I just received some 28mm ICON WWII German and Russian figures and it has me thinking as to organization for this period. I have them mounted on single stands, except for machine gun and mortar teams which are mounted in teams (two or three figures). If I had to do it over again, I guess I would mount the figures three to a stand for ease of movement because, of course, I have managed to accumulate more than just a "skirmish" level type of approach. I have heard some gamers using RAPID FIRE for 25/28mm WWII gaming; this system uses, I believe, three-figure stands and attempts to recreate WWII warfare at the battalion level. I would assume that the vast majority of 25/28mm WWII gamers are approaching it more from a "skirmish" level but would be interested in hearing how MWANers are doing it.
I recently went through my unpainted lead and identified quite a few items which I put up for sale on BARTERTOWN and was very surprised how quickly everything was done with! I can highly recommend this site for those interested in selling, or purchasing, hobby items. Even though MWAN features the Sutler's Wagon, if you have a computer, columns in wargaming publications, such as the Sutler's Wagon, are things of the past if you have BARTERTOWN available. Within minutes of posting ads, I would have responses from potential buyers! Amazing!
Chris Hahn's excellent series on his ECW campaign in MWAN has me thinking of a solo campaign. I am entertaining the idea of jotting down my thoughts from the very beginning for MWAN. I think it might be interesting to see how a campaign system is developed from the time one first starts thinking of it. I went through my "Wargames Campaigns" file - I save any wargames articles related to campaigns - and picked out a number to read and study. There are two areas of campaigns that I have some difficulty with at present: determining how to handle multiple "armies" of the same side with a limited number of wargames figures. What I mean is if you have two or three armies from the same country in the field and some garrison troops as well, how do you handle it when you don't have the same number of wargames units? I know the standard answer is that you don't need to have unit for unit, however, there are bound to be situations when two armies merge to form one and then you no longer have enough figures to match the army's strength.
Secondly, I need to do some more reading as to the best way to handle armies contacting each other on the map as to which side has the "field" advantage - who gets to choose the ground under what conditions - and how does one decide how much information one side has about the other. Again, the standard answer, I assume, is that the side who enters the map hex first gets to choose the ground because they have been there longer, and, secondly, you could probably use a chart comparing each side's number of light cavalry to determine how much information one side has about the other. We shall see. I tend to like things "neat and tidy" and that is not always possible.
I would like to thank Father Aelred Glidden for his many years of writing a column for MWAN. He has decided that he longer can continue his column. I have greatly enjoyed his writings over the years as many of you have. His contributions to MWAN have been sizeable and I am appreciative. I met Aelred many years ago at Todd Kershner's convention in Three Rivers, Michigan, where we used to vacation, and enjoyed his company. Thank you, Aelred and stay in touch!
This issue features Rich Barbuto's regular column on solo wargaming and the subject, BUNA, caught my eye as soon as I opened Rich's envelope. My father, who just turned 84, was at Buna as a combat infantryman with the 32nd Infantry Division.
In our hobby, we have seen a huge increase not only in figure availability and quality, but in wargames terrain as well over the last ten years. I am still somewhat surprised that no one has developed a system, like Duke Segfried did with Heritage about twentyfive years ago, of producing resin terrain squares. We have Styrofoam squares readily available, not to mention GEOHEX, but with advancements (at least I assume) in technology, I would have thought someone would have released resin terrain squares. Perhaps it is too expensive as regards mold making and the market is too small to support such an effort. I would think that "hollow" resin or plastic terrain squares would be very attractive to wargamers.
