I have to say that wargaming has been the least of my occupations over the last year. I retire this summer after 21-years in the USMC, along with I will be moving from the D.C. area and my day job (I manage almost $40 million in US Government work being done in Ukraine) is pretty intense, involving a fair amount of travel to Europe. So, the best I've been able to do is to continue importing books from Russia and asking my friend Nikolai Semibratov to bear the burden of all the translations. I have not been marketing them that well, but no need as I sell almost everything I get in as soon as I get it. My web site receives an incredible number of visitors and is gives me all the extra work I can do. I am writing this during the Cold Wars weekend. I canceled my reservations, as I just was not able to go with everything else going on. I am stalwartly clinging to my reservations for Historicon, which is only a four-hour drive down the interstate from my 110-year new home outside of Pittsburgh. My wife has agreed to come, so for Luella Hill (the indomitable John Hill's wife) and Frani Janci (Ivor's wife), they will have company in their explorations of all the local outlet stores in Lancaster. Medieval Plastic -- 1:72nd Scale Not a common topic, but one that is gaining a significant amount of attention in Europe. They've turned their sculptors loose and you should see what they've been producing. The Zvezda company out of Moscow, Russia has done some great work with their budding line of games and now, I've found a company called Archipelago out of Ukraine. They are using a spin injection molding methodology to pour their figures, which come on the ends of spokes. You get two of these spoke sets per pack, which results in anywhere from 14 to 20 figures per pack. For only $2.50 a pack, you can fill holes in your armies. For more information on either, refer to my web page -- www.gauntletinternational.com I have to say that I've received my Foundry ACW figures from St. Petersburg Russia and they look phenomenal! The bases are from Jeff Lista's Wargame Accessories, figures are the Foundry ACW 28mm line, and the paint is an oil-based Russian brand. Once I get to Pittsburgh, I'll see about spraying them with a flat matte to seal them (they are painted well and using flat paints) and then getting them ready for a Brother Against Brother contest. I'd like to throw a quick game together for some folks while at Historicon. We'll see. I have all the terrain and figures, so a scenario should be the easy part. My best regards to Hal for keeping MWAN going all these years with many more to follow. It is amazing what he's been able to accomplish! Good luck on those morale rolls! Back to MWAN #118 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