From Paul Koch I have added Horse arty to the game. It moves as heavy Cavalry, fires ball 800 paces and cannister 400.
From Joshua Bird I purchased Wargames; Accessories Bases from the Emperor's HQ (an online store). They are thin metal bases. Cavalry (on the 3" bases) were based in 4 lines (first line was 3 man Command, next three lines comprised of 7 dragoons each). Infantry was on the 1.5" base and were in three lines of three strips (each strip was four men). The front middle line was a command strip. I painted the figures on plastic I-Beams, which helped facilitate an "assembly-Line". Figures were primed black. Next was a heavy drybrushing of the main uniform color (most Russian Infantry wore Green). Next, I painted all their muskets brown, , then flesh (faces and hands), then bandoliers, then cuffs on coats, then the hats. I even painted mustaches on grenadiers! I then crazy-glued the figs on their bases, then placed putty on bases to smooth out the dig bases with the metal base. Next was flock, followed by a matt varnish. I kept a 1/2 inch strip on the back of the base bare (no flock, no varnish, just the green of the base's primer paint). I used this back strip to place magnetic unit info (Unit name, morale, strength, etc..).
From Kenn Hart How a bunch of unrelated incidents can turn a sensible, well nearly, gamer into a creature of the 'Must Have' variety. Amazing how things just fall into place. Now I am knee, OK, chin deep in wargaming armies and need another one, like another die that refuses to throw a 6. So when a friend of mine lent me a book by Garry Jennings, 'Aztec' (ISBN 0708820646) thought nothing about it until I got I reading it. Unfortunately it appears to having the same effect on me that did which resulted in clans of 15mm Samurai invading my tabletop and a developing interest in the country during that period and their style of warfare. Having convinced myself I did not need another army, in an area and period that does not tie in anything else I have got, I settled back to my mature student studies.. a friend showed me some photographs of 25mm Aztecs in a glossy magazine and I was not at all impressed. He also pointed out Essex had brought out a new range in 15mm and perhaps I would be interested. With Vapnartak in York due shortly I thought I would wait until then and just have a look, but the snow put a stop to that, in that we were snowed in that particular weekend. However, at Triples in Sheffield the week later I just 'happened' to come across Essex Aztec range, as I was buying some Egyptian ships and was hooked! Purchased a few command packs and some PBI just to a skirmish force together - famous last words!
I don't have time to do a review but they very detailed and looked excellent when painted. I did spot another firm, at the show who were doing other South American nations of that period but failed to get details, there is always next year. In Slingshot #212, the letter by Matthew Leighs, referred to Robert Richardson's series on Aztecs got me delving through my copies of 'Slingshot', to have another look. I also believe that Osprey have a book on Aztecs being produced, but do not quote on that. Just to compound my conspiracy theory Wargames Illustrated has been doing a series called the 'Land of El Dorado', I had better jump before I get up considerable figures to finish painting and basing plus I am putting magnetic basses on all my chariot armies because am fed up constantly gluing them back onto stands. A lot of work to do before they get attacked with my 2" paint brush but the figures are extremely tempting. You have been warned. Now where is that 'Master of Olympus - Zeus' computer game? I'll show these Trojans a thing or two with my Spartans!
Donald Hauser Note: To Sam Mustufa: Sam, I was delighted to see you published again and wanted to write sooner. I wish I had prior to your retraction. We played Sabers a long time at Historicon in Harrisburg. While in Richmond, for Coca-Cola, I tried to hook up you and the RAGE organization although we were getting out of the hobby then. I'm a big fan of the language, although I'm a "geek" by trade and collage education, of the specific classification "Computer Nerd". One of the marvelous things about our language is that we can use it to not only convey facts and ideas, we can paint tremendous pictures in the readers minds eye. I've read "War and Peace", "The Three Musketeers", "Ivanhoe","Crime and Punishment", various Shakespeare, a great translation of the "Iliad"and many others not to be snobbish, more for the language. I agree with you, that the historical miniature hobby should be using Games Workshop specifically, as an example excellence in packaging and marketing. I am amazed that the connection, regarding their success, hasn't been made yet by more rules developers. I find myself looking at their products thinking I'd like to play, and to hell with my current focus. Not only are they well and excellently illustrated, they include background information and the rules are simple, fast and playable. I've often thought that the historical community of rules developers would be more successful if rather than just publishing rules we included historical backgrounds, painting guides and pictures. The rules that have attempted to do this have done well, although, I don't think anyone has come close to what's in the basic fantasy expected package, thinking of Clanwars and Warzone.
