From Chris Pagano: Thanks again for publishing my PanzerTruppe micro armor rules a few issues back. I've gotten some great responses from readers and I've been able to improve the rules as a result. I was wondering if you know of any manufacturer who sells the Rorke's Drift hospital and storehouse for use with 15mm Zulu? (Editor's Note: I think HOVELS does a 15mm set, but I don't believe the roof lifts off) From Tom Sparhawk: Check out our club website: www.norcom2000.com/users/sparhawk/ mueb. From John La Croix: I have seen, in Wargames Illustrated #149, an ad for Col. Elting's new book on Napoleon's allies and enemies. It is to be produced in one volume. The book is truly a treasure and the Knotel watercolors are outstanding! The company is called Helion & Co. From David B. Sweet: Thank you for publishing, in MWAN 4103, my two items, "More World War I Planes for the Fly or Die Rules" and "World War I Model Kit Review." However, it appears that the printed version of the Modified Critical flits Table for the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets has typographical errors at the end and should read, for rolls of 9 or above, 9, Engine Hit. Each 2 engine hits reduce speed by 1 (10 mph). 10, 2 Engine hits. Reduce speed by I (10 mph). 11, Elevator cables hit. No stunt flying (unmodified). 12, Fuel tank hit. Plane crashes (unmodified). Also, the "David Sweet" byline for the MWAN #103 article "Two games, or more, for the price of one" may be a mistake, unless there is another David Sweet wargaming. The article is not one that I sent in. In regard to one question you asked in your MWAN #104 article on your Franco-Prussian War project, I believe that some old Scruby lines (including some Franco-Prussian War figures in 25mm) may be available from Ultimate Miniatures, PO Box 756, Corcoran, CA 93212-0756. One update is that the figures are apparently now cast in non-lead pewter. Also, the 25mm night be considered the "old" or "true" 25mm since the circa 1996 price list I have says that these 25mm figures "work well with larger 20mm figures." Sample prices from that price list are $0.60 for foot figures and $1.20 for cavalry figures in 25mm (not including shipping). From Scott Hansen: I am currently researching the 1830-31 Polish Rebellion against Russia. I purchased some painted figures from my friend for it. I'm in the rules development stages with all of the rules I've tried being bad. I just started painting US infantry from the Richard Houston Moros in the Philippine set. I purchased 800 figures to fight the Greek War of Independence of the 1820s. As some people might know, I do obscure periods, but these are even more so! But I've been wanting to do original research and this is my chance. From Rob Dean: I'd like to thank you (as always) for the fine work you do on MWAN. I am always eagerly awaiting the next copy, and the rest of the family knows that MWAN arrival days are Dad's time to himself days. Not much has changed from the October letter. I am slowly painting away at the 40mm French and Indian War project, and have finished about 75 figures from Foundry's Darkest Africa range. The campaign is moving slowly along, with delays now due to my problems in finding time to adjudicate moves. On the bright side, I'm finding more time to play since the beginning of the year, and have averaged more than a game per week so far, which is ahead of last year's pace. I'm sure that the painting will pick up eventually. (Editor's Note: Rob - those 42mm figures are tempting, aren't they! IRREGULAR MINIATURES keeps producing more and more periods in this scale. What will you use for rules?) From Brian Bulger: During a recent shopping trip to the hobby shop in St. Louis I discovered some back issues of MWAN. Back home, when I had time to thoroughly digest them, I was very pleased with my find. Your newsletter is like a well-stocked gaming store - it has everything! FEW was never a period of interest for me until a few years ago when I acquired a sizeable 25mm Minifig collection at a price I couldn't pass up. I would like to supplement the force, but I don't know which figure line to choose. If you can advise me on a line that is compatible with the Minifigs I would be very grateful.. Thanks for your help and thank you for a great wargaming magazine. I wish I had found MWAN many years ago. (Editor's Note: Glad you enjoy MWAN, Brian, and continue to do so, please consider submitting something for publication! Re figure ranges which may match the MINIFIGS range for ECW, my friend, Rich Black has a large 25mm ECW collection and had MINIFIGS and HINCHLIFFE - now available via COLONIAL CONNECTION - check their address in this issue - in his collection but not in the same units. They looked fine to me. You might check them out and order a few figures and see what you think!) From Shane Smith: I decided to take pen in hand and write a letter. It's been 2 weeks since I received MWAN 104 and Mrs. Mattews has already sold 15 lots! So it looks like she's getting a very strong response. Thanks again to Hal for using his publication in this manner. It really shows what a good group of people wargamers are. I read Hal's article on the Franco-Prussian War and, if anyone is interested, there are 54mm available through The Squadron (1115 Crowley Dr., Carrollton, TX 75011 5010, www. squadron. com). A company from the Ukraine initialed ICM offers French line infantry, Prussian line infantry, and Prussian guard. The French have 4 figures to each box (3 EM and 1 officer). The line drawings show the figures in firing poses. The line drawings for Prussians show all them in advancing poses. They also show a mounted officer, but they don't list the number of figures per box on the Prussian guard, so I don't know if they come with mounted officer or not. They also offer WWII German and modern Russian. Price is $8 a box and looks like 4 figures per box. Well, I've been painting 1/72nd plastic barbarians. I wargame 1/72 "d and so far have painted groups of figures offered by every company. Thought I was all done when I heard that Italleri is going to be re-releasing barbarians and Romans, so looks like I've got a few more to paint. Hat industry has released Romans and Carthaginians. I've read that the Carthaginians used captured Roman arms and armor, so I bought I box of each group offered and I'm going to combine all of them into I Carthaginian army to fight my Esci Imperial Romans. I know this isn't accurate, but I can't stand the thought of painting another Roman army when I already have one almost complete. One of the perks of being a solo wargamer. I really enjoy collecting 1/72nd plastic. I don't have a lot of money to spend on the hobby and the plastics allow me to collect large armies without a lot of expense. My main problem is I can't seem to be satisfied with a skirmish level game. Every time I start collecting for a new period, both sides grow and grow until both sides are in the hundreds. If you are interested in collecting plastics it can become very confusing. Revell and Accurate both have access to the same molds. So both produce the same figures. I read today that IMEX also is releasing certain Accurate/Airfix(?) figures. Airfix is being reissued by HaT industry; while BUM is releasing copies of some Airfix lines. Revell bought the Matchbox WWII molds, although I think they're still being sold under the Matchbox label. ESCI, AMT, and ERTL all produce the same figures. This is just a little bit of info on how these molds change hands. Most plastic collectors decide on a period and then buy as many different manufacturers as possible in that period. So if your not aware, you could duplicate boxes without intending to. Also, reissues are cheaper than buying the same figures from a company that is out of business. Nexus has started reissuing Atlantic figures. Original, mint condition Atlantic chariots run anywhere from $30 to $50 a box. Nexus reissue are $7.97. Fortunately, the order number for a particular box stays the same no matter who is manufacturing it. (Editors Note: Thanks for the in-depth information!) From Allen Curtis: Well, it took all these issues, but you finally printed something I had no interest in reading, and once I'd started it, wished I hadn't. "The Occult in the Gaming Hobby". After perusing it, I scanned through the rest of the issue for comparison with the type of gaming this author rejects as "dark, depraved", and found references to "playing" some of the most vile slaughters of humans by other humans in history (many in the name of religion): (1) your own Thirty Years War and Russian Civil War projects (I see, by the way, that you have discovered that OUTLAND GAMES' Chris von Falnestock has picked up the former SOLDIERS AND SWORDS line of 15mm TYW/ECW figures; when you mentioned TYW, I thought you would like this range very characterful); (2) WWII (let's all run out and buy some SS infantry, just to be in style); (3) Pirates (I suppose it's a good Christian thing to do, sinking boatloads of pilgrims bound for Mecca); (4) The US Army and Native Americans (having just start home-schooling a fifth- grader, it appalls me to discover how hard it is to find a US history text that explains how many we killed through disease and genocidal doctrine). Well, at least Mass Slaughter #1 is in there (WWII); this issue seems to miss any mention of #2 (the Taiping Rebellion). But my point is that we, as gamers, routinely trivialize the human loss and suffering that are central to the subjects we "game". Why get bent out of shape because some people wish to "game" vampires, which the last time I checked, don't even exist in the real world? So to be frank, I really don't need to read the ramblings of some fundamentalist with such a paranoid fear of the occult that he sees palpable evil in imaginative play. There is all too much of this pseudoreligious claptrap in American culture today, and unfortunately, it is not far for the weakminded and easily led to make the jump from this sort of proselytizing to the groups that espouse Aryan supremacy, or cults that commit mass suicide in order go off with aliens. Some of the most dangerous individuals in the US today are those, who are this author, are appealing to the "moral, responsible ... community" to defend the rest of us (who generally don't need defending) against misrepresented threats. If you're that short of articles to print, maybe I'd better get writing! I've been working on a Punic Wars supplement for WARHAMMER Ancient Battles; I think you knew I had contributed to the Armies of Antiquity supplement. I've also taken a liking to PETER PIG's "Conquerors and Kings", which is a great deal of fun, using the SQUARE BASHING system first develop for WWI/RCW. I ought to be able to write something for you on those game systems. Last month, I stopped working as an overpaid civil servant. A newborn daughter arrived on January 22 and we've also taken responsibility for a ten- year-old girl, whom we're home schooling. With the need to spend time at home, it was a good time to stop banging my head against the government bureaucracy. So that should theoretically leave time for writing. Hah! Not with home schooling! A response to Jonathan Aird's "I Want to Try Warhammer Ancient Battles"...., if you wish to print it. Jonathan said, "Oddly, the Arab camel rider from WHAB example troops list has gone from the AOA Arab Army list, but is easily put back!" Well, Jonathan, the Arab camel rider from the rulebook comes from an earlier period; you can find him included in the AoA "Cathaphract" list, with appropriate armament options. By the time of the Prophet onward, which the AOA "Arabs and Saracens" list covers, warriors fighting from camels made up such an insignificant proportion of an Arab army that I could not justify including them in the condensed list as a major troop type. They may appear as a special troop type, if I ever get around to producing an expanded list. Certainly, the armies of the Arab (Muslim) conquest employ camels - lots of camels! But they were for transporting foot warriors to the battlefield, not for fighting from. If you must have camels in your Arab or Saracen army, paint up a bunch of kneeling ones and have them resting peacefully behind the battle line, for color only. But don't just "put back" the camel archer from the rulebook; or if you do, please call your army a Warhammer Fantasy Battles "Arab" army! (Editor's Note: Thanks for letter/thoughts, Allen; I appreciate them. I will refer you to my response to Bob Bryant below re the "Occult" article. I would appreciate any articles you'd care to submit; it's not always easy to up MWAN each issue. Congrats re your involvement with ARMIES OF ANTIQUITY.) From Bob Bryant: There is an article in MWAN #103 by Tom McBrayer entitled THE OCCULT IN THE GAMING HOBBY. Hal, I object most strenuously to your publishing this article in the form in which is written in MWAN. I don't object to someone saying that they regard the gaming of "dark" activities as an undesirable influence in society, especially among children because of possible injury to the development of a healthy psyche. I wouldn't object to an article that elaborates on the topic and raises questions about it in an object way, although it's not clear to me how that serves the readers of MWAN. I would even agree, at the least, that there are better ways for children, and perhaps adults, to spend their time, than to get caught up in flights of fantasy, whether "dark", "occult" or of some other category. What I object to in this article is the moralizing, sermonizing, holier-than- thou posture, the assumption that all the opinions expressed in the article are established fact and only the author has the Truth. It would have been better if you had asked the author to get off his soapbox, be more objective, more tolerant, re-write, and re- submit the article. Violence in society and its causes are very complex issues. The problem of "random violence, sex and trappings of the darker side of humanity" to quote the article, are not going to be solved by subscribing to the glib opinions expressed in this article. What is this article doing in MWAN? It's not about gaming. It's a set of opinions about the author's complaints about society and about certain types of games on moral, essentially religious, grounds. Warfare has always been associated with killing (whether "legitimate" or murder or massacre), destruction of property, spread of disease, theft and robbery, brutality, rape, all sorts of vile atrocities. We, as wargamers, clean up our games and mostly don't represent these things, except for honorable casualties and destruction on the field of battle. We can ignore death and destruction because we experience them only through the tokens of game counters or miniature figures. This is a kind of naive, ivory-tower view of warfare. We should never forget about the death and destruction that would actually be taking place if our games were real. When we roll our dice, we are pretending to kill, and perhaps for some of us at times, actually killing "in our hearts." To claim that roleplaying a vampire ought to be condemned, simply because something "dark" or "occult" is brought into the open is sheer hypocrisy I laugh. I cannot take a person who has that attitude seriously. What is "dark" or "the occult" anyway? We have secular laws that recognize serious offenses in society, such as killing another person, rape, theft, etc. Lesser "offenses," that do not involve breaking the law, are offensive to some and not to others. Hal, do you really believe the pages of MWAN are the place to open up this can of worms? Do you really want an opinionated minister to tell us how we are supposed to occupy our time, and worse, tell others how to occupy theirs? I like to think for myself I hope I get to continue to do so. Take note of the last sentence in the article, and I quote, "Suffice it to say, if you find this diatribe farfetched and unbelievable, then just pull back the slithering veil of numbness and disbelief, and you will see the occult's ugliness in gaming too." In other words, if you don't see the way the author does, there is something wrong with you. What could be wrong? Well, we are left to our imaginations, but clearly we are defective in some way. We couldn't possibly have a considered, honest opinion that differs from the author's, unless something is wrong with us. I feel insulted, and threatened. Mentally, the author, presumably a Christian, is mugging me. Hal, I have been a subscriber to MWAN over ten years. I have always admired your fair-mindedness and your insistence that articles be devoid of contempt of other people's positions on various aspects of wargaming. I was surprised and dismayed when I came across this article. It's one of the most bombastic, opinionated, narrow-minded, self-righteous pieces of demagoguery I have ever read, and it's not even about gaming. It's about the author's religion> This article reminds me of the Hounds of God in the Spanish Inquisition. It wasn't sufficient for their faith to lead them into righteousness in their personal lives. They had to impose their own ideas of Good and Evil on the rest of society and sacrifice some victims to prove their zeal. By publishing this article as it is written you are condoning its style and tone and its far-fetched claim to moral superiority, regardless of whether you agree with its contents. I don't subscribe to MWAN to be preached at, Hal. Is that what you want? Think about it. (Editor's Note: Well written Bob,- appreciate your comments. See my comments after Dennis' letter listed next; however, I have to admit you are correct when you say I should have contact Mr. McBayer and asked him to approach the subject in a more detached, less personal manner. Thanks for your thoughts!) From Dennis McCloskey: If you are interested in my opinion, please drop articles like "The Darkening of the Hobby" by Mr. McBayer. As you have often said, this is just a hobby. I seriously doubt people into the occult are quoting from MWAN! I find Mr. McBayer as disturbing as "Dark Gaming." (Editor's Note: Thanks for your thoughts, Dennis; I think my computer ate some of your letter and I apologize for that. I did receive a number of letters about the content of Mr. McBayer's article. I don't really know what to say about this other than (1) Mr. McBayer felt the issue was important to express his opinion on it. It probably is not an opinion which many of us share as strongly as he does. Personally, I feel that this type of gaming, as other activities, does possess some possibly negative characteristics for a small percentage of individuals within our society whose personality and mental status would be strongly attracted to it. However, I realize this could be said about a number of lifes activities, (2) that I should have returned the article for re-writing as Bob suggested and (3) that since I accepted Mr. McBayer's article "as is ", I am the one who should be held responsible. Appreciate your thoughts.) From D. Ziprick: Take a close look at some miniatures that the Perry twins and several of their sculptors have created for a new game called Warmaster available through "White Dwarf." Excellent medieval miniatures in what appears to be 10 to 12mm size range. From David Love: The Warhammer Ancients bug has bit me hard. I now have 8000 points of Romans (That's probably enough, Dave!), tons of Celts, and am now painting up other armies for my Romans to fight (Parthians & Germans). Somehow that particular rules book got my painting urge back up. I am trying for a style that is a lame attempt to duplicate the Wargames Illustrated magazine figures. I prime them white then give them a wash of reddish brown all over. Flesh areas are painted with a dark flesh first, leaving the reddish brown in the creases and between the fingers. This is then followed up with a light flesh on the highlight areas, such as cheekbones, knuckles, etc. All other areas are done the same way: use a dark color, followed by a lighter shade. I am NOT dry brushing. Rather, it is a deliberate glob of paint in the right places. It actually goes pretty fast. I can paint up 6 guys in 3-4 hours on a Saturday morning for example. I like groups of 6. It is easy to breeze through one color when you are only doing 6 figures. I used to do 24 at a time, but then I would get stuck. I would think, Well, do I have time to do all 24 in flesh tone?" If not, they would not get started. But there is ALWAYS time to do 6 figures with one color. Alike when we are going out and the wife says "I'm almost ready honey," I know I have time to do a color. Or more. Another nice thing about small batches is that when you finish the first batch, and they are really beautiful, that you are highly motivated to do another batch. I did all my 40-man units of Celts this way. The mathematicians among you will note that the last batch has only 4 guys. Kind of like dessert! Celts are tough because of the blue (woad) tattoos and the plaid/stripe designs. I found that if you just do a few of them with the plaids and a few with tattoos, the whole unit looks a lot better. It is not necessary to do them all that way. Drybrushing is used for hair and armor. But use the same two-color rule here too. A dark shade followed by light. Shields are easy thanks to Veni Vidi Vici and Wargames Foundry decals. But I do not think the decals alone are that great. After applying a decal, it really makes a better job if you dab some bright color (bright yellow on a yellow decal for instance) here and there. Also, the shield should be a dark color before applying the decal. Then highlight around the decal with a lighter shade. This really looks great. There is a nice example of this in the Warhammer Ancients rulebook section on painting. This goes surprisingly quickly because you are not trying to paint the whole decal or shield. Just a few highlights do the trick. I mix my own textured paint for bases. I use Golden Acrylic Course Pumice Gel medium (kind of a sandy texture) and Liquitex Burnt Sienna (tube) mixed together. This stuff is easy to apply to the base with a palette knife and it builds up nicely, I put larger rocks and dried plants in it before it hardens. Then the whole thing gets dry brushed with two colors: a tan and a very light dusting of ivory. I use static grass as a final touch in little spots. I like a nice base. It seems like a well-painted figure mounted on a green base is not really a job well done. Well, off to the Parthians! From Bob Abra: Just a quick $.02s worth on your FPW article (I admire how through you are once you really get into a project!). Alistair Horne wrote a history "The Fall of Paris" which covers the siege and commune 1870-1 from the French point of view. It has good coverage of the politics and personalities of the era (It is part of a trilogy on the Franco-German rivalry, the others being "The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916" and "To Lose a Battle: France 1940"). Also, the great French naturalist novelist Emile Zola wrote a novel set in the FPW called "The Debacle" (La Debacle) that takes its protagonists through the war, the siege of Paris, and the civil war against the commune. Stirring Stuff. Keep up the good work. (Editor's Note: thanks, Bob, for additional book titles!) From Scott Hansen: I'm starting to paint my 1820s Greek War of Independence figures in my article. Pretty obscure, even for me. I finished up my l5mm Moros (Richard Houston boxed set) and am working on rules. I plan on writing an article for the Heliograph. Of course, I'll have more Russo-Japanese War scenarios, Garibaldi, etc. articles for you. From John Leahy: Hal, I received the MWANs that you kindly sent me. I really appreciate it! I've been tearing through them like its Christmas all over again. Oh, now I'm starting to period jump again! Isn't it a truly wonderful obsession that we all share? I'm trying to stay