Bill Farley: Sad to hear of the death of David Barnes. He did so much to help me during my time with Lone Warrior and the Solo Wargamers Association. Brock Harring (Peotone, Illinois): I have especially enjoyed articles concerning campaigns. I would enjoy reading about others' experiences using Napoleon's Battles rules solitaire and in campaigns. What sad news to learn of David Barnes' death. He will be remembered. Thanks again for a marvelous magazine. Jack Squires: I am interested in computer rules for both solo and opponent games. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has an interest in this aspect of playing, either with commercial or home written rules. I have armies for most of the 1790-1812 Napoleonic period including India, the Ottoman Turks and the 1812 war in America. I also have an interest in 1200/scale Napoleonic ships and intend to use the "Broadside" rules. Stuart Saunders I thought you might be interested to know that even in an obscure country full of wind swept and interesting people like Zimbabwe we have wargamers. I first started about twenty years ago before even reaching my teens at the Rhodesia Wargames Society – Bulawayo Group. With the many people who decided to leave the country after independence and the major depression that arose thereafter, deciding that grass was greener elsewhere (forgetting that the greenest grass is generally over the septic tank) the club dwindled to nobody. At one stage we were down to seven people in the late eighties, and are now down to three people. This virtually makes us solo wargamers. To tell you a little about us, figures are extremely expensive for us here so we rely on plastics in the 1/72 scale. To give you an indication, a box of figures that costs GPB 3.00 is at our exchange rate Z$ 186.00, or 16 loaves of bread. Things like model houses, buildings, bridges etc. are just not worth trying to import, so we use foam rubber painted up which can be used and tossed aside when we need to replace. Which is surprisingly not very often. Plastic strip is used to denote things like rivers and ply board cut into contours denotes terrain. All the articles we receive seem to have a hefty debate level in them about basing figures. Ours are individually mounted onto square stands which makes them surprisingly easy to move and versatile in usage. (Although I would not be terribly keen to try it with lead). Our rules are simplistic, and an average game can be finished in roughly an hour to an hour and a half. Two or three people we had game from overseas say they are too simple, but we find the simplicity gives the game a lot more speed than those we have seen and eventually they enjoy them more as they get used to them. I won't go into detail as I am sure you have your own rules. I hope you find it of interest to know that we are out here wargaming in the wilds of suburban Africa where we are presently experiencing dreadful weather at the moment - bright sunshine, 30 degrees C., blue sky. Terrible, but we bear up under the strain. Regards. Lars Boyes: Principles of War is a commercial rule set published in UK and is available from many mail-order companies like Caliver Books and Tabletop Games. They have three sets of arm lists plus a Napoleonic variant. They are supported by the Victorian Military Society, from whose wargaming group they originated. I met the authors at Salute 96 and I have corresponded with them. Great guys. Basically the units are battalions made up of 9-12 figures in 15mm. You could use 25mm with six figures and just double the ranges and call them companies. Some of the rule mechanism are: The final quality of the units is not known until it goes into action for the first time. Each Unit has a basic and variable strength based on its quality. A steadfast veteran could have a base strength of 8 and a variable one of 2DA. A regular green could have one of 4 + 1D10. Technically you do not dice for the variable until you need it. Often you would do it beforehand. The trick is not to do it until you need it for firing, testing morale or what ever. The effect of the terrain is unknown, till you try to move across it or use it as cover. For each type of terrain you roll a chart when you enter it or try to cross it. It might turn out to be a small ditch or an impossible ravine, when you come close enough to really see it. There is a sighting/spotting rule. You cannot shoot at units you have not spotted. You should ignore them. There is a fancy moving base systems for pre-battle manoeuvres and hidden units, but I do not use it. There is a die based Initiative Point system for movement and actions. A poor officer gets 1D4 points, an average 1D6 and a good 1DA points. Each action you want your units to take cost one point. If they are far from you or in combat, it could be more expensive. So to rally a unit, and move it forward costs 2 points. As each officer might have 4-6 units he either has to rely on group moves for manoeuvre (not allowed for charges) or prioritise. There is a FAQ at: http://www.addesigninc.com/fun/pow/pow-faq.html David Heading: Lone Warrior 128 (Sept. 1999) popped onto my doormat a couple of days ago. Splendid issue, made even better by the presence of two Renaissance articles. Some questions arising from the issue, which might be of more general interest. 