We could terrain them ourselves and they would be very durable. Have you walked through lumber stores, as I have, and looked at the huge plastic hills for outdoor backyard ponds and wonder how you could do the same on your tabletop? Would make a great Indian Northwest Frontier scene if it were a little more subdued, wouldn't it? Is there someone out there who has some experience with resin/plastic molds who could address this question? After seeing Duke's terrain squares, which I think were made from pressed wood probably hardboard - I was very impressed. By the way, Duke's terrain boards, as I've just described, are still being used by him in his games and Tony Adams has produced some for his convention games. The effect is very pleasing to the eye! Years ago when I did my 25mm Sudan Project, I made two foot by two foot terrain squares from double-tempered hardboard by cutting them to size, painting them with a GEO-HEX desert color paint, and dropping "sandbox" sand on the surface to dry with the paint.
Many of the sections were flat but I also added some sculpted styrofoarn hills on to the hardboard. It was exceedingly easy to do because of the desert terrain and looked good. I did have some problems with sand flaking off but I could have semi-resolved this by doing a better job of knocking excess sand off after I let them dry for a week or so. However, storage was a problem and as with any terrain system, I tired of it and looked around for something better. The thing about double-tempered hardboard is that it doesn't warp as easily as singletempered. You can find it very easily in any lumber store for about eight dollars for a four by eight foot piece. I've mentioned previously how this is the material I used for making stands for my 25mm SYW collection. I think I used one-eighth inch thickness for the stands and terrain squares. Of course, the thicker the hardboard, the less likely it is to warp. Although I've gone completely over to metal stands over the years (except for the 25mm SYW), I still like the look of the hardboard stands. I painted the top of the stand GEO-HEX green, dropped static grass on it, scrapped off excess grass from the sides of the stand after it dried, and painted the sides green. Cheap and effective! Oh, I've also used the hardboard to cover the bottom of my figure storage boxes. They are perhaps 15" wide by 22" long and you can purchase them from any discount store now for around five to eight dollars. I debated about purchasing this type of plastic storage box for figure storage because they are tall and because of that, there is a considerable amount of "wasted" space.
However, I stack them three or four high under the wargames table and it works out better than the smaller hard plastic "sweater" boxes which used to be available. For metal stand storage boxes, I lay self-adhesive magnetic strips (which come in a roll) on the hardboard and for storage of non-metal stands, I just use the hardboard as a level foundation - if you don't, your figure bases slide around more than what I want them to.
I'm hoping someone can help me with this. I'm interested in getting some wargame ships, perhaps 1/600th scale, for the English Civil War era, to go along with my ECW 15mm collection in the event that I do a campaign. What manufacturers produce ships from this period in 1/600th or smaller? Would appreciate any assistance you can provide in this area. I have one of Merrimack Miniatures excellent 15mm ships and may get some more but it would be nice to have them in a smaller scale for larger scale sea battles. I'd also be interested in terrain items in the same scale - coastal fortresses, batteries, buildings, etc. I have to check out the TCS line of resin islands as there may be something I could use. They are probably too small to actually be used as "islands" in 1/600th scale, but they could serve, I would think, as "shallow water" areas. If you have any idea as to simple rules systems for sea combat, I'd love to hear about that as well. Thanks!
Every once in awhile lately I have been accessing E-Bay and running a book search for "Thirty Years War" or "Seven Years War", etc. I managed to picked up a copy of Samuel Gardinder's EPOCH OF THE THIRTY YEARS WAR (127 years old!) for around $11.00 including postage. I haven't received it as of yet, but am greatly looking forward to it. I love his four volume set of the English Civil War and wasn't aware that he wrote a book on the TYW. When I first started doing this, I didn't think I stood a chance of placing a winning bid, after all, a lot of people use E-Bay; however, in this instance, I was only one of two bidders. Just do a search for E-Bay to get to the site and enter what you are looking for in EBay's search engine. Very useful!