focused on my 6mm SYW or Naps, but my Samurai cav arrived and my wife is almost finished painting my 15mm Yellow Ribbon pony wars cav, so I'm pulled in so many directions at once (as if this is anything unusual). This doesn't include my 20mm plastic ancients, medievals, or WW2 stuff that's begging to get worked on. I have always loved those plastic figs since my Airfix days. It is a 'Golden Age' for plastic gainers now. I think that I've come across a solution to the age-old problem of preventing the paint from chipping or peeling off the plastic figs. Have you ever tried using Minwax Polyshades stain and Polyurethane satin on any of your figures'? Looks great! Really takes an average paint job and improves it. I'll include a link so you can check it out. It's not my idea, I read about it on Bob Beattie's DBA website. David Kujiit (spelling?) wrote an article with some pies. Hope you find it interesting. I'll list it below: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Ring/85 82/index.html. From William Widrick: I got a letter from Chris Hahn this week with lots of pictures from Little Wars. A couple from up high overlooking the floor. Very impressive setup. Looks like a blast. WOW, the "Dukes" Egypt game looked way cool. What a job on the terrain. Chris was very impressed with a pirate ship that had a $250 price tag, and sent along a picture. I had to chuckle. Very small wargame world, eh? From Terrance Smith: Sorry to hear about the hassle with the (non) move. I know how much I hate living out of boxes, and to have done so for months just to stay in the same place must be frustrating for you. The gaming scene here in Idaho is improving. We recently picked up another historical player who moved here from Seattle. That makes a total of four regular players (including me), so we can do some interesting larger games now. The fellow from Seattle is a big WWII micro armor fan, so that expands the game possibilities for us. One of the other regulars is interested in Napoleonics. I continue to concentrate on early medieval, French & Indian War, and Stargrunt II. Given I also have large ACW armies for Fire & Fury, we are starting to get a pretty good variety of games. Another factor that helps is the local hobby shop now stays open until 11:00 one night a week specifically to provide a place to game. From Jim French: Read your editorial today at work and was reminded of the writing of Gilbert Highet roughly thirty years ago. He was talking about the evolution of our current books. I vividly remember his statement that every time we change format, we create a grid through which everything has to pass in order to survive! The Greeks and Romans had no TV or movies, but they went to plays. They must have had thousands, yet only fifty- seven survive! What do we keep? What falls by the wayside? A sad and scary thought! From Dr. George Dullaghan : Saw Vince and Sharron Clyant of LONDON WAR ROOM during quick visit to RECON Convention and bought some nice trees from Vince. For the first time in a decade, I'm upgrading my WWII Eastern Front troops. I'll be basing them on 2" X 12" bases for the armies vs division battles I enjoy. I purchased some unusual 6mm items from IRREGULAR MINIATURES including troops on bicycles and flamethrower troops as well as more flak, medical vans, etc. I'll write an article when it's all done. I have several hundred partisans that I've organized to fight the Kaminski Brigade or the Dirieman German Brigade in 15mm. I also made a great purchase of plastic troops for the Pacific Campaign at Toys-R-Us. Since I already had American and Japanese troops in l5mm, the logic of the purchase escapes me but since I bought the series Crusade in the Pacific on video, the troops were needed. In Ancients, I painted another dozen Indian elephants to face Alexander. I also upgrade the Macedonians to about 300 troops - they look formidable. I read Arty Conliffe's article and I hope that some day he writes another beautiful full color book for us. I feel was absolutely superb! (Editors Note.Thanks for letter, George! George is a real collector who could rival my efforts. I played in his WWII 6mm game some years ago at RECON and advanced my Germans over about twenty feet of tabletop through about ten trench systems. Thousands of troops and even aeroplanes!) From Robbie Rodiss : I read with interest your article about the Franco- Prussian War as this is my latest craze! Actually, I use 6mm figures but have opted for the HEROICS & ROS range which is very extensive. I use VOLLEY & BAYONET rules which are excellent for this period - it certainly lends itself to the war. I base about 16-20 figures on each base which nicely represents the brigades. The H&R range has some excellent figures which have been re-designed and are reminescent of the MINIFIGS of old. I have additionally drafted some of the IRREGULAR MINIATURES ranges. Ian Key does a really fine heavy Krupp gun with steam tractor which looks excellent when based up. Additionally he produces a train and carriages, a must for this period. At the moment, I only have one corps per side and as a consequence, the French tend to take a hammering due to the strength of the Prussian brigades. My aim is two Prussian Corps and three French Corps plus respective guard divisions. The period throws up some interesting problems; superior Prussian artillery vs superior French small arms fire. I finally had my first French victory which was due more to, impetuosity on the Prussian side as opposed to French tactics which were fairly predictable. Anyway, who cares. I have just attended the Sheffield Triples Show which is a large two day show and looking around the manufacturers 10mm ranges are starting to take off. The scale is an interesting one. (Editor's Note: Would like to hear more about your 6mm projects, Robbie; especially as to how you terrain your figure bases. The 6mm scale is a very interesting one and I am enjoying watching my 6mm SYW project build up; I currently have five bags of H&R Prussian line infantry painted up though I haven't based them as of yet as I am unsure as to which way I shall go. Also, I don't know what to do re terraining the bases. I don't want the "grass " to "hide " the figures!) From Nigel Casson: In a previous MWAN, you raised the issue of a problem you were having getting figures to stick to bases. I keep forgetting to mention my solution when I write to you - simply score the underside of the figure bases with a craft knife in a crosstype pattern before gluing. I have always done this and have never had a figure come away from a base. I only use water soluble woodworking glue (called aquadere over here). If you wish to release the figures, they can be detached with minimal effort. My main projects of the moment are Darkest Africa and AK47 REPUBLIC. The former is very much a solo effort. I have made the FOUNDRY'S accountant very happy by the size of my orders. Our club has an annual open day convention at which I will be running a D.A. participation game which will involve four players leading expeditions as various historical identities (including Her Majesty) with the aim of locating assorted goodies while simultaneously attempting to avoid the baddies and other perils of the jungle - what dashing fun, what! Interest in AK47 Republic is slowly building at the club with a few leaders showing the way. This is a fun, easy to learn and play system, and therefore, ideal for a club situation. Being multi-fictional adds to its club suitability and the PETER PIG figures are full of character and easy to paint. (Editor's Note: Good to hear from you, Nigel! Thanks for tip re bases. AK4 7 sounds very interesting; many years ago, Greg Novak and Tom Harris did a modern Africa AK-4 7 type game and wrote it up for MWAN and it was one of the more interesting articles we've had The PETER PIG figures are very good, I am sure! I'd like to see an article from you re this subject!) From William Barz : Read your MWAN 4103 editorial - reads like a personal letter from an old wargaming buddy. You hit the nail right on the head regarding wargaming organizations such as HMGS and certain personalities. This is why I have stayed away from organizations and clubs; too many conflicts and mudslingers. A few years ago, I went to two HMGS Pacific Southwest conventions. I had joined mainly to get the newsletter and attended the conventions to get ideas for my terrain, shop from the vendors and just be around others who enjoyed wargames and miniatures. On both occasions, I was given the cold shoulder by the other members who seemed to have broken off in little groups depending on the period of interest or scale. The one exception was Chuck Duggie, who introduced me to micro-ancient naval games and also to scratch-build 15/25mm warships. Needless to say, I am no longer a member. I still enjoy collecting, painting, reading and solo-campaigns over a wide period. My ten plus years worth of MWAN are always available in my shelf right over the desk as a source of reference and inspiration! (Editor's Notes: Thanks for kind thoughts, William; it is unfortunate that what you encountered still happens - we can't limit it to the convention you mentioned either glad to hear that MWANer Chuck Duggie was of assistance to you!) From Dan Foley: Re your editorial in MWAN #105 - while the internet is a great tool and the resources for wargamers are amazing, I don't feel it will supplant works like MWAN or other magazines. I have subscribed to MAGWEB for three years and enjoy it very much. I use it to took through back issues and read magazines that occasionally have articles in my areas of interest. However, I subscribe to four or five wargaming magazines that are on MAGWEB and prefer the hard copy to the electronic ones for a number of reasons. In no specific order they are; there are not any advertisements on MAGWEB, I can sit and watch TV while skimming through a paper magazine. I can read the paper ones in bed, the bathroom, etc., also there's a bit of excitement when it shows up in the mail. I have to say that I hope the internet doesn't do away with hard copies or magazines like yours. Don't misunderstand me, I'm a lurker on several lists regarding different rules sets and periods and I use the internet for shopping and research, but I still like my books and magazines. From Timothy Boyd: Carolyn and I have had a happy fall here in western NY state, the area with the romantic name (still used) of "the Niagara Frontier". Within an hour's drive are four forts (Eric, Niagara, George, Mississauga), several battlefields (Chippawa, Queenston Heights), and two hours away is Old Fort York, in Toronto, with lots of other stuff at the eastern end of Lake Ontario and the western end of Lake Erie, only a few hours' drive in either direction. What a magical place to live! Our new house was built in the 1830's, a sturdy brick farm house with its old wooden floors and a wonderful 10-foot ceiling in the front parlor. I'm sitting upstairs in my study, which has four windows each nearly six feel tall, two on the east, two on the south sides. I have bright sun all morning and most of the afternoon and, when it snows, it feels like I'm right in the middle of the storm. The room is big enough for a five-foot long table set against one of the south windows (for my computer) plus space for lots of shelves for books and troops and scenery, and even room for my 4X6 foot wargames table, which can now be permanently set up - a real treat! Right now, the Geo-Hex is built up into a rising slope, at the top of which, at a "T", is a small late I g1h , early I 91h century village, with woods, an orchard, and cornfields spreading out and down from it. The roads and fields are lined with snake fences I built out of toothpicks (thanks to the brilliant guys who offered suggestions for such things in FIRE & FURY). Last week, this was a spot on the border of North Carolina and Virginia in spring, 1781, and a small force of Americans (NC militia, a