Well, a few letters in so far. Carl Carlsson sends his latest report on his PBM game Italia. The game is running despite examinations and real life. All positions as head of state have been filled so that this is now, with 10 players, the largest game that he has run so far. He is concerned with play value and he cannot accommodate more players without lessening turnaround time or cutting other corners, so if there is anyone out there who would like to join, he should contact Carl, but expect to be put on a waiting list or in an auxiliary position.

Recent developments are Venice bidding on Corsica, the arrivval of the duke of Modena and his declaration of war on most of the known nations - defeating the Tuscan army sent to punish him. In the War of the Spanish Succession, the combine Franco-Spanish fleet has just been defeated in the North Sea, and things are looking bleak for Spain, while France is still able to deal with the armies on its northern and eastern borders. The only Italian participants, Savoy and Milan, have signed an armistice with France and are working on a separate peace treaty. Even so, France's influence in Italy has dimished greatly, leaving only Parma decidedly pro-French. It was for this reason that Parma joined Tuscany against Modena, which had declared itself anti-French.

The game system still holds up. With the system of 'actions' and 'measures', it forces players either to focus on one thing at a time or else to suffer from increased chance of failure. Those who grasp the trading system roughly double their income, but it seems that the trade concepts are a lot tougher than I had intended. The trading system is intended to make rulers act in a mercantile manner. You make money from taxing your exports. Market chunks come up for bid during the year and the player whose state produces goods of the right kind and with the lowest market cost will get to export the goods. The tax rate times the number of units exported during the year then add to the income side of the budget. There is no opportunity to arrange trade bilaterally since the player does not control the national production.

The area where the Italians co-operate is that of politics and culture. Milan and Savoy are very close, Genoa is allied to Parma and Luccha, there is partial co-operation between Tuscany, Mantua and Venice, and the Papal States is avoiding alliances but rather close to Tuscany and Genoa. The fine thing about this campaign is that nearly no animosities or conflicts of interest really exist ...

Ian Jones writes that FIBUA is now over. It proved a learning experienc. Two players were not enough and the game, based on AH Firefight, could not move away from that so there was no scope for players to show initiative and to diversify creatively. He hopes to run a PBM based around the Baron's War of the 13th Century, and is putting together a set of his own rules for playtesting in house.

George Arnold writes to thank me for some pointers on PBM (only too glad to justify my existence by being useful). He also talks about his experiences running a (game) month-long American Civil War campaign set in the Shenandoah Valley.

Actually he has two running, plus an PBM umpireship for a gaming group - though they insist that commanders know the exact location of their units at all times and that all reports and orders get through (and if they deploy the 3rd Virginia Elves, they can have REAL fantasy!).

George's inclinations run to a campaign where not only are you pretty ignorant of the enemy, but sometimes you are fairly uncertain of the location and activities of your own people. Most of his players are content with that, but some want to get down into the game mechanics (even as their opponents run rings round them). (Interesting to discover that the McClellan factor applies to wargamers as well as generals). George gets a great deal of enjoyment from producing intelligence reports, with trivia such as drunken brigade commanders and dinner with Shenandoah aristocrats.

What am I doing? Well, "War to end all Wars" continues with an interesting race between production and marching. If the Germans can delay the advance of the Entente until they can deploy new armies, they have a chance. So far, they have been driven out of half of the Ruhr, and the French are halfway to Munich, whilst the Danes push towards Kiel. But the German line is hardening. Well, in the end, they didn't succeed and the country fell apart.

Our summer 1996 holidays were in Argentina, and this has been the inspiration for a new game. My knowledge of the independence struggles of the Spanish American colonies was sketchy in the extreme until in Buenos Aires, I acquired a little book on San Martin, Libertador del Sur (he is an Argentino hero, so they celebrate the day of his death!).

It struck me as an interesting subject for a game. The technology/tactics are those of the Napoleonic era, on which information is plentiful, allowing me to concentrate on politics, logistics, and so on. "So on" includes such things as the arrival of Irish Peninsular War veterans and bored half-pay Royal Navy officers to support the rebels, or the possibility that some of the "Cien milles hijos de San Louis" (French troops imposing absolutism in Spain at the behest of the Holy Alliance) will make it across the Atlantic to bolster the viceroys.

Logistics were a nightmare, of course, and it is my distinct impression that San Martin won his battles not because he was a particularly inspired general but because he trained, equipped, fed, clothed and paid his troops. A novel concept which meant that a) they were at the battle rather than foraging b) their morale, good anyway, was maintained c) they knew what they were doing d) they had the means to do what was needed. Always a help.

The new game "Libertador" will have wide scope and offers the prospect of Napoleonic brigade level battles in the depths of the South American jungle. I'll be using the Quantified Judgement Model, as established by TN Dupuy, to adjudicate most battles with Empires II to handle the very special battles where terrain is known. Anyone interested, please get in touch to talk about it. (I also bought a book on Rosas, "President of Buenos Aires and Lord of the Gauchos" - he was dictator of Argentina in the 1830s at a time when civil war and factionalism were endemic. Do I feel another game coming on? Actually, the first game could easily run on into Rosas' time).

STOP PRESS Libertador is now recruiting. We've made one start - identified and eliminated a number of glitches. Then I very cleverly wiped the data files without proper backups. Back to square one, and THAT mistake won't happen again.