Greetings fellow Solo Wargamers! First, some notes from Kenn Hart, our Lone Warrior Editor. The Committee are considering doing a Beginners Pack (under a new name) for sale outside the Association. If you have any ideas on what you consider should be included/excluded please let either Graham Empson or Michael Gray know direct. Michael has volunteered to collate the articles and the Committee will decide on the final package, but your input is urgently needed. Your help is needed. Contact Michael Gray at 108 St. Andrews Rd, Six Dials, Southampton, Hants, SO14 OAE, United Kingdom. This is a plea for an artist to come forward with a design which covers all aspects of the Solo Wargamers Association, to go on the front of the booklet. Now how about that for a tall order. We are not doing away with the Charging Knight on the front of Lone Warrior but he does give the impression, wrongly perhaps, that we are a medieval society - far from the truth, even though sometimes I feel that old! So get your scribbling pens out and attack some paper. Now from Rich. The concept behind the Beginners Pack is two-fold. Currently, the Beginner's Pack is a product of the Worldwide SWA (i.e. everyone except North America). It is offered for sale to members only and has a lot of the information I send each new North American member as "Members Only" information (library holdings, advisors names and addresses etc.) . It also has some generic solo rules for beginners which I do not include in the material I send to all new members. Michael's concept is to provide for a wider audience a real beginner's kit with basic rules, methods, and theory covering the wide range of subjects and periods which our society and our journal address. It is an ambitious project. Some of the material will be new and some will be reprints of material published in Lone Warrior but still fresh and apropos the subject. I support the SWA in this endeavor. Let me ask you to do the same. In addition to what Kenn asked for above, if you feel strongly that any article you have seen in Lone Warrior is particularly appropriate as a beginners "How To" then let me encourage you to send your nomination directly to Michael or to him through me. Slowly but Surely As for things here in North America, nothing is going on that increased membership and more articles from you members wouldn't improve. Membership is growing slowly and it is wider membership that allows us to expand the product by putting us on a firmer financial basis. For example, more members would allow us to take advantage of bulk postage rates. Significant savings would be passed on in additional pages and/or cheaper membership fees. I am already getting the best printing rates available in this area (from the city's finest printers I might add) so no potential savings there. The other money makers we have going for us are "The Best of Lone Warrior" which is doing well sales-wise, and sales of back issues. It seems that more than half of new members order a handful of back issues which is always gratifying in helping me meet cash-flow problems. Our income from Magweb grows every quarter and that goes in to the general SWA coffers for the benefit for the Association as a whole. We have reached several new North American members from ads placed in the British glossies by the SWA. So, what can you members do to help out? See if you can help Michael Gray in his project and send me or Kenn your articles and contributions to the Forum. If you think you can handle the task, we could use an active publicity chairman here in North America (perhaps someone who gets to conventions frequently). Be warned, the budget is tiny. Take advantage of our lending library and by all means join those Play by Mail games we have going. We only live once and there is no better time to PBM than the present. So Few Remain Last issue I carried on about the Lost Regiment series. This month let me harangue you about another alternate history piece, So Few Remain, by Harry Turtledove. It is 1881 and the Confederate States, having won the War of Secession, find themselves once again at war with the U.S. As before, they have France and Britain on their side. Stonewall Jackson is the General-in-Chief and J.E.B. Stuart commands the Trans-Mississippi Department where much of the action takes place. Ol' Pete Longstreet is President of the C.S.A. Lincoln - he's still touring the country giving speeches after being tossed out of office in '64. Many more characters come to life in this fictional setting: Custer, Mark Twain, Rosecrans, Frederick Douglass, Teddy Roosevelt, Geronimo etc. What a trip through a fascinating notional world by a fine story teller and historian. I have hardly been able to put the novel down. So far, it appears to be available only in hard cover for about $25. Highly recommended for those interested in a refight of the War Between the States set in the 1880s with repeating rifles, gatling guns, and improved artillery. It is also interesting to read about British and Canadians (red tunics, white helmets) fighting Roosevelt's blue-coated volunteer cavalry in Montana. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #120 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1997 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