From Mike Reese I have jumped, yes, jumped is the word. Jumped back into skirmish WW2 gaming which is where I started, really, back in 1962. Went out and purchased a ton of figures - Easy Eight, Battle Honors, Icon and some I can't identify. I have concentrated on the Western Front, late war, with German and U.S. Army stuff. I have picked up both a lot of 1/48 model kits and 1/50 Solido armor and 1/43 softskins. The models I am either finding on web stores or getting on Ebay. Solido models come from CR GRACE at http://www.crcirace.com. He sells them very reasonably, averaging about $19.00 a model for the Solido and Verem 1/50 models, including postage. Shermans have turned out to be a good buy as I am lend leasing them to both the Soviet players in our group and the British. I also think I can convert the turrets to 17 pdr Fireflys. I have extra turrets as I have converted two, and am working on converting two more, of my Solido 75mm Shermans to 76mm Shermans. Rule set we are using i's Battleground WW2. Reminds me of TRACTICS. I have also played using the Colby Irregulars' WWII set at some of the local cons and at DRUMS ALONG THE MAUMEE in Toledo. The Irregulars came out with TERRAN WARS 2275 years ago, and the WWII are a modification of the same system. It is fast and easy - bloody is probably a good description - and quite fun. However, it is limited to infantry right now. Battleground WW2 (BG for short) is pretty detailed but not real hard to run, at least the basics, as long as you remember this is skirmish and not a company/battalion shoot out. The armor rules are very good. We have run several games and I will be doing one at the upcoming WINTERCON next weekend. There is also a WWII set of Warhammer 40k on the web. They have a Yahoo group too. Warhammer WW2 is what I think it is called. Try to find a set of BREW UP by Leon Tucker. These are simple but pretty good. Problem is they are long out of print. From Sam Mustafa On the "Foundry Experiment" vs. the "Old Glory Experiment..." I use both lines of figures. Old Glory provides my line infantry, artillery gunners, etc. For the much more expensive, and usually cleaner Foundry (and other fine ranges, like Front Rank) figures, I buy only "elite" units like Guard, officers, etc. I'd buy more Foundry figures, and swallow the prices, if their service wasn't so bloody awful. They never respond to emails, and they can't seem to send me what I've ordered. I'm about ready to give up on them. From Ed Youngstrom I have been enjoying MWAN since around 1998 when a fellow member of the Lone Star Historical Miniatures (LSHM) club in San Antonio brought several back issues to the group and gave them away to anyone interested. I picked up a couple, and my miniatures gaming has never been the same. One of the issues was #86, which had two very important articles in the changing of my interests. Up until then, my wargaming had been firmly in two camps: Napoleonics and DBA. So what was in #86 that changed things for me? First, there was Brian Carroll's "Birth of a Notion" article where he described his "big battalions" Marlburian project. The combination of studying the period, planning and building big battalions, how he put the project together, in fact the whole article just fascinated me. It still does; whenever I want to rekindle the gaming flame, I reread it again. The other article was Charles Sharp's "Furious Reason" rules for 18 th century warfare, Together, these two set me off on a number of new and exciting wargaming directions. My wargaming history until then is as follows: a military history instructor at the Air Force Academy introduced me to Napoleonic miniatures during my freshman year. (By the way, now he is a full colonel and head of the Department of History). He used 25mm figures and George Nafziger's old rule set, Pas de Charge. Prior to that, I had only played board wargames and fantasy role play. I couldn't afford 25mm, so I went with 15mm. At the time, as far as I knew, that meant Minifigs. I still have some of those early attempts at painting, as I was trying to recreate Thielmann's Prussian III Corps of the Waterloo campaign using Empire III. That stage didn't last long, as I moved around and found no opponents. Miniatures languished, although I did find Napoleon's Battles and raised a small French and Westphalian force. Much later, in 1995, I saw an ad for the Gulf Wars convention in Houston and decided to attend. There I met the group from San Antonio, LSHM, which hurtled me back into gaming. In San Antonio I played a number of games with the group, including DBM, DBA, Hostile Aircraft, and a few others. But I really wanted to play Napoleonics. The group tried several sets, but finally settled on Le Petite Empereur. LPE is a quick-play, DBA-style game and it caught on fast. About a dozen players raised armies, and most Thursdays there were games, including several times when two or three LPE armies fought on a side. I was in wargame heaven. As our game store meeting place (Frontier Games) was closing down, I picked up a copy of DBA, with the intention of using the campaign rules to run an LPE campaign. This didn't happen, but within weeks I was hooked on DBA itself. This interest continues until now, and I was consumed in 2000/2001 waiting for and then getting version 2.0. LPE was fun, but we burnt out on it, essentially running out of options to make it interesting. I still think the Morale Clock system, although not perfect, made for a wonderful game. The group wandered on to other games and eras, but except for a short dabble with Napoleonic Principles of War, the Napoleonics went back onto the shelves. It was about then that Steve Leopard gave away his old issues of - MWAN. The articles in #86 soon led me down a new track for me: the 18th century. I started with 15mm, and even ran a trial Furious Reason game at the new game store location of LSHM. But I didn't really understand the rules and everyone was pretty disappointed. At that point, Steve and another old hand, Mark Reed, produced their quick-play Seven Years War rules. These have the quaint and never-to-be-forgotten name of "SYW Rules." Lots of dice rolling, stand elimination, march moves, and a whole lot of fun. Mark, Steve, you guys really should think about sending them to Hal! Anyway, those rules together with the megalomania induced by MWAN started me to putting together a 25mm project of the SYW. I mentioned it in a letter to you published back in MWAN 101. Units are battalions (24 men) and squadrons (6 troopers), with two-gun artillery batteries with limbers. Very similar to your SYW project as outlined in MWAN 87. Currently I am closing in on finishing my base Prussian force: 16 battalions, 30 squadrons, and 2 batteries. My Austrians are getting started, but have a long way to go to reach the required size to outnumber the Prussians. And along the way I diverted myself long enough to pick up a French force of 4 battalions, 4 squadrons, 2 guns, and a like-size English force. Of course I have had many distractions along the way. I picked up some of Pat Condray's 15mm Marlburian figures, then quickly switched to Tom Dye's new 3rd generation Minifigs. And since we were using the Leopard/Reed rules in San Antonio, I have been collecting various Essex/Old Glory/Minifigs to play SYW in 15mm too. And like I said, I went kind of nuts over DBA for a while, now having double-DBA armies of Polybian Romans, Later Carthaginians, Numidians, Gauls, Ancient Spanish, Syracusans, and Italiot Greeks for a 15mm Second Punic War campaign, plus 25mm Polybians and Carthaginians. In late 1999 I left San Antonio for the east coast (Delaware, to be exact), where a combination of job constraints and family illness has left me collecting a lot but playing very little. There is a group up in the Newark/Wilmington area that I've met and keep telling I'll game again, but every time I pick a date, something comes up. But I did finally get the chance to attend some of the big HMGS-East conventions (Cold Wars 00, 01). I had big plans for attending the 2001 convention of the Seven Years War Association. In particular, I wanted to participate in Bill Protz's big floor battle game. But again Uncle Sam called and I spent that weekend in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. So why the rambling letter? For one, I just received MWAN 115 and finished reading it. That lead me to reread "Birth of a Notion" for the umpteenth time, as well as your article in #87, Steve Dake's similar "Black Hole of Wargaming is Napoleonics" in issue 94, and your Sudan article in the more recent 113. All of which have me laying out troops, planning purchases, perusing catalogs, and once again enjoying the hobby in general. So thanks again for MWAN, Hal -- it's a real inspiration, and I can't wait to find the next issue in my mail box. Editor's Note: Thanks for the interesting letter, Ed; what a hobby, uh!) From Terry Cabak Better see this site http://www.angelfire.com/biz/toysoldier hq/index.html From Michael Hicking of AB Figures Tony Barton has just written a revised Painting Guide for WW2 figures, which includes some pictures. See our website www.abfigures.co.uk From Barry Lowy Also, and maybe I am a bit off here (timewise that is!) but I was going through some old issues and noticed that awhile back a family was asking for money to assist with an autistic child in England. Is that still open? How did that go, if you know? A follow up in the next MWAN would be really nice. ffiditor~; Note: Thanks for emall, Barry, hope you are well' The case you brought up was being done by 7HE FOUNDRY and I haven t heard an~thing else about it) From Ian Bodger got address from Christina Grant at Ultimate Miniatures. I live in the backwoods of Maine and there is no-one to wargame with (no collectors). I am painting figures for sale on the Internet however, so far those from Tradition, USA (25mm). Waterloo is what I figure will sell best, so I am busy painting the British & the French. The figures are $3.00 each for infantry and $5.00 for cavalry. I will send you a free color Catalog. I also have a lot of Revolutionary Americans in hunting shirts(Men from Maine). I would love to hear from you (or any collectors for that matter). From Charlie Clay I received issue 115 today and read in your Editorial that you needed good photos for the cover and material for the next few issues. I've been working on some articles to send to you.. most have been collecting dust on my hard drive. I'll get them complete and sent in. In the meantime, please feel free to visit our website! We have some great gaming photos in our BATTLE GALLERY section that we'd be proud to see on the cover of MWAN. Just right click and save any of the photos you want to use and you're welcome to them. The url for our site is: http://www.geocities.com/pantenn/RBI.htm From vince and Sharron Clyant I have LOADS of figures for you or someone to review. We have never sent you our Viet Nam range for review, and it has expanded greatly. I think I will just list some of the new "things" going on. 1. We are in possession of Richard Houston's casting machine, vulcanizer and all the rest of his casting equipment. Having the vulcanizer will certainly cut down on the cost of mold making. And Vince has gotten to be really good at making molds. 