By the time you are reading this, the holidays will probably be fading into memory, but for me it's more than a week before Thanksgiving. I have just hung up the phone from making plans to attend the annual Christmas Party at the Old Toy Soldier Home in Vista, California. Although devoted primarily to collectors of antique and new 54mm metal toy soldiers, the shop has lots of Ospreys, books on the hobby and spectacular dioramic displays. They also go full tilt with refreshments, food and drink galore. Everything from beer and wine to Christmas cookies, cheeses, sandwiches and more. The splendid repast is accompanied by an uniformed Scottish bagpiper and lots of special discounts on individual figures and sets. It's a nice way to spend a few hours on a pre-holiday Saturday and pick up some special gifts for your very best wargaming friends. They also supply gift hint cards, so you can note the descriptions and prices of those items you want for a Christmas gift and pass them along to the better half. I have to say playing with all those toys really gets you into the spirit. I have also been getting into the holiday mood by doing some reading of boy's books. Did you guess that I revert to my childhood rapidly as Christmas approaches? Have my nose into Chums Boys Annual 1930-31 and am simultaneously reading The Great Aeroplane: a Thrilling Tale of Adventure by F.S. Brereton. These are in the tradition of the G.H. Henty boy's stories, like The Dash for Khartoum, wherein plucky lads command troops of cavalry, fly airships at fantastic speeds of up to 100 miles an hour, escape capture, vanquish villains, save entire countries and in some cases the entire universe. These are somewhat addicting and amazing at the same time, as they pull no punches when it comes to demanding literacy of the reader. They surely pull you into a different world of high adventure. Real escape literature for sure. Holiday Game We set up a holiday game on Sunday afternoon, which will be my first in a long time, featuring my new desert Geo-Hex, colonial steamer and two dhows. Even purloined a crocodile from my 3 year old to harass any troops unfortunate enough to land on his section of the shoreline. We should begin play this Sunday using TS&TF rules. The scenario is titled: TRAVESTY ON THE DUKDUK and goes something like this. An archaeological expedition, headed by Sir Wilbur Gravesend, has discovered a fabulous treasure at their dig. Deep in the interior of Kaffarstan, the camp is situated near a plateau at the terrninus of two roads connected at the dig, then separating to travel around another plateau until they converge again at Point Travesty station on the Dukduk river. The broken walls of the ruins about the archeological site offer some protection from attack. A section of Sikh infantry commanded by Subdar Jellybad Aphoo is there to guard the civilians. There are also 10 explorers and womenfolk who are packing heat and thus able to augment a defense. The river station is lightly defended by a section of Sudanese and a Krupp gun, the latter situated above the station (on my new Mountainscape) with a field of fire commanding Travesty Landing. A heliograph unit allows communication with the site and the steamers that ply the river. Captain Charles Oldenphart commanding. Down river, General Sir William Pennyfarthing (inventor of the vehicle bearing his name) has command of a stalwart force of British troops; including: a section of Sikhs, Alf company 21st infantry, Jock company 82nd Highlanders, Bertie company 60th Rifles and a screw gun with three crewmen. He also has under command a steamer with 3 crew, capable of transporting 30-40 infantry. Alas, news of the treasure has not escaped the notice of Major Colin O'Trouble, former French Foreign Legion officer and commander of a most unholy alliance composed of renegade deserters from the FFL, Belgian askaris, Egyptian infantry, German seebattalion, Maxmillian's infantry - plus Ansar, Pathan and Fuzzy Wuzzy tribesmen, two dhows, a couple of machine guns and some artillery. Yikes! After reading news of the discovery of the treasure from the inside of a loincloth smuggled from the camp by a disgruntled (and somewhat smelly) digger, trouble (after having the digger beheaded) was determined to strike hard and claim the treasure as his own. At the very same instant, Pennyfarthing received a relayed heliograph message from Point Travesty, informing him of the peril. Pennyfarthing is determined to save the day with his River Column. However, as there is no landing on the Dukduk, except at Point Travesty, Pennyfarthing is faced with a decision. To send a rescue party down river via steamer or overland (rough going all the way) - or both. Oldenphart is also faced with a decision - to remain deployed as is, to go to the relief of the archeological party or to order the Sikhs to bring the explorers and treasure to Point Travesty on the Dukduk. That's where we are at the moment. Sounds like a jolly good afternoon of fun, eh what? As you have no doubt deduced, I decided to use all the colonial period figures I had painted. In fact, the only troops who stayed in their drawer were the Turkish cavalry. One has to know when to stop. Next time, I'll send the description of how events actually developed along with a map. Selling Off the Surplus I have finally reached the stage where I am comfortable with the idea of selling up my surpluses. My library is spilling over, my metal parts boxes are too heavy with lead to lift and I have enough terrain and buildings to fill a 200-foot table. Add