From Dillon Browne
Had a thought the other day. Well, a question really. I was reading 'Wargame Tactics' by Charles Grant. Turning to the front to see when it was published and was slightly surprised to see it was printed in 1979. Twenty Four years ago! Now I know that time flies but it struck me that after quickly scanning my memory banks I cannot recall any 'great' wargames books being printed in the last 20 years. I know that there have been wargame books, but were all the greats written before 1980? I would be interested to see if any can be recommended - so I can hunt them down. If there aren't any, or very few, I would put it down partly to the nature of wargame rules that are published these days. When you can get hold of rules sets such as 'Grande Armee', 'Warhammer Ancient Battles' and '1870', so much information is supplied for the wargamer that the pickings for a general wargames author would be fairly thin. Some, repeat some, wargame rules sets from the 1970s were pretty poor efforts when compared with what is available today. On the other hand I think the 'Old West - Skirmish Rules 18161900' by Messers Curtis, Blake and Colwill hasn't been bettered in its particular historic period for presentation, detail, information and enthusiasm in thirty years. An excellent reference work as well as a set of rules.
In the middle of November I paid a visit to the 'Warfare' convention at Reading. Apart from a load of 15mm terrain for my WW2 games, most of my money spent on wargame figures went to Tumbling Dice. After about 35 years gaming I have discovered 20mm figures at last. In this case WW1, for which Tumbling Dice have a large range and are fairly well priced. I find the figures so easy to paint that I may well take up some other periods as well.
I also bought some 1/72nd scale early medieval knights. Again, they just seemed such a nice size with the figures about 23-24mm high. Not large enough to have too much detail but still small enough to be able to get away with the same style of painting that I use on my 15mm figures. And then for something totally different I couldn't help but buy some 1/600 scale WW2 aircraft. I'm sure that there is a game there somewhere if I can only come up with the rules.
The last subject - buying figures - takes me back to 'Wargame Tactics' that I mentioned earlier. I had to laugh at one sentence. "It is a temptation for the more senior wargamer to shake his head wisely and vouchsafe that the present-day enthusiast has never had it so good, that everything is handed to him on a plate and so on and so forth". That was in 1979. How much more so these days! I just can't wait for the developments to come in the next 24 years. My problem is that the number of wargame figure ranges is increasing faster than I can buy them! Happy gaming.
From Peter Michels
I enjoyed the MWAN 125 issue very much. I was entertained by your interest in the 54mm plastic figures. There seems to be a whole group of sort of gamers, sort of collectors out there that do 54mm gaming. For the most part, they don't seem to be part of the gaming mainstream. I periodically paint up a battalion or so of 54mm AWI figures from Revell, Accurate or Call to Arms. I do modify figures, since I am not happy with the BMC artillerists and there's a standard bearer in one of the Accurate or Revell boxes, but the flag is molded folding over the ensigns shoulders. No way am I going to be able to paint that accurately as a Union lack and there's too much plastic to cut it away.
So I modify one halberd carrying officers. I use a piece of metal clothes hanger from the dry cleaner and draw the flags myself on the computer or download Warfag images from the web and print them at 190%. So far, I've only done British battalions. Each is twelve figures with an officer, standard bearer and drummer in each unit. I painted 2 cannons also and modified a couple of line infantry figures into artillerists by removing their muskets and putting artillery rammers in their hands. I always tell myself that I'll play a game with them, since one of my friends also has a collection of them, but I suspect that's just a rationalization.
I think I collect them and paint them because it lets me fulfill that dream I used to have as a child when I was going to paint hundreds or thousands of the larger figures. I'm just completing that dream, I think. They are very different to paint than the standard HO plastics, 15mm lead or 28mm lead figures. Their size makes specifics far more obvious like eyebrows, mouth, fingers, button, etc. On smaller figures, drummer lace has always been an approximation of the real thing. On the 54mm figures, the lace is far more obvious like shoulder crows nests and arm lace. And the 54mm plastics, most plastics, for that matter, have softer edges than white metal figures, so detail molded into the figure is less distinct, although larger. Makes for an interesting art project. I've discovered that I cannot paint eyes on little or big figures.
