Hi guys and gals. Welcome to another round of club news. I'm very excited today. In just two days I leave for Cold Wars hosted by HMGS East. Their cons are always bigger than life, and I always renew old acquaintances and make new friends. And of course, I spend far more money in the dealer area than my wife would like. C'est la guerre, eh? I'm taking my newly painted Crusaders to play a few games too-hopefully they'll play well. You may have noticed that the Megalist of game clubs is absent this issue. Since it has become so large, I am going to run it every other issue to give Hat and you more space for articles and rules. Hope you don't mind. Anyone who wishes a copy of the list is welcome to ask me via email for it at any time.
What else is HMGS East up to? Their recent newsletter is the membership issue sorted by zip code-very convenient. East is also focusing on game masters at their conventions so expect to see some new perks (not cash or anything so mundane) at their conventions. Finally, Fall In has moved back to Lancaster as the Eisenhower Inn in Gettysburg raised the rates pretty severely on them and wouldn't commit to dates. FYI, Scott Holder is now the editor and can be reached at PO Box 36, Bonnots Mill MO 65016, scott.holder@fhwa.dot.gov, while Bill Rutherford is the VP in charge of membership and can be contacted at (703) 878-1225, WORJ@NVNTRAK.ORG or of course the website at http://www.hmgs.org.
We have several newcomers to these pages from Florida thanks to Pat Condray. The Junior Armati gamers under the leadership of Alan Sheridan can be found at 95 Egrets Nest LN W. Richmond Hill, GA 31324. (912) 756-8215, e-mail: mongolal@aol.com. The Garrison Clubs umbrella organization run by Brian Stroup (already in our Megalist) includes a number of local "garrisons" in Florida, namely: the Gainesville Garrison, a bipolar group of historical and "other" gamers. For historical, talk to Deke Ashton 1700 SW 16th Ct.#B22, Gainesville, FL 32608 (352) 379-9843, e-mail: dekesan@altavista.com. For Fantasy-Sci-Fi talk to Mike Jones 1432 NE 19th Place, Gainesville, FL 32609 (252) 372-1904, e-mail afn53824@afn.org. Next is the Ocala Garrison run by Bryan Mascia, 1524 NE 17th Terrace, Ocala, FL 34470 (352) 2371122, e-mail b.maseia@worldnet.att.net. Finally, the Space Coast Garrison: Michael Ramos 1225 N. Wickham Rd. #726 Melbourne, FL 32935 e-mail mramos@hotmail.com.
Next we have the North Florida Gaming Association, another multi-genre adventure gaming organization, the inspiration for TBGA (see Megalist). 523 N. Merridian St. Tallahassee, FL 32301. Lastly, we have the Central Florida Napoleonics Group, a long-standing group of traditional Napoleonic Column, Line and Square players. POC William Hutchinson, 2004 N. 44th St. Ft. Pierce FL 34947 (561) 464-4186.
We have some new friends from down under too. Nic Robson of the Western Suburbs Wargaming Association (WSWA) dropped me a line about his group. They meet fortnightly on Saturdays from 11am till 11pm. There are 80+ gamers, and they play anything and everything from 54mm to 2mm, Fantasy to Sci-fi, Biblical to Bosnia, and includes a heap of role players too. They are holding a convention 25th May this year, and it's usually around the same time each year concentrating on demo and participation games. Last year they had 325 attendees. WSWA is currently running two campaigns at the club, a modern one using Peter Pig's AK47 rules and another in WW2 using Crossfire. You can reach Nic at 03 9568 4085 or nicr@eurekamin.com.au, or the President Wayne Eaton, weaton@bigpond.com.au, or Altona Meadows Community Centre, 28-36 Trafalgar Avenue, Altona Meadows, Melbourne, Victoria .3028. Australia.