2. We now produce and market Bob Charrette's PARROOM STATION MINIATURES 3. We manufacture and Market: Houston's Maximilian and the Mexican Adventure (1861-1867, Houston's Weapons for Gunboats that Float and Fly, Houston's Lyzard Grin Colonial Line, some of his DERVISHES, his 15mm WWI Artillery (which I have not advertised yet) and various and other items that he had. 4. Vince has sculpted some great "The Americas" Indians. We are starting out with 5 different TUPI Indians from South America, and the APACHE INDIANS from North America. 5. Vince and Herb Gundt are partners in some Victorian Sci-fi items. Two boats that "float and fly" to go with Parroom Martians and Houston's Weapons, and a Martian Walker. Herb designs them and Vince makes the molds and cast them in very light resin and we market them. 6. Vince has expanded his resin line quite a bit. Please visit our E-commerce site at http://www.thelondonwarroom.com From David Clayton Just got my MWAN, Issue # 115, and in perusing it found a bit of incorrect information. In your "What's New..." section, you reviewed the FREIKORP "redesigned SYW cav.", and in addition to mentioning the FREIKORP U.K. info, said that they were carried in the USA by OUTLAND of OHIO, giving their email address. Please note that almost a year ago, Chris at Outland lost the franchise to make or sell the FREIKORP, and that time, we (Historical Collectibles Associates) had picked it up! We've been selling these beautiful little figures ever since, to our many U.S. customers and also to a variety of U.S. dealer/stockists, In short, we are the only licensed and bonafide import distributor of the FREIKORP line in the U.S. I might add that we had recently also added their associated company, A&A and now carry their fine quality 28mm figures also! Please do us a favor and correct the erroneous info and replace it with something like, FREIKORP, Platoon 20 and A&A Miniatures are imported, distributed and retailed in the U.S.A. by Historical Collectibles Associates, P.O. box 574, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA email: dacelan(cbqateway.ne From Timothy Boyd By now, I'll guess that you've gotten my resubscription and my confession that, now being a daily e-mailer, I would write my "annual report" to you via that medium. So, what's happened since the last one, in maybe November of 2000? Hmm. Oh yes--my wife, Carolyn, and I had twins. That was on 11 Oct, 2001. I know that you have daughters, at least one of whom is in college, but I'll bet that you wouldn't have to reach back far into your memory to pull up the image of having a brush in one hand, a baby in the other, and hoping not to confuse the two and paint turnbacks on the baby while looking for a diaper the size of a 25mm figure! Having the two at the same time certainly adds excitement to your life, I must say, and I didn't think that my life was dull before. On the military front, we had the usual good summer of reenactments--the French and Indian War encampment at Ft. Niagara, the War of 1812 battles at Ft. George and Ft. Erie. I took both print film and slides this year for the first time, thinking that, as I now teach 550 students World Civilization from the Paleolithic to WWI each year, I might, second semester, demonstrate just what an 18th or early 19th-century battlefield could look like. The huge, thick clouds of white smoke really say it all, I think, especially when you see a figures sprawled below it, even in pretended death. In wargaming, I spent the summer-early fall of 2001 building up armies of 42mm Balkans Wars figures from Irregular (a wonderful company-the owner/designer, Ian Kay, is one of the best people I know in the hobby). Then, perhaps because I was about to have children myself, I returned to one of my childhood favorites in a childhood scale and began to put together little armies of 54mm plastic figures for a French and Indian War set-up to be played on our living room floor (as were the Balkans Wars, in fact). It's got everything a Marx set would have had and more, since I've been painting the figures to represent period units, something I certainly didn't do when I was 9. Besides figures (French, Native Americans, British regulars and highlanders, rangers, and militia), there is a stockade, a blockhouse, several ships (which are -huge_, in comparison with the usual 25/20/15mm stuff I do), a number of whaleboats and canoes, and I have plans to add a Revolutionary War component to expand the possibilities. My principal supplier of figures is Ron Barzso, a very nice man and one who is interested in such things as -The Last of the Mohicans- and -Treasure Island- and has done some really good work--toy soldiers and not 100 % accurate, always, but, they're meant to be - toys - and they are certainly much more accurate than the Marx figures were. I should be down on my hands and knees like HGW by mid winter, I figure. I'll send you a picture but don't expect the boater and flannels you see on HGW--it's - cold - in Buffalo this year and - very- snowy! I've been glad, by the way, to read the articles by others taken with the idea of wargaming with 54's in several recent issues of _MWAN_. There is something very different about gaming with them-part return in a very visible (not to mention tactile) way to happy childhood, but also something else--perhaps a feeling of freedom from years of painting very tiny, delicate things and creating/using intricate rules? But it's not as though I'm about to abandon my shelves of Frei Korps 15s and Old Glories and WGFs and use my Geo-Hex as insulation in my attic. Rather, I want to see first how what I've learned from the years of the tiny troops can help me in playing with the Big Boys, and then how the Big Boys can help me play more intelligently with the little guys once more. That way, I get twice the fun! And, as I close, speaking of Big Boys, I want to thank you, as I do every year, for acting as a big brother for all of us boys who wargame. By your personal example, as well as in MWAN, you teach us to play nicely and to share our toys with our friends. From Jim French Just thought you might like to know of some new releases in 20mm plastic troops. A Russian company called Orion is producing at the moment Chechen rebels [in poses that are not are not always what we would call politically correct, e.g. a kneeling prisoner being executed] and 18th century English pirates [decidedly influenced by Treasure Island]. They are planning to do Spanish pirates and modern Russian Federal troops in the near future. 24 different Chechen figures with 2 of each pose, and the same with the pirates. Molding is crisp and the detail is very good. A bit pricey from the Hurst [our name for Brookhurst Hobbies] @ $12.50 per box, but Mike Creek surfed the net and found them for considerably less. Also from the Hurst, a company called Conte out of Las Vegas, Nevada, is producing a 1/32nd scale range that will make you want to sell you 25mm stuff. They have 2 boxes each of Vikings and Saxons [look a lot like Normans] and 3 each of Zulus and Brits, and WWII US and Brit Normandy Paratroopers and Normandy Germans. They detail once again is fantastic! The faces on the box of Vikings I bought are individuals! There are 18 figures per box and 2 ofeach pose. From Michael Montemarano MWAN subscriber and my good friend, Wayne Downey, found some great cheap 20 25mm compatible trains at ToysRUs. These are such a good deal that I thought the readership should know about this. If you mention this in an upcoming MWAN, please credit Wayne. I only am the messenger. The set are by a manufacturer called Goldlok. Eachset runs about $9.97 at the local TRU stores. There are three separate sets; but two are very similar. I give the product number, which is found by thebarcode on the side of the box. The twosimilar ones are called the Continental Express (9673) and the Western Express(9668E). They differ in the locomotives, the CE having a more modern lookingone, or less Old West one, depending on your perspective. Each set also has acoal tender, freight car, passenger car, stock car (open top, slat sides) and oil tank car. It has 14 ft of track (7 curves, 2 straights, 2 Y- switches) sufficient to make a 53 in long oval, with a circle inside of it superimposed upon one end of the oval. The straight track is 12 in long, the cars about 6 in. The other set is called the Golden Creek Work Train (9671), and has 14 ft too, 6 curves and 4 straights, instead of 2 and 2 switches, so it only makes a longer oval. It has a locomotive like the WE, and has a low sided stock car, crane car (crane is removable, so this doubles as a flatcar), coal tender and tilting hopper car. I bought 4 sets, 2 expresses and 2 work trains, giving me enough straight track to cross my 12.5 foot table, and enough different cars to do just about anything in the old west, colonial, ACW, WWI & WW2 -- anything with a train. It ran me under $40, and all fits in a 14 gallon Rubbermaid tote. There also is the Patriot Express, with flatcars with a Sherman tank and artillery piece, and godawful green camo on all of the cars, but only on parts thereof. It looks like fungus, but some people like that stuff. The train runs on batteries, and rolls nicely even when it's off. It looks great on the table