From Michael Parrott
I have taken a hard look at my gaming holdings - mostly unpainted lead, unfortunately - and have decided it's time to cut down. One of the things that I have experienced in my effort to "down size" (sorry, couldn't help myself) is that it's very difficult to do. Only gamers care about the stuff and in general, it's hard to get to gamers to show what you have to sell/ trade. I spent all of this year's Little Wars at a flea market table selling off items - didn't game at all. I had to do some deep discounting to move items and I know there are some businesses out there who are now re-selling/ have re-sold my stuff - which they got for a song. Guess that's the free market in action, eh?
I suppose what I'm trying to say is for those who are just starting out - find a period or two and concentrate your efforts there. Once you overload yourself with unpainted lead and the associated rules, scenario books and references - it's very difficult to recoup what you spent or unload what you have (unless you added value to your miniatures by painting and basing them nicely). I have been inspired, by Rafael Paramundi's and the Nap Nuts of Singapore's web sites, to dig out my 20mm plastic Napoleonics figures and paint, base and game with them (Napoleon v. Austria) I also have a bunch of 15mm Napoleonics (Peninsula) yet to do. I would attempt to do the Peninsula in 20mm plastic as well but I already have a considerable amount of lead.
I count myself among the many inspired to go into 25mm Colonial gaming by the Major General's web site. In fact, there are many good Colonial era gaming web sites out there - The Colonial Angle, Poor Benighted 'eathen's and The Red Shadow's sites, just to name a few more. I have quite a lot of lead laying about for the Sudan, the Zulu Wars and the Spanish-American War which I must yet tackle. My other eras of interest include 20mm WWII (Pacific); 15mm WWII (Early war France); 25mm French and Indian; 25mm American Revolutionary; 25mm War of 1812; 1/3000th WWII Naval (Pacific); 1/1200 Civil War Naval; 10mm ACW and 1/300th WWII and WWI air.
I am certain that at some point in the not-too-distant future several of these areas will drop off my list due to lack of time. We are also moving to a new home, in Monee, in the late December/ early January timeframe. The good old days of (excess) gaming acquisition will end at that point. From then on, I have to paint and base and build that gaming table I have always wanted. All this will require some planning - something I have been up until now hesitant to do with my hobby time. I have read all about your "project" approach to collecting, painting and basing with pleasure and interest and I think I will adopt some of your practices. Thanks for sharing them in your MWAN "editorials". Having said all that - know anyone who might want to buy some unpainted lead in 12mm WWII, 15mm WWII, 20mm WWI, 15mm Colonial, 1/300th WWII and WWI air? Just print my e-mail address - maybe that'll spark some action. I also have rules and references for sale in all those periods. If not, I know what I'll be doing come Little Wars next year.
From Samuel Scott
Just got #125 in the mail and I've already read almost the whole issue. I hope retirement is treating you well. I just wanted to let you know about the website that has been set up for the Operation Market Garden game that Martin Baber and I have organized for Fall In. The URL is htto://havoc.battlegroupboston.org/ marketgarden/ When the game is finished I will write an article (or maybe a series) about the project for MWAN.
From Mark Brown
Hope the house move went or is going smooth. The group here is hitting the holiday season. One more game day until Jan 2004. The store that gives us the space is unable to let us schedule a day of gaming during the Christmas shopping season. That is ok as we are too busy to game that month. The group centers around about 3 dedicated gamers with about 5-6 that rotate in according to what is being played. We have been playing WWII in northern Europe post D-Day. The games have been very interesting and fun. They have reminded me of the teaching games I had while attending the Infantry Officers Course while in the USMC. So of the other games have been: ACW naval, ECW, North Africa micro armor. We are looking to start ancients, restarting my War of 1812 games and 6mm Napoleonics set in Italy (1796).