I believe, as you seem to, that to bring new blood to historicals a manufacturer needs to package a good, well illustrated rules system that includes historical background, painting guide and 48 to 72 miniatures for under $100. The period is irrelevant, ACW, AWI, Renaissance, 7YW or Napoleonics, it will generate huge interest, result in large follow on sales and begin the process of rejuvenating historical gaming. Finally, I'm obviously a fan of the run-on sentence, along with a few other grammatical eccentrices (misspelling intentional here) and I realize my use of our language isn't perfect. I do use spell check and attempt to proof read my material to ensure that it's coherent. Keep at 'em Sam, "Hack and Slash", I've got your back.
From Guy Barlow I am a recent convert to your fine magazine. I now have over 30 issues, thanks to your recent sale. I am completely sympathetic to your whole approach and the ethos of MWAN. It reminds me of the unaffected enthusiasm of Don Featherstone's old Wargames Newsletter. A superb magazine. You repeatedly mention publications such as Barry Edwards 'Simple Napoleonic Rules', Brigadier Young's 'Charge' and Charles Grants 'The Wargame'. These influences mirror mine.
I would add one other, Bruce Quarrie's 'Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature'. It is certainly time that many of these classics including please all of Don Featherstone's books are reprinted. I can then buy the ones I do not have! They should be in every gamers library. I call myself a wargamer although I am really a collector. I rarely play an actual wargame although my soldier room is full of shelves of figures, books and magazines. My painting table groans under my ongoing projects. My unpainted figure pile will take years to clear! I have always been a 25mm man. My aim is fast, furious and fun battles with lots of figures on good terrain. I could never get my head around DBA, rule book warriors or the like. I am happily sidetracked into the Peninsula at the moment. Definitely a Spanish ulcer on the finances but what fun. Present day life is so hectic with family and work commitments etc, I do feel we are very lucky to have such a fascinating hobby. Have you noticed the recent explosion in popularity of military serial novels? Perhaps the finest in my opinion remains the unsurpassable Patrick O'Brian Maturin/Aubrey naval novels. Then there is Sharpe. Now we have Alan Mallinson's Hervey British dragoon series, the Markham marine novels and the Richard Howard 'Bonaparte Sons' French dragoon books. I have also seen series on the Crimea, the English civil war, pre-WWII North West Frontier and the US Civil war. One must not forget the fabulous Flashman. I avidly devour the lot. Not in the main great literature (O'Brian excepted) but so what. They certainly provide me with inspiration and ideas for projects/scenarios. Perhaps there is a huge untapped market of potential gamers out there. I was delighted to discover your magazine and can only presume there are many others, especially in the UK, who would greatly benefit from reading it. There is in the UK little or no publicity about MWAN. Perhaps you could persuade one of the UK glossies to do an article about it. It wouldn't exactly be competition. I am certain it would however greatly benefit the hobby in general.
From George Knapp One more correction to my Lexington and Concord Game published in #111. The movement cost between Merriam's Corner and Concord should be 1, not 2 as shown on the map. Example: A unit in Lexington could move all the way to Concord in one turn -- six movement points.
From Pat Condray Just to respond to Greg Nichols article on HATSOFF in the last MWAN received. Greg mentions in passing: "..it has been alluded that we are a stuffy bunch of old curmudgeons, if I'm recalling correctly what Pat Condray called us in the 1970s." I believe the gentleman is in error. I had no knowledged HATSOFF until Sam Gill mentioned the organization in an article about following orders in wargames. That one appeared in THE (new)COURIER in the 1982-83 time frame. I wrote a counter article (probably a letter to the editors.) My point was that historical commanders tended to be competitive and play to win. They did not blindly follow stupid orders with urbane and gentlemanly poise in the manner Sam Gill claimed all proper wargamers, like the members of HATSOFF, should follow them.
