I hope you are all driving your enemies before you, enjoying the lamentation of their women, and grasping their treasures to your chest. I am still getting my mail caught up so many of your club reports and newsletters are not reaching me. See the new address and other info at the end of the column. If you don't see your club or organization talked about below, I didn't receive anything. PLEASE update me in your database....Thank you. Remember, I'm only an email away at izmud@msn.com.
Ever heard of the Rubber Band Artillery Society? I hadn't until B.C. Milligan, President for Life, sent me a humorous e-mail describing his small band of merry men. Begun in 1977 in the Baltimore area, the RBAS now counts Bob Coggins of Napoleon's Battles fame as a member, as well as Vinny the Grinder, and others. They are playing Fire and Fury and ECW at the moment, but remain open to ideas (like the Sword and Flame Colonials they've played often in the past). Their get togethers sound really fun, as the scripted invitation to a Pea Ridge refight included such humor as "tossing dice, breaking rulers, inhaling of donuts, and consuming of vast quantities of Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi at the World Headquarters To join or drop in, contact BC at 12 Chesham Court, Cockeysville, NED 21030, (410) 683-7220 or remise@aol.com.
New to our pages, David Glenn, President of the Tampa Bay Gaming Association, sent me a nice e-mail summarizing their upcoming events. They hold two monthly meetings alternating between Shoney's and Magic Jungle Games in Tampa FL. In addition, they hold a monthly gameday at Tactical Edge in WinterHaven FL. And the first minicon ofthe year will be 25 March at the Holiday Inn, and include historical and fantasy games. All events are free to members, and membership runs $10 per year. David can be reached at tbga@hotmail.com, (813) 978-9798, PO Box 523, Tampa FL 33601.
The January 2000 HMGS Midwest Journal arrived in the mailbox, They are well along the way to sorting out some legal problems involved with the turnover of the new board. They are also working hard to prepare for Little Wars 14-16 April, their premier convention, and one that I enjoyed attending about 10 ears ago. In fact, that is where I met Hal Thinglum for the first time, I also learned DBA there, met John Hill, and played Pig Wars-ahhh, fond memories. For any novice gamemasters, and even some grognards, Steve Winter wrote a very thorough 20-point list of good ideas to ensure your convention game goes well. Read it. You might be able to get a copy through their web site at http://user.aol.com/littlewars/lwmain.htm. Bob Bubulka will be taking over editing the Journal in Feb 2000-(708) 656-0283.
Matt Davidson, President of the HMGS Great Lakes, wrote about a good idea The Soldiery in Dayton OH is doing. They have a "new rules night" on Tuesdays from 1800-2100 to ensure everyone gets a chance to try out rules they've always wanted to try but didn't. 14MGS-GL now boasts over 225 members, two major conventions, and a great newsletter. They are planning to provide several volunteers to help Pete Panzeri with the Historical Origins Team 2000 this July in Columbus. You could help too! Other articles included excellent campaign summaries by Tim Donovan and Mike Demana covering Justinian's Wars (on-going) and Bretwalda Britain (now finished) respectively. Daryl Smith offered a nice piece on the Second Schleswig Holstein War, and Mike Reese gave readers a scenario for WWII Naval actions of Norway. Doug Johnson relayed that a new History Channel series, Frontier: The decisive Battles" will air in August this year, and the Battle of Fallen Timbers was filmed in the Ft Meigs, Secor Park areas of Toledo, OH using many reenactors. Cool! Finally, Dennis Frank has begun an outstanding series of articles covering wargaming publications from 1898 to 1970. The first installment covered the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson and his campaigns held in his attic, Fascinating.
Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance put on their huge Command con in November, and the list of 50+ events was quite impressive. The other biggie is Barracks Battles in March. They also hold monthly game days in the St Louis area. Harold Wones has a great idea-using CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, you can layer your battle setups so players can only see the part they are responsible for/aware of Cool.
NASAMW's Spearpoint kicks off with a sparkling review of Chariot Wars, the supplement for Games Workshop's Warhammer Ancient Battles. Terry Gore has set up a discussion list and chat room for Medieval Warfare. An article discussed the possibility of joining the International Wargaming Federation (mostly Brit and Afrikaner at this point). Alan Spencer did a bang-up job writing about the First Crusade, covering history, key players, bibliography, and figure recommendations. Darrell Smith adds another in a long line of superb historical articles, this one covering the medieval Burgundians. Lots of kudos to the many tournament winners listed from around the country.
HMGS/PSW hold their Mini-Wars conventions in November and April. Their nine clubs offer a variety of gaming events year round throughout California. Their last Messenger included a letter from a gamer at large questioning how clubs recruit and provide value to gamers, and the relationship of clubs to hobby stores. Many owners and club presidents could get some ideas from that letter. Bill Heizer also offered an interesting regimental comparison of the army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia at the start of the 1863 campaign season. Good!