The amazing Pete Panzeri, founder of HMGS-Gamers International, crafted another good newsletter. Lead story was a refight of Task Force Smith in the Korean War that he and others refought at his abode in Osan, Korea. Other articles of note included Dr. Norbert Brunhuber regaling readers with the latest installment in his long-running Diadochi campaign of Alexander's Successors that he's been running at conventions. Next Pete posted an Afghan cave-busting scenario for you modern enthusiasts, using a Ranger Company and a mob of Afghans. Check out an animation of cave clearing at http://wire.ap.org/APpackages/cavesflash/index.html. Alan Hamilton wrote a thought piece on whether we need to "convert" non-historical gamers to historical, and what exactly we mean by the term "historical. David Fierner reminded us of the nine "principles of war" (Objective, Offense, Mass, Economy of Force, Maneuver, Unity of Command, Security, Surprise, Simplicity) and what they mean. Linda Wheeler penned a nice piece discussing the actions of Mosby's Raiders in the Civil War and discussing some of the locations you can still visit. The best calendar of events on what's happening in the world of Civil War history-- tours, symposia, conferences, re-enactments, etc., etc. can be found at the Civil War News website: www.civilwarnews.com. Finally the 23rd Annual National Assembly of the Order of Indian Wars is being held August 22-25, 2002, Kansas City, Mo. Jerry Russell jlrussell@aristotle.net has more info, but it includes The Cavalry of the Plains as the focus this year, including two days of tours to Fort Riley (Cavalry Museum, Custer Home), and Fort Leavenworth (home of the 9th-10th Cavalry, Museum, Cemetery), and Fort Scott National Historic Site, plus an outstanding line-up of speakers.
The Secret Society of Miniature Wargamers out in CA attended SpringCon in Burbank last weekend. They sponsored five games of Might of Arms as well as umpired the DBM tournament. Their next monthly gaming day is April 28th at the Adventurers Guild in Riverside. Might of Arms and DBR will figure prominently. They are planning some ACW gaming in May, and probably Napoleonics after that.
HMGS Midwest sent another pretty newsletter. They held their flagship con Little Wars last month, expecting several hundred gamers and dozens of events. The theme was Colonial Wars. Editor Matt Hyke nears completion on his ACW naval rules and discusses the ins-and-outs of ramming.
HMGS Mid-South's Dispatch is full of useful stuff. Bill Osborne kicked things off with a "re-write" of Lewis Carroll, "The time has come, the gamer said, to talk of many things; of lead, and paint and reference books and how the paint brush sings." Then he gives an excellent overview of half a dozen new Osprey releases. Baxter Key continues to regale readers with accounts of his Viet Nam campaigns-the game seems to have quite a lot of fog-of-war and sounds quite exciting. Andy Crowell informs us that two thorough books on the Soviet's war in Afghanistan have been scanned into the web. They, and other interesting bits, can be read at http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/afghanweb/#primary%20sources. My apologies to Mike Demana, editor of The Herald for HMGS Great Lakes. As usual, Mike sent me the latest Herald in plenty of time for me to read and comment on here. But, I am a dumpkopf. I read it all right, but I left it at my sister-in-laws house in Oregon, and the only thing I recall is that they have wrapped up their Justinian Roman campaign, and are planning to start two new ones, Boadicea's Rebellion and a Hellenistic/Punic War campaign. Sorry Mikemaybe I need two copies!
Last month I ventured up to Burnaby, British Columbia to attend Salute 2002 put on by the Trumpeters, a club belonging to Northwest HMGS. What a great time! I stayed at the Holiday Inn just up the street. The weather was cool but gorgeous, with snow-capped mountains all around. I was only able to play Saturday and Sunday, but I joined in Steve Knight's very large Saxons versus Romans game where we Romans had to protect a caravan filled with Wunderbars from the ravening hordes. We were successful and ate our fill after the battle ended. Saturday afternoon I died horribly as a Brit trying to defend the camp at Isandlwana. Chris Leach put out a very pretty game table for us to play on, but my faulty tactics led our three-man team to ruin. Steve Allen ran his usual Formula One racing game, while about 20 DBM players vied for glory in a team tournament where they mixed scales (15mm and 25mm but not on the same battlefield) and you had to provide both sides of the battle and your opponent chose which army to play-really cool idea. Wish I'd had a partner. I had a pleasant dinner with my friend Doug Hamm, author of the Larry Leadhead cartoon of which many of you are familiar, and premier painter for Red Plume Painting Service. I also saw my friend Cal Stengel of Columbia Games there and had the opportunity to playtest the as-yet-to-be-released Company Commander, as well as Marine expeditionary Unit. Both look very promising with CC being a much faster block version of the ever popular Squad Leader, and MEU being completely new. Did I mention they gave away a gazillion door prizes (I won a pizza), and a US dollar buys more there than a Canadian dollar. Fabulous. I hope many of them come down to Enfilade in May.