Sam's somewhat condescending reference to wargamers who un-historically played to win did earn some sharp responses. I don't recall any references to curmudgeons. But one critic did characterize Sam and friends as : "I think that the order of leering Elitist Repulsive Know-it-alls should herewith be formed and that Sam Gill should be named head JERK. - TERRY GRINER, Spokane, WA" After checking THE COURIER on MAGWEB.COM, I confirmed my recollection. Just because I'm getting on in years doesn't mean my memory is always wrong. The quote above was copied and pasted from MAGWEB.COM.
From Chris Parker I would like to announce the my rev 2 of Day of Battle II is now available. I am taking a new approach to game design. Whenever a new revision is released current owners can get a free version of it online in the form of a Adobe Acrobat pdf file. They can also send me $3.50 for a brand new paper copy less the covers. This price covers my printing and mailing costs. This way as I change or fix rules I can update them immediately. As I print nearly to order I have no print overhead sitting on a skid someplace. All of this is possible now with high speed internet access AND incredible color printers. I have been working on two new projects. Warlord is a set of Medieval rules based on the mechanics of Day of Battle II however it leaves out harassing morale, role play and honor points, It also has a fixed turn sequence. Through feedback I have found that most gamers don't like the first three and need the fourth so I have given it to them. The rules will be on-line at www.dayofbattle.com sometime this fall. It plays fast is well suited for multiple player games. My friends at The Old Colony Wargamers club in Hudson Mass. have been a bit help in play testing it. Feedback was all positive. On Holy Ground II is the second edition of my Crusader variant for DoBII. This has been co-written by Mark Kyriss. It now includes all three crusades. It will available later this summer. Domains: I have been redesigning all of my domains in DoBII (army lists) so they can be used in Warlord as well. Again I'm trying to give the gamer the most bang for his buck and encourage his feedback with almost instantaneous change.
From Jules Avery I've been busy at my club actually gaming, quite a surprise. We've been playing the new version of DBA and it has resulted in the attached files. Basically our younger members are all Games Workshop addicts but they have to leave club earlier than us 'grownups' and seem to rarely finish a battle. Accordingly I came up with ideas to modify Warhammer Fantasy armies for HOTT (the fantasy version of DBA) this means they can play with their 28mm figures based on movement trays with 'Blutak' and complete a game in an hour or so. Hope some others see the potential of iis. I'm working on a variant of WH40K using opposed die rolls a la DBx but keeping the stats for 'accuracy'. Will send you copy when its been playtested.
From Enzo De Iarmli I had a letter by Scott Hansen who hinted to a Greek-Turk War and to a miniature maker I didn't hear about. I think the guy is Sporos KOUMOUSSIS, reachable at 34 ITHAKIS STREET, P. KOKKINIA 182 33 PIRAEUS - GREECE. He wrote a series of articles appeared in Miniature Wargames with nice plates very good as a paint guide) and offers a miniature range in 15 mm and his wn rules (DBx style, if I understand well, but vith a larger scope) and scenario booklet. My latest list (January 2000, obviously Mr. Hansen is more up to date) included maybe 30 packets dedicated to irregular Greeks, foreign contingents, Turks and Egyptians, while regular Greeks were forthcoming. The figures come primed(!) and are original while compatible with Essex ones, for example. Hope it helps you and your readers.
From L. L. Gill As always, your Jan-Feb issue is a treasure trove of information across the spectrum of our hobby. I read with particular interest your review of TACFIRE, my new combined arms combat rules for miniatures. Thank you for your kind words regarding the Order of Battle data. Accurate organizations are a key, but often overlooked prerequisite to realistic historical simulations. Accordingly, one of my goals was to assemble many, many years of research in a convenient, easy to use package that would encourage players to employ historical organizations and command structures in their scenarios.
