bid a fond farewell to those who join for a year and move on. We will still be here when you want to rejoin and this appears to be an increasing trend with former members signing up again. Great to see you all back. See Lone Warrior 117 p 40, and save money. Keep your eyes open for our participation game which should start the show circuit this year.