I hear from a number of MWANers who are in my age range (55) and don't see as well as they used to as regards figure painting. I had a followup visit with the surgeon who did my eye surgeries and related to him how I have great difficulty reading and painting, even with a new prescription. He suggested that I try "reading glasses" - the type you can purchase from drug stores or discount stores at very inexpensive prices. I am quite anxious to try this as when you think of it, wouldn't they accomplish the same purpose as a magnifying glass when you are painting? I have a lighted magnifying glass mounted on my painting table and find that it (1) gets in the way of my head, and (2) gives me depth perception problems when attempting to bring the paint brush to the surface of the figure. I know some people use hobby magnifying glasses which you wear - the type jewelers wear - do you still experience depth perception problems with this approach? Does anyone have any other suggestions? I would really enjoy doing some painting again!
With the recent downturn in our nation's economy, I want to ensure that any MWANer who wishes to continue his subscription, but finds himself strapped to do so, knows that he can have a free year's subscription. I feel very strongly that I would never want someone who enjoys MWAN to give it up for financial reasons. Life is too short and our hobby is too small not to support each other. Because of the regular expenses of printing, postage, and supplies, I have to ensure that MWAN operates in the red, however, the amount of red it operates in is not, fortunately, of importance. Don't think for a moment that I don't obtain benefit from such an approach to publishing. The thoughtful correspondence and many acts of kindness from countless MWANers over the years serve to provide me with a sense that we are doing something special here that I have luckily stumbled upon and have been fortunate enough to do for twenty years. How many people can say that?
Thanks to you, I have been a very fortunate man to have had a "piece" of my life where I can consistently be the kind of person I want to be and enjoy the friendship of many people who share my interests. You just can't put a price tag on that type of satisfaction. Sappy stuff, uh, but true in my mind.
I've long terrained my figures and figure bases with "static grass" because it is fast and effective. However, I recently have been trying Woodland Scenics and have been pleased with the effect thus far. It is just as fast sprinkle it on after I paint the stand and gives a slightly different look. I wonder if it will adhere to the base as well as static grass does with use.
The response to last issue's question was fairly good. I think I have about four lengthy and interesting responses thus far and they will be run in this issue. Maybe we'll try this again if I can think of an interesting subject matter. How about WWII gaming? Right now we have a growing variety of scales: 5/6mm, 10/12mm, 15mm, 20mm, and 25/28mm. With the recent growth of 25/28mm in this period, it brings up the question of how do you game it? The figure size itself lends itself perfectly to "skirmish" type gaming but if "history" means anything, we will find the figures and vehicles so appealing that we will "collect" far more than one can handle in a skirmish game. When we do this, there is a strong tendency to want to put all of our toys out on the table. This results in a distortion of sorts in that we are attempting to play a skirmish game with too many figures. This brings about a search for a set of rules allowing us to use lots of singly mounted figures - just what we did with THE SWORD AND THE FLAME!
When I made the plunge into WWII, it was in 20mm. Now with more 10/12mm and 15mm WWII lines out, people have been selling off their 20mm armies to go to the smaller scale, probably, I suppose, because of weapon ranges being much longer in WWII and the smaller scales allow us to come closer to what we want to achieve on the wargames table in this regard. The perfect WWII scale, I suppose, remains 5/6mm for this very reason, however, if you are a "true" wargamer, you probably want to see infantry represented on the table top as well as armor and from what I've read, 5/6mm WWII games have a tendency to have lots of armor and very little infantry. I would think the high quality of 5/6mm infantry such as what GHQ produces would reverse that trend a bit but I don't think it has very much.
Years ago when I was reading Gene McCoy's WARGAMES DIGEST, I would drool over the pictures of 1/285 scale armor and terrain boards and visualized German and Russian vehicles traveling over beautiful terrain squares. Remember those pictures?
Although I have a large collection of 25/28mm WWII figures, vehicles, and terrain, I am still interested in the 15mm scale having gotten rid of my 20mm WWII collection. MWANer Bill Widrick swears by the 10/12mm WWII scale and I have to admit this sounds appealing because you can get more on the tabletop. However, I guess I am swayed by what the infantry look like. Vehicles look great, to me, in any scale - even the 2mm produced by IRREGULAR MINIATURES! However, what moves me is what the infantry looks like and because of that, 15mm would be my choice.