I am concerned, however, that my comments on using counters for 1/285 and 1/300 infantry have led to a misunderstanding. TACFIRE was designed to be used in a variety of scales by a wide range of interest. Well done miniatures provide a uniquely satisfying sense of reality at the gut level to a historical simulation that no amount of fancy computer graphics can match. The larger scale 12mm, 15mm and 20mm miniatures provide enormous scope for modeling great personnel flgures. Even in the smaller 1/285th and 1/300th scales, personnel miniatures are readily available. One of the members of our local play-test group does some fantastic work with these small figures. Truly a pleasure to behold and game with! Regrettably, these days, he's a minority as 1/28 1h and 1/3 00th figures are also fairly fragile and require a does of dedication to prepare. Maybe it's a west coast thing, but out here I've seen far too many microarmor games where infantry has just been ignored when the players didn't have the miniatures. Since all the armies of the 1943-53 era were primarily composed of foot soldiers, this leads to a gross distortion of the period. Thus, while miniatures are much preferred, it seems to me that the use of counters for personnel is the lesser of two evils and far preferable to ignoring the foot soldier altogether in the smaller miniatures scales. I note that you didn't have a lot to say about the game system itself. Perhaps the press of deadlines precluded a more detailed look. One of the design goals of TACFIRE, like its predecessor GENERAL QUARTERS, was to apply innovative ideas to enhance playability without compromising realism.
Accordingly, I'm proud of results like the Game Turn sequence that emphasizes open-ended, flexible interaction, an indirect fire system that eliminates bookkeeping and the Campaign Grid which enables campaigns to be played without bogging down in a lot of dreary plotting. The Campaign Grid can be readily applied to most historical periods with a minimum of fuss. Should you wish a further look at these and other innovative features, I've taken the liberty of enclosing a sheet that summarizes many of the novel approaches and techniques used in TACFIRE. Finally, thanks for having taken the time amid the ceaseless grind of the next issue to review TACFIRE.
(Editor's Note: Thanks for your letter and for taking the t1me to respond to my mention In MWAN of your rules set. One of the 'problems' I have in mentioning products in MWAN is that it can be assumed that it is a "review' as opposed to a "mention. "Long-time readers of MWAN will know that I do not 'review,' I do my best to "describe' the product. I have never played a set of rules submitted prior to wrItIng It up In the column. It would be rare for me to paint up figures mentloned pnor to writing about them. I simply don't have the expertise, time, or Interest to do so. If I "farm" out a set of rules for someone to playtest, it takes a lot of time, and I also run Into situations where I send someone a product to critically review and I never see the review. No, I probably did not have a lot to say about the game system itself, but I don't thInk I ever do aside from attempting to describe it this can, I admit, result in fallure (mine) to adequately describe a rules set, especially rules concerned with periods of which I know 11ttle about and that is unfortunate for the authors and publIshers of these rules sets Apparently I falled to describe the important poin ts of TA CFIRE and I am sorry for that Thanks again for your k1nd letter and comments TACFIRE WWU rules are available from BROOKHURST HOBBIES - see their address on their ad - for $29.98). Listed below are Mr. Gill's details about TACFIRE's novel approaches and techniques and I thank him for taking the time to include them:
From Eric Donaldson I'm still doing 6mm but have moved to using scratch built buildings (out of balsa) that are slightly smaller (more in keeping with the scale of a grand-tactical unit rather than 6mm figures). Much of my inspiration comes from watching bicycle racing on TV (like the Tour de France) - great shots from a helicopter as the race passes through small country villages! Have you decided how to base your 6mm project? I've started using a very thin plastic material I found at the local hardware store. It has a slight ripple texture (I think it's meant to go inside ceiling light fixtures). It comes in a good sized sheet, doesn't warp and cuts with scissors. I like the look of thin material with my 6mm figures - the mounting board I use on my other figures just looks too thick.