with Wayne's 25mm OG Boxer Rebellion figures, and he has used it at conventions in running a game. From Terry Gore Could you do me a favor and mention that new web site (below)? We are expanding out into publishing and have a number of rules sets, army list booklets, scenario booklets and historical texts in the research and development phases. SAGA's new website http://www.sagapublishing.com/ From Fildellis Models Fidelis Models is now offering 32 new HO 1/87 scale resin kits from Artitec in Holland. We are also offering 10 new HO 1/87 scale injected plastic kits from MAC Distribution in the Czech Republic: Please visit our website at www.fidelismodels.com for photos and prices. From Rennie Baumstark Had a very bad fall on Dec.22-broken left arm, severely bruised hip and back, mild concussion etc. Started Physical Therapy today and they say I'm doing well! I am Looking for some really good WWII one on one or small unit-Squad Leader type rule sets to use with our 1;48, 1:32, 1:18, GIJOE and Universal Soldier 12 inch figures etc. Any advice as to the best rules for 1 on 1 and small unit actions a la Saving Private Ryan would be appreciated! I Just got a M5 Stuart in GIJOE 12 inch scale (ostensibly for my 3 & 1/2 year old grandson- yeah right) it is absolutely awesome!!!!!! It is huge!! and accurate,WOW! The stuff available now from GI Joe, Universal Soldier and 21 Century toys is unbelievable and much less expensive than the metal kits I was buying before and no assembly or painting required!! ANYONE WHO LIKES ONE ON ONE GAMING OR SQUAD LEVEL GAMING SHOULD LOOK INTO THIS, YOU WONT BELIEVE IT THE QUALITY AND VALUE OF THIS GREAT STUFF!!!! The detail and toughness of these beautiful hard plastic toys is truly amazing and for the most part is withstanding the ONSLAUGHT of my 3 year old darling Sean Patrick Murphy (Himself) who can break almost anything as many of my broken classic 25 mm figures can testify-weep, weep! These toys are available through Amazon.com or their own websites which sell through Amazon. The 1:18 is probably the best value for the money and seems to have the greatest variety of figures and vehicles available. Their Panthers and Shermans are truly amazing for detail, strength etc. You must see these to believe how great they really are. After struggling with metal kits with flash, glue and parts that are not too good a fit, these are a revelation! There are also some great metal vehicles, assembled and painted available from Corgi and others. I think the above are a slightly better value but let me know what you think. Really get tired typing with one hand. Looved the last issue. (Editor2; Note: Hope you have a speedy recover, Rennie!) From Wes Rogers Thanks for the great issue (# 115). As usual after I browse through an edition of MWAN, I feel like playing a wargame, so I'm going to see if I can arrange one here in the next couple of weeks. And if that's not a good reason to subscribe ' what is? My favorite articles were "Slaughter on the Road to Kiev" by Bill Widrick, and the "One if By Land" AWI rules by Will McNally. WWII isn't really my period, but I've always wanted to play in a "human wave attack" type game; that sort of Ragnarok scenario always gives me a delicious bloodthirsty thrill. AWI is the best wargaming period in all history (gosh, are my prejudices showing?), so anything for that era is by definition excellent. Will's rules looked good, and were also well-laid-out, easy to read, and short. Too bad they're for 15's! But it's no trouble to increase the ranges and movement. It's also good that they do not really depend on a certain basing type; they look like they'll work fine for 4-to-a-stand basing. So tell us, what's up with all the Italians? I counted 55 Italian wargame clubs listed in John Stafford's "Wargame Clubs of the World". The Brits are only listing 26, for goodness sake. Bravissimol Margo has always wanted to visit Italy, and this just gives us one more reason to treat that wonderful peninsula to our presence. In the past I thought I was in love with France, but I realize now it was just a passing fancy... My dad is a retired engineer, so I know that if I ask him for a gadget of some sort for Christmas, I'm sure to get it. I am shameless about that sort of thing, but I've learned to accept myself for what I am... So this year I asked for a digital camera, and sure enough, there was a Sony Mavica under the tree. I had told him it was so I could take lots of pictures of the kids to send him, but we know better, don't we? Now I can take photos of my battles and figures, and either post them up to my hobby page, or include them as illustrations in articles and wargame rules. Qualitywise, the digital photos are not as good as a "real" camera, but the convenience of just sticking a floppy disk full of images into the computer is so much greater that it more than compensates. I've attached two pictures of some troops so you can see what I mean. They are from my current project, a small Seven Years War Russian army (Old Glory 15's). You will notice that the close-up actually looks pretty good, but the far-view is a little dim. Of course, this could also be due to my incompetence as a photographer (bad angle, wrong lighting, etc.). The units are the Kexholmski regiment, plus a battalion of converged grenadiers and a battalion of Ukrainian Land Militia (which begs the question, did they also have "sea" militia?)- Next-to-last item: In a fit of anality, I catalogued my entire figure collection into a PDF document, for insurance purposes. The next step is to use the Mavica to take photos of each collection and include those in the document as well. If you need to convince your spouse that a digital camera would be a "good investment", that is an excellent argument! If looking at this sort of list interests you (yeah, right ... ), it's on the web at http://www.angelfire.com/wa/rogerswhome. Click on the "my figure collections" link on the left-hand side of the web page. You will be fascinated to learn that I have exactly 9,758 castings of all types (frankly, nothing to brag about compared with a really serious painter). Last item: I have created two more online gaming aids. The first is a mapmaking program that uses Dynamic HTML to let you build wargame-type maps. The second is a flag-making program that lets you design your own flags. In both programs, you select images from menus in one frame of the page, then click in the "picture" frame to place the images. You can drag images from one spot to another, copy them, delete them, and rotate them. You can also include text annotations (or mottos in the case of the flags). The programs are strictly "client-side"; that is, there is no special software required to use them, just your web browser. I will write up articles describing each one in more detail. You will have to view them using Internet Explorer; they use some DHTML features that Netscape does not support. You can get to them from my hobby page; the links are in the upper left-hand corner. (Editor's Note: Always enjoy your work, Wes!) From Ron Lilzorty The English Civil War - I've long planned to do that era - I have 25mm Tradition and Minifig - would also like to do scenarios in 54mm! Didn't MWAN print a photo of someone's 54mm Tavern/Inn with lift-off second floor? What a show piece for the game. I'll have to look that up again. Yes, I like Howard Whitehouse's "Ironsides" rules too - and we won't even get into the Sudan thing shall we? Still my personal favorite. I've come up with my own ruler for measuring distances. Each inch represents 100 yards or more, depending on scale. No more "enemy 6" away" - "enemy is now 600 yards away" - it just sounds more realistic, don't you think? I believe it's little things like this that helps the gaming. From Gerald Quinn of 2048 Crestwood Drive, Forked River, NJ 08731: My son Alexander and I will continue to try to come up with some good contributions for your 20th anniversary year. I bought him The Lord of the Rings miniature wargame rules for his 14 th birthday. Maybe we'll do a review and little report after we've given them a good try. From George Dullaghan I hope your eye problems have resolved. Out hobby is visual to the extreme involving miniatures, books, movies and sometimes even painting so you're needed back in the ranks. Congratulations on 20 years of wargaming and writing MWAN. This needs to be celebrated. Why don't we have an MWAN lecture and a wargame at the 2003 Historicon or another convention. This would give dozens or thousands of MWANers the chance to attend. The idea is nebulous but a great lecture, a wargame in the simple style would be a good idea, but only if you agree. This is all just a thought and would have to worked out in the next one a half years. Somehow we need a great afternoon of toy soldiers without turning the event into work. If you print this for the MWANers, we'll see if and how this event can be accomplished. (Editor's Note: Thanks very much for the thought, George! Most k1nd of you. I've thought about this sort of thing though not for a long t1me. It Is very difficult to organize and seems a little self-serving. I attend very few conventions anymore so that really decreases the likelihood. What I do like, however, is the idea of a 'Spedal Issue" of MWAN devoted to a special topic what topic? Gosh, I don t know, George! What I really enjoy readIng about Is what MWANers are doing with their hobby the approaches they take, what rules and figures they use, what they enjoy, etc. I don t know that ties into a 20th anniversary, but maybe someone else has an idea on the subject). From Edward Gonzales Do you know of any good books on the SYW? (&Mor~; Note: The best ones I've seen, Edward, are the Christopher Duffy books on the Prussians, Au5trians, and Russians). From Ron Jackson In your latest editorial you were inquiring about WWII rule sets to be used with 28mm figures. Have you checked out Battleground WWII. This set is produced by Easy Eight Enterprises (website: www.battlegroundwwii.com) and we've found it to be a lot of fun after a few modifications. They also make a line of 28mm figures that's also rather good. Ironically, we (our gaming group) recently decided to sell off our 28mm/1:48th scale stuff and switch to 20mm/1:72nd scale. The main