Jonathan Aird Well, as I start this letter Salute 2001 is only a couple of weeks away (that was three months ago!!), and I'm looking forward to it - bigger than ever, more games, even more traders. Hopefully, by the time I've managed to get enough material together to send onto you for LW, I'll have a Salute review to add in as well. [See LW 137] I haven't had much time for gaming in the last few months. Does every letter from every correspondent get that comment? How much time would be enough time - 10 hours a day 7 days a week for a couple of months? Anyway, I've rediscovered the joys of boardgaming - played a few old "microgames" against a live opponent, and I think I'll try and sit down with them and work out some solo stratagies. The game Battle of Helms Deep (from the Lord of the Rings) which is, umm, quite old, is excellent for solo play because one side (Rohan) is tied to defending a castle whilst hordes of enemies turn up turn after turn. It's just a matter of deciding what's a good deployment, and when to give up a line of defence and fall back to another wall line. Good gaming! Will Johnson After reading John Barnard's letter in LW136, I realised that he has hit upon another of those unsolved mysteries of wargaming life, in the vein of the reproducing lead soldier/coat hanger theory. I too have been a sufferer of the invading wargames rules set disease. Have you felt its insidious effects? Do you know the feeling of toddling along with a well-liked set of rules for a campaign or even for one game! When out-of-the-blue some smart Alec comes up with a new set that are "better" than those you are using? What do you do? Carry on with the old set, knowing they are not the best? Change to the new set in mid-stride, with all the work on adjustments and possibly re-basing that this involves? Or do you give up on the whole idea and start something entirely different? Either way that smart Alec has ruining what might have been a very enjoyable campaign or game. There ought to be a law against this sort of thing! Protests in the streets, placards waving in the air with slogans like "Down with new rules" and " No more revised editions." What do you think? Cheers Smart-Alec Will Johnson (who wrote the rules John Barnard was complaining about!) [Psst! Will. Have you heard about the new Warhammer ECW rules? Kenn]. Richard Goyder Apologies for the delay in responding to your letter in LW136, it just arrived at a busy time. The proof of that is I didn't even get round to entering Chris Grice's tournament, having hugely enjoyed the last two. (Sorry Chris.) LW137 was another excellent issue with two articles (Rich Barbuto on stormtroopers and John Barnard's 'Decimo') that would each have justified a year's subscription on their own. My own wargaming history goes back to vast games of stand 'em up and knock 'em down (HG Wells without the sophistication) using over 800 unpainted 20mm Airfix Napoleonics. Since then it has been a pretty typical butterfly's progress taking in 15mm Napoleonics, 15mm sci-fi, 20mm ultra modern, 1/200 WWII and 1/300 sci-fi, not to mention Dungeons & Dragons, Tunnels & Trolls and Traveller. From time to time I have had fellow enthusiasts to play with including my older brother, school friends and at university an actual club to join, but my preference has always been for solo play. I've belonged to the SWA since around LW40 and hate to think how many years that is. Lone Warrior has consistently been the best of the magazines, but I have to admit, I haven't been the most regular of contributors to its pages. My excuse is that I have never been able to achieve the right combination of time, money and space to allow me to pursue the hobby properly. When I was at school I had spare time and space in my parents' house but not enough money to buy the figures I needed. The world of work provides money, but eats into my spare time, and here in the south east at least, space is at a bit of a premium too. Add to this the fact that I am a slow painter, and as with all soloists need to provide both sides of a fight, so my armies never exceed a handful of units. The result is that most of the brilliant ideas inspired by Lone Warrior and other sources are stillborn, and so never merit an article. My last contribution was a review of the computer version of 'Harpoon', the result of six months spent weekly commuting to Portugal, with plenty of flying time to fill with computer games. My current crop of theoretical plans mostly centre around plastic 20mm figures. (Quite cheap, and don't take up much space if you leave them in the box.) I have WWI French and Germans just waiting to take on Rich Barbuto's Stormtrooper ideas, Vietnam complete with unmade Hueys and ACAVs as well as boxes of ultra moderns to be converted into 'Hammer's Slammers' type sci-fi. I also want to expand my Napoleonics beyond the current handful of units as well as building big Ancients armies for a Hyboria/Gussie style campaign (15mm by preference, 6mm when I'm being realistic). I've even joined the local club, but only managed to attend three times in a year thanks to work. But enough whinging. Lone Warrior (plus an honourable mention to the SOTCW's 'The Journal') has kept my interest in the hobby alive through all these years of inactivity. If any of my ideas ever come to fruition, I'll write them up for you like a shot. Many thanks for all the inspiration over the years. David Heading In response for your cry for articles, please find attached one - I hope you can read it. [Thanks came through loud and clear]. As for other matters, if you run across anything renaissance related that needs reviewing, I'd be very happy to do so. I'm fairly much a one track gamer as opposed to a butterfly - I game pretty much anything from 1500 - 1700, with a bit extra at the ends. I think this is largely because within that period, you get everything from stone age natives against 'high' technology, while the technology isn't so high as to mow the natives down in droves, to the linear tactics of Marlborough and his friends and enemies. As I game in 6 mm, solo, I can actually afford to put many of the armies on the table. If I'm feeling really flush, I buy double the amount and double base - now that looks like an army to me. I originally got into the period via an old Battle magazine article on the ECW, and an advert for Peter Laing 15 mm ECW figures, back in the days when 15 mm was considered suspiciously small. Time for my nap. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #138 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 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