From Greg Nichols Having just finished #111, 1 wanted to share some thoughts on a few of the submissions. First, MWAN is in my opinion a great wargames magazine, not because of comparison to other magazines on the market, but rather, because it gives me the feeling of being a magazine for wargamers, by wargamers. Second, regarding George Knapp's Lexington & Concord game, I've played this at a local con and it is quite fun. George is very knowledgeable in military history and his games are always entertaining and educational. Third, I've read Chris Engle's contributions and wanted to say how much I enjoy reading his articles. I find his thoughts very creative and I'm often able to "glean" (steal) many ideas from him for games of my own. Finally, I read Sam Mustafa's treatise on painting the eyes, mustaches and other bodyhairs on 6mm figures. I was most intrigued as I've had a number of these in my "dead-lead" room for years. As a result, I went out to my local art supply shop and picked up some new brushes in order to follow Sam's instructions for painting the finer detail on these figures. Being so intimidated by the cardinal sin of failing to paint the eyes on my mini-minifigs, I splurged and spent the ultimate for a Windsor-Newton "25-0" brush; the tip of which is sharper than the edge of an exacto-knife. The unforeseen problem was however, when I got home and tried putting paint on the brush, it folded in half, like an ant on a Texas sidewalk in July. The weight of the paint was too heavy for the tip of the brush.
Even so, I was not undaunted as a friend told me to try finding an architect's pencil that would fit my hands. I found just the item and located a lead that comes in multi-colors (red, blue, white and raw umber) as well as super-fine thicknesses. I picked the .000165mm thickness as I felt it would give the best highlights. It takes a delicate touch to prepare the lead, from container to pen, to proper length for application to the figure. But once all three pens are prepared, the applying it to the eyesockets/mustaches/ears was a cinch. A caveat to others who may try this is, of course, the need to purchase an industrial grade magnifying glass. I got a really good deal on mine from a closed plutonium processing plant in Oklahoma so it came with it's own light source. Thus, my 6mm's have never looked better thanks to Same and now, I feel I can proudly display them on the wargame table for all to admire!
From Dan Foley I've been working on several projects during the last year. The ICON 28mm WWII figures have sucked me in and I'm working on a US and Soviet platoon. It's nice being in on the ground floor with these figures as when I finish painting one group, they come out with new figures. I don't have a backlog of lead waiting to be painted. At least, not in this period! My 6mm project is coming along well. I'm doing a French army for the FPW. H&R figures are the choice although I like the Irregular Miniatures figures a lot. I am building units of 24 figures on three 1" X 3/4" bases. Cavalry are three 1"X1" bases with 6 on each base. Artillery is 2 guns/8 figures on a 11/2"Xl" base. I plan on using POW for the rules. The goal is 20 infantry bns, 5 cavalry & 8 batteries. This will allow me to fight several of the scenarios out of the THEY DIED FOR GLORY rulebook. I'm very excited about 6mm. The figures paint quickly, give a nia appearance on the table and allow you to compress the table area slightly making it easier to make the terrain. This has becorne my scale of choice except for WWII and of course, AWI. I black primed my figures and then mounted them on wooden sticks about 10" long using fun tack. Twenty-five figure to a stick. I paint two sticks at a time and it takes about three hours to do 50 figures, maybe less. I'm mounting them on metal bases and then will use magnetic movement bases on the table. I did this so I could show the troops in line or column.
From Ron Lizorty Was glancing through some old MWANs and gota kick out of your thoughts on Colonial wargaming (#52, Pg 5, 6, 80-82). I found your writings encouraging and helpful! I just sent in to THE HELIOGRAPH some variations on Larry Brom's "Volley Fires" done wit Larry's encouragement. Some additiona Fuzzy-Wuzzy info - they were keen on throwing mimosa sticks and stones into the faces of the firing lines of their enemy. A dice roll by Dervish could subtract from number of British/ Egyptians firing & although I generally disregard it during gaming, the Dervish generally only rode their camels to the battlesite, dismounted behind a hill & charged on foot. Galloping at a charge on camels usually spelled death for the rider - the height of the fall alone could do it, falling on hard, rocky ground, sometimes as sharp as razors! It's claimed that Fuzzy could charge twice as fast on foot as the enemy and some thought should (?) be given to this (perhaps an odd/even roll of the die could allow the chance for this). I also have the Fuzzy swerve in their charge after the enemy volley if the die roll dictates or they crouch behind their shields, stopping their charge till rallied.
Tom Barkalow I've played a lot of skirmish level war games in the past two years. In late 1999 a friend suggested we put on a game at Little Wars 2000 using the Flintloque rules by Alternate Armies. This is a skirmish system that places the Napoleonic Wars into a fantasy setting with the various nationalities being represented by different creatures (elves, dwarves, goblins, undead, dogs, and so on). Alternate Armies produces a wonderful set of large (28-30 mm equivalent) figures consisting of various critters in accurately detailed Napoleonic uniforms (most appear to be circa 18058). I find it all very amusing, especially as Alternate Armies takes a very tongue-in-cheek approach.