From Scott Mingsus
The Johnny Reb Gaming Society is pleased to announce that the first edition of its new CHARGE! newsletter will be printed on November 15th and mailed shortly thereafter. The society exists to promote the use of the popular Johnny Reb miniature wargaming ruleset, and to provide a written forum for the exchange of wargaming scenarios, specialized Civil War history, and general gaming tips. This first issue of CHARGE! will feature 3 regimentallevel Civil War miniatures scenarios. These will be Jackson's attack at Kernstown (First Winchester), A.P. Hill's attack at Shepherdstown to complete the Maryland Campaign, and the fight between Buford's cavalry and Lane's Tarheels along the Fairfield Road at Gettysburg. Informational articles in Issue #1 include Brent Noseworthy's look at the effectiveness of the rifled musket during the Civil War and J. D. Petruzzi's analysis of Buford's defense in depth at Gettysburg. In addition, CHARGE! will feature a Gettysburg trivia contest with prizes donated by GFI - Minifigs US and by Gettysburg - York Garners. The newsletter is published quarterly and is included with the annual membership dues ($10 in the USA, $12 in Canada, $15 for overseas and South America). The society encourages anyone interesting in miniature wargaming of the Civil War period to join them. Playing Johnny Reb is not a prerequisite as the scenarios and information will be generic enough to be used in nearly all regimental-level gaming rulesets. For more information, please contact Scott Mingus at jrgsnl@aol.com
From Charles Elsden
Without even going on with my reading of Issue # 125, which just came in the mail, I must rush to answer your question at the end of the Editorial: "Is there a plastic 54mm maker of SYWT'
The answer is NO--but..." As you guess, ARW infantry is a good match. I don't do skirmishes, or convert figures either! Now, some years ago Jamie Delson of The Toy Soldier Company had special color variants of the fine Accurate ARW British sets run off in dark green (Russian), cream/white (Austrian) etc. particularly with SYW in mind. He may still have these in stock (being almost the only person who will)! Knock three times, and tell him 'Charley sent ya.'
As for good and cheap artillery crew, the BMC ARW crews are available in red, white, and blue plastic--probably the best figures they made in that period. Cavalry is the hardest of all. Right now 54mm is seeing the an expansion of Napoleonic cavalry sets from several makers. But "more cavalry" is heard throughout the land for all periods, guess it must be harder to cast than dismounted figures. In the mean time, I bought a large lot of Men of '76 (Shell Bicentennial figures--see an old article I did in MWAN) which include one red Brit in mitre, one US in blue and tricorn, and one gray horseman (Paul Revere). These can be varied by their several different horse colors into different units. Now let's consult that famous and ancient ***RED BOOK OF ELSDON*** and see what else is available. ATS Toys made a blue pose in ARW Dragoon Helmet. Replicants also makes a figure in a gray greatcoat, although this is more of a staff officer pose. Finally, there is a line of Timpo Swoppets ARW cavalry with more pose variation and interchangeable weapons, which is your best bet. That's the story for now. But stay tuned to the ever expanding story of 54mm...
From Terry Gore
It's been quite busy lately around here what with my returning to teaching after 30 years away from the profession. I've been lecturing at two local colleges, my old alma mater, SUNY Brockport and Genesee Community College. I'm really enjoying the opportunity to get back into the college classroom and teach history again. Bruce Taylor and I introduced miniatures into the classroom both last semester as well as this one with a lesson on Napoleonic tactics in my Western Civ. courses and Roman/Greek tactics in my Ancient World course. We set up a typical 'battle' using a few hundred figures and showed the students how the various contingents of the armies worked together. Using miniatures to visually illustrate formations, battle tactics and actual battlefield situations allows the student the ability to grasp concepts of technology as well as strategy. We had one student bring his digital camera to class and several others stayed after class to discuss wargaming. A handful had been exposed to GW or D&D, but none had seen a historical miniatures game before.
Foundry plans to release our Medieval Warfare rules either late this year or early next followed shortly by our Ancient Warfare rules and then our newer sets, Renaissance Warfare, Napoleonic Warfare and Victorian Warfare. The related army list booklets will be released by Foundry as well. In the meantime, SAGA Publishing will continue to produce scenario booklets and related hobby and historical texts. For a complete listing of our current publications, please check out our website at www.saga-publishinq.com SAGA's website http://www.sagapublishing.com/ For credit card payments, use www.paypal.com Paypal receiver of funds tlgore@frontiernet.net Join the MW/AW rules group at http://ciroui)s.vahoo.com/cirouP/Gore AMwar
From Chris Parker
I realize that I have reached a place of stagnation in my interest in my game Day of Battle. I have tried a number of times to light the fire but I just can't seem to find the wick. I don't want it to fade away like so many other great games so I'd like to put out a general letter to all of you to see if there is one or more of you that would be interested in talking about acquiring the rules, domain and website. If you or anybody you know would be interested please contact me. All conversations will be held in confidence and should be sent directly to me chris@dayofbattle.com
From David Ravbin
To Robert Burke and Hal Thinglum: Read with interest your comments in MWAN regarding Hal's Franco Prussian War project and that you were doing a supplement for the 150th anniversary of the Crimean War. My own Crimean War Rules will also be out and published on the WEB shortly in time for the 150th Anniversary. (Purists will remind us that Turkey declared war on Russia on October 5, 1853 but all the real fun such as Balaclava et a/ was in 1854.) What we are doing is publishing the rules on the Web AND including a setup for an actual game which will be run at Nashcon in May.