1. There is a short article about Principles of War, a rule set for Colonial/Napoleonic games. It seems to have high solo playability, but does anyone know anything else about it, like where I can get a copy, for example, how much it costs and which bits I can borrow for my own rules. Reply-to: SoloWarGame@onelist.com That reminds me: There were two 'Books of Gussie' published. Does anyone know if there are any spare copies still mouldering away somewhere? I'd like a read. Kenn? [First, emails published as received, so the answer came before the question! Gussie. I have no idea and would need help from the membership on this one. Kenn] It's also worth checking out Grant's Wargames Campaigns, which has a lot of good ideas too. I even like Featherstone's Wargame Campaigns - lots of ideas, although looking perhaps a little dated now. I still read his Solo Wargames when I'm short of inspiration. Mind you, when I do I have this itch to start N.W. Frontier gaming. Ruggero Romano: Hi, can you suggest to me a good, simple and fast rules set for Solo Wargaming in 2nd WW at skirmish level? (Especially for desert war, i.e. Italians versus British). Thank you so much. Please send an answer r.romano@alinet.it or ruggypia@libero.it Thanks again. [If you have the answer and no email facilities let me know and I will pass the information on. Kenn] Duncan Macleay I was sorry to read of David Barnes' death. Although I've had only two years' membership, I could see that he put a lot of time into this interest. He also lived close enough to cause me to think we might meet one day. So many organisations have a membership concentrated in the South-East and Midlands that it is interesting to see the spread of addresses on Lone Warrior's inside front cover. You would probably like to hear of my experience with the ADC Service. I have been involved on both sides by now. I take a lot of my games from Charles S. Grant's "Scenarios for Wargamers", partly because the size of the armies is determined. (The quality I decide by dice throws.) Several months I set up 'Chance Encounter' (Scenario 41, page 99). This requires each player to select a force of six units from a list. I solved this problem by selecting a force for a Bold, a Cautious and a Rash general and then dicing to see which type of leader would approach from each direction. This worked all right but, when I decided to play the Scenario again, I knew about the ADC service and so diced for the quality of general approaching from each direction (A cautious from the North-West and a Rash one from the South-East). Then I contacted Steve Turner and asked whether two ADC's could take on these two roles, pick their forces and decide on their approach moves. Steve picked for the Cautious leader and Carl Hendrickson for the Rash one. I got back two armies, slightly more extreme than I had picked on my previous game and two very original sets of initial moves. (I was using my British [Steve] and French [Carl] Napoleonic 6mm figures.) It was a good game. I considered the Rash general to have won a tactical victory as, by the 24th move, he controlled two-thirds of the Village. The dice were with him since, in the early moves, his artillery decimated Steve's cavalry and, in the last two moves, his cavalry routed the 26th and 42nd of Foot! Steve's troops were still holding on to the Inn (so plenty of refreshment) and the buildings outside the Village. A little later, Steve asked me to suggest moves for his Euratian campaign. I was really impressed by this and somewhat daunted by the prospect of suggesting further ideas. I have never set up a campaign myself, only one-off baffles. However I read the material over several times and let it ferment for almost a fortnight. Once I got started my imagination seemed to take off and I ended by having to select from all the possibilities that popped up. Steve found my ideas helpful and I look forward to reading the further history of Euratia. I would recommend becoming involved in the ADC system. It offers really good assistance on the one hand and lots of enjoyment and interest on the other. [Duncan, it is obvious that the ADC Service is gathering momentum and long may it continue. At present I am finding difficult enough to get a single game in let alone run a campaign!] Anthony Spencer: I have been meaning to write to you for a while, but never actually got round to it. However, the latest issue of Lone Warrior has goaded me into action. I have used the Advisers Service and have had an excellent response from Ken Cooper and I intend to contact Stephen Ede-Barrett [ECW stuff!] This is my second year as a member of the Association. I would like to congratulate you and the team on the excellence of Lone Warrior. The standard of article is of the