mixed battalion of light infantry/riflemen, the 1st VA Continentals, Washington's Dragoons. and a 6pdr) were fighting a delaying action against Tarleton and his troops (British Legion - infantry and cavalry - with the attached 16th Light Dragoons, the 1st Battalion 71st Foot and a galloper gun). Within the evening, it was definitely a "close-run thing", with the British flanking movement slowed almost to a standstill by the Americans at the cost of Washington's Dragoons and the entire light infantry/riflemen battalion. Tomorrow night, I'll rebuild the terrain and we'll begin a campaign set along the Niagara Frontier in 1814. Fighting actions in which the largest unit per side might be a two or three brigade division at most is, for us, a great war to wargame. With house rules which try to give the feel of the period - and which include simultaneous movement and firing - we can play and entire game in a couple of hours of fast-moving fun. (Editor's Note: sounds great, Tim - would love to see your rules!) From Don Anderson: Got into miniatures in 1990 after a lifetime of boardgaming. Thought I would try my hand at painting after I moved to Richmond, VA, from (you'll like this)Flossmoor, Illinois. Yes, we were neighbors. One of the true ironies of life is that I didn't find out about MWAN until after I left the neighborhood. Have since moved to Springfield, MO. Am in more eras than I care to mention. Though I will admit I tend to favor 15mm, I have started FFL in 25mm and SCW in 20mm. My painting is truly whimsical. Whatever interests me at the time. Needless to say, I have a lot of figures primed and ready to paint. I paint when I feel like it, rather than keeping to any sort of schedule. Currently working on Mexican-American War in 15mm. When my older stepson and I get together (he has been into miniatures longer than 1), we tend to do either FIRE & FURY or ROCKET'S RED GLARE (War of 1812). Those primarily because the armies are more or less complete. Have started doing some solo wargaming. At the occasional convention I find myself drawn to Napolenics. MWAN is the only paper magazine I subscribe to. The web has increasingly become a source of information. At last count, I've downloaded at least forty separate rules sets ... and hundreds of pages of supporting data! (Editor's Note.- Wish we would have gotten together when you lived in Flossmoor, Don!) From Michael Parrott: I have to tell you that I very much look forward to each and every issue of MWAN. I haven't much opportunity to indulge in miniatures gaming these past ten years or so. I've been underway on submarines for most of that time. The operations temp has been quite heavy and space ashore let alone on board is at a premium. MWAN has been my continuous link to the trains of thought of our hobby and the occasional visit to a store has been my visual link. I have quite a bit of lead to paint (but don't we all?) and hope to get to it someday soon, as I have just retired after 21 plus years at sea (in uniform) to settle down and get married. First things first - the wedding, figuring out how married life works, getting established in a job and eventually a house. Then maybe ... j ust maybe, will I be able to get that gaming table of my dreams established, break out those paints, brush, references and miniatures and get to it! Hope my hand stays steady and my eyes stay sharp. (Editors Note. Thanks for letter, Michael,- you live about five minutes from my house -- we'll have to get together .for a game!) From Terrence Winckler : Ilook forward to receiving that manila envelope every Couple of months, even though I don't do much tabletop wargaming anymore. Now most of my gaming is computer and Internet related, it fits better into a crowded schedule! MWAN reminds me of the "old" days. I began wargaming in high school back in the mid-sixties, using Airfix plastics (who didn't?) and converting them as needed. One project I remember in particular was converting a bunch of plastic Confederates into ECW infantry after seeing the movie CROMWELL (it was lousy history, but there were great battle scenes in that one, as I recall). That was the project where I learned the value of piano wire and straight pins when working with plastic figures, and that the paint job can hide a multitude of sins. Above all, in those days, I always enjoyed reading the magazines; my favorites were PANZERFAUST and WARGAMES DIGEST. MWAN recreates that feeling for me, particularly since you~ve begun running old articles from the sixties and seventies. The rule sets are always great to read, and I enjoy your very personal editorials. The articles you have run on history and wargaming Internet sites are also very interesting. (Editor's Note: Thanks, Terrence; if it's one thing I like to hear.from WANers, its that it brings them back to the old days!) From Lind Pratt: I have not been very active in the miniatures hobby the last three years. The birth of my daughter (who is now two years old) and emphasis on my other interests have severely limited my hobby time. On the job, there are now three of us doing the work that six used to do. You get the picture. I intend to get back into the swing of things after OLD GLORY releases their 15mm Sudan range. I believe it should be out for COLD WARS. I don't know what set of rules I am going to use. 25mm British for the NWF were the very first figures I painted, some sixteen years ago. I'm glad to get back to that wonderful era. I plan to put together a game for our local group in December. Next year, I intend to finish off my 15mm SYW Prussians and Austrians. Then it is on to the American Civil War. I will again be using 15mm, but at this point I am not sure of what set of rules I will use. I have several sets, and will probably choose one of them in lieu of writing my own. I want to be able to do the big battles, so this will be a big project once I get into it. 15mm WWII is exploding in Columbus. I finally got a chance to play in a CROSSFIRE game and had a great time. I am looking forward to seeing Rich Hasenauer's rules for WWII and I saw on the event list for COLD WARS that there is a playtest game for PTO rules for SPEARHEAD. While 15mm is more expensive compared to micro-armor, the look is so much better, in my opinion. If I didn't have a ton of ADVANCED SQUAD LEADER stuff, I'd be hard pressed to resist the urge to buy some OLD GLORY stuff. Maybe after the SYW project is done and the ACW is well along, maybe I'll paint up enough stuff for a German-American 1944 game. (Editor's Note. Thanks for letter, Lind; you are in luck! OLD GLORY has released their 15mm Sudan line and Rich Hasenauer will he releasing his WWII rules at HISTORICON!) From Duane Blocker : Can't believe your oldest daughter is in college already. Certainly you can't be that old! My, how time flies. I get so little time to game that I considered giving it up, but then an MWAN shows up on the door and I can't let it go. Got to tell you, my youngest daughter is doing English riding and we bought her a horse. Talk about expensive, certainly cutting into my gaming fund. She has been riding for about three years and it never ceases to amaze me how fragile and skittish horses really are. She has been thrown or come off many times and I have to wonder about the gaming implications. We know from reading accounts of Napoleon in Russia, the incredible loss of life among the horses. If you don't feed them right they can colic and it can be fatal. Their stomachs are incredibly sensitive to dietary changes. In Napoleon's invasion they dropped like the proverbial flies. In the end, this was a loss he could never recover from. In our campaigns we should definitely reflect the loss and difficulty of replacing equine resources. Who ever thought of using horses in warfare? It's amazing how skittish these creatures are. I've seen my daughter unhorsed because a horse jumped too close to her horse and he wasn't expecting it. A couple of weeks ago, some riders were having trouble because there were cows over in the next pasture and the horses could see them as they approached a jump and they would refuse to jump. The amount of training to get horses steady enough in warfare must have been incredible. I wonder how many casualties were caused by riders being thrown from their horses just on the approach. No way you could get a horse to actually charge into a steady wall of bayonets. As you can see, I get much time to think and read two or three times a week when I take my daughter out to ride. Next time, lessons in control and teaiyiwork from my observations of my older daughter's soccer team! Here's to hoping that I actually get time to get a game in. My girls are 12 and 14 and I fully intend to enjoy them and their activities while they are still at home, my gaming has to sacrifice, so be it. In a few more years, I've plenty of time to devote to the hobby and I get time in here and there. The world according to Duane Blocker, I guess. Thanks for your great work on MWAN; it truly is an inspiration and joy to the rest of us. Don't forget to thank those address stickeronners for me and the best to you and your family. (Editors Note: Good to hear from you, Duane, glad you continue to enjoy MWAN and your family'. Annie will be twenty-one the end of September and is at the University of Illinois (where her father managed to get his Ph. D.): she will start her junior year and is majority in speech pathology (taking after her father, again!) and Spanish.) From Joseph Cairo: Since you like to receive letters, I thought I would share some of my ramblings with you. The Russian Civil War does sound interesting, doesn't it? There is a book entitled THE MIDNIGHT WAR, which is an interesting book on this period. It's out of print and I don't know who wrote it (my copy has disappeared and I am sure it has found it's way into my father's library, as do most of my unusual books). You might be able to find it through a book search or interlibrary loan. It is supposed to deal mostly with the American involvement, but gives good information on the Czechs, Japanese, etc., - I had no idea how many foreign troops were in Russia at this time until I read this book. I have been taking stock of my figures and I have close to twenty armies in eight or nine time periods in several different scales. With all the good stuff out there it is so hard to resist the temptation of another army or three. I am trying my best and attempting to get what I've got done - well, most of it anyway. I am sure I will fail and will have started something new by the time this is printed. I have a 25mrn OLD GLORY Ancient Indian army done. It is 2,000 points strong and is mounted for WARHAMMER ANCIENTS. I have not played the game yet, so can not comment on it. The WARHAMMER army lists are not accurate because the points system does not let you build an historically accurate army. The problem is easily solved by using the point system given without the artificial limitations, so a 2,000 point army from any country will not be short on elephants, cavalry, chariots, or whatever. My 15mm ACW and 25mm Colonial armies are almost done. The 15mm ACW actually are done, but I am rebasing them for VOLLEY AND BAYONET. I am modifying the rules by making a brigade two stands instead of one. One stand does not look like a brigade to me. Each stand has two lines of six at the rear of the stand and a skirmish line of three at the front of the stand, giving a brigade strength of 30 figures. Each artillery stand is also doubled, two guns and six crew. I have done the same with cavalry, a brigade being 16 mounted figures. I am sure I will have to do some modifications to firing ranges, but not much. I will probably have each stand represent two or three points (I am not sure yet), and when a brigade goes to half strength, I will probably pull off one of the stands so you will have a visual cue that it has seen some fighting. If I ever get around to running a game, I'll let you know how it works out. I am also interested in Darkest Africa and have a fair number of figures. I found some good material for native huts at the local TARGET store. I found placemats that are made out of what looks like brown reeds and fit in scale. I figure cut up a couple of Pringles chip cans, paint them black or brown, cut the mat, and glue it on. Should make a convincing hut with little time or money - I think the mats cost around a buck or so. Speaking of Africa, I just picked up a book today titled THE DISCOVERY OF THE NILE by Gianni Guadalupi. This is an over-sized hardback approximately 350 pages in length. A cursory look shows it to be packed with color prints and maps. I also picked up a curious little work at a used book store titled THE JOURNAL OF SLAVIC MILITARY STUDIES, V12, #3, September, 1999.This was published in the UK by Frank Cass & Co., ISBN 1351-8046. Anyway, I bought this because it has an article on Soviet tank operations in the Spanish Civil War (another period I am interested in but don't have figures for yet), as well as an article on White Russian Officers in Paraguay during the Chaco War, 1932-35!) Edilors Note: Thanks, Joseph, for letter. I appreciate your information re basing for your VOLLEY& BAYONET rules; sounds like a visually appealing approach!) From Phil Wood: I can recall how happy I was to have found my first MWAN; it must have been around issue 40. I can also recall reading all the back issues that were available as soon as I had a chance. I can say that through all of the issues, that I have never been disappointed with a single one. It was good to see, in the last several issues, some interest in 6mm gaming in periods other than WWII. I have been interested in 6mm gaming for quite some time, now in the ancient period. This all started after I saw a game of DBA being played. While wargamers are always being asked to accept the abstract when they simulate battle, I could not make that leap when fighting a DBA battle. It was not the rules, but rather the way that the armies were presented. I had trouble accepting the small numbers of figures present as an army. I tried the idea of using 6mm figures on 25mm bases to try and get the feel of an army. So far, this idea has worked for me. While a standard Early Imperial Roman army made from 1 Cv, 4Bd, 3Ax, 1 Lh, 1 Wb, 2Ps in 25mm would contain only 40 figures and would not have the "1ook" of an army, using the 6mm figures gives me an army of 340 figures. A standard Blade unit contains 40 figures and looks as if it is a cohort, rather than a few troops. I know that 6mm troops are not for everyone. The great thing about wargaming in the year 2000 is that we have so many choices. One of my real concerns about 6mm gaming was paintability. I am a terrible painter. That is not what I wargame for. I did find out, however, that when viewed from a reasonable distance, my 6mm troops don't look all that bad. This has inspired me to paint more and more often. In the past, while trying to paint 25mm or 15mm troops, I was always aware that the end product was not very well done. Thus, I lacked the incentive to paint as often as I should have. Most wargamers view figures at distance of an arms length about 90% ofthe time. We also like to view the figures almost at the end of our noses. I was satisfied to paint figures that look good 90% of the time. It is also quite easy to differentiate between troop types at quite a great distance, with the proper basing. As I have said, my Bds are about 40 figures each, all in neat rows, while my Wb are about 30 figures each, in a random grouping as if in a gang. My Ax units are also about 30 figures each only more compact and regular than a Wb, but not as neat as a Bd. My Ps units are around 16 figures each, all more or less in an irregular skirmish line. My Cv and Kn units are around 18 figures each, while my Lh units are around 10 each. As you can see, it is rather easy to tell a cavalry unit from a light horse unit, you just can't tell if the cavalry is Roman or German until it gets closer. This is probably how the Romans also saw it in the days before optics. I would like to expand this system, in 6mm, to other eras when I am through with the Ancients. I collect mostly HEROICS AND ROS figures because I like to be able to position the troops on the bases somewhat differently according to type and fighting style. I have bought a few ADLER figures just to try another period and found them to be very well done, if somewhat larger. I felt that they would not mix well with the H&R figures. I also have a few of the IRREGULAR MINIATURES figures and although they are close in size to H&R figures, I found that I did not have the flexibility in basing that H&R offers. I have yet to see some of the BACCUS range and I would like to send away for some soon. (Editor's Note: Good to hear from you again, Phil; enjoyed your information on 6mm gaming! Would like to hear more as to terraining the bases!) From Mike Frang: t was nice to read your articles in MWAN and see someone else who could not resist all those periods! I have a bad habit of getting very excited about new periods, painting some 50-100 figures, reading a few books, planning out the campaign, getting certain friends all pumped up, and then in a month or three, Darkest Africa! Oh, please Doug, that is 'so past tense' translation (last season's flavor), it's 25mm Ancients I'm telling you I've found The Period this tirne!!!" Oh, the groans! But, how can they blame me, history is so rich and suddenly brought to life with all these figures. This year I've tried to narrow my focus, at the moment it's Sihk Wars, Ancients with WARHAMMER, and an attempt to drag my fellow wargamers into 25mm Napoleonics, the 15mm's are great as are the NAPOLEON'S BATTLES rules, but 25mm's, ahhh, now that's flavor, and I miss the battalions. Luckily, I've found a set of rules on the web GRENADIER which may just satisfy my obscene desire to roll per figure instead of per unit and skirt the need for those large IN THE GRAND MANNER units. Yes, I certainly realize your love of big units, but they intimidate me not to mention my short attention span to the limit. Opps, look at the time - if I don't start those Russian Hussars now, I never will! From Greg Cornell: Just thought I would drop you a line regarding some recent painting activities of mine. I have been purchasing MWAN since #82 from ATTRACTIX here in Denver. I think about subscribing directly, but I also feel I should support Tom and Bill's excellent store. They are always willing to order in a few bags of the latest manufacturer's figures. For example, you mentioned in MWAN 103 that you had heard about TRUE NORTH's new Polish WWII figures but that you had not seen them. Sure enough, I went back down to the store last week and there they were - bags of Polish cavalry, infantry and even Polish tanks. By the way, the figures are very good. The tanks were especially clean and sharp, although a little expensive ($14.95 for two 15mm vehicles). Anyway, after playing PIQUET POINT OF ATTACK a couple of times at Brent Oman's house, I became interested in the Second World War again. I don't want to sound like some sort of zealot. However, this is a huge step for me. I abandoned WWII in the early 80's because the games were painfully slow. The rules seemed to be exercises in tedium. In addition, the rules never seemed to even approximate the things that happened in history books. POA2 has brought the interest back into the period for me. After some thought, I decided to go with early war French. The early war appeals to me because nothing works quite right. Whether it is doctrine, tank design, anti-tank guns, aircraft support, or artillery coordination, it was experimental. A close reading of the sources show that the Germans were surprised almost as often as the Allies. The failure of their anti- tank defense in the face of the counter attack at Arras by the BEF's Matilda II's is just one example. Not until the British tanks reached a Luffwaffe anti-aircraft unit armed with the infamous 88's, were they stopped. One thing that generally discourages me from starting a new period is the length of time takes me to accumulate and paint an army big enough to play a game. Generally, it takes me two years from conception to my first game to accumulate the necessary 150-300 figures. Work and life in general conspire to limit my wargame time commitments. This time I was determined to recruit, paint, prepare and base a France 1940 army in less than three months so that I would complete at least one game by the end of January, 2000. I obtained some WWII OLD GLORY French (about four bags) in a trade in September. Then, over the fall, I purchased some Somua S- 35's and Char B1bis (OLD GLORY), three Hotchkiss H-39's (Battlefront) and three Panhard Armored Cars (PETER PIG). I drafted a fellow gamer into painting the Germans through the simple expedient of giving him two bags of OLD GLORY Early War German infantry, a bag of Panzer III's, some German heavy machine gun teams (BATTLEFRONT), and the appropriate metal bases and decals as a Christmas gift. He accumulated some 222 armored cars and some Panzer I's on his own. Over four Saturdays, we met and painted infantry. Each session lasted about four hours. For breaks, we painted vehicles. Black priming and dry brushing with at least two colors got most of the work done for the German infantry. The French worked better with a white primer, Khaki Green, and a black wash. The tanks were painted on a layering process that Tom Dye taught me originally in the context of painting buildings. You start with a black primer and then paint lighter and lighter colors of grey (or green) until you reach the right shade. By dry brushing during this process, you create darker crevices and lighter colors in the center of the flat panels. The effect, especially for the German vehicles, is very good. A little detailing and weathering and the vehicles were done. At the end of January, 124 German infantry supported by three HMG units, a platoon of Pz III's a platoon of Pz I's and some scout cars faced off against 88 French infantry supported by two HMG units, three units of assorted armor, and a unit of armored cards. The battle was a disaster for the French, but I will save that account for another day. By the way, if any MWANers are interested in France, 1940, I recommend two scarce books on the subject. The first is Vol I WAR MEMOIRS GENERAL CHARLES DeGAULLE - THE CALL TO HONOR 1940- 42, published 1955 by Collins, St. James Place, London. The second is SIXTY DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WEST, THE FALL OF FRANCE: 1940 by Jacques Benoist-Mechin, published 1963 (in English), G.P. Putnam's Sons, NY. I think both of them came out before there were ISBN numbers. Both provide an interested view of the conflict from the French point of' view. (Editor's Note., Interesting letter, Greg, I especially like your approach to finishing a period so you can game in it. It occurred to me this morning that we, as wargamers, are extremely patient individuals as we can put off the satisfaction of seeing our armies on the tabletop while we paint like fools these projects sometimes taking years to complete! Please say hello to Tom and Bill as well as Brent Oman and Bob Jones!) From Preston Buck I haven't been able to do much wargaming this past year. I had planned on attending FALL IN and COLD WARS, but National Guard drill dates took precedence. I especially miss not going to FALL IN as I really enjoy that convention. My wife and future wargamers, er kids, really enjoy themselves while at Gettysburg. I have been playing WARHAMMER 40K at the local comic store along with dabbling in some of other GAMES WORKSHOP games. I would prefer historical miniatures but beggers can't be choosy. They are easy to learn and can be fun. I showed off some of my DBA miniatures which elicited some interest in historical games but nothing panned out. Mostly due to the guy who was interested not having his driver's license yet. I got to play DBA a couple of times. Once with somebody who actually knew the rules so I could see if I was doing it right. I have been buying way too many miniatures from IRREGULAR MINIATURES in the UK. I had two trips to the UK this year so on the second one, I placed a large order and had it shipped to a friend. When I went to visit, I picked up the box and saved myself about $15 dollars in postage. Now I have a couple of corps of 2mm FPW using either VOLLEY & BAYONET or THEY DIED FOR GLORY. Two divisions of WWII 6mm East Front using SPEARHEAD, some 15mm Dark Ages for either PIG WARS or KNIGHTS AND KNAVES, 6mm Sci-fi for DIRTSIDE II and 25mm Sci-Fi for STAR GRUNT and FULL THRUST. The miniatures from IRREGULAR MINIATURES aren't as cleanly cast as others I have seen (i.e., Adler 6mm), but they don't cost as much either. There is usually some moderate flash but they paint up quite well. For the 6mm armor, I tend to prime it in a dark color and dry brush on the color I want. Add a few details to bring out some particular features and they look pretty good. I haven't done the 2mm ones yet, but I will report on them when I am done. I also broke down and ordered all the miniatures I need to do Aspern-Essling in 6mm in February. This is a project that I have been working on for a long time but had only bought a single French Corp from STONE MOUNTAIN. I had been stewing over Orders of Battle and basing and wasn't getting anywhere. Then I bought the Austria supplement for VOLLEY & BAYONET which did my research for me. Since I had been delaying several years (since 1993), 1 bought everything I needed in one fell swoop because I feared they might go out of production. I have no information to support that fear, just my healthy paranoia. I plan on doing the battle with VnB but will base the miniatures so they can be used for some of the other rule sets I have, most notably NAPOLEONIC COMMAND. I also have some Russians to play with as well. The buildings I got from my friend Dave Paddock of HISTORICAL PURSUITS. I built a paint booth to prime all those miniatures and the others that have been laying around. It is too cold in the winter to prime outdoors and I don't like breathing all the fumes. Especially when I use up four cans of paint at a go! So I got one of the boxes that our dishes had been packed Lip in. about 1.5 feet square and three fee high. I laid it on its side and cut out one side. I cut a hole in what is now the top to accept a four inch plumbing T-fitting. To one side of this "T", I connected a flexible dryer duct that went to the window. Then I disassembled my Salvation Army blow dryer for the fan. I took off all the diodes and directly wired the fan to a nine volt wall wart. The fan blew the wrong way at first so I reversed the position of the wires. Then I inserted the Ian into the "T", near the dryer duct, past the opening into the box. I had to add some strips of cardboard to keep some of the overspray in the box but it worked pretty good. The outlet to the window was inserted through a piece of cardboard that was inserted into the window opening to keep the cold out. One thing I learned the hard way is not to move the fan, T-fitting or duct with miniatures in the box. The accumulated paint residue will drop on the miniatures if they are in the box. Very frustrating. The materials for the booth cost me about $10 and was wonderful for letting me prime my miniatures regardless of the weather. The fan will eventually become clogged with paint, but it only cost me $1 so I will throw it out and get another. One of the wargame highlights of the year was when I went to Denver on a business trip. While there, I went to ATTACTIX to visit my friend, Tom Dye. Fle is the person who introduced me to historical miniatures at GENCON '92. We played Napolconics with his 6mm ADLERS and I have been hooked ever since. Tom now owns MINIFIGS USA and he was kind enough to take the time to show me how miniatures are made. It was truly fascinating and gave me new appreciation about how much hand labor is required to produce and ship our little soldiers. It was a very enjoyable visit. I am moving from upstate NY to Dallas so perhaps I will have more opportunity to wargaine. I have linked up with one of the local clubs listed in WARGAME CLUBS OF THE WORLD listing and will check out some of the others as well. They seemed friendly enough and had very nice miniatures and terrain. Time will tell. (Editor's Note. Amazing! Thanks Jbr letter, Preston!) From Nick Stern": ZULU is playing on BRAVO as I write this; not that I don't already own two copies on video, but there's something satisfying about watching it "fore free!" While I watch, I wonder if anyone out there is about to get bitten by the colonial bug, the way I was when I first saw the movie (oh, my God!) thirty-five years ago. It was after reading a reference to your Rorke's Drift rules in THE COURIER about four-teen years ago that I first wrote to you. You sent me the rules and a free copy of MWAN (the first one's always free, ha, ha!). I immediately subscribed, noticing even then, the feeling of comradeship and community that was missing in other hobby publications. Back then, my wife and I were expecting our first daughter and I was scrambling to get "my toys" together before the arrival of the baby turned everything in my life upside down. Now, my oldest daughter is thirteen and I have another one, nine years old. It's funny the number of wargamers I know who have daughters and no sons. Just a coincidence, or a cosmic irony? I took my daughters to one of our South Bay Garners minicons the other week and you've never seen such bored kids. Whatever we may think about equality of the sexes, the hobby is essentially a "guy thing". I remember once showing my older daughter one of the bombed out 20mm houses that SCENIC EFFECTS make after I'd painted it for my WWI project. Her only comment was: "But Daddy, what happened to the family who lived there?" Kind of took away a little of the job, but not for long. I have a suggestion for the newsletter; I was recently looking through some photo albums at my parent's house and was overjoyed to find some snapshots my Dad had taken of my miniature battles when I was a kid. Hundreds of plastic toy soldiers all over the wooden living room floor, castles made of blocks and dominos, knights next to green army men. Fd love to see what your readership could submit along these lines. I never get tired of looking at pictures of miniatures battles. (Editor's Note: Thanks for letter, Nick; re your suggestion - I ran some pictures of my "toys" some years ago in MWAN. The trouble with pictures is that they cost more money re printing and I can't afford it. It would be a great idea though!) From Warren Burrus : A good book on Italian Axis forces is MUSSOLINI'S SOLDIERS by Rex Trye. It has chapters on uniforms. organization, weapons and lots of black and white & color pictures. It is currently on sale ($8) from ZENITH BOOKS, PO Box 1, Osceola, WI 54020-0001 (Shipping/handling for order is $4.95. You may find many other useful books in their catalog. I had a good time at EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN 2YK. Matt Hyke and I split a room at Knights Inn in Carbondale on Friday and Saturday and both played or judged games in most of the six of the eight time slots at the con. John Holtz ran a beautifully laid out VOLLEY, BAYONET & GLORY game of Dresden 1813 in l5mm. Mark Johnson ran his Napoleonic 25mm Spanish Campaign games using his BONAPARTE rules as usual. Matt Hyke set up to run three Ancient games using FISTFULL OF MINIATURES rules and I was set to run two Iran-Iraq wargames using my TAC&TECH home rules and 1:285th scale miniatures. There were some naval games run by Jason Matthews - a Napoleonic game using WOODEN SHIPS & IRON MEN in 1:900 and an ACW game using IRON CLADS in 1:600. Mike Brown from Springfield was there running some DESPERADO games in 25mm so there was a lot of historical gaming this year. In slot one, I played in two rounds of a WARHAMMER 40K demo game run by Tim Wright of Springfield. In session one, I got shot down on turn three or four commanding a Space Marine recon flyer then in round two I barely pulled out a victory over a young lady who had just about squashed our Eldar. Both games were fun and saw me and my ally, Rich, make some of our worst die rolls ever. In slot two, I played in a beautifully terrained modern air game run by Rich McLeer. He used micro machines for the vehicles and aircraft and his rules were an adaptation of SILENT DEATH. It was the USA vs India. I took the AA part of the Indian force and got three US jets before the US player realized he could jam my multiple launch SAM vehicles. The game was called with one missile silo destroyed and about all of our aircraft down. One more turn and the US would have knocked out two of our three nuclear missile silos and eliminated most of our ground defenses. In slot three, I set up to play my game but was bust for players. So I packed it up and played in a great DESPERADO game in 25mm. As half of a punishing raid by a bandit gang on a town, I had a good time but made lots of lousy dice rolling. My villains shot at a dog, killed freight horses, burned a stable, killed two townies, and had two of my eight men killed and two seriously wounded, bleeding to death while Mike Brown had killed three townies and set about six buildings on fire. I think he lost three of his group. It was hard to tell who got punished the most - the townies or us! In slot four I played in the IRON CLADS game and commanded two ships in the glorious cause of Southern Independence. We had the Atlanta, the Fredricksburg, the Arkansas and another ship vs a single turret Monitor and a double turret monitor. I was half asleep during preliminaries and didn't see my ram and spar torpedo listing for the Arkansas. We did some good shooting but lost the Atlanta when the smaller monitor rammed it.. Our un-named ship was in serious trouble so I withdrew. You have to look closely at those stats cards. In slot five I played in a tongue in cheek spoof game called Brunch at the Coliseum. It is a micro game produced by VIKING FUNERAL PRODUCTIONS run by Michael Leeke (847- 782-9533). One could play a slave or gladiator or Lion. A player won by getting 50 style points. One got style points by pleasing the crowd. Human players could appeal to the crowd or the Gods or the Emperor and get help. Most actions had a diceable result and your allowed actions depended on what you were. It was an enjoyable exercise in silliness. In slot six, I ran my second Iran-Iraq war game with some players this time. The Iranians were dug in around a village with some commanding hills. They had one company of Chieftain tanks, two 130mm field guns, two 100mm AT guns, three ZSU-57-2 SPAA vehicles, two 120mm mortars, one company of infantry with M113A] APC's and one company of leg infantry. The attacking Iraqis had one company of T62 tanks, one company of T69-1 tanks, one company of Elite infantry in BMP-1's, one company of Regular Infantry in OT-64's, two ZSU-23-4 SPAA vehicles, four BM21 MRLS trucks and two HIND A helicopters. The Iraqis swept around the flank and took out one ZSU-57-2 and rocketed some other troops and were shooting at the Chieftains with Swatters ATGM's. Their infantry attacked the village head on and lost most their OT-64's and were shot-up while on foot. The Iraqis then dumped their MRLS's on the left and right hills and did great damage taking out both 130nim guns and causing the Iranian mechanized infantry company to rout. This left half the village open and as the Iraqis were closing on it and moving tanks up the left hill, the Iranian player declared a general withdrawal. It was a great game with a variety of' action by most forces involved. The Iraqis lost several vehicles and had the regular infantry decimated. The Iranians still had most of their tanks