What I would really like to do is a 15mm WWII winter period. Remember the article in WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED about the German assault on a Russian held town? They used the 15mm Hovels Russian buildings for a 20mm game and it looked great! There were trenches in front of the town and the snow looked very realistic. There are some winter pictures in the RAPID FIRE rules which are very effective. Has anyone ever done effective snow? The problem is, I think, that this has to be a one-off type of approach where the terrain is limited only to that particular period or scenario. A perfect club project for a convention probably.
Speaking of RAPID FIRE, MWANer Len Brewer uses these rules for his 20mm WWII gaming and I have all of the booklets which I find very interesting and visually appealing! Knowing very little about the organizations for WWII, I really like the approach they, as well as a number of other WWII rules sets such as COMMAND DECISION and BATTLEFRONT, use in laying out organization for the various types of units. Makes it very easy to put together forces! Len is going to be helping me decide how to put together a 15mm WWII project sometime this year and I'll mention it in MWAN as we move along on this project.
Perhaps more than any other period, it seems as though WWII really lends itself to the black priming method. Len Brewer tells me he paints up his 20mm WWII figures very quickly and I can attest to the outcome. Very nice indeed.
My goal in 25/28mm WWII gaming is to have a scenario with a Russian factory and outlying buildings, probably all destroyed. The movie STALINGRAD has a great section on this very subject.
Received several "winter sale" catalogs from Walthers Terminal Hobby Shop, PO Box 3039, Milwaukee, WI 53201-3039. In the HO building section, they have lots of "factory" and "town" buildings and it would seem as though at least some of them would work well for 20mm WWII buildings. For example, the Champion Packing Plant kit ($31.98), Miranda's Bananas kit )$29.98), Mills Brothers Limber kit ($35.98), Bailey Savings & Loan ($19.98) - looks great for a government type European building, Hardwood Furniture Company ($29.98), wood fencing ($8.49) - three 15" sections, Goldenflame Fuel Company ($39.98), brick sheets in light or dark red, cream, ($8.49), Heritage Furniture Background kit ($22.98) - could be used as a Russian four story building as could M.T. Arms Hotel ($17.98) a four story building, Factory Annex ($22.98), Old Stone Crushing plant ($19.98), and Brewery ($34.98). They also have a great looking HO scale castle (Falkenstein kit for $49.98)! They also have Rocco and Trident (German panzers) which look very good!
Military Miniature Painting (naibodger@hotmail.com) sent along a color listing of his Napoleonic Wars (1804-15) French and British (Waterloo) painted figures - Ian Bodger uses C. Stadden and Tradition 25mm metal figures; prices are $3.00/foot and $5.00/cavalry. A Catalog is $5.00. Check them out on www.maineline.net/~ibodger.
Australian readers wanting to obtain ESSEX figures can do so by contacting Essex Miniatures Australia, 22 Sydney Road, Hornsby Heights, NSW 2077 Australia (Phone: 02-9477-6896). You probably know that Britannia Miniatures, 77 Church St., Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 1LG, UK are available from Combined Arms Inc., PO Box 2057, Warminster, PA 18974 (www.combined armsinc.com phone: 215-443-7743). They have greatly been expanding their 20mm Vietnam line. They also just released a 28mm S.W.A.T. line.
Renegade Miniatures, 15 Treesdale Close, Paigton, Devon, TQ3 3QB, UK (e-mail: info@renegademiniatures.co.uk) is a new company which has thus far released lines of 25mm ACW and ECW.
Scheltrum Miniatures, PO Box 10231, Aberdeen, AB12 3CC has a line of 25mm resin terrain and ships as well 25mm items for 1890's semi-fantasy gaming (Ether Ship, tunneling machine, steam tank, assault vehicle, naval gun, weapons carriage, aerial torpedo destroyer, steam powered armored stagecoach, and more).