reason for the switch was the greater availability of US vehicles, particularly the M36 Jackson tank destroyers mounting 90mm guns. Before the switch the US was almost helpless against a Panther which meant I had to limit the use of Panthers in our games. Something I really hated, since I love Panthers, not for their battlefield stats, but just the way the look! Battleground WWII consists of the main rules plus a series of supplements (a good marketing ploy). These days they publish the rules sets on CD, an interesting and rather helpful twist. If there was one major criticism I would have of the rules, it would be in the lack of tactical airpower rules --without them you really have to adjust the points on the German side in order to get a fair fight, since the most lethal tank the US has in the game is the Sherman with 76mm gun (if you can find an M36 or Pershing in 1:48th scale, you're a god). On the other hand if you want to play Russian Front, then the rules are ideal as they stand. Well, that's my two cents on the 28mm rules issue. (Editor's Note: Thanks, Ron, for the information. You should consider doing an In-depth rules article for MWAN. I've seen Battleground WWII played at Historicon several years ago, seemed to be a "skirmish" type game and what I'm looking for is something on a slightly higher scale Their figures looked good on the table though they are a mite expensive in my mind. I agree with you're their marketlng ploy approach, is anyone out there using these rules?) From Len Brewer I'll try and answer some of your questions and concerns about planning and gaming the WWII armies on the Eastern Front. I assume you are still planning on using the 28mm scale figures. I will base all of my ideas on this scale. If you need information on your 15mm WWII project, let me know and I'll make up a list. Eastern Front gaming for WWII is a very large subject. The first thing you must decide is what year do you plan on gaming? In the early years of 1941-42, the advantage went to the German Army. In 1943, most of the fighting is equal with some slight advantage to the Russians. In the last two years of the war, the advantage is all Russians. Once you decide on the year, most of the rest is easy to decide. We will plan on using the mid-war years of 1943. This way you can have weak and strong units on both sides. I will use the second supplement of Rapid Fire. This book covers the unit organization for the Russian Front 1941-45. One thing we need to look at is the packaging of the figures. Since you like to have large scale armies, the best scale for you is 15mm. In this scale, you can have a lot of infantry, armor and artillery support. Everything that you need is available for your games by different manufacturers. A typical bag of infantry will contain 100 figures. Out of this, you can create eight to ten companies of infantry. This will not have the machine guns and mortars that you will need; these are available in separate bags. For the German and Russians, you can use the basic infantry to create the SS and Guard units. The armor is packaged in two, three or five items per package. This is great! Most of the companies are of the same number. A person can always use the extra jeeps, half-tracks and trucks. Remember that in most of the Eastern Front battles, the armies still walked their way into battle. (Editor's Note. Thanks for letter, Len! It is 15mm that I am thinking of Looking forward to talking to you more about this project) From Glenn Grundlei I am writing again to explain our patriotic project at Beechwoods Elementary School where I teach. I wrote once asking you about your Dad and a WWII veteran mentioned in MWAN. We are collecting photos and messages from veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. These photos/messages are being professionally framed and displayed on the walls of our building. At present we have 136 photos/messages up. They look outstanding. We've also been able to frame four WWII newspapers. We have several period magazines for this period for WWII and Vietnam. Also collected thus far is Japanese occupation money. In our school office, we have an outstanding shadow box containing a photo of a GI killed at Anzio. In the shadow box is his Purple Heart, the flag the coffin was draped in, the telegram informing his parents of his death, and two letters from commanding officers. This GIs brother donated the objects to the school for permanent display instead of passing them along to children who weren't interested. We have an airman's summer uniform with ribbons to display in a shadow box. We've been offered a captured Japanese rifle for display in our office plus medals from a downed WWII flyer. Why am I mentioning this again? So many MWANers are such "doers" and might be on help. I am after more photos and messages. The ones we have are only 25% or so local. I am after them for all over the country. The readers of MWAN have friends, relatives, and neighbors who have served our country during times of conflict. I imagine many readers themselves have. The more people I can get involved, the better our project will become. Those whose relatives have already passed on are still welcome to participate. They may either write a message or just submit the photos with details of service such as rank, unit, area of operation, etc. Our school is becoming a living history building honoring veterans of America's last four conflicts. One last point I'd like to stress is that we have been at this for a year and a half now and this is not a reaction to 9-11. It will be finished when I retire unless I can find someone to carry on. (Editor's Note: Thanks for sending the letter/photos, Glenn. The photos are very impressive and my congratulations on dolng such a fanlastlc job with this project. I wish I could run them in MWAN as it is a great job. Good luck, Glenn)/ From Scott Hansen I really enjoyed your column in the latest MWAN covering the various types of people that we have in the historical miniatures hobby: the toy soldier collector, the rules writer, the games player. I think most people are a combination. I like your idea of playing solo wargames; in the future. I've solded a few miniature games myself but I easily tire of them. It gets quite tiring moving all figures for each side. I do enjoy reading the "Lone Warrior" of the Solo Wargamers Society for ideas. I have not painted a single miniature for almost a year. I am still developing scenarios for my 15mm Greek War of Independence article. I want to complete an article for you on it ' hopefully in the near future. I feel part of the reason I have not painted is that I still have lots of scenarios to develop for my other periods: Russo-Japanes War, Spanish-American War, Garibaldi and his Red Shirts. Plus I have yet to try my French Foreign Legion. I've started reading a recently published book on the Greek War written by David Weber. Additional resources are listed in the bibliography. I think the last major work on the war was published in the 1970's so my bibliography is quite out of date. I have purchased several books on the war including older ones. I have one published in the 1820's. I am looking for one written by Thomas Gordon. I think this book actually has a few maps of the battles. My bigest problem with the period is lack of maps for scenarios. I am starting to adapt scenarios meant for other periods to the Greek War. My latest convention game scenario is based on the Civil War battle of Green Fields fought out west!!! It works out quite well. To help any interested readers interested in the Greek War, I will be sending a few scenarios to MWAN. Though I have enough figures painted up for battles, I still have about 16 units to paint up. Agreeing to run a Greek War scenario got me motivated to finish up painting artillery crew figures. From Rennie Baumstark Been laid up with a broken arm since Dec. 22. Yeah, a great Xmas but not too bad since all the extended family was here. I see from MWAN that you and Hal are both interested in WWII and especially the Eastern front which has my passion for many years although recently I have become very interested in Normandy (been there and walked the ground) and beyond. I started with the board game Afrika Korps (rel963),Stalingrad and the other classic Avalon Hill games in the early 60s and have progressed to Operation Barbarossa and on to Overlord through Board games (SPI mostly) to miniatures to computer and now mostly computer solo but I still have tons of miniatures and would like to play again when I retire. Anyway, I have all kinds of stuff I've collected over the last 40+ years from the Roco Minitanks (different name then) I started with in high school to the 12 inch figures I play with today with my 3 year old grandson who lives here in Saginaw Michigan a mile or two from me. I have lots of Microarmor, 1/87, 1/76, 1/48, 1/32, 1/18 and the 12 inch Universal Soldier, GI Joe etc. I bet between the three of us and people you might know or I might know we could come up with almost anything we wanted. I even have some great Russian tanks and guns that I found at a Russian art exhibit in Florida a few years ago and more great metal vehicles in the same or close scale, I found in France when I spent a week in Normandy's battle fields. Just a few (1530)pieces but they are really nice metal painted stuff at about 1/48 scale. Most of my stuff is metal and almost all are painted. I loaded up on the great metal tanks in 1/76?scale that I got from ToysR Us some years ago. They were a bargain! I am looking for the best rules sets for WWII today for I on 1 or small unit actions. I have TANK (an old SPI game-great info on armor details etc. but tough to play with more than a few tanks), Panzer Leader and Panzer Blitz (good for their day and I have used them on by basement floor (16x28 feet) with 1/32 armor) and on to Squad Leader. I haven't bought a rules set since I switched to computer games which I play often with much less time and effort. I have a new one called COMBAT MISSION-BEYOND OVERLORD which is awesome. Having mastered the Tutorial on the American side, I am now on to Michael Wittman and Villers Bocage scenario. Got to look out for the Sherman Fireflies! I also was fortunate enough when I moved to Saginaw 25 years