This issue marks the beginning of the fifth year of publication for MWAN and it appears as though it is on rather solid footing judging from the nearly 225 subscribers and numerous advertisers who support it not to mention the many individuals who write for it, George Philliesi who has published a number of wargaming "amateur" publications over the last fifteen years or so, has stated that it is his opinion that two to three hundred subscriptions is just about the maximum one can reasonably expect from such publications, thus MWAN is probably doing fairly well in this regard. I am very pