From Scott Hansen I enjoyed issue #110 but I have an issue with the article on the 10mm ACW/SYW periods. I thought the comments regarding "Warfare in the Age of Reason" rules and other systems were too harsh. The author didn't care for the 12 man infantry units of "Age of Reason". I think a better way to phrase it would have been "The 12 men infantry units of Age of Reason are too small for me. There is nothing wrong with 12 man units but I like bigger ones". I do not mean to attack or put down the author of this article. I still enjoyed reading it. I remember you modified "Age of Reason" for larger units. You were wondering about a Website for selling miniatures and terrain. There is a website already for that at http://bartertown.org. Finally, I notice over the last year, there are more instances of wargamers having bad experiences at wargame conventions. I've had a few bad experiences myself the last year. I hope this trend doesn't continue. I've been painting a lot lately and finishing up figures so I can have a Greek War of Independence wargame in May. I plan on running this game at Historicon. I also plan on writing on the war and a few scenarios for MWAN. I'm glad that you are preceding on your wargame projects and painting again. I feel the same way about painting. I look at the figures and wonder how I am going paint them. Editor's Note: Thanks for info, Scott - I agree with you're hoping that there aren't too many negative things going on at conventions; it's hard to avoid some of these things because we are human, but ... ) From Kirk Norris My friends and I have been loyal readers of yours for some years. This is the first time I have corresponded with you. I read in issue #109 that it was your esteemed self that ordered thel5mm Bashi-bazouks from Eureka Miniatures 300 Club. I ordered 30 for myself. Just as a note and until the Eureka figures are ready; I am using Essex Colonial OC47-Sudanese Gendarme Inf. as BashiBazouks. They look like Bashi-bazouks except a tassel on the fez and a shirt that reaches to the lower thigh. Also, I ordered 60 Abyssinians from Eureka for my Italian Colonial wargame. Editor's Note: Thanks for tip, Kirk; I had thought of using the Gendarme as a Bashi, however, I want several units of Gendarmes. Glad you ordered some bashis from Eureka! Anxious to see them From James Goodridge I am also a War of the Spanish Succession collector and gamer, and have a truckload of the Minifigs for this period; feel that they are the finest figures designed and produced for any period by any manufacturer! If you haven't seen them yet, I encourage you to have Tom Dye send you some. I am also writing a tactical rule set for this period. Editor's Note: Would love to publish your rules In MWAN, James - please consider. Also, ff you have a chance, I'd like a full review of MINIFIGS Malburlans.) From Bill Widirick Read MWAN 110 last night, very good issue. As always, thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking in the mailbox for 111. Brought so many items home from the con that I don't know where to start. Read 4 copies of EE&L on the plane home, great stuff. Got home and found that I had a package from the boys in Scotland. More WWII infantry to paint up, getting very close to being able to set up a small game for Jonathan and I. I love how quickly the infantry paint up. Almost finished a group of 30 Russians yesterday, only weapons and boots left to do today. Then I'll make the stands and mount them. Painted submachine gunners, officers, and mortars and crews. These were the Pendraken figs and boy are they nice. Great detail, not a lot of poses but that does help the painting go a bit faster. Editor's Note: Thanks for comments re MWAN, glad you continue to enjoy it. Would like to hear more about your 10mm WWII armies. From Kevin Readman A solid showing for Little Wars 2001. I am pleased to report the expanded gaming and dealer areas made this a more robust convention. The variety and scale of the games has improved. Whether you wanted to come ashore on Charlie Beach at Bloody Omaha in Mark Felman's beautiful game or enjoy the attractive scenery as you look over Duke's "Liberty or Death", you had plenty of eye candy for lusting after great gaming layouts. There were a couple of games we really enjoyed playing. One was "L'Affaire de Piquet"-a nappy skirmish game using a nice mixture of action cards and turn sequencing- by Neil Stokes and Tim Whitley. Each player commanded a handful of men and each figure had a few character attributes. The game's light blend of fast skirmish action with a little innovate use of stored actions, had us all laughing and enjoying the experience. Thanks for the game guys that was a lot of fun. Another game we liked used Brother vs. Brother rules for a French and Indian gamesponsored by Murff-Turf. The Fort Duquesne layout was wonderful and the scenario was really bloody. The harassment orders for the British where vague enough to allow for a number of potentially different "games", with action focused outside the fort against waves of Indians and fur traders or a more glorious fort assault against the French garrison. The key word was "focus" because the British really had to fight them all but they had choice of ground. As Major James Grant with an advanced party of Highlanders and colony troops we chose the brutal but rewarding ladders to the wall approach. Ok, our orders did say not to attack the fort under any circumstances but we forgot that part quickly. Not with standing a little canister and blockhouse sniping, we breached the outer and inner walls. It got bloodier from there and ended with the freeing of George Washington and a big blast. The other game I really enjoyed was a Marine assault on a Japanese held island using Battleground rules. This was another great scenario, another fantastic terrain board, and another bloody ending. That was my first time facing a banzi charge. Ouch ......... In short, it seemed a lot of people put time into this convention, both the organizers and game masters. Thank you for a fun weekend guys. From Brian Bradford I too am embarking on the Sikh wars, and I am having the same difficulties as you in finding figures. I am a nut for multiple poses and I try to find as many types as I can to mix into my units. I just got through with making 19th c. armies for Russia, England, Italy, Austria, Prussia, France and Turkey in this manner ... anyway I know that Feudal's Sikh line is the only maker of actual 1846-49 Sikh war troops, but the regulars on both sides don't have multiple poses, just one. Feudal is difficult to mix in with some lines. I got their Italians and found them to have huge bodies on small feet. Still they are the only troops that I know of for this war, so I will use them. They will mix well with anything from Minifig, Dixon, Freikorps, or Essex. I am still researching for suitable figures from other lines. I am told Irregular makes some 15mm Sikhs that are suitable, but I have never seen one of their figures. I know that Dixon makes a good line Of Indian Mutiny troops and that their "loyal Sikh" figure is suitable for an 1840's trooper; that's two poses for me so far... I would like to swap information with you when possible. It is my hope that with both of us trying to get suitable figures that we can both have less of a headache in the long run ... this should be fun after all. Editor's Note: Check out Musket Miniatures 15mm Mexican-American War Line as to whether you could use their American infantry as British infantry) So I have a huge Mexican-American War (MAW) army from Musket and other manufacturers, which also has lots of multiple poses. I never thought to look and see if they could be used as Brits, but I will take a look as soon as I get back home from work. As for the 19th C. project. I did my research very well, so here is a synopsis... My goal was to make 15mm armies suitable for the "Eurofury" rules that were presented in Wargames illustrated a few years ago. I have armies for the Crimean War, Franco-Austrian War, AustroPrussian War, Franco-Prussian and Russo-Turkish War. I did lots of research into uniforms and selected a look that would best represent the years 18501877. Thanks to careful study and painting my troops can pass for other wars with little uniformity problems. One thing I did want was multiple poses, so I searched out all lines to find suitable troops for variations that were also compatible in size to the others. I used Rank and File as my main manufacturer, for this reason anything by Freikorps is just too tiny. France - French in the Crimea are shown wearing a shako and frock coat, but this was replaced with the much more temperature friendly Kepi, tunic and baggy trousers. The same uniform was worn in the 1859 and 1870 war. This is great since the same troops can be used for all campaigns. Only the Cavalry had a change. The French Hussars, for example, went form Shako to busby, I decided to go with the shako since it was also worn in 1859. For my figures I used Old Glory's new Franco-Prussian Line and Lights, which I really like. There is over 20 variations of figures, but the major draw back is that the guns are very breakable on the firing poses. I used Essex for my Zouaves, Guards, and Cavalry. For the cavalry I bent the arms to make a different look and mounted them on different horses. My lancers have the lance up in the air, to the side, downward, and in charging poses now. I also used some of Rank's figures to mix in with my Cav. Essex infantry are not compatible with Old Glory or Rank and File, so if you use them keep the troops separate. The Cavalry, however, fits in well with Rank's. Piedmont - There is conflicting information as to whether Sardinian troops wore a greatcoat in Crimea. However, I learned that in 1859 the greatcoat was worn, as well as in 1866, so I decided to go in favor of the greatcoat look. The major change came to headgear; In 1854 and 1859 the troops wore a shako, which changed to a kepi in 1860. This is another reason I stuck to the 1854-1859 look of greatcoats (they all had shako). I had my hardest time looking for troops for this line. Rank makes three troop poses for this army and two have greatcoats. I also looked at Feudal, but they do not mix in with Rank at all; they have big bodies on small feet. Mirliton was just as small as Freikorps so I turned away from them. Lancashire's figures were absolute junk. These figures were big blocks of metal that were much bigger than Rank. For the Besaglieri I chose to use Feudal's in their own units. The Cavalry are all by Rank and I modified these by bending arms and turning heads and mounting them on different horses. The makers of the FPW line at Old Glory told me that they will be making some 1859 Piedmontese soon make some 1859 Italians. When they come out I will add them to my Rank figures. Austria - I went for the "kittle" look which was used in the 1859 War. Later in 1866 they wore a greatcoat, but still retained the kittle under it ... but is that to say that they always wore their greatcoats? I used Rank as the main supplier. I also mixed in some Lacashire and modified Minifigs. Lacashire is a funny company and all I can say is that the troops are either good or terrible, with no in between. I purchased several packs of Austrians and Piedmontese troops from Lacashire and as I stated the Piedmontese were junk. I was, however, amazed by the quality and look of the Austrians. There are three poses in their skirmishing pack that mix in very well with Rank. Using them with Rank I got six poses and I added another pose by modifying some of my Minifig Crimean War Sardinians. I cut the jacket down so that it was around the waist, shaved the shako into an Austrian pattern, cut the excess baggage of the backpack, and shaved the epaulettes off the shoulders -- the result is a perfect Austrian! Russia - Rank and Minifig make the only Crimean figures. However, almost all of Ranks wear the spiked helmet and I wanted mine in greatcoat and cap (Furaska). I looked around and discovered that Old Glory's Napoleonic Russians in greatcoat and cap could pass for these -- you can't see the uniform after all. This gave me 6 poses, to which I added 2 more from Rank. I also have some helmeted troops and for these I mixed Minifig and Rank together. Flag-bearers are a problem in the Rank line because the flag is molded onto the figure--I hate this. I replaced all with Minifig command. The cavalry is all Minifig because Rank's are mostly in dress uniforms. Again, I bent the arms and heads on my figures for a different look. I also plan to play the Russo-Turk war, so for this I got some kepi/tunic Rank troops and mixed in some ACW troops. I plan to still use some of my Crimean troops since the uniform is covered and they wear a Furaska. On a side note, Russian troops mostly wore Kepis in this war, but the troops rebelled against this "westernizing" and many kept to the Furaska. The Guards all wore white Furaska, so I have a few painted with this and green, instead of white pants they will pass for Winter troops without Greatcoats for 1877 or Sailors in 1854. The major change from the look of the 1854 greatcoat is the hood -but I can just say it is hidden under the pack! England - Rank and Minifig make the only 15mm Brits in Albert shako. I used Rank for most of the line troops since there are four poses, and Minifig for the command since Rank's flags are molded on. The guards are all Minifigs, but I plan to replace these with Rank, since there are four poses of those troops as well. My cavalry is both Minifig and Rank with arms bent again for variation. Prussia - No problem finding troops here in different poses. I used Old Glory's line and mixed in a few units of Rank. My cavalry is by Essex. Turkey - Rank and Minifig make the only suitable troops for this period. Troops in 1854 wore a tunic and pants, while in 1860 this changed to a waistcoat and baggy trousers. Rank makes two poses of Turks in the 1854 look, while Minifig makes an additional pose. For the 1877 Russo-Turk look there is two poses from Rank and another can be added by getting any Zouave figures wearing a waistcoat and fez. Minifig's French Zoaves for Crimea are suitable for this. The cavalry is pretty much the same for the entire period, so I used both Rank and Minifigs; again, bending the arms to make suitable poses. There you go Hal. If you would like more information let me know. On another note some of the British in the Sikh War wore the Albert shako covered with a white cloth. The trousers are also blue instead of the indigo blue (almost black) of the Crimean War. I have painted my troops in a medium blue shade rather than the black since it doesn't look well using a black-prime technique. This means that the only difference in the look of my troops between the Sikh and Crimean Wars is the white cover. I plan to add some specific cap-wearing troops to this selection too. This takes care of the Brits, now onto the Sikhs I am also working on a variant of FnF for the Sikh wars and Russo-Turk. Editor's Note: Thanks for letter / information, Brian. Sounds like some vely good Information which MWANers may find of interest From Lars Bove I have just read Sam Mustufa's interesting articles in MWAN #110. I really enjoyed them, and the issue, so I just wanted to drop a few comments. Let me start with the one about the painting. I used to paint 6mm. Heroic & Ros Napoleonics. To give you an idea of the time used, I could do a bag (apr. 50 inf, 21 cav or 6 guns / 18 gunners) in one evening. A friend of mine who is a more experienced painter did about the same, but to a higher standard than mine. I counted up to 14 different colors on his Polish Lancers of the Guard. And what does he mean by not painting cuffs and collars? That is how I distinguish between my 60th. and 95th foot :-) On a side note, I have based them for Nap. Battles, using centimeters instead of inches. I use them for Volley & Bayonet too, using the same scale. Being lazy I just put a NB stand on the 3cm. x 3cm. brigade stand for each strength point. I can then remove them as the brigade takes casualties. I know that the step down to using cardboard pieces instead is small, but refighting Waterloo on my dinner table still looks like a wargame. Working my way backwards, I enjoyed the command & control article. First of all, let me say that I do enjoy the fog of war, As a solo wargamer, I love to fight the game system, as I cannot fight an opponent. Just see my short Battle Cry review in the same issue. I look forward to seeing how his system turns out. Having said that, and staying in the tone of Sam's own writing, I really cannot see the big difference between what he suggest and what is already represented by rules like Principles of War, where you first dice for the quality of the officers, and then on each turn dice for how many things they can do. The last being depenclant on their quality. I have often been in the situation of wanting to do 5 things in a turn, but due to having a poor (D4) officer and this turn only rolling a 2, not having the time (points) to do it all. Whereas a good (D6) officer, rolling a 5 might have done so. So be careful that the new system won't end up being a more complicated way of doing what is done by simpler rules. Last, but not least, I would like to thank Sam for summing up the 'Darker Wargaming' debate so masterly. He have put words to the things I have tried to say to you Hal in an earlier email. Yes some of the GW stuff turns me off, but so does glorifying Waffen SS. I am nearly 10 years older than Sam, and I remember comics corrupting kids, then D&D, then Computers, then Magic, then the Internet... I think kids will go for what is entertaining, and those GW guys sure knows how to market their stuff. Also with fantasy the kids do not get a lot of old f ... s sitting around putting their work down due too wrong cuff color or shako cords :-) Thanks again for a great magazine. From Scott Savory It's been years since I've sent you any articles, much less a letter, so I thought I'd drop you a line to say how much I enjoy MWAN and to thank you for continuing to put out such a great publication. I seem to have hit a serious painting slump lately; my table is covered with those half-finished projects that we're all so familiar with. I needed some inspiration, so I pulled out some back issues of MWAN and spent several enjoyable evenings re-reading articles that I had previously enjoyed, as well as catching some that I had missed. MWAN is the only hobby publication that I still subscribe to, aside from the HMGS Great Lakes newsletter, The Herald. In fact, The Herald is the reason that I don't send you articles any more, as I generally support Mike Demana in his great work on The Herald by sending my stuff to him. Sorry about that, Hal, I will make an effort to send you something soon! In any case, I am looking forward to HMGS Great Lakes' convention 'Drums Along the Maumee 2' in Toledo in May. The Colby Street Irregulars did a great job of putting on last year's event, which was the first HMGS-sponsored event in Toledo. I'm sure that this year's convention will be even better. Last year, arrangements were made for convention attendees to visit Fort Miegs on Sunday morning, and this tour is being repeated this year. It's a great historical site, and I plan to return for the whole weekend. Perhaps I'll send you a report! Also, next weekend (April 28), 1 will be attending CAPCON XXIV at the Ohio State University campus in Columbus. CAPCON is an annual multi-genre convention, which I have attended for most of the past twenty-four years. This year I'll be helping my friend John Haverstock run his 1/1200 Age of Sail event using Wooden Ships and Iron Men rules. John is doing the Battle of Hogland from the Russo-Swedish War. His ships are all beautifully painted and rigged, so it's always a pleasure participating in his games. As far as current projects, let's see... I need to get busy with my 25mm War of 1812 project, which will focus on the 1814 Niagara campaign. I started painting British troops, using mostly Old Glory's Napoleonic range. I've always been a slow painter, and this problem is compounded with the larger figures. Most of my collections are 15mm, so I really notice how much longer it takes to paint 25's. I wish I had your endurance, Hal (when it comes to painting lots of figs, that is!). I only have two battalions (24 figure units) of British line completed, as well as the Glengarry Light Infantry, some artillery, and the 19th Light Dragoons (only six figures, as there was never much cavalry concentrated in one place). The nice thing about this campaign is that the armies were quite small, so if I can finish a few more battalions of infantry and some mounted officers, I'll be all set to go. Too bad I don't have any Americans yet! Well, that's not quite true, as I did buy a few packs of Old Glory's 1812 Americans. They are very nice figures, but painting them will be the hard part. I've been diverted from my 1812 project by Battlefront: WWII, which as I'm sure you're aware is a popular new rules set. I've been collecting 15mm WWII western front Americans and Germans for several years, organized and based for Command Decision II. Unfortunately, I never really played CDII very much, as the rules were just a bit more complex than I like. I played earlier versions of Battlefront at several HMGS East conventions a few years ago, and I liked much of what I saw then. I think the finished rules came out very well, and after playing them just once, I was hooked. Battlefront is at a different scale than CD (infantry squads and vehicle/gun sections, versus platoons in CD), so I am adding some support weapon stands such as LMGs, panzerfausts, bazookas, etc to my collection, as these are depicted differently in the TO&E's. Painting new stands raised the basing dilemma. CD stands are smaller than Battlefront stands, but I detested the thought of rebasing my figures. I've done that far too many times in the past. I decided upon an expedient compromise. I glued the existing CD troop stand (mine happen to be styrene) to a larger Battlefront stand (also made of styrene). I used Elmer's glue, somewhat sparingly, with the idea that if I ever want to revert to CD basing, I could hopefully flex the stand and pry the original base off without too much difficulty. Thus far I've not tested my idea by removing one, though. After painting and flocking the new base around the edges, it's ready for the table. The 'stepped' appearance of the stacked bases is a bit noticeable, but the extent to which it may detract from the appearance of the stand is offset, in my opinion, by the elimination of the sweating and swearing I would endure to completely rebase the figures by removing them from the CD stands. I may go back later and glue some bits of debris, rocks, rubble, and vegetation to the stands to help camouflage the stacked bases. Anyway, that's about it for my current painting projects, and they are going slowly. Some of my hobby time has been diverted by a computer game, Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord. It's a tactical simulation of WWII western front combat, and to my mind it's just about the best commercial computer wargame ever produced. Info and a free demo can be downloaded at www.battlefront.com. Incidentally, I do not believe that there is any connection between the computer game company and the Battlefront: WWII rules, which are published by Fire and Fury Games. Well, that's all for now, Hal. Again, keep up the great work with MWAN! - From Jules Avery I really like the 'light' chatty style of MWAN. Shame you and your pals are so far away! The Battle Troll rules which started all this off exceeded my expectations. I haven't laughed out loud reading wargame rules in living memory. Humor isn't really WRG's strongpoint is it? Fascinating to read American viewpoints on the 'future of the hobby' etc. Has Brian Ansell ever updated that statistical survey thing of his? The business Studies Graduate part of me found it quite fascinating! How could 'we' (wargamers) help provide a better statistical sample? Nice to read about games not involving expensive 25mm games. On my budget 25mm is for skirmishing only! I've recently shifted to 10mm for WW2 and modern. I don't know if you've seen them but Peter Pig do truly innovative rule sets under the banner 'Rules for the Common Man'. Every set I've bought has had some novel twist like off-table actions, random reinforcement arrival (or not) etc. Very minimalist in format but superbly playable games! Hot news here is DBA2, compatible with DBM at last! Every DBM army and sub-variant is included. Some totally new troop types appear, DBM's Ax(X) are DBA2's Spear3, Hordes appear as either themselves or a variant Warbands type looks fascinating from a beginners point of view it's more complex and not particularly user friendly. Most lists require a copy of the relevant DBM list for you to purchase figures for example, there's no description linking DBA trooptype (eg BD4) to say 'Roman Legionary'. Many new 6 army/player mini-campaigns are featured. Also rules for BIG DBA an 'official' 3xDBA game variant. Some combat factors etc are/seem altered but I can't really comment coz I haven't played the new rules yet. From Bret Hunt LIKE YOU I HAVE BEEN BITTEN BY THE 25MM, OR IS IT 28MM BUG CONCERNING WWII. I ALSO PREFER THE EASTERN FRONT. JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT THE ICON FIGURES AND THE WESTWIND FIGURES GO TOGETHER WONDERFULLY. I ESPECIALLY LOVE THE ICON HMG THAT IS SET UP AND FIRING (GERMAN). I JUST LIKE TO ADD THAT 40 AND 48 SCALE TANK MODELS ARE HARD TO COME BY, SO LIKE YOU I HAVE BEEN STICKING WITH THE METAL. AT COLD WARS I PURCHASED A PZ MK IV AND A GERMAN ARMORED CAR MADE BY A COMPANY IN FRANCE I BELIEVE AND I AM SORRY I DONT HAVE THAT INFO IN FRONT OF ME OR REMEMBER WHO I PURCHASED THEM OFF OF, AS I SAID BEFORE ITS ALL PACKED SOMEWHERE. ONE LAST THING BEFORE I GO , ARE THERE ANY GAMERS HERE IN THE SCRANTON/WILKES BARRE/STROUDSBURG AREA . WELL THANKS AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. From Jules Avery I'm still poughing through the MWAN's you sent me. Am loving the varied content. Delighted with the Battle Troll rules, all I had hoped for and more. Do you know if Howard Whitehouse's Too Much for the Mahdi' rules are still available? I've always had an urge to do Sudan in 6mm using irregular miniatures figures. Tip of the moment re basing 6mm figs. My pals and I have been basing and re-basing loads of 6mm WW2 infantry for Spearhead. If you have individual 6mm figs like Adler or Heroics & Ros you can paint them whilst on their 'sprues. We then smear bases with stuff called 'plastic wood' intended for filling holes in timber. This stuff comes in varied colours to match timber types from mahogany to light pine. You should be able to find a match for the ground colour of your choice. The stuff is adhesive enough to hold figures, so smear your chosen base with your chosen colour and just press the separated figs in! You can then flock or not as you choose! From Matthew Coleman: I know lately you have had an interest in gaming in 6 mm so I thought I would point you to several Napoleonic pictures from my Adler collection as well as several pictures from the French Army Museum in Paris: http://community.webshots.com/album/93 4239HLWLvctGYe. The buildings are Architectural Heritage. I don't think they produce buildings in the 6 mm scale anymore. Next month I'll try to get a letter out detailing what I enjoy about the hobby and my collection. From Rob Dean It has been a while since I sat down to write "an MWAN letter," so it's hard to know where to begin. The HAWKS continue to grow and meet on a regular basis. You asked about our ideas on what makes a good gaming group a couple of issues back, and I have been considering the question since then. The HAWKS were formed in 1994 when one member-to-be decided that he would train gamers if he couldn't find them to hand. He offered a non-credit course at the local community college and about five other gamers signed up for it with much the same idea. Since they didn't actually have to train anyone they immediately fell to playing games and carried on with regular biweekly meetings once the course ended. The first generation of follow-on recruits were brought in by word of mouth, as knowledge of the existence of the group was passed around the informal local opponent networks. The group eventually became large enough that no member had a gaming space big enough to host a club meeting, and we arranged to start renting a church hall c. 1996. Sometime during this phase of growth we shifted from word of mouth as the principal means of recruitment to a combination of convention presence and net presence. Ever since the beginning of the group, we have had a high proportion of members interested in running games at conventions. Starting in 1997 we were able to present enough games at Cold Wars and Historicon to enable us to negotiate with the convention staff to have them located in one room. This gives us a lot of flexibility when it comes to table setup, terrain sharing and a host of minor things, making it very easy to run games. With 30 or more games on offer at each of the major conventions, we find that club nights tend to be a continuous string of convention playtests, and "slots" for running games (two per club night) are eagerly sought after and usually filled several meetings in advance. At present the volunteer keeper of our point of contact list has about thirty names as "members" and another half dozen as "associates," with the difference being a subjective call on how often you show up. Most club nights see ten to fifteen people show up. What is the secret of our "success," such as it is? The collective opinion of the club is that it is our lack of formal organization. From the beginning there has never been a president. Certain volunteer offices do exist -- we pay for the hall rental and have to have a treasurer and a "keeper of the key" as a result, and getting our convention offerings submitted requires that someone volunteer to be the Cold Wars Event Coordinator and his Historicon counterpart. We have run a small one-day con annually (this year will be the sixth), Barrage, and some organization is required to pull that off. We have no written rules, and the unwritten rules are short. It's only a game, leave the hall the way we found it or better, and treat others' toys carefully. This sort of leaves the open question: "How does lack of organization make us successful?" Duncan Adams, one of our second generation recruits suggests that without a single leader, we can only make decisions by consensus. This means that any activity that effects the whole club needs broad support. At the same time, a project that a few of us are interested in that does not have a real effect on the whole club does not need approval of the boss or the steering committee -- we just do it. We encourage new members to prepare and run games, by lending gear and even by volunteering painting, but there are no requirements. Duncan adds "I don't think you can state to strongly how well this group treats newcomers. The way I was treated at the first two Barrages had a lot to do with attracting me to the club. When I started coming on Thursdays, there was an inevitable period of feeling like the new guy, but I always felt welcome and included. I still see the same treatment of new arrivals. The variety of interests works well with this. If a new member showed up to our Harford Command Decision Club and we treated him very nicely, but he'd like to play FIW once in a while he wouldn't stay long." We have had voluntary club projects in the past. These have generally been successful and we may try again sometime even though no group project is currently very active. "Playing only" members are welcome, too, as our "gamemaster" members always need bodies to fill the night's games. In my personal opinion the fact that we have a critical mass of "gamemasters" is also a help, as we are able to avoid burn-out from a too-frequent obligation to run the games. The high number of gamemaster- members also contributes to the wide variety of games which we play. For better or worse it is unusual to play any given period or set of rules more than once in a two month period. The club members eventually become accustomed to this. On the personal front this has been a great year so far for games. A couple of years ago I decided that the goal of an average of one game a week was achievable, and my highly esteemed spouse even agreed that it was reasonable. In a very Thinglumesque gesture I started tracking games (both played and refereed) in 1999. During that year I got in 39 games. In 2000 1 managed 47, and this year I'm already at 28 which is above the goal rate. The painting situation hasn't been quite so stellar, although I've been steadily chipping away at the mound of 25mm colonials (NWF and Darkest Africa) and have recently been busy with casting and painting figures for three of my 40mm projects (French and Indian War as described in MWAN #110, Not Quite the Seven Years War with Charge! And the Prince August semi-flats, and I've recently started a modest expansion of my 40mm Renaissance armies). I should mention that Sash and Saber brought out the start of a line of 40mm collector regiments at Cold Wars. They are a bit smaller than the Irregular 42mm figures but I picked up the Continental Line box (20 different figures including command), intending to shoehorn them into the FIW project. The company rep mentioned that the other regiment available (Civil War) was sized to fit with Foundry 40mm ACW figures, so anyone out there looking to expand such a collection ought to take note. I have some thoughts on the perpetual topic of recruiting for the hobby, but I'm working them up as a proper article. From John P. Kelly If you get a chance then take a look at the web page I have been putting together. It is meant to support the Old Trousers ruleset that is scheduled to appear in the next issue of MWAN. http://www.greatbasin.net/~johnkelly.html From Ron Lizorty I was having fun going through MWAN #52(!) and came across your "Thoughts on my Sudan Project in 15mm, no, 25mm, ah geez!" article. You're certainly not alone in this respect. Have you tried using 15mm for moving and then switch to 25mm for close fighting? It means two boards (or splitting the table in half). I like the look of marching posed troops making their way through the terrain, then switching to fighting poses. Remember that Fuzzy Wuzzys used camels mainly to get to the battlesite, then dismounted for the advance/attack. If the camel was hit, it was likely the rider was killed in the fall - the ground surface was so sharp that a fall while running could easily result in ripping one's leg open and bleeding to death! This nearly happened to director Merian C. Cooper during filming of the silent "Four Feathers" shot on location. The real Fuzzys were failing gingerly to the ground. He showed them a typical Hollywood fall, splitting a leg open. There was no doctor with them, but a missionary was visiting and prevented him from bleeding to death! I mount all my figures on magnets, then to metal bases (double stick taped) to balsa or basswood (1/8" or 1/16" thick). This way, I can mix small 25mm with large 25mm (though I can't mix Redoubt with Ral Partha!) - looks OK! The magnetic bases allow me to change amounts of figures to a base when using different rules. For the Dervish, I paint the back edge of the wood base different colors (black, red, green, blue) so I know which groups belong together. The colors represent the black flag, red flag, etc). I only terrain the bases of the Dervish leaders, leaving the hundreds of others' bases only painted tan (like all the bases of metal). I know you've covered the Sudan again and again, but I always enjoy the articles, as the Sudan is my favorite wargaming period. I'm currently going back to the very start of the Mahdi's rise, when the Egyptians sent a gunboat with troops to arrest the 'upstart'. The Foundry's 'Darkest Africa' soldiers mixed with Redoubt and Old Glory make for a good looking representation of the times. Richard Brooks in THE HELIOGRAPH printed a wonderful set of rules called 'Volley Fire' by Larry Brom which I like better than his 'Sword and the Flame' rules! Editor's Note: Thanks for the letter, Ron; I must admit I am amused by your mentioning of my "Sudan Project" in MWAN #52. Things came around, don't they? Now I'm working on it again. Hard to believe it's been that long since I purchased lots of 15mm Sudan figures - they've been sitting a long time! I've added considerably to them since that time and hope to have the project done by the end of 2002. From Bret Hunt Like you I have been bitten by the 25mm, or is it 28mm bug concerning WWII. I also prefer the Eastern Front. Just like to say that the Icon and Westwind figures go together wonderfully. I especially love the ICON German HMG that is set up and firing. I would like to add that 40th and 48th scale tank models are hard to come by so like you, I have been sticking to metal. At Cold Wars, I purchased a PzmkIV and a German armored car made by a company in France I believe. I'm sorry I don't have that information in front of me or remember who I purchased them from (!). From Greg Seefeldt The gamers in this area are mainly fantasy and science fiction oriented. There are a couple who enjoy historicals that help me keep my hand in. Currently I am working on WWII and have generated some interest. I am dithering between 1/200th and 15mm. The other area is the American War of Independence. THE AWI is mainly because I enjoy this time period above all others, but have never gamed it. Strange that I am finally getting into it because I thought it would be a great way to share the color of wargaming with my sons. From John Bertolini Several months ago I met a fellow, Tim Brown here in Saskatoon. He worked in a magazine store and I was buying a wargames magazine. A conversation ensued. He was a wargamer. His gaming buddies had followed careers to other cities. I told him I sculpted and cast my own figures. He was very interested and next time I went to the store, I brought some samples along. We agreed to meet and play a game so I rigged up some quick terrain. Toppo-like hills cut of MDF and painted green. Lichen trees. MDF buildings we didn't get around to painting. A bolt of olive cloth and masking tape roads. One infantry brigade and one cavalry brigade of Japanese and one infantry brigade of Russians were fished out of their boxes (about one-third of my available pieces, but more than enough for my dining room table). We put together a set of rules in about an hour. Tim choose the Japanese, I, the Russians. Choices that reflected our temperaments. The Japanese attacked incessantly from the outset while the Russians covered themselves and deployed their artillery where they saw potential killing grounds. The early deployment of the Russian artillery turned out to be the decisive act of the game. The Japanese despite the rapidity and ferocity of their advance took casualties early and move often than the Russians. Despite this, it was a close run thing. Japanese infantry came very near to getting at the Russian gunners with cold steel. It was only Russian countercharges of company and battalion strength that staved off the Japanese. The battle hung in the balance until the very end when the Japanese cavalry - two regiments strong -was cut to pieces by a combination of rifle and artillery fire while trying to deploy in close terrain. In the wake of this massacre, the Japanese will to advance melted away and the shaken Russians were left masters of the field. It was great fun, this game. Our next will pit a superior Japanese force in assault against a small dug-in Russian force (it has been difficult to communicate with Russian command - it is rumored they have taken up residence in a local brothel; there are stories of bathtubs filled with champagne ... ). I have enclosed some snapshots Tim and I took of the game in progress. As a postscript, I would add that my friend Tim is very interested in the French & Indian War. I gave him 150 or so of my homemade Tricorne figures which he painted up and I saw them last week. WOW! Two regiments of redcoats nicely painted, beautifully mounted. Also a regiment of French. I gave him some milliput too; his first figures are as good as mine were after five years of practice. He is working on Canadian WWI stuff and French & Indian War. We will make a mold of his first Mohawk before too long. Editor's Note: Fascinating stuff, John, on your sculpting! Pictures show off the figures vefy well! let us know how it goes. Back to MWAN #112 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 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