ago to find Pete Wasmiller and the Saginaw Valley Wargamers who introduced me to miniature wargames on the table top (all previous experience was board gaming). We had a lot of fun! Pete had great rules a la Squad Leader with a few modifications. The best of these was an artillery 12 inch or larger circlular device mounted on tripods that was placed over a target and decided with a dice roll where the shells landed. Really neat! I am confused re all the rule sets available today!! What should I buy? Would you and Hal and others like to get together to game WWII occasionally? Would you like to try a computer wargame? email or whatever? I have never been successful so far at getting one of these going even with family. aol does not seem to mesh well with other services or maybe nobody wants to play. From Edward Mikus My son has managed to find some material for wargame ship models on the internet and I am heavily engaged in putting this to use. The ships are colonial period which is my primary interest. Types include steam launchers, dhows, river gunboats, river steamers, ironclads, junks and other craft. I believe they originated with "Major General Tremorden Rederring's Colonial Era Wargames Page" on the net. (Editor's Note: This is a very interesting site, Edward, and well worth your while in checking it out. Lots of nice color pictures and terrain and hints for making terrain and ships.) From John Gleason We will begin releasing some scenario books late this spring or early summer on CD. We will be taking full advantage of this medium with lots of digital photos of miniatures in action on the table top as well as animated maps and historical backgrounds of various battles in addition to orders of battle worked out for the computer moderated rules. We will try to get the first of them finished up and produced by Cold Wars, otherwise we will schedule a release at Historicon. (Editor's Note: Thanks, John, for Information, making hobby items available on---CD sounds 11ke an interesting approach!) From Gary Walker He contacted me about some painted figures he wished to sell. He is not in the hobby and knew nothing about the value of painted figures) - I surfed the net and found over a dozen places to write to about finding buyers and appraisers of Civil War miniatures. Only a few responded, pointing me to places I had already written. The person in question was the only person who offered any help until I contacted you. You asked me what I was charged for the appraisal. I sent eight pieces for appraisal and the charge was $35/hour for three hours work that included a notorized appraisal. There was also additional shipping charges both ways so I spent about $120. Needless to say, I was happy to learn that the miniatures were worth about $15 each because that translated into about $2800 for the entire collection. I felt I had my money's worth for the appraisal. Now that I have your opinion of the value of the figures, which is a tenth of the person in question's appraisal, all I can say is that the buyer should beware. I'm not faulting the person in question, he offered terms and I accepted them. He suggested I try to put the collection for sale through Christies, who he said sold thousands of miniatures. However, when I contacted their representative in OKC, they said they did not deal in such figures. I had already gotten that impression from searching their auction website. You are the only other place that he suggested I use to sell the collection. This brings me to my next point. From what you said, the appraisal was way too high. I won't complain about his fees because I suspect someone else would be just as expensive, and I agreed to his. There's no way to regulate the net, but the wargaming community may want to provide some disclaimers about it's members and the services provided. It would have been nice if more people had responded to my request for information but everyone has their own agenda and schedule to keep. ffiditorS~ Note: This situation disturbed me; someone who knew nothing about the hobby was steered In a wrong d1rectlon by someone in the hobby who should have known better it does identify another variable in the issue of trustworthIness within our hobby. It certainly left Mr Walker with a negative impression, didn't it. I really don't know what to do about situations like this; any ideas?) From Bill Widrick On the gaming side of things, Jonathan and I did get in a short game. WWII Russian and Germans. I was surprised that he wanted to play the Russians. He beat me up pretty good. I had things well in hand for the first 5 game turns and then the dice went terribly nasty on me. I play where morale has a much more devastating effect on the infantry than enemy fire. If a squad is stacked with a leader, and that leader fails a morale check, then the squad must check twice. Once for the effect that caused the initial morale check, and once for the effect of the leader breaking. If both checks are failed the squad flees. Well my darn cowardly leaders decided that game turn six would be a good time to turn tail and run. Leader after leader broke, taking the amount of squads with them that were required for Jonathan to meet the victory conditions. We talked a bit about the game, he had a very good time, I'm sure beating the old man had a little to do with said enjoyment. But alas, he thinks the Napoleonics are boring. Perhaps when he gets a little older. Hope to have a few more games with him when I can. (Editor's Note: Just found my disk with the Letters' column from MWAN #114 which I forgot to include! From Kevin Dallimore Most sorry for you all. (9/11) From Jason Burnett I hope you and everyone you know has made it through this situation okay. We're all fine down here. I haven't forgotten about the kung fu theatre rules I said I was going to send you - they're almost done. I've given up on 6 mm and instead decided to take up homecasting. It's all your fault - I was reading some of the old MWANs (from the late 30s) and read your reviews of Joel Haas's molds and his articles about casting. (grin) Anyway, it turns out that he still has the same phone number some 12 years later. I talked to him and he's a really nice guy. He's gotten out of toy soldiers and become a professional sculptor. You can see some of his work at: http://www.greensboro.com/tsea/mw-pages/haas-1.html Really great garden sculpture, way out of my price range. But, he said he thinks he has some of his old miniature molds in the basement; he said he'll poke around and see what he has left. Angel has promised me the beginning casting kit from Dutkin's Collectibles (www.dutkins.com) for my birthday next month, and I may pick up some of their Zulu War molds if Joel can't find any of his stuff (I'll probably get the Dutkins molds later anyway). I've just finished reading "Marching to the Drums", an anthology of colonial survivor's accounts edited by Ian Knight. If you haven't read this, I highly recommend it. The account from Rorke's Drift gave me a great idea for a rules set - the British player would not know what his casualties were until he had that brief time to regroup between waves of Zulus. (The soldier in the book tells of one man who stared straight out at the Zulus for hours on end, pointing his rifle at them, never wavering in his aim. I wasn't until several hours later that they discovered he was dead.) By the way, has MWAN #112 come out yet? Maybe I'm just overanxiout, but it seems like about time for another issue. (Not trying to rush you if you're not finished, of course.) I'm going to do my best to get those kung fu rules out to you by this weekend, and as soon as I start casting I'm planning to write an article on my experiences. Well, I'll be in touch with you later. Take care and keep safe. From John Fernades USMC (retired) Just read your review of "WWII Micro-Armour - The Game" on Magweb.com. As the game's designer, I wanted to thank you for the kind review. I think what I most appreciated was the fact that you seem to have actually looked at the rules and seen those parts of which I am most proud (The Weapons Data, The TO&E info, the Scenario Generator, and the Designer's Notes). I personally think the rules are superior, but that is really a matter of taste, scale desired, etc. You caught the gist of what I was trying to do with these rules. I wanted to produce a "kit" rules set rather than just a "Game" per se. I want the gamers to experiment with changing "Cohesion Levels", designing their own scenarios, pitting armies, that may never have actually fought, against each other in "What-if' campaigns. In short, I wanted the players to have a good time using the rules as a sort of historical "Laboratory", proving or disproving various theories to their own satisfaction. Enough of my paternal rambling. Thanks again for the kind and insightful review. From Peter Berry Given the horrific incidents of earlier this week, can I tell You the mood over here is overwhelmingly supportive. We can do very little physically, apart from let that You are not alone in this world. I just hope that this did not affect you or yours directly. From Terry Hooker I have left this brief note of condolence to you all for the events of this tragic day until my knee-jerk reaction subdued, and I could hopefully let you all know of my deep regret and sympathy on these terrible circumstances, and the great loss of life that has occurred. Hopefully none of you knew anybody that were harmed, although the shock of these attacks and their repercussions will effect not only the U.S. but the whole world, it would appear that there are nearly 500 British people are missing in the wreckage at New York, our biggest loss of life to a terrorist act. Please allow me to state that whatever evolves from these attacks you may count on my whole hearted support on any response that might be deemed necessary or expedient, by your Government. It would appear that this feeling of mutual co-operation to defend Democracy is also felt necessary by a large percentage of British people too. I hope that this note will enable you know that it is not just foreign Governments that feel the need to give support and show solidarity but the normal person on the street too. Hopefully I find you all in good health. My Kindest