and the leg infantry and two SPAA vehicles left but were losing the high ground. I packed up, said my good-byes and stopped at CASTLE PERILOUS to check out some new SF skirmish rules (see how they can be adapted to a modern game) and then drove the four hours back home! From Rob Dean: I have been rereading my collection of' back issues of MWAN. I do this periodically, which helps me to keep from reinventing the wheel on occasion, especially when considering new projects. This time around, I was struck by the number of people who were discussing 54mm gaming around 1991. Any of your readers who are still interested in large figure gaming, and who don't already know about it, may wish to consider signing up for the Little Wars computer mailing list (littlewars(aonellist.com). This list was started earlier this year, and had about fifty members as of September, 1999. It is devoted to discussion of all aspects of gaming with large figures, including painting, conversions, new figures reviews, rules and battles. The list typically generates half a dozen messages a day, although occasional hot topics can drive that up into the teens. While I am working on a couple of 54mm projects, my main effort in large scale gaming continues to be in my 40mm projects. I ordered a catalog of their 42mm releases from IRREGULAR MINIATURES recently, and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had added a 30-figure AWI line since the last time I had checked. Many of the figures are actually more suited to the FIW (such as the French marines in waistcoats and stocking caps), and they blend in well with the Nuernberger Meisterzinn homecast figures that make up the bulk ofmy forces. They are a little shorter than the Meisterzinns, but well within the range of normal human variation. The only problem I have is that the sample British grenadier sent (from the SYW line), is not as tall as a Meisterzinn musketeer. I am of the opinion that the IRREGULAR 42mm's are close to being my ideal wargames figure. The cost is about the same as most 25mm lines, and are sculpted neatly but without a lot of extraneous detail. Therefore, they paint up quickly and have a very nice "toy soldier" look to them. They also take up less space than 54mm would. Gamers who were using FOUNDRY ACW 40mm and found themselves orphaned when FOUNDRY discontinued the line might want to check out the IRREGULAR 42mm ACW line. Personally, I'm also intrigued by their Spanish Civil War range, which includes cavalry, an Italian tankette, and a Russian T- 26 tank. I don't regret the plethora of choices available to the miniatures gamer today, but it does make it hard to stay on budget and on task long enough to finish a project before starting another one. I finally succumbed to temptation and bought into the FOUNDRY's Darkest Africa range. As someone who spent his youth reading Tarzan and H. Rider Haggard African adventure novels, this is a natural interest for me. I've since supplemented these with more historical materials, but we all know that our sources of inspiration often tend to be more fictional than factual. I am surprised at the wide appeal of the line, though - I had not thought that there would be that many gamers who were interested. Since it would appear that I'm going to break into 28mm colonials, I am also considering adding a NWF project in large scale, but the lack of affordable figures or molds in either 40mm or 54mm dictates going down with 28mrn (we ought to just call them 30mm per our hobby traditions and be done with it). The HAWKS, of which I am a member, continue to be active. We recently put on on our fourth Barrage annual game day, for about sixty attendees. There were about twenty events and we were able to have flea market tables in this year's venue, which was apparently considered to be a big plus. We have been forced, by circumstances beyond our control, to move each year, but this year's venue worked out well enough that we all hope to be able to use it again next year. Having convinced a number of other club members to paint 40mm semiflat "Charge" figures in fictitious colors, I have been trying to run a small 18th century campaign. I'm using "Charge" as the tactical rules, and have adopted ideas from C.S. Grant's campaign book for the map movement sections. We're using an adaptation of a map sold by someone in the hobby for Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign, with the towns renamed. It's been interesting so far, but it's also been a lot work, and I'd advise would-be campaign moderators to start small! Business travel has been killing my painting lately (as well as being one of the contributing factors to delay in the campaign), although I sometimes take figures and paint with me, along the lines suggested in the article MWAN #100. My track record on actually getting to paint has not been good, although I did finish off a batch of IRREGULAR AWI 42mm figures mentioned previously on the one day off we squeezed into a recent trip. Anytime that I'm not keeping up with my painting, I find that I start brooding about the amount of work left on my unfinished projects. I ended up selling off a couple of unstarted projects recently, as well as some painted figures that haven't been on the tabletop for a long time. This has helped to allow me to feel like I could take on something new. I'm afraid that I'll never be one of those people who can concentrate exclusively on a single period and scale. I have been trying to rationalize my projects a bit, and I was sympathetic to Dave Smith's letter in MWAN #101. Like Mr. Smith, I'm looking at having pairs (or more) of armies in the sword and shield, pike and shot, horse and musket, colonial and 20"' century periods. In some cases, I'll end up with more than one project in a given broader period (e.g. FWI and AWI), although priority for new projects is being placed on those that break into new territory entirely, such as the colonials mentioned above, and a proposed project in WWII naval gaming. I'd prefer not to duplicate projects between large scale (40/54mm) and 25/28/30mm, but I am also putting together small scale projects in each of those periods (except, perhaps, colonial) as well. The small scale projects are configured as a 61 game in the box", where a single tool or tackle box is used to carry the whole thing from the figures to ground cloth and scenery to the rules. So far, I've done 6mm Ancients (four DBA armies), and 6mm Spanish Civil War. Having the whole thing in a box is convenient when you need to take a contingency/spare game for a club night, or want to take something to a distant convention by air. I've also had the boxed sets out for visits to one of my cronies while he was hospitalized several times this year. I'm sure the nurses think we're insane ... I'm working on 6mm ECW and bought a batch of IRREGULAR MINIATURES 10mm 18th century figures to test whether I would enjoy painting them up for a FIW game - Plains of Abraham in a box. The 10mm are a little odd to work with, since they seem to me to be very finicky to handle during the preparation phases. Once primed, though, the test sample painted up in a snap, and was generally admired by the guys in the club. I will probably end up planning out the rest of the project and ordering sometime before the end of the year. (Editor's Note: Now that's a wargamer! Great work, Dean! We should get together sometime!) From Steve Murray: I've been subscribing to MWAN for a couple of years now through CALIVER BOOKS. I first caught sight of your magazine with #84, and was surprised how much I liked it, without a single color photo! I particularly like the product and figure reviews and especially your editorial. I've been following your thoughts on the SYW and FPW. My interest in the SYW was sparked by Lawford & Young's CHARGE. I had just struggled through Brent Nosworthy's tactics book, when FOUNDRY's SYW range went into reverse. My favorite period however, is the FPW, mainly in 25mm using FOUNDRY figures but I also have 15mm (FREIKORPS 15MM) and 6mm (IRREGULAR MINIATURES). I even have some 10mm figures. The rest of my collection is 25mm, mainly FOUNDRY covering, I must shamefully admit, over a dozen different periods. Living in the wild and woolly north of England Oust to the south of Hadrian's Wall), I'm a bit restricted in wargames partners and shows to visit. I suppose it makes me less a wargamer, and more an interested observer and collector. I collect the rules almost as obsessively as the figures. My interest goes back to my childhood collection of AIRFIX figures, during the 60's, I used to do Guadalcanal with a single box of US Marines, forty odd figures and one rubber boat, you know the story, the sun seemed to shine everyday, etc., etc. Now here I am struggling with too many periods, not knowing which base sizes to use and unhappy with most commercial rule sets. I've hundreds of books to read and thousands of figures to paint and am I unhappy? Well, no, not really, amongst this terrifying mess, there is the odd glimpse of order. But I digress, returning to the FPW. I agree with your comments concerning M. Howard's history of the war, a bit dry, I thought. My particular inspiration for this period comes, apart from FOUNDRY's figures, from the paintings by Detaille and especially Alphonse De Neuville. Emile Zola's Debacle (not a bad read when you get into it), the usual OSPREYS (four off) and the maps included with THEY DIED FOR GLORY rules. Incidentally, the TDFG rules are the only commercial set I can cope with. I found a lot of the other books/booklets available for the war repetitive (that didn't stop me reading them). Ail obscure but interesting booklet is Lt Col Bonie's observations on the use of the French cavalry during the war; this has examples of dismounted cavalry actions and an occasion when French cavalry attacked their own lancers after confusing them with Prussian Dragoons! Published by Magenta, it has no information about the original publishing date or the author, but looks like a facsimile edition of a contemporary pamphlet. The most comprehensive uniform painting guide I've come across is the OUTPOST series, well researched but a bit pricey and unfortunately the color sections are computer generated schematics. To get to the point of this letter, I've been fiddling around with my own rules for the FPW, which I thought might be of some interest to you. They have a number of features I've not come across in a commercial set. They fit on one side of a A4, have no casualty removals (apart from skirmishers). automatic morale and can accommodate huge battalion attacks as well as a few skirmishers holding out behind a cemetery wall, all at the sanle time. I have addressed the differences between artillery types and I particularly like the mitrailleuse is handled. The mitrailleuse, if positioned with the artillery can only fire in the artillery phase of each turn, however, if positioned up front with the infantry, it can effectively fire twice, just like an infantry unit. The effect of the mitrailleuse (8D6) is supposed to represent an infantry volley or canister at long range. Incidently, there is no direct relationship between the fire effect of a battalion's skirmishers and the formed battalion itself. I have tinkered around with this aspect of the game to make the firing consistent, but have eventually abandoned this idea, as irrelevant. Similarly, the error on the fall of shot dice for the artillery is the most basic interpretation of what in some rules can be a needlessly complicated operation. I think one dice for over and one for under captures the idea well enough. The rules are designed to be simple and yet capture the essential spirit of the conflict (now then, how many times have you read that same phrase in the introduction to commercial rule sets). The basing system used is largely irrelevant except the need for individual skirmishers. My units are on one base (80 X 50mm; six or seven figures), two bases 40 