From Eric Englin I received issue 116, read over the four replies, and thought I should drop you a note. My "gaming" would be best described as sporadic at best, but painting armies is my goal for multiple periods. Perhaps it is the old American Civil War Heritage series of graphics showing battles with lots of little soldiers painted and a boxed text on the side describing the action. I must have been seven when I became hooked on gaming. My desire these days is to paint up units representing armies and then recreate that "look" on the table. Pushing the units around and actually gaming is an added bonus and I use Volley and Bayonet for that as the larger stands is my preference. I have to thank Bob Jones, Bret Oman, and the other Piquet folks for getting me back into the hobby about five or six years ago. A convention demo game got my juices going again and seeing the larger figures they used with a spectacular charge by some Tigermen in a Boxer Rebellion fight was fabulous with hooting and hollering from the spectators. Similarly, Frank Chadwick and Greg Novak have been great with answering questions, orders of battle and a host of other inquiries. Recognizing that Piquet, Volley and Bayonet, and Command Decision games are seriously different in philosophy, but no question, those folks support the hobby at the conventions. As I returned back to the hobby, I started into the Napoleonics and Seven Years War periods. Then I picked up some American Civil War figures, a few FrancoPrussians, followed by Wild West Gunfighters and World War I soldiers. Sound familiar to anyone out there? Next thing I knew, I had twelve different periods going with fantasy figures thrown in for good measure! To add to the "metal insanity", I decided that I would do the Waterloo campaign and paint up all the armies. Sat down with the scenario booklets, figured out the number of soldiers, and went off to the convention to "shop". The guys at the Old Glory booth were fantastic as Russ and his staff cut me a good deal for purchasing in bulk and I left with 123 pounds of Napoleonics! "Hi, my name is Erik ... I'm a metal junky. There is a 12 step solution somewhere ...... The best part is that two years later, I only have three units left to paint (should have that done by April 1st) and the entire lot will be painted! I do not know if you have considered this for your figures Hal, but I mount mine on magnets. I'm sure we all know the routine of rebasing. I decided that I was not going to have that problem again. Over the years, you play at different scales and levels, including skirmish games where you want one figure per stand. Whether playing Napoleon's Battles system or Fire and Fury I decided the thing to do was to mount each 25-28mm figure on a 3/4" x 3/4" magnet. Everything I have is on magnets as soldiers are on one, mounted on two magnets, and artillery on three magnets. I then have metal stands mounted on some 1/4" basswood and use a magnet label to denote the units. For Waterloo, it really looks like the old SPI Wellington's Victory game! Different colored tags on the backs of the metal stands (in this case, 3" x 3" metal for Volley and Bayonet). Needless to say, I have been buying magnets in bulk. "Hi, my name is Erik and I'm a magnet junky. There is a 12 step solution somewhere." Well now, I simply cannot paint all those lovely Old Glory and J&T Figures without some books now can we? Have you gone to those conventions and really LOOKED at how many Osprey books are out there Hal? The addiction starts with the first three booklets on the infantry, cavalry and then the specialist troops. As the insanity deepens, you find yourself looking at campaign series, books on artillery pieces, and then the foreign additions such as Hourtoulle and Dorn/Englemann.... "Yeah, I'm a uniform and research book junky and that isn't in the 12 step program." Well we can't have all of these fun figures without flags and standards now can we? So you pick up a few sheets at the conventions, head to websites, order all sorts of variations to get a particular set and off with the scissors and white glue for a while. Oh the addiction can be more serious Hal. Ever bought boardgames for the "scenarios and research on unit strengths"? Oh yeah ... I'm that far the edge. When combined with gorgeous terrain which I need to get from Scenic Effects folks and Old Glory and and other companies ... Hal ... I'm in the never ending spiral of collecting, painting and creating those battles. "Hi my name is Eric, and I've lost all reason and sanity. Put the 12 steps program on E-bay to get money for more minis!" The trick, I've learned, to painting all of these minis is to get a system that is fun and never tedious. For the painting routine a lot, try to have little kids involved which can be high entainment value if you like using inks on figures, and paint many different types of figures at a time. Don't know if that works for other gamers, but it gets me interested and motivated. In addition, I always try to paint one or two colors a couple of times a day including in between working out, which has done nothing for my waist line I might add could it be all of this collecting, painting, mounting? Nah .... just big bones! Hope my first letter to MWAN will not be my last I would like to close with a question of my own. While I've been in and out of this addicttion ... er...hobby for nearly twenty-five years, I must admit that I am totally clueless as to all of the "issues" that have been happening within HMGS. Perhaps my commentary is that I have gone to all the East conventions during the last five years and must be oblivious to all of them. I have noted recently though more about how to expand or get new folks the hobby. Is it possible for historical gaming associations to provide support to time event hosts? Hal, I have never run a game at a convention. Partly this has been job related (I have had to depart hurriedly on a couple of occasions) and mainly because I would much prefer to get some pointers, guidance or assistance the few times