to that, the fact I am getting older. Just can't see those 15s very well anymore - even with the aid of a magnifier. So, I am content to hang on to the Napoleonic French and Austrians who are completed - and let the rest go. Thousands upon thousands of unpainted figures all neatly and meticulously labeled: OG FRN INF GTCTS CHG and BH RUS GD ADV. Box after box, drawer after drawer, carton after carton. I will no doubt let go of my entire painted 15mm ACW collection too. And the unpainted 15mm SYW project (among others) that didn't get off the ground. There are at least 20 two-foot terrain squares from Total System Scenics. Scores of buildings, including a complete Peninsular Spanish Village, redoubts, DBA camps, bridges, trees and lichen. The library is burgeoning too, with everything from historical tomes, rare out-of-print Ospreys, Rawkins uniform guides, uniform prints, rules sets, magazines and more. This is a most difficult project in itself, for (as I begin counting) I also begin wool gathering. I find a uniform guide for the Italian army. Then I wonder if I still have the figures. Then I find them, but they are partially painted. Maybe I should finish them. I get out some paint and begin to apply the finishing touches. An hour goes by before I realize that I have added nothing to my list of stuff for sale. The same lack of discipline that helped me arrive in this overstocked state is now conspiring to keep me that way. The funny part is that once I inventory and sell all the surplus, I will still have more lead left than I can ever paint, more figures than I have room to display and more books than I can possibly read. Darkest Africa, China, the Indian Mutiny, the Northwest Frontier, the FP and Crimean and Silch War figures. I also have a ton of Napoleonic lead in 28mm. While I really can't rationalize having Napoleonics in two sizes, I'm kind of excited about trying Mark Johnson's Bonaparte rules set with 24 figure battalions. The painting should be good fun. I have dumped almost all of my old paint (in some cases it dried up and dumped me). I'm now into the Vadun meets Vallejo era. I really like this new acrylic paint and can honestly recommend it. They have several starter sets so you can try the system without totally committing yourself. The stuff dries dead flat and there are so many shades you'll never have to mix another color again, unless you want to. My latest foray at the painting table is yet another reclamation effort. I bought eight painted "Egyptian" 28mm Foundry cavalry from e-bay. The picture was a little fuzzy, but I could see wire lances, white coats and red fezzes. What could go wrong? Well, the figures benefited mightily from the indistinct photo. They were badly painted and chipped, but that wasn't all. They were actually Crimean Turks. I figured I'd repaint them and looked up some uniform information in the foundry catalog. BTW, this is an excellent resource for basic painting guides and historical information. Anyway, I fashioned foil lance pennants, sprayed the whole mess with black primer and started flailing away with the paintbrush. Now, I have a nice unit of blueclad lancers, who are authentic, although not quite what I had in mind. Wargamer's Newsletters Speaking of e-bay, I was surfing through the offerings a while back and happened upon a baker's dozen of Donald Featherstone's Wargamer's Newsletters from 1964-1965. I bid and won and within a short time, I was unwrapping the package and settling back lor a delightful read of articles by Tony Bath, Pat Condray, Charles Grant and the Donald himself, among others. I think the first thing that caught my attention were the photographs. Not for the subject matter or personalities involved (imagine a shot of Fletcher Pratt hard at work on a ship model), but for the fact that all the gamers (even in crowd shots) were wearing coats and ties. When you think about all the offensive tee shirts, Nazi uniforms, butt cracks and sweat perfume that come free at almost any wargames gathering - well, the good old days look even better. But don't assume there were no controversies then. The pages literally scream with arguments and thinly veiled sarcasm. The differences are in the subject matter. They were debating the effectiveness of cavalry in line or the relative merits of flats versus rounds. In fact, one fellow put forth the notion that wargamers who didn't convert figures weren't really in the hobby at all. Today's heated discussions seem to revolve on who's profiteering from HMGS (thanks for editing out all such dither, Hal). I also found an interesting paradox. Clubs were much promoted as a way of combining interests and pooling resources. A group could share facilities, references, terrain, books and rule sets. However, when clubs began buying only one copy of the Newsletter for all, the economic vitality of the publication was threatened. IMHO, I think there's a parallel these days with magazines simultaneously publishing in print and on the web. As I looked over these old issues, it was easy to see that these magazines were actually a lifeline, possibly the only venue where news of new products, rules ideas and battle reports made their gentlemanly way to a far flung and dedicated group of readers. The same thing only MWAN does today. That's why we all like it so much. Let's pause here while Hal takes a muchdeserved bow. Which is as good as anywhere to conclude this issue's ramblings. Back to MWAN #115 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 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