West Wind Productions (westwindproductions.co.uk), available in the USA from OLD GLORY, Box 20, Calumet, PA 15621 (Phone: 724-423-3580) has released the first of their Gothic Horror lines -- Jack the Ripper, The Headless Horseman, and Vampire Wars Rules. MWANer Stephen Lawrence has been writing rules for this interesting line and recommending figures for the various subjects within individual lines. Stephen informed me that you can find many figures within these lines which you can use for your historical wargaming. Also, they are releasing more 28mm WWII figures including mortar teams, and German Volksturumm. What is needed, in my opinion, in the 28mm WWII area, is partisans - Id like to see some Russian partisans!
Perry Miniatures, PO Box 6512, Nottingham, NG7 IUJ, UK have released 28mm Napoleonic Brunswick foot, horse, and artillery, as well as their 28mm ECW. They plan on releasing an AWI figure line as well; I believe they had started releasing AWI figures when they were working for THE FOUNDRY.
Mark Copplestone, designer for THE FOUNDRY, has apparently started his own company --Copplestone Castings, PO Box 9298, Birmingham, B14 7PN, UK (www.gisby.org/copplestgne.htm) for more of his excellent "Darkest Africa" 28mm line. He also offers "Future Wars" 28mm figures.
Outpost Wargame Services, The Coach House, 2 East Rossclhu Drive, Helensburgh, Scotland G84 7ST (www.outpostgameservices.co.uk) has released 25mm Border Reivers and 15mm Dark Age Picts and expanded their 20mm Korean War line. Also available from Brookhurst Hobbies (see their ad in this issue).
Marbeth Designs, 26 The Park Pale, Turbury, Burton on Trent, Staffs, DE13 9LB, UK, has released a really nice looking 25mm North German Barn Ruin. I think they are also available from Brookhurst.
Bicorne Miniatures, 44 Champion Rd., Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3TQ, UK (www.bicorne.co.uk) has released a line of 28mm ECW; everyone is making 28mm ECW now! MWANer J&T Miniatures, 31216 Country Rd 112, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 (www.iandtminiatures.com).
The London War Room, 41 Beverly Hills Loop, Petal, MS 39465 (www.thelondonwarroom.com) is making Richard Houston's Lyzard Grin Colonial figures available again; there are some very nice figures in this line! Vince also specializes in making scratch-built buildings and terrain and does a very nice job. He made me some 15mm English Civil War period hedges some time ago and I really liked them a lot.
Warhammer Historical Wargames Ltd., PO Box 5226, Nottingham, NG7 2WT, UK has released "Warhammer, English Civil War" (15 pounds). Would like to see a copy of this! The rules are by John Stallard, have army lists, painting instructions, eight scenarios, and campaign rules - Sounds good, doesn't it!
Irregular Miniatures, 3 Apollo St., Heslington Rd., York, Y01 5AP, UK has released a 15mm Dark Ages line (www.irregularminiatures.co.uk)
DZ Miniatures, available from The Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Co., 54 Vyse St., Hockley, Birmingham, B18 6HR UK (www.hlbs.co.uk) is a new company producing what they describe as 36-40mm Vietnam figures.
The Miniature Service Center (1386 Portofino Dr., Yuba City, CA 95993) carries the fine 28mm WWII Icon Miniatures and they have released an 88mm Flak gun with three crew ($24) as well as US paratroopers. They are also offering platoons for this period. For the Zulu War, a British 71b gun with crew ($18.50) is available. They carry a number of UK imports including Redoubt, Calpe Miniatures (25mm Prussian Napoleonics), Abbott Miniatures, Front Rank, Bushi & Battlegroup, Village Green, P.M.C., and Banasik Flags. Doug also has a set of skirmish rules for 20-25mm WWII called "SCREAMING GI" by Terry Matheny ($25). Has anyone tried these rules; if so, I'd like to hear from you as to what you think of them. I'm going to have to get one of the ICON German 88mm flak guns for my WWII project! The Miniature Service Center has a new web site: www.miniatureser-vicecenter.com, If nothing else, check out the listings for VILLAGE GREEN as they carry a great many items we have use for on our tabletops!