HMGS-Gamers International now has a website on the onelist for those interested. Pete Panzeri continues to do yeoman work for the organization. The recent lineup of iodiecon events include& 11-13 Feb East Front '43; 1-3 Apr Alexander's Successors, 28-30 Apr Gettysburg, and 9-11 Jun Austerlitz. Old Glory miniatures is sponsoring the Alexandrian Successor's event. Pete passed along to members an interesting note from David Bonk at HNIGS East. David recently helped stage a weekend refight of the 1862 Battle of Bern (ACW) in 25mm at the North Carolina Museum of History. The public's reaction was quite good, and they showed a keen interest in joining HNIGS and took all the brochures available. I agree with his thought that expanding our hobby is to show it to them. The figures and terrain fascinate them, and we can use that in public displays to draw in new blood. Nice job Dave, Call or email Pete for more details. Highly recommended-Two Spears Up!!!!
HMGS West has a new website at www.armory.com/~hmgswest
The El Camino Real Post is growing in services, with internet suggestions, local gaming, and national events on top of the usual assembly of gamers to play with. Recent Posts show that New Mexico and Texas gamers are reaching out to support events in Colorado and Oklahoma now. They have 25 members and growing. Don Wolff wrote me a note to tell me they have developed a set of heroic skirmish rules called Gang Warfare in the Bronze Age. You can read the beta version online or download it for playing from .www.zianet.com/signifer/GWAB.htm. The rules require two decks of cards, about two dozen figures, and a few friends, Rules include divine intervention and the accumulation of honor points to claim victory. Sounds fun!
Rhett Scott sent me an email telling me about the upcoming HMGS South RECON '00 on 29 Apr to 1 May, They are expecting over 350 gamers, over a dozen dealers, a $100 cash raffle for shopping, and of course, over 100 events. The con will be held at the Travel Lodge near Busch Gardens in Tampa FL. For more info contact Rhett at 813 -661-0641 or rhettscott@aol. com, or Pat Condray (352) 352-795-1317, pcondray@xtalwind. net.
HMGS Mid-South now boast over 500 members on their rolls-outstanding! They held Siege of Atlanta in January, Fusilier Muster in February, Nashcon will follow May 26-28, and Wargamer's reunion will be held in October. The latest Dispatch included some interesting tidbits. Ernie Stewart relates that Mel Gibson is filming an AW1 movie called The Patriot in South Carolina (a Francis Marion-type character). It will be similar to the Braveheart movie with regard to color, large battles, and (unfortunately) lack of historical accuracy, but hopefully a good wargamer movie nonetheless. Mike Randles wrote a nice review of Games workshop's How to Make Wargames Terrain, and recommended it highly for any non-expert terrain maker. Lord A] gave a useful "status of the hobby" concerning pirates-who's got the best figures and ships, And Bill Osborne related a number of book reviews and recommendations for researching the Boxer Rebellion. Theron Kuntz wrote a thought-provoking piece covering a rules website (www.wtj.com) and questions regarding the application of reality to wargaming. Finally, Richard Szafranski of Toffler Associates wrote a fascinating piece detailing the lessons learned by the Russians in Chechnya.
The latest from the Historical Gamers of Indianapolis shows a continued interest in Squad Leader boardgaming, as well as some SYW, WWII naval, Ironclads, 25mm Napoleon's Battles, pirates, desperado, Fire & Fury ACW, and DBM ancients. Lots of fun, featuring games every Tuesday and Saturday at he clubhouse for a $4 door fee. Join them.
Another Indiana group shows their face-yes, the IP Regiment reported in. They have a new President, Danny Manns, a new website at http://13thregimentwargaming club.webjump.com, and have grown to 22 members. Huzzah! Two big campaigns are dominating them now-SYW using Age of Reason and Sport of Kings rules; and Warhammer Ancients. Interest continues in French Foreign Legion, as well as new interest in French & Indian War and DBM (7+ armies completed). Recent renovations bring their game tables up to 6 with 2 being very large (6 x 20 feet). Finally, one member, Buford Haworth, is building the entire Napoleonic British Army in 20mm at I ~ 11 More fun than a barrel of monkeys-call Danny Manns at (812) 386-7187 or his Vice President Roy Massey at (812) 385-1808.
Bob Liebl kicked of his latest HMGS East newsletter with more of his rapier wit (or was that a bludgeon?). He discusses the graying of the hobby (or the fable thereof), the fim and ease of commanding a Swiss army, and of course, offers us Part 3 of the plight of Crown Prinz Ruprecht von Hesse-Hamburger-Bunz. And then there is the Conspiracy Theory ... well, suffice it to say, humor in the HMGS East newsletter is a sweet turnaround from some of the olden days invective, Oh, let's not forget all of their awesome conventions (Cold Wars just passed, Historicon in July), and their marvelous website-it's my primary gaming reference.
I agree with Larry Leadhead (cartoon character) in the Northwest HMGS newsletter The Citadel, "So many wars, so little time." Besides nice cartoons, the newsletter had some good articles. John Fernandes wrote a lengthy piece describing the evolution of combined arms theory in the US military. Bill Stewart continues his role as the "Larry King" of wargarning, with a thoroughly enjoyable interview of Arty Conliffe, creator of Tactica and Armati. And Pat Treacy extols the virtues of a multi-period, multi-opponent Ottoman army. By the way, we just missed the annual Game Day and Auction, but Enfilade is coming in May. See you there!
Back to MWAN #105 Table of Contents
Back to MWAN List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum
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