Folks can read about it on the WEB and then when they get to the con they can jump right in. I think we need to do a LOT more WEB posting about games in advance of a con which will heighten interest in the particular game and most importantly in the con itself.
(Editors Note: Looking forward to seeing the rules, David; I know this has been a period of interest for you for some time!)
From Andrew ]. Franke
I have been a loyal MWAN reader for years. Sam Mustafa Introduce it to me nearly 13 years ago and I can't tell you how grateful I am that he did. I have always bought MWAN at my local game shop but that is no longer possible as I have moved into an area with no game shop close by. I want to say thank you for all you have done. MWAN has meant a great deal to me over the years. My back issues have kept me entertained while sick or bored or lonely. You are truly a godsend and even my wife would agree. I am a horrible patient. So when I am sick she puts out some orange juice and a stack of MWAN's. Attached is a tongue in cheek article well kind of. I hope it is something you can use. Like most gamers I play far too many era's and have mounds of unpainted lead. Unfortunately here in the Shenandoah Valley where I have moved I haven't found any regular garners. I live near Harrisonburg and have yet to find anyone who plays miniatures regularly.
(Editor's Note., Thanks for kind words, Andrew! Glad you enjoy MWAN. Good luck finding some wargamers in your area!)
From John Stafford
Just reading through #126 and I have a suggestion. Could you, in the future, insist on article writers including an email or phone number in their byline at the beginning so that folks who want to contact them for comment can do so? I find myself compelled to talk to Bill Haggart and George Knapp on their contributions, yet I don't know w=how to reach them other than through you. If these comments were worth an article I would do so publicly, but they are more in the vein of questions rather than comments/suggestions.
(Editor's Note: I agree, John, this would be a good idea as I do get a number of requests from people to put them in touch with writers.)
From Dick Hammer
I thought you might enjoy the enclosed photos of my first attempt to make terrain for my Adler 6mm Napoleonic guys. I recently built the battlefield of Borodino as one inch equals 100 meters for use with Sam Mustafa's Grande Armee rules. They are excellent for playing large battles in a reasonable time and space, and with modest numbers of figures. Unfortunately, the photos have a bit of a yellow tint caused by the florescent lighting. I intend to take more pictures with better lighting when I get an opportunity. Anyway, they demonstrate that reasonably attractive terrain is possible even to the inexperienced modeler and, in my opinion, well worth the effort. Incidentally, most of the techniques were gleaned from your fantastic special terrain issue from several years ago. That was the single most useful issue of any gaming magazine that I've ever seen. I have referred to it often over the years and find myself re-reading it just for fun. Have a great time in your retirement. We are both the same age and I am not too far behind you in retiring myself. I am looking forward to having more time to take on some larger projects - perhaps building the Waterloo battlefield and raising several more Napoleonic armies of the lesser powers.
(Editors Note: Thanks for the great letter and the photos of your terrain, Dick! If you can send me some good pictures, I'd love to put on the covers. The terrain looks great' 6mm is so tempting when I see a setup such as you did. I'd love to see an article on how you went about not only the terrain but the basing and terraining of figures. A real in-depth type description of your project. Where do you store the terrain? How big is it? Looking forward to hearing from you!)
From Robert Richardson
I, like many people, started my hobby as a young boy collecting plastic toy soldiers. One Christmas in the late 50's, I was about age seven. My brother, who was about 15, said there was no "Santa Claus". We were getting our Christmas list letter ready to turn over to Mom and Dad to mail to the North Pole. My brother dared me not to put in the letter what I really wanted. It was a Marx American Civil War set about 350 pieces for about $35.00.