I've collected quite a large number of 28mm Spanish Civil War figures and vehicles from FAA and have some units painted up as Rumanians for WWII Eastern Front. My intention was to use them for double duty on the Eastern Front and then in Spain. FAA has been sold, as reported in MWAN previously, however, the intention was to continue the 28mm Spanish Civil War line. I am hopeful this will happen as the line is already quite expansive and well done. I've been picking up 25mm Peninsular style buildings and accessories (OLD GLORY's pirate buildings are just great for this!) for the period.
In a recent telephone conversation with Steve of BATTLE HONORS/OLD GLORY, 300 Watson St., Coopersville, MI 49404 (616-837-7045; e-mail: Sales@oldqlory15s.com; website: www.oldglory15s.com) he mentioned they are expanding their 25mm WWII line to include Finns and Russians for the "Winter War" as well as Eastern Front Italians and much more. I'm sure looking forward to these releases. He said the Finns will be available in both "Winter" gear and "summer" gear packs. I assume the Finns could be used for the German invasion of Russia. Sounds very good, doesn't it! Id like to add that they offer an "odd-ball" which many people don't know about - 25mm 1859/66 Austrians, 1866 Saxons, and 1859/70 French. I've seen the figures and they are good; should match up with the old Foundry Franco-Prussian line. They also offer the Battle Honors 15mm line of Napoleonics, French Revolution, and ACW, as well as the 15mm Rank & File (1853-1877) line and the complete Old Glory 15mm lines of Napoleonics, SYW, Jacobite Rebellion, AWI, ACW, FPW, Colonials, and Ancients. I believe all of these lines are now being produced in pewter and this medium provides a much more sharp figure.
Belle & Blade, 124 Penn Ave., Dover, NJ 07801 (phone: 973-3288488) has an excellent 165 page catalog entitled "War Videos" in VHS and DVD. Check this out for some very interesting movies which you may never have heard of or are looking for!
This reminds me that Clem Clemens recently lent me the Finnish movie "Winter War" - this is a film on the Finnish-Russian War of 1939 (or 1940?). Truly a "brutal" movie; not for family watching. If you get a chance to see it, do so! I would think you could use your Russian Civil War figures for this conflict if you so chose to do so. With Battle Honors/Old Glory releasing their line of 25mm WWII Finns and Russians, you could recreate this period of history. I would think you could probably use WWI Germans in steel helmet for Finns as well.
I saw the movie "Cross of Iron" for sale in a major video store at the mall (can't remember the name of the store for the life of me!) for $29.95. This is by far the best WWII movie ever made.
International Historic Films, PO Box 29035, Chicago, IL 60629 (phone: 773-927-2900) has a nice catalog of military, political and social history films of the 20th century.
Elite Miniatures, 26 Bowlease Gardens, Bessacarr, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN4 6AP, UK (Phone: 01302 530038; e-mail: elitemins@u.genic.co.uk; web site: www.eliteminiatures.co.uk) sent along a nicely done catalog encompassing 25mm Napoleonics and a smaller section of SYW and Ancients. I have some of their horse and artillery in my SYW collection and they are very nice indeed! They announce they will only be available from the UK at this time.
Got this off the internet: Venexia Miniatures, Via Dei Geisi, 15 - 36050 Sovizzo (VI), Italy (venexiaminiatures@)Iibero.i ) has a new 15mm range of late XVII Century European armies (1667-1697). There are 34 packs listed including foot, horse, and artillery. Also listed are British, French, and Savoyard flags. I have heard these are 17mm figures in size. This is an interesting period as pikes were still in use to some degree but the musketeer was making his worth known more and more.