Regards to you All. From George Johnson (Mr. GAJO) Received issue # 113 yesterday, usual good read. The back color cover of Dave Mills 15MM ACW table was some of the nicest work I've seen done in that scale and period! Your editorial mentioned that you needed some input on using Woodland Scenics materials for rebasing some troop stands. Bob Bowling is probably one of the best in the business for doing a fine job on basing. By the nature of our business I have had a lot of time at the workbench doing basing and rebasing. Currently we use Wargames Accessories metal stands for all of our basing. After gluing the figures to the bare metal bases, and letting the glue dry thoroughly, I then paint the bases with a flat green acrylic paint. The paint when dry gives you a good base color that will always be there if any of the scenic materials get rubbed off at a later time. For applying scenic materials I use "Elmer's" white glue straight for any rocks or clumps of brush or undergrowth. We water down the white glue at 1/3 parts water to 2/3rds parts glue to apply the scenic grass(Woodland Scenics T-49,green). The first scenic materials to put down are some random patches of sand or soil. Using a narrow brush you can lay down varied splotches of straight white glue and then place the based figures into a shallow box containing the soil or sand of your choice. Bob Bowling uses two or more different soil types to give a more dramatic effect. Let the bases set in the boxes of soil at least an hour, allowing as much soil or sand as possible to adhere to the areas where glue was applied. On many artillery stands I lay down a thin bead of glue along the two lines where the cannons would roll back and forth during firing, and also on wagon and limber stands showing the ruts where these vehicles would ride. Once the sand and soil has been glued down the next item to apply would be the scenic grass, or grasses, if you are inclined to do extra work. With the watered down mixture of white glue, cover the remaining areas where you intend on putting grass, placing the glue painted base in a separate box containing loose grass, allow these stands to sit for at least one hour to maximize the amount of grass that adheres to the wet glued surfaces. If you want to add any clumps of scenic foam foliage, rocks or small logs, this can be done using straight white glue applied over the grassed areas. Your question as to finding historical used miniatures on E-Bay is one of the few things I have been able to do with the help of Rick Caras. Get on E-Bay, go to "Toys & Collectibles", click "Toy Soldiers", Click "Contemporary", click Search "15MM", and maybe also what material the figures are made from, this should put you on to the site. At Historicon we had the pleasure of meeting Maj. Craig Martelle, who was our featured speaker at the GAJO Board of Directors dinner. He joined us in a 15MM Spearhead game after the meal, and it was a great joy to meet such a fine fellow. He is the kind of fellow who is cut from the same mold as you my friend. From Sam Mustafa of sm ustafa(cbmacol. net: Great issue, thanks. But something mystifies me. The back cover has a lovely photo of rebel infantry advancing along two roads toward oncoming Union columns, and there, in the foreground is a white banner with a yin and yang. So... what have we here? The mediaeval Korean regiment of the Rebel Army? The 33rd Virginia Buddhist infantry? Inquiring minds want to know. From Jim French Was perusing Issue # 112 this morning in my library [I am currently the librarian at Henry Clay Middle School]. I enjoyed the article by Sam Mustafa on the use of dice. I have only run across one set of rules that said right up front that they did not use dice. Am sort of interested in 54mms. As a re-enactor this past month, I fought both sides of the Span Am War. There is a set of soldiers out at Target that has Spaniards, Rough Riders, Cavalry, the Blockhouse from San Juan Hill, machine guns, and Gatling Guns a la the old Marx Play Sets. I am seriously considering purchasing it. This brings up an interesting point! You complain [rejoice?] about the number of periods and scales you have. How do you reconcile these for distance from shooter to target? I game in two groups, one is strictly 1/87th and the other is 1/76th. I know that it is a headache to change from one to the other as I am out of range or disastrously in range when I think just the opposite. Will have to get together some articles on the recent large games we have played down behind the Orange Curtain in Fountain Valley. From Charley Ellsden of Celsden(cbaol.com: Sunday Morning: the Weekend 0 Fun continues: The reenactment of the Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 in the park was great. Cousin Jim and I ran into Igor, Jason, and Frank from the club, and even Norbert Brunhuber, who will be playing Napoleon to my Kutuzov at Jodiecon Borodino 2002, who was up with his wife and parents from N3. There were about 600 costumed reenactors, and thousands of spectators. Brits included regulars, Tories in green, grenadiers in high headdress, highlanders with kilts and pipes, a fife and drum band, light infantry, and engineers. US units included Smallwood's Marylanders, Delaware, 2nd New York and another NY regt, a cannon with crew up on a small hill, and the US Army's Old Guard demonstration unit, who do Washington's Bodyguard. Politicians and veterans made speeches, including a Brit diplomat who thanked so many Americans for coming out to celebrate a British victory! After getting his laugh, he remarked warmly on the subsequent US/British Alliance, and noted that we were standing in the capital of the Free World (obviously yet another reference to ... BROOKLYN. Good chap). There was a good narrator who gave a tense descriptions if at a football game, and a wide fenced off meadow for the boys to play in. Very nice, indeed. Skirmish, line, and volley fire! One American casualty was recovered by a hero who was cheered. Then someone realized that they'd left his hat between the lines, and another incredibly brave hero went out to recover it. What a man! After the speeches which began the event at the reviewing stand, the units paraded and were introduced, then the Army unit did a nice tactical demonstration of 18th century battalion evolutions. The battle itself was fun, and Cousin Jim was there taking two or three rolls of photos. Then we broke so the crowd could follow from the Long Meadow to the Stone House for the famous heroic and desperate attack of the Marylanders against the whole British army, so the rest of Sullivan's force could (and historically did) escape through the swamp at Gowanus (now the Gowanus Canal) back to General Washington at the lines at Fort Cobble Hill (near my house, at Atlantic Avenue and Court St). We broke during the "retreat," and stopped off at nearby Metro Wargamers clubhouse for sodas and a pit stop. There we picked up a few errant souls who were unaware, and brought them along. Then on to the Stone house, with the red flag of the Marylanders waving after they took it, and then lost it to the Brits. The most memorable historical quote about the largest ARW battle of all in 1776 was something like: "Our freedom was proclaimed underlined in the Declaration of Independence, and soon after baptized in blood in Brooklyn." GET THAT, EVERYONE--IN BROOKLYN!!! BROOK-LYNH! HUZZAH!!! A fine revival of the old historical tradition honoring the event saw excellent weather, with only a bit of humidity. I fanned myself with one of the wood and paper fans distributed to memorialize the day, and looked over a listing of other events happening this month. Local TV news coverage was in evidence that evening at my place, as Cousin Jim and I recovered from a long day of standing in my Air Conditioning with sherbet and soda. Now its Sunday, with a planned brunch at noon and a game of THUNDER'S EDGE AT 2 pm. All local friends are welcome. Hope your day was as much fun. From James Mattes I have been putting off writing you for long enough. I think the thing that finally got me off by backside was the article in MWAN 110 by Chris Hahn "Looking Back and Looking Forward" change a few dates etc and it could be my story. I feel I know you even though we have never meet. We probably know some of the same people as I started wargaming in Decatur Illinois in the early 1970s with the likes of Dave Petrowski, James Allen Bill Owen and the like. It was with much sadness that I read in MWAN a few years back on the untimely death of Dave Petrowski. He along with Jim Allen were behind me getting started in 25mm Ancients (Garrison Roman Republic), Dave had Carthaginians and Jim had Imperial Romans so Dave talked a young 15year old into spending his money from the caddy job at the country club on wargaming figures. My obsession now numbers over 12 legions Q consular armies, over 900 figures) in 25mm. I have just about the same number in 15mm also. And of course an equal number of Punic, Celtic and Macedonian war enemies. Anyway back on track here, I was introduced to MWAN by two of the guys at GAJO back around 1995 (Cold Wars I think). They gave away free issues of MWAN and I picked up the now legendary Terrain Issue (May June 1988 #33) and two issues around #73-75. 