I took my brother up on the dare and of the three items we put on the list, I did not list the toy soldier set! Needless to say, Christmas came and though there were many great toys and clothes, I was still saddened that my brother could have been right. When my mother asked me what was wrong, Christmas morning, I told her what happened and what my older brother had said! She said she was sure it was all a mistake! She went to the phone, dialed a bunch of numbers, like 30, and then spoke to an Elf named Rudy who said it must be a mistake and in a few days it would be shipped to one of the local stores in Pittsburgh near where I had lived as a child! Over the next few days I was apprehensive to be sure! But eventually, a Brown delivery truck from Gimbels like the UPS trucks arrived on a snow-covered day. The deliveryman even had a letter from Santa Claus (North Pole) with the Marx ACW set! My faith was restored and I was on my way to collecting toy soldiers. As for my brother, my mother shot him dirty glances at Christmas time from then on! I continued collecting till age 13 when my father said I was too old for them - I wonder what he would think now as I am in my 50's - so I gave them all away; five complete sets to a friend. Then I started to collect Avalon Hill boardgames, Waterloo, Stalingrad, Jutland, 1914, tc. At age 24 I noted that a local club on Sunday afternoons was featured in the Sunday paper. A few phone calls and two weeks later I was immersed in a huge Napoleonic game and was hooked on toy soldiers once again!
(Editor's Note: Thanks for sharing your Christmas Story with us, Robert! It mirrors, I am sure, what many of us in that age bracket went through in the 50's with the advent of the Marx toy sets. I am 57 and I easily recall the excitement when the SEARS Christmas catalog would arrive; I couldn't wait to check out the toy section to see what new soldier sets they had. I used to dream about going to a department store in a large city and seeing all of these sets in person! I received one set each Christmas and the ACW set as you did; also the Alamo, the Castle with the knights, and the WWII set. What a wonderful time that was! As you, I was in my late 20's when I rediscovered toy soldiers. I have a small plastic shoe box in the basement with a small part of my childhood toy soldiers and shall treasure them a/ways! I still have some photos of toy soldier setups that I did outside in the yard from that time period. My mother had a Rower garden enclosed in brick around the house and I spent many hours with my WWII soldiers fighting battles in the 'jungle': My parents still remember me setting 'pillboxes" - American Cheese boxes, remember them? - on fire in the backyard and taking pictures of them! I feel very fortunate to be able to bring those days back with my hobby!)
From Prisco Hernadez
As I renew my subscription, I have a chance to reflect on my changing relationship to our hobby. In the last few years, I have had less time to paint, play and engage in other hobby activities. My favorite activity has always been painting. But lately, I have not been able to paint much. In the last four years or so I have only played a few games, mostly solo. However, I have continued to paint sporadically. Lack of time has given me a new discipline. I no longer purchase packs of figures, madly adding period after period. I will concentrate on "finishing" the collections I have before engaging in new periods. It will be nice to finish all my current periods by age fifty (I'm forty-three right now). As I said before, I like my painting, but am rather slow and have a hard time deciding when a figure is actually "done." A new (old) area of interest that has sparked my curiosity and enthusiasm is 54mm plastics (Thanks, Charley Elsden). I have discovered how to do a fairly decent paint job on them and preserved it by using the plastic sealant Mod-Podge. The large figures look great, and are for the most part, remarkably cheap and are lots of un to paint and handle. However, despite some advances in quality, as in the Conte and Barzso figures, and some great cheap play sets, the quality and historical accuracy of 54mm figures are not comparable to 25mm and 15mm metals.
So, the thought arises - what if a company such as OLD GLORY or ESSEX were to design and produce quality 54mm figures in plastic, or better yet, some material that would be even easier to paint and protect? That, surely, would be the ultimate frontier in wargaming! Wow! Imagine skirmish games or small sieges in 54mm with that kind of figure! I dream of Old Glory 54mm in bags of ten or fifteen figures covering nearly all historical periods. Even Old Grognards such as ourselves would be hard pressed not to do their favorite periods again (perhaps as skirmish sets?) with gorgeous 54mm's. Do I hear a chorus of approval?
(Editor's Note: Prisco, thats all I needs).
From Kelvin White
I have a strong interest in the interwar conflicts, which includes the SCW. I aim to put on a Rif Wars (Morocco 1926) participation game at Salute 2004. I shall probably use adapted TSATF rules. For the Spanish Foreign Legion and Moroccan Regulars, the Force of Arms SCW figures are very suitable. For the French Foreign legion - Mike Owen sculpted a Foundry Precast pack PC75 of 1920's FFL. Under his Artizan name he has also produced WWII Free French and is promising Senegalais Tirallieur and some generic Arabs - all of which would be suitable for Morocco 1926. Rifle-armed Berbers and Tauregs are being a problem - I have plently of Old Glory and Falcon Arabs. Redoubt do nice figures but they are huge. The only other source I know of 28mm Arabs w/guns is Battle Honors WWI Palestine range. If you know of others, let me know.
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