highest order and have been invaluable in providing inspiration in developing my own approach to solo wargaming. So, I would like to thank all those who have taken the time and trouble to contribute their ideas. You posed the question at the end of Lars Boye's article. The Principle of War rules are available from Stratagem, 18 Lovers Lane, Newark, Notts, NG24 1HZ or Tabletop Games, 29 Beresford Ave, Skegness, Lincs, PE25 3JF. As well as colonial they have covered the Napoleonic period. [Anthony, thanks for the comments and information, hope the books you borrowed from the SW A Library are of use and look forward to establishing an email link. Kenn] Chris Grice: Really sorry to hear about David Barnes. I only corresponded with him a couple of times, of course, but he seemed like a really nice bloke. A sad loss to the SWA too. I am glad you were able to pass condolences to his family on behalf of all of us. Donald Featherstone: I have been an admirer, Supporter and Honorary Member of the Solo Wargamers Association for many years, during which time I have viewed with the greatest respect the style and content of your magazine Lone Warrior and the host of back-up facilities you offer your members. Predominant among these must be the Association's Library, to which I have given volumes on occasions. [Thanks Don, for your support and the offer of further items from your vast collection. I'm sure the Secretary will be in touch soon about collection. Kenn]. From: David Heading Just to let you know that I have started up a solo wargamers list via email, for exchange of views and mutual support of full and part time solo gamers. This is not designed to replace Lone Warrior, but to provide a more immediate forum. To subscribe, mail to SoloWarGame-subscribe@onelist.com if you are already registered at onelist, or to register and subscribe, go to http://www.onelist.com/community/SoloWarGame [David, found this most interesting and been making a few new wargaming friends via this service. Kenn] Jonathan Aird: I was very sorry to hear the news about David Barnes - although we'd never met or corresponded I certainly felt that I knew him at least a little through his many contributions to LW and MWAN. He always conveyed a huge enthusiasm for whatever he was writing about - whether it was his knowledgeable figure reviews or a wargames scenario - the latter always brought to life by his wonderful line drawings. I've been quite encouraged by the recent SWA tournament, it's made me think again about postal games (probably map based) - the few attempts I've had in the past didn't work out too well, but it may be that I could put something together now that would work well enough to be enjoyable and not too time consuming. Well, maybe. The HaT miniatures web site (www.hat.com) - have a sub-page called "all things toy soldiers, which has some great stuff on it (if you like plastic figures!). You were asking about thoughts for a SWA Web page - I think the first thing that comes to mind is that a willing member with an Internet connection that has provided a few MBytes of space for web pages needs to be found in order to get anything uploaded. As I mentioned before, that's not me (no home Internet connection). Assuming someone can be found who'd like to do it (it may need the post of Web co-coordinator to be advertised for) I'd have thought that a fairly simple set of pages could be put together quite easily. A structure something like each line indicates a two way link to each page - so you can get everywhere from the home page, and you can always get to the how to join the SWA information. Putting together reasonable looking pages is quite easy with a modern word processor (Word 97 will convert text and graphics to HTML & GIFs) - if we wanted something fancier then there are a lot of quite good web editors given away on PC magazines. Unfortunately I don't have a modern word processor at home (AmiPro) - but I could, perhaps, help to put something together in occasional lunch hours at work. I don't know, though, whether many hands would make light work or a set of pages that looked a right mess. I have an unpleasant suspicion that it'd be the latter. Maybe the first best step is to see if there is a (keen) volunteer for Web page coordinator, with the understanding that the brief would be for a good advert for the SWA rather than a move to an online society. [Thanks Jonathan, I believe we do need to advertise the Solo Wargamers Association by having a Web page and if there is anyone who wishes to take this up please contact Graham Empson first and we can set-up an email link to discuss the way forward. For those not into this sort of computer talk, all it means is we are looking at the latest way to contact potential members who use the Internet and it is similar to taking out an advertisement in a glossy, but hopefully more productive. Kenn] Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #129 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 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