1 was hooked ever since. I started to get every issue I could get my hands on. I was thrilled when the glossy covers came out. Although I have never subscribed (my wife would frown on another subscription as I have almost a dozen or so historical magazines now every month) I do pick up every issue at the Conventions of HMGS-East I attend. My wife never knows the amount of books and magazines I buy at the conventions but it is safe to say On Military Matters pays the hotel bills for one of the guys on what I give them at the show. I have carried MWAN around the world in the past several years. I find I always have time to read an article or two while waiting for a plane a train a bus a camel or whatever. I have even given away several additional copies during my travels. I very much enjoyed your war gaming projects and following the methodology you develop in building each one. I have often thought of writing you with a letter detailing my own projects but did not feel that I could articulate the ideas well enough to make sense. Currently I only game (collect is more to the point) in the big th ree. I have armies in 15mm Napoleonic, emphasis on the Confederation of the Rhine but I do have almost everything Essex ever did in 15mm Napoleonic, American Civil War, and early to late Republican Romans and enemies. My 25mm are for the most part Ancients in the Republic era. I do have a few hundred ACW Essex figures and 25mm Napoleonic (Elite and Firing Line) that I plan on using for skirmishing games or perhaps Brigade level formations. I think I have units in Napoleonic, ACW, and Punic Wars from every 15mm maker in the past 30 years. I think the same is true for the 25mm Roman Republic. Heck I even have a half legion of Warrior figures. The detail on these is not to my liking but Dave and I ordered over $100 dollars worth around 1975 (Dave taught me a valuable lesson about buying figures sight unseen). I have been thinking about turning them into casualty figures for my 25mm games (Oh no I'm melting!) I also picked up a small collection of 10mm (one Republican Legion and a few Carthaginians) and a few Napoleonic units. In 6mm I have Napoleonic (Bavaria Wurtemburg, Baden) from my love of German Napoleonic while stationed in southern Germany for eight years. On other scales I have a few 2mm units Westphalia and French, and many many 20mm plastic. While back home last time I found in my Grandmothers basement the old Airfix figures I have as a kid from the mid 1960s. So of course I had to buy everything on the market for Napoleonic and of course a legion of Roman Republic (will the madness ever end?!?). Found an old box of 1/1200 Valiant Ships (50-60) that I started to paint before I joined the Army in 1977, and 100 or so micro armor from my days in Europe. I am sure I am leaving something out here but I am not in my game room so I can never be sure. I turned my basement den into a library and game room (20 X 30 with my library covering two of the four walls). As you can see I am on the obsessive side when it comes to wargaming. Anyway my current projects are more Internet related. I have tried to find every on line reference to Republic Romans and most of the Napoleonic uniform sites I can find. I am also getting off my duff and trying to help HMGS-East as a volunteer at the conventions and in general with the hobby. I am hoping to stay in the Washington DC Baltimore area when I transition out of the Army this coming Feb 2002. Who knows? I do not wargame much anymore (never really did for that matter) but I do have almost every set of rules written on the big three since 1970. My board game collection is out of control also. Anyway these are just the random rants of a wargamers in Md. As I get around to it I will send you a letter or two on my projects. I hope someone my benefit from my experiences. I just today finished research on movement stands and wargame table markers via several of the Yahoo groups I belong to. I hope to compile this information into a short e-mail that I can post to some of the sites. One final note here Hal even though the "net" is becoming the communication mode of the future there are still many of us who love the written word in hard copy. I hope you continue to write and publish MWAN for years to come. The Courier and MWAN are the last few true historical war game magazines around. I have read over the years where you have considered putting the Newsletter to bed but as long as you keep putting it out be advised I will at least be buying one or two copies. From Norris Hazelton I've been reading MWAN 112. This one of the few magazines I read cover to cover, I even read the adverts. The article "Naming Places" by Robert Piepenbrink caught my eye and I spent a little extra time reading through the word/language tables. French was my college language and I spend a lot of time watching soccer on our Spanish channel. Therefore, when I began to read their respective tables I became confused very quickly. It just didn't make sense. Then after a little research and detective work I realized the lists were one column to the left and all the lists on page 102 were off by one row (too low). the Portuguese word for Town - Cidadel was completely out of place thus making the Portuguese list even more interesting. A couple adjustments and the list makes sense. Perhaps that's how Iceland and Greenland got their names. It's a great idea for assigning names to places and a very useful list. I really enjoyed "Whose lob Is It Anyway?" by Bev Krueger. An excellent idea that helps the hobby and her business. However, as she says, it takes time and energy. Too bad, that program isn't an industry goal. "Big Time at Little Wars 2001" by Chris Hahn was very interesting and his attempt to find his friend is similar to an experience I had a few years ago. Luck was with me, I was able to find my friend. "Cool Tricks with Six-Sided Dice" was illuminating, but, in all honesty, way more than I ever wanted to know about six-sided dice. Apologies to Mr. Mustafa. Although he did raise severalinteresting points that should be considered regardless of the polyhedron used for randomizing event, outcomes,etcetera. From Jon Laughlin I want to bring up a subject that most wargamers may find quite painful. Who does not enjoy taking vacation trips. Its fun taking a trip to Florida or some other famous vacation get-away place with your family. Unfortunately because of the constraints of weight, space, and how fragile our miniatures are, we can't take our favorite toy soldiers along with things the rest of our family needs, like luggage. It is pure agony to have all that time to have fun and not have our favorite military miniatures to play with. But I have a solution. I am getting ready to make a portable wargame that I can take with me. I am thinking of cardboard counters of various sizes and shapes that I can use to represent the different units, terrain and other features and equipment required to play a wargame. For the wargame table, I would make several paper battlefield mats that I could fold out and spread over a table or hotel bed. I am looking forward to this project. I will be able to go anywhere I want and still enjoy the pleasures of wargaming, even if I have to leave all 30,000 toy soldiers home! From Joseph Selliga I look forward to reading every issue of MWAN. It's like having a group of wargame friends over for an evening every few months. The Old Northwest Indian War rules in # 114 picqued my interest. It's a period which I have been interested in for quite awhile. Some time ago, I bought all OLD GLORY's Wayne's Legion and some French and Indians War Indian figures. I think this rules set will get them onto my painting table. The rest of the issue contained articles that entertained me as well as enlightened me. I thank you for your effort in producing MWAN. Congratulations on twenty years of publication. (Editor's Note: Thanks for your kind words, Joseph! Isn't it fun when you can get excited about a period after reading something about it. There's a mad rush for all of the reading materials you may have on the subject, followed by looking through catalog lists of figures, accessories and equipment, not to mention a search for applicable rules you may have on hand. You may even e-mail or write friends sharing your excitement and requesting additional information Now, we can turn on the computer and surf the net looking for additional information. What makes the "net" really great is that one can easily find a number of figure manufacturers websites and almost Immedlately know what they produce that you may be in need of for this special project. Good luck and let us know how your project is coming along!) From Rob Dean I noticed that there was no letter section in MWAN 114, and I wondered whether this was due to a shortage of space in the issue or whether the custom of writing letters was gradually being lost. In case it is the latter I have decided that it is time (and past time) to send one myself. I painted more figures in 2001 than I had in 2000, about 450. 1 realize that is like a Thinglum monthly number (at least in years past), but at least it is an improvement on the 200 or so that I managed in 2000 (which was the worst year I've had since starting to keep track in 1995). It is still a matter of some concern, as I have about a thousand lead figures awaiting painting. As this represents a two year supply at current rates, I am hoping that I will be able to resist the temptation to start any new projects this year. Most of that backlog is 28mm colonial figures, both Darkest Africa and North West Frontier. I had a chance to pick up a lot at a good price a while back. I don't regret buying them, but I do feel like a snake that has swallowed a goat. I intend to digest as much of it as possible this year ... As I get tired of painting too much of the same thing I expect to break up the colonial work with sessions on my 40mm French and Indian War project (and the related Jacobite Rebellion project). Painting may have lagged a bit this past year, but I achieved one of my other wargames goals -- I ran or played in 53 games in the course of the year, exceeding the once a week average I was aiming for. That includes games played at conventions and club meetings. This year I may have to consider foregoing gaming opportunities in order to paint -- which seems backwards! The Hawks were pleased that our efforts were noticed in the review of Historicon in issue 113. For the record we only put on specifically "kids' games" on one table for two days, a total of ten on offer. A number of our other games were kidfriendly as well. The kids table idea started when Duncan Adams and I realized that we were both bringing kids for a significant part of the convention and decided that it would be proper of us to help ensure that there was something for them to play. We then recruited several games from other club members and filled in the remaining timeslots; ourselves. The idea was a mixed success. Our "every three hours" schedule left us with unfilled games at 6 pm both days (dinner time), and we need to consider our target audience more carefully, as eight year olds don't necessarily mix well with thirteen year olds. One of the scenarios I ran was a generic medieval game (The Peasants are