Omega Games, PO Box 21911 Valrico, FL., 33595 (OMEGAGAMES@aol.com) sent along a catalog listing their board game products. Of interest was EASTERN FRONT SOLITAIRE ($34.95).... recreates Germany's campaign against Russla during WWII. The popular solitaire game system 15 easy to play and offers a realistic challenge. Playing pleces feature German army group and panzer group headquarters, infantry armies and panzer corps. All components of the game have been completely redesigned. Includes new optional rules and Soviet playing pleces with hi5torical designations. "
Caliver Books, 816-818 London Rd., Leigh on Sea, Essex, SS9 3NH, UK (www.caliverbooks.com) sent their "Age of Reason and Napoleonic Wars" catalog of books - lots of interesting titles. If you don't already know this, they have an extensive listing of ECW materials as well as many other historical periods. They also offer many magazines and historical movies.
"Mr. GAJO" (George Johnson), of GAJO Enterprises, 930 Mellish Drive, Lapeer, MI 48446 (phone: 810-664 5655) sent a listing of his painted wargames figures in 15mm and 25mm. You can even purchase them painted, grassed and on metal bases. George is one of the true "Gentlemen" of the hobby - his honesty is legendary! Check him out at www.magweb.com/mallatmw/mamgajo.htm. If you are looking for painted units/armies, this is the place to go!
Wargames, Box 278, Route 40 East, Triadelphia, WV 26059-0278 (www.speartorifle.com) sent a listing of 25mm The Army of Henry VIII and Flodden 1513 - command, foot, dead, accessories, artillery, Highlanders, and mounted Border Reivers (1590-1600). They also carry the Corvus Belli Miniatures in 15mm consisting of Celts, Early Imperial Romans, and Early Imperial Romans. Check out their Essex 15mm equipment line - I've found many items for a variety of periods within their listings. Highly recommended and very nice to deal with!
John Weaver of Wodensfield Miniatures, 6 Swallowfields Drive, Cannock, Staffordshire, WS12 5UK, informs me that his 20mm (1/72nd scale) of American Civil War and Seven Years War French is still available. I have many of his infantry in my 20mm ACW collection. You may want to check out his mounted officers and Generals (four packs; one of officers and three of personalities: Lee/Major Taylor; Stuart and Sweeney; and Longstreet and Jackson) as they are very good and it is difficult to find mounted generals in this scale. The SYW French consist of regimental and company command and infantry with shouldered musket, march attack, and advancing, and an interesting pack of "extras" consisting of falling wounded, hatless, etc. Mr. Weaver hopes to expand both of these lines in the future.
I'm getting more e-mails from manufacturers regarding new releases and have been putting them in the "Letters" column. However, I am thinking of starting a new column for such information. I would like to limit it to MWAN advertisers and entitle it something like "News from MWAN Advertisers" - if you have information you'd like to get out to MWANers, send me an e-mail. Please try to keep it brief; I don't want a complete listing of everything you have in a new release or a line. If you can keep it to 50-100 words or so, that would be great. We could try this and see how it works.
We are drawing close to MWAN #118 (July-August 2002) which will denote twenty years of publishing seems very hard to believe that so much time has transpired. If you'd like to submit something special for that issue, please consider doing so. You have a little time to think about it but I would need any submissions for this issue by the middle of April.
Please remember that I could definitely use some articles, rules sets, letters, reviews of products, or whatever. This issue exhausted my supply of material. I receive many letters from readers who proclaim that the "Letters" section is their favorite part of MWAN so drop me an e-mail on what you are doing in the hobby if you don't feel up to doing an article at this time. I also need more color photos for the covers so please consider this as well. I remind you to respond to the question posed in this issue.
A last point - if you are a serving member of the armed forces and receive a resubscription notice, please send it back with a statement that you are in the armed forces so I don't charge you for a subscription. I don't always know who falls into this category unless you let me know.
See you next issue! Thanks for your support of MWAN! - Hal (Halmwan@hotmail.com)
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© Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum
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