hosting a game. I think this would greatly expand the hobby if a partnering arrangement could be worked out so that the first time you run a game, you are not swamped trying to explain things, ensure that the set-up, tables, etc., resolving disputes or questions on play. Perhaps I can try to put these in an article in the near future for MWAN and the hobby soon. (EdItor's Note., Thanks for your Interesting response, Eric. I used washers years ago until my armies grew too large to handle when mounted singly and I never liked the look of the movement trays on the tabletop. Enjoyed your letter') From Jim Davis I have been gaming WWII since I discovered "Tactics II" in 1958. I soon had a dozen guys in the barracks hooked, and people waiting to borrow it and play. It was an open bay so it was never actually out of my sight and I was able to keep anyone from putting a coffee cup of bourbon on the map. When I was discharged in 1960 I moved to California, and discovered Roco tanks, and Airfix figures. I was smitten and began to collect and paint them. I had been an airplane modeler since third grade. Strangely, I would play the board game with dice, and kriegsspiel the figure battles. After about a year the use of dice for the figures hit me. A couple of years were wasted on the distractions of auto racing, colleges/work, a 90 hour weeks in law enforcement. My first commercial Rule set was the Charles Grant book "Battle" in about 1970. I managed to involve a few friends about this time and we played at each others homes once or twice a week, wives in the living room, men in the garage, yard or den. We tried all the rules available as well as the first micro armor. We found that micro armor tends to get lost in sand tables, and always kept the Roco's. So I am still using many of those tanks, but have upgraded my plastic figures as better ones have come out. Some how in addition to getting involved in about every era available (OK, I don't do much modern or Napoleonics) I also ended up with 20mm, 15mm, 10mm and micro armor WWII. So far as the current rule sets this is my experience. I discovered Command Decision in 1987 after moving to Dallas, TX. They took a while to learn, but with a good referee they produce a great game. I even devised a point system for them that MWAN published. The drawback with them is the time needed to study and understand them, and the need to keep current with them. I can not play Grants rules for a year, and then pick up and play them. I haven't found this true with CDII. A very positive feature to me of CD is that infantry are very useful, and not just tank fodder. Also it is hard to break a good defense. I tried Spearhead and they are easier to learn and keep current with. While a good CD game is a few Bttn., SH is best played with much larger forces. Some of the concepts feel artificial, and take some thought to see how they are applied, and it was written for micro scale. But bigger battles, especially on the eastern front are possible. Players complain of "super Germans" and the Germans are very effective. I always design scenarios with a lot of Russians. If the Germans are twice as good, use twice as many Russians for a balanced game. In any set of rules "I get one Bttn and you get one Bttn" is usually a poor way to design a scenario. CDII had a good army book, CD3 does not. SH has a decent set of army lists, as does Battle front which I will get too in a while. I bought Battlefront when it came out and like it very much. The level is lower than CD, but you can handle a Bttn or two if needed. My daughter is in college but only an hour away. She brings her friends home some Sat. and I have taught the boys to play Battlefront very easily. It plays OK at HO scale (I made a ruler where each inch is really 1 1/2 inches long to use with Battlefront and SH. This gives a better visual effect. Are any of the rules "realistic" or "accurate"? I have no idea. The results seem reasonable, my playing partner and I never feel like the rules are "skewed" or screwing us. All three games have bases about the same size and I use the same figures for all three. I also tried Battleground WWII. When someone showed me how to play a simple scenario it was fine. Reading the rules was interesting, but I quickly decided there was a lot of stuff to keep track of. I am 63 and don't feel like spending a lot of time reading then looking up rules. I set up one very small action, a tank approaching a cross roads, with a hidden AIT gun. It worked out as it should have, the A/T gun and it's supporting infantry spotted the tank and it's infantry first, waited a couple of turns and got the first shot off, and in fact got off two shots before the tank replied, missing, and then knocked out the tank. Probably good rules for someone who wants to play a couple of squads. Just to make things more complex, let me mention two other WWII rule sets, "Crossfire" is a peculiar game that is a hoot to play. It is an Infantry game, but you can use tanks if you must. Plays quickly, is very tense most of the time. You occasionally get involved in extended fire fights, initiative shifting back and forth, and no resolution. Eventfully there will be one. I guess that happens in real life also. Again an easy set to learn, and to keep current in. Last let me mention Canadian Wargamers "Great Battles" It is a very high level game, fairly simple and easy to learn, One stand is a Company, and tank is a Company. It is the reason I still have micro armor. You play out short campaigns f several days, even the Normandy landing on table top. It has a very British feel with pulling back and regrouping at days end, then possible retaking yesterdays ground. Patton would not have approved. I have played several Italian campaign games and enjoyed them. Ignoring Great Battles and Crossfire, I would guess either SH or Battlefront would serve for your WWII eastern front games. (Editor's Note., Thanks, James, for your response! Enjoyed your thinking about WWII games!) Back to MWAN #117 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