Revolting!) using reissues of the classic Airfix Robin Hood and Sheriff of Nottingham sets. I should not have waited to the last minute to paint the figures, but I was pleased with how well plastics can come out using modern painting techniques. I've picked up a stack of HAT Second Punic Wars boxes with an eye toward another kids table at Historicon this year. (That was in late December, so doesn't count toward my New Years resolution of no new projects!) I continue to look forward to each issue of MWAN, and hope that all goes well for you this year! Editor's Note: Thanks for your e-mail, Rob. I just found my disk with the letters section from #114. Everyone notices when the letters section doesn't appear in MWAN). From Nick Stern This past year I seem to have been cursed with the inability to finish anything including books I was reading or painting my figures. But I'm happy to say that I've finally turned things around as I've read two books since the New Year and finished painting a small ten figure unit of Highland Light Infantry for Ambela 1863. With your recent research into the Northwest Frontier, you must be familiarwith this campaign. It particularly interests me because the British were still armed with the muzzle loading Enfield and so did not enjoy the superiority in rate of fire that they did in later campaigns on the North West Frontier. This fact makes their feats of arms during Ambela all the moreimpressive. MWAN is a great publication. I look at my collection going back to 1986 as a thing of great value. Lately I've noticed a lack of colonial subjects in MWAN, but that could be due to the large amount of colonial information available on the web. If you ever consider joining a group onlinethen I recommend colonialwarsgroup@yahoo.com. A very friendly group despite being quite large (750?). Your name and MWAN, of course, come up quite often. Several of us were singling the praises of your Rorke's Drift game recently. Your food reminiscences of your Isandhlwana project in the current issue have inspired me to take a look, although I'll have missed the anniversary of Islandhlwana by a week or so. If I manage to put together a good game based around Ambela, I'll write it up for MWAN although I'm already one article behind. Bob Abra and I put on a "Darkest Borneo" game at our local convention on Labor Day. It's my turn to write that one up. (Editor's Note: Nice to hear from you agaln, Nick, I run into those 'funks" as well. Had one for several years as a matter of fact. Enjoyed your musings about the Colonial period as it was my first love In the hobby. I just dug out my Isandhlwana rules last night and typed them up for MWAN; probably the Rorke's Drift rules as well at the same time. I wish I still had the photos from my Isandlwana games! Somehow they got lost years ago. There is no doubt that was my most exciting wargames project - lately I find myself 'missing' those "days of old" when there was an overwhelming drive to work on such a project. I do have to remind myself, however, that I always "overdid" it during those times at the expense of my family so I guess it is just as well that it is a thing of the past. I have heard of Ambela; as a matter of fact, didn't THE FOUNDRY do a range of British (In 'airpipe helmets' for the campaign? I have a 24-figure unit painted up for my North West Frontier project Seems to me they also did an artillery crew. Would really enjoy any articles you'd care to submit. One of the things I like about the North West Frontier is that you have a period of at least Sixty years during which the natives can be used throughout. You may have to have Sikh Agures to include the Sikh War, and Afghan Regular Army figures for the early 1860s, but, all of the native armies had hordes of "Irregular" units. You could actually extend this sixty-year period into the 1900s very easily into the 1930s. You can also pit the Afghan or Sikh Regular Army against Irregulars. Your Indian Mutiny Mutineers can fight either for the British or against them. You can have Irregular native troops on the British side to supplement a campaign force. Fascinating stuff! I tried the address you gave and had some difficulty getting into site. Try http//groups.yahoo.com/group/colonialwarsgroup/) From Doug of Miniature Service Center Check out our Web site at www.miniatureservicecenter.com: We have some new 25mm Egyptian Buildings available: EG 1- Large Adobe Building $ 9.95; EG 2- Small Adobe building $ 16.95; EG 3- Small adobe house with stairs $ 14.95; EG 4- Market Building $ 19.95; Two Story house $19.95; EG 6- Small house $ 14.95; and EG 7- Small Mosque $ 16.95. From Len Brewer I have been busy with our Spanish Napoleonic figures. I now have ten batteries painted & based. I also based & terrained some Spanish command figures. Stan & I are going to try to get together in the next week or two and put on a "small" game. I think that we are talking about 20 British & Spanish battalions being attacked by 50 French battalions. Here's something that I promised you. Go to the internet and type in "SHAKO". When this heading comes up, click on it and then go to Jeff Kimmel's homepage. When this comes up, there is a wealth of information. The advanced rules and tables are great. The game will be tighten up a considerable amount. I have printed these out and we really like them. Editor's Note: Thanks for the Information re Shako site on the Internet, Len! Enjoy your game! ) From B.C. Milligan I have a brief thought regarding game design. It would be very useful - and I speak as a professional game designer here, albeit of computer games - for many rules writers if they were to get in touch with local reenacting groups for whatever periods interest them, and either watch those units drill, and perhaps take part in "battles," or - if possible - even take the field with them, to learn a bit more about the realities of the era. Here's an example of why I think this would be helpful: In the most recent issue, there was a new set of Napoleonics rules by one your readers which looked quite well done. But one of the things that caught my eye was that the author said that, as I recall, infantry could fire at an angle of 30 degrees to its front. Whatever the percentage, most miniatures rules for musket era firing permit something between 22 1/2 and 45 degrees. This never really made much of a difference to me, until I got into Civil War reenacting, and discovered how difficult it really is to fire anyplace but straight ahead. At my last Living History event, a battalion-size (in the case, only about 150 of us) demonstration of tactics and drill on the Gettysburg battlefield, my parent unit (the National Regiment, as it is called), practiced what back then would have been called "firing by oblique." The sergeant conducting the drill asked an officer to stand about 100 feet away from us (p.s. our weapons were empty, lest anyone wonders), and told us to aim at him. He noted that firing by oblique should be conducted at a maximum of 5-10 degrees, no more. When a unit fires by oblique, it is fairly easy for the front rank to aim at a fairly radical angle to left or right. What is not easy at all, however, is for the rear rank to duplicate such an angle, without putting those in front of them in serious danger of losing an ear, if not their entire head. A look at Civil War drill books will show that in order to fire by oblique, either to the left or right, the rear ranks must lean far to either side, and take a fairly large step in either direction. It's obvious that all hopes of accuracy are pretty much lost with such a move, as you are far more concerned with holding your position and not shooting the guy in front of you than anything else. And where there are three ranks, I am absolutely certain the third rank would not fire at all, I in such a situation. Another brief example of where reality and rules often diverge is the movement of artillery. Most rules, both board and miniatures, drastically reduce the movement of artillery in woods, and that is fine. But in a Virginia forest, the prospect of getting even one gun more than a hundred feet or so through the woods in an entire day, much less a battery, is absurd. Similarly, even a fairly narrow creek, with its sloping banks that may rise three-four feet above the creek bed, presents quite an obstacle to a horse drawn gun. Often, in the Civil War, a second team would be harnessed to the gun to get it across, which, of course, meant that another gun was immobile for awhile. Finally I will not that in many rules I have seen, and in this case I include even computer games, skirmish units pretty much run wild, once they are detached from their parent regiments. In reality, at least during the Civil War, skirmishers always stayed with sight of their home unit, although of course on some occasions, the entire regiment was in skirmish order, and thus spread out quite a bit. But even so, the independent companies were almost always within sight, and well within the sound of the regimental buglers (there were 22 discreet bugle calls just for skirmishers!), should they need to be recalled. For those who can not make it to a reenactment or Living History event, there are also many drill manuals online, and it would be helpful, I think, if designers would refer to them as they wrote their rules. Editor's Note: Thanks, Bruce, for your interesting letter; you make some excellent points. I know we have a tendency - rightfully so to some degree - to 'generalize' in our rules writing - sort of suspension of disbelief I think it is called - in order to allow us to represent actual events on the tabletop, but I have to agree with you about the angle of fire. Another related topic that I have been aware of Is the tendency for rules writers to allow batteries to shift their front relatively easily. Take for example, the Civil War, we are talking about a six gun battery with its limbers, horse teams, and spare ammo wagons/caissons to make a quite radical "shift" in space which probably was physically impossible to accomolish within fifteen to thirty minutes, which is what most rules allow for a game phase or turn. Interestina thoughts and thanks for sharing them with us!). Back to MWAN #116 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