X 50mm with three figures; and four individually based skirmishers, to give 16/17 figure battalions. To accommodate skirmishing battalions (Chasseurs, etc), I use eight individually based figures per division and call them nominally, a half battalion. All skirmisher casualties are removed from play, to represent attrition on the parent battalion without need to calculate fatigue, etc. I sometimes double all units up for visual effects. Movement is randomized to prevent pre-measuring. Melee's, when they occur, tend to be decisive. Maneuver and formation changes are not a feature of these rules. At 25mm scale, there's not enough room on the table. By the way, have you seen the IRREGULAR MINIATURES 42mm figures? They are a bit generic, being suitable from 1870 to 1916, but I'll probably get some anyway ... well, must go, I've got some moss drying out in the oven and haven't told the wife. (Editor's Note: Thanks, Steve; the rules set you included looks very good; I would love to run it in MWAN with your approval.) From Joe Gregory: I too feel that much of the discussion that takes place on the Internet and within the given circles of the historical miniature gaming societies are way too nasty and nonproductive for the intended goals of the hobby, which is growth and hopes of seeing the joy we now share pass to another generation. Your comments within issue 103 came at a time when I too was thinking about all this nasty stuff, but more specifically, I have been contemplating what are some of the causes behind the nastiness. My thoughts on the subject boil down to three areas facing historical miniature gaming. First, there is the internet. This tool is both a big help as well as hindrance to the hobby. As a tool, we can use it as an aid to help us research uniforms, armies, history, battles, rules, find individuals with similar interest in specific areas of the hobby, etc, etc. etc. What it can communicate to us in the area of research will only grow more valuable in time as more and more information is downloaded on to Web pages across the world. The hindrance comes as the internet is used to communicate to others. Often the communication is personal and friendly, the sharing of ideas and the passing of information. This is the best of the communication on the internet. The worst of the communication comes when we lose the personal and begin to treat people very impersonal. We use words that hurt, we question a persons heritage, we slander their name, is short, we say many things over the internet that we would never say in face to face meetings. We wouldn't say them to another's face, because we would meet with physical objections. Another aspect to our impersonal communication over the internet, is the ability either lurk in the shadows and attack or speak out using a false identity. The later is the most common on the internet. A person covers their identity and then attacks with words either individuals, products, or organizations. They use harsh words, which in turn causes others to respond in kind. The negative conversations that follow from this interchange, would in many circumstances, places and jobs be meet with some penalty, even if that penalty were nothing more than the look of shame shown to the offenders by their peers. But, since the world of the internet is impersonal, nothing happens and the problem goes on. Though, there is one bright hope, the news groups that require membership, and have ways of weeding out those that create discord and disruption. Related to the above, are the many post that could be called nothing more "National Enquire" style of posting. These post are usually veiled attacks upon something or somebody with in the hobby. They offer no proof to their validity. They come with general statements that seem on the surface to offer something for discussion, but when push comes to shove and the issues are sought, one discovers the attack is nothing more that a personal assault, where the one assaulting is looking for others to join in a personal need to harm. At issue, might be a person who felt the rules author didn't treat him/her nicely, or that manufacture will not come with that one particular figure that they want, or some individual made a rude comment about something with in the hobby that he/she really enjoyed, The truth is, if they put into print the statements they make on the internet, into a magazine or newspaper, what they said on I am sure there would be follow up by a slander suit. My second thought has to deal with nature of the hobby business. It appears that the business of the hobby is growing. There appears to be more people offering products to the wargaming community, many of the conventions, especially the east coast conventions have reported growth, and we find that more companies are offering a great variety of figures and products that once had to be converted or scratch build by the gamer. But, as with any growth, there is a certain amount of pain involved. The pain within the hobby of historical miniature gaming is the move of the hobby towards more being of a business. Thus, as the nature of the beast changes, from hobby to business, the attitudes of those on either side often find themselves in conflict. A good example of this was an interchange about a month ago between Bob Jones and some other rules writers, In one of those interchanges, Bob made a comment to one about their offering rules and rules variants for free, via hobby magazines or the internet. Bob publishes a set of rules, that has many variants for different periods, that are for sale, and not free. At issue within the conversation was something that spreads across the whole of the hobby, the move from being a hobby to being more of a business. In the past, many of the things that were associated with the hobby as a business were done to minimal business standards, because most doing the business were doing it as a part time link to their hobby interest. Hal does not make a living off MWAN, and neither do the majority of the other individuals that produce and provided products for the hobby's consumption. Hal has helped many, including me, in the past with free copies of MWAN, or free ads, etc, to help them build their hobby business. If Hal were to apply straight up business practices to MWAN, because it was his sole income, things would be different. He could not allow the free stuff. He would have to adopt business practices that protect his cash flow. That protection has a tendency to create conflict with those that still see the whole as a hobby that should always help others with their hobby interest, even if that help cost the other person something. In my pastoral studies, it was noted that when churches reached certain sizes due to congregational growth, problems would arise. The most critical time for any church is the magical number of 200 members. It seems that churches have the hardest time of climbing over that number, This is due to a change from the old guard that brought the church into being and the new members that have entered into its doors. The church can either advance, or stay the same. The same is happening within historical miniature gaming, the business of being a hobby is being replaced by a business that supplies hobby needs. There is a great difference. The last issue that has created the problems being seen on the internet is the desire by some with in historicals to achieve the same success as the fantasy market in reguards to rules, miniatures and publications. The problem with this, is that most don't realize that you can not copyright history. In fantasy, a person can copyright, because the final product(s) are the result of a persons mind and imagination. They may have historical roots, but all the names have been changed to protect the copyrighted material. With historicals, copyright is harder. Thirty people can write rules that deal with ACW period, or scenario books, or create figures. Copyright only keeps any of them from putting their name on some else's material. When Great Rails War ended the production of the their figure line, and they were no more figures to had, no one can legally do anything about it, because of copyright. If Old Glory were to end the production of their western figure line, there would probably be three companies to come out with western figures, call the same thing and featuring the same characters, as long as they are not pirated figures there is not much to be done about, because you can not copyright history. Fantasy makes and creates its own market, were as historicals are based upon the history and stories that we have been told since children. In relation to all of the above, I believe that one thing most historical gamers have forgotten when writing rules and discussing the issues, is that it is still just a game. We play the game with toy soldiers, for many within the hobby this is a draw back to our childhood of Marx toys, and use our imagination. Fantasy is imaginative, and it seeks to create the fun we enjoy when we are at our hobby. From Dave Reynolds: In my 25 years in the hobby, I have never written a letter to the editor of any wargames magazine However, your comments in MWAN #106, pertaining to OLD GLORY has moved me to do so I agree with all your points, especially "Thank you OLD GLORY for giving me a quality figure at an inexpensive price!" I can remember opening my first order from OG in 1988 - one bag of 100 ACW Yanks (I had seen their ad in MWAN!) Being a typical gamer the first order of business was to count the figs to make sure I had not been "shorted" as I was doing so I kept losing count. I was struck by the variety and realistic poses - not to mention the price was about 40% less than the competition. I finally finished the 11 count" and was surprised to find not less than 100 figs, but more! OG had passed the test. I have found over the years that about 1 in 3 bags have an extra fig or two - never a shortage - maybe I'll catch them one of these years! I agree with you that if OG had not entered the market, we would all be paying higher prices. Just think - over the years since 1988, how many dollars we have in our pockets because of this. I have introduced people into the hobby and without question, the quality, pricing and quantity OG offers has assisted greatly in "hooking" them! I recall showing a reenactor my collection. When we came to the OG figs he said "Wow, these look just like the real thing!" He now owns an ACW collection ofover 1,000 figs - mostly OG's Who knows how many people have entered our hobby in a similar manner. Another area I believe OG has impacted upon is the dealer(s) , those who sell hobby related material. Regardless of what they sell - who knows how many dollars they have received because of OG's impact. I live about two hours from OG and have visited their operation and recommend any gamer to do so (however, call for an appointment). It is truly an eye-popping adventure. Russ Dunaway, OG founder, and his wife Connie, will quickly make you feel a part of the OG family! With the above being said - I am of the opinion that the most significant of OG's accomplishments will occur in the future. I have been to most of the major HMGS cons since 1991. OG began hosting their "mega games" (Custer, Alamo, Culloden, Pirates) several years ago. You can observe any youngster watching/participating in these games and sense their fascination. Many, if not all of them, will be rolling the dice and pushing lead when we are "gamers Valhalla". Hal, I have read/heard the criticism of OG that you mention. I guess that goes with the territory OG resides in; however, the buyer always has the choice not to buy. Judging by OG's growth, it appears many are buying. In closing, I nominate Russ Dunaway to be tapped "GUEST OF HONOR" at HISTORICON 2001 - his time has come! (Editor's Note: Great letter. Dave; thanks for expanding on my thoughts.) Back to MWAN #107 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