Big Muddy HGA is sponsoring another painting lottery that coincides with their semiannual convention. You pay $2 and get 5 25mm figures (Wild west in this case, ACW last time). You have two months to paint them to decent quality and turn them in at the convention. By entering your figs (and the judge can disqualify you for poor painting) you go into the hat for the drawing for all the figs. The last winner got 60 painted ACW troops to make into a couple regiments or run as skirmish. Great idea. The Bavarian-Austrian campaign of 1809 continues with the Bavarians kicking some serious Austrian butt-next stop Landshut. A new campaign is starting covering the exploits of Kampfgruppe Peiper in the Battle of the Bulge using Mein Panzer rules and 1/300 scale. And Earl Hodgen reports on the 1/2000 scale early 1800's naval campaign using fictional countries and maps. Harold Wones is writing a nice series on ages of warfare. He recently covered the 1500's and 1600's, and has now moved on to rifles and technological warfare discussing armies, tactics, and rules to play these periods. Game days can be found each month at the Hobby Shop and Dizzy Dugout in St Louis, the Fantasy Shop and Dragon King Hobbies in St. Charles, and Medieval Starship in O'Fallon IL. They have a new website at www.bmhga.org--go visit!
The HMGS Heart of America Communique starts off with several pages of highlights from Border Wars-looks like a great convention. Then Bill Boyle's excellent painting tips for 15mm Napoleonics. Then Greg McCall fleshed out some info on the Saxons in the Napoleonic Wars, which I've stashed into my collection.
HMGS Pacific Southwest's Messenger reports they are at 90 members, and recently hosted the Desert Wars convention in Sin City, that's right, Las Vegas, NV. Bill Heizer has written an interesting what-if scenario for French intervention in the ACW. Mark Parker's interesting correspondence with a Renaissance scholar concerning 16"' century French vs. Italian knights is duplicated and quite thought provoking, especially in how one should look askance at primary history sources.
In January a number of members from the Upstate South Carolina Wargaming Society attended the Siege of Augusta convention in Georgia and ran l5mm Boer War, 15mm Franco Prussian War, and a 1/1200 ACW Naval game. March 1-3 they hosted their annual Battle of Cowpens Convention in Clemson, SC. Members of the group ran 15mm Boer War, 15mm Franco-Prussian War, 15mm Zulus, 25mm Egyptians in the Sudan, 25mm Napoleon in Spain, 25mm Viking Russ, 1/144 Battle of Britain, WWII Micro Armor, and for the kids a 54mm Wild West and a balloon race game (that would be interesting to see), and many more. The club hosts monthly game days in the Clemson-Greenville-Spartanburg area of SC where they play these games plus others such as 54mm French Foreign Legion, 15mm Indian Mutiny, and an occasional fantasy battle. For future game days they are also planning a DBA tournament, American Revolutionary War, and 1/1200 pre-dreadnoughts. Chris Pagano, leader of this very active bunch, has recently moved, so the new contact info for the club is Chris Pagano, cpagano@clemson.edu, 211 Shaftsbury Rd, Clemson, SC 29631, 864 653-3041.
Camino Real Post from the deserts of New Mexico and Texas boasts 26 new gamer listing to find an opponent. Their game day later this month (April) will included Armati, Maximillian adventures in Mexico, Warhammer Ancient Battles, 12mm Spearhead in France 1940, OGRE, and more.
The recent issue of the Phalanx Veteran, official gazette of the Armati community, reports that Armati II will be hot off the press at Historicon-look for your new rules. Dave Lowe reports that the core rules remain almost untouched, but many of the optional and chrome rules will be revised, and many new army lists will be included. In fact, draft previews of the Kushan and Nabataean armies were included in the newsletter.
Thanks everyone for all you input and help with this column. I really enjoy hearing from you and reading your news reports. Please keep them coming.
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© Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum
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