For example, they are molded special character figures and created "stories" to go with them (Scooby Doom being one of my favorites). The actual skirmish rules are OK, but have a few aspects I don't like. So I further increased my pleasure of this system by modif~ring the not-so-good aspects. The scenario and modified rules we actually used at Little Wars 2000 resulted from 9 playtest sessions to iron out bugs found either in the scenario set up, rules, or game charts. We hosted two games and they had two completely different outcomes. The downside to this whole effort was I felt completely burnt out on the system once the convention was over and haven't done much with it since. For example, I have thought about various ways of making it into a mid-1800's skirmish system and think the scenario we developed would be an excellent one for the wild west or the French intervention in Mexico, but haven't devoted the time and energy necessary to do the conversion.
The other skirmish system I've played a lot is Battleground World War II. If someone had told me two years ago I would be playing WWII skirmish games, I would have laughed in their face. I had absolutely no interest in such as I had been disillusioned for a long time with the various microarmor rules I had tried. Two things changed my mind. I read several reviews on The Miniatures Page website (http://theminiaturespage.com) about a set of SF rules, Stargrunt II, that intrigued me. I eventually bought a copy, read through them, and liked the concepts presented. One of the reviews had said they could be modified for WWII. I decided to try this out and to do it cheaply, I bought one box of soft plastic Americans and one box of Germans. This gave me roughly a platoon for each side. The various soft plastic figures are very nice and very affordable. I painted the soft plastic figures using the system described by Richard Burke in MWAN # 98. It takes a bit longer than some other methods I've tried, but really produces good durable results.
I then tried out the rules both solitaire and with my best gaming buddy, Rick Stoffel. During this same time, Rick had started playing Battleground World War II (BG) at a hobby shop in Rockford. He had played several games before I had him try out Stargrunt II. He liked BG; he didn't like Stargrunt II. I was dubious about BG from his descriptions and then got a chance to play in a game at RockCon 1999. That won me over to those rules as I had a lot of fun playing that game. So Stargrunt 11 went by the wayside and I have been steadily playing BG, even though there are things about BG I find somewhat odd. nose interested in the Stargrunt 11 system can read about it in the SF section of The Miniatures Page website.
BG is a detail oriented game, but valiantly tries to keep the amount of detail in control. It uses a lot, repeat, a lot of die rolls. Various little tricks such as using several differently colored dice rolled at once rather than rolling 1 die repeatedly can be used to speed things up, but rolling all those dice and looking up the results can still slow things down. My feeling is the largest forces that can be readily used by 2-4 players in a 3-4 hour game is 1 platoon per side with no more than 5 vehicles. The system can be used for an all tank game, but is more designed with infantry combat in mind.
So I've been buying and painting 20 mm figures and vehicles (1/72, 1/76, and HO figures/kits). When I started I thought I would at last be free of obviously different sized figures all being designated as the same scale. We've all seen how one company's 15 mm figures can be different in scale and heft than the 15 mm figures from another company. I figured that all in2 figures would be to the same scale and heft as 1/72 is a precise ratio rather than the imprecise label of "20 mm" (is this the height from bottom of shoe to top of head, or maybe it's to the eyes?). Lo and behold I found that there can be an appreciable difference between models of the same figure/vehicle when made by different companies, even when designated as being 1/72 scale. And then there is the definite difference between im, 1/76, and HO as you can clearly see by getting an example of a Sherman tank in each scale and sitting them side by side. I decided it's OK to mix these various scales as long as all the vehicles of a particular type are of the same scale and by the same company (e.g., all Panzer I's would be Fujimi 1/76 scale models while all Panzer II's could be ESCI/ERTL 1/72 scale models).
Another big activity with me in the last year has been selling and buying wargame stuff via eBay. I've promised Hal on article on my experiences. I can tell you that painted miniatures are often available and this may be a reason why painted figures seemed to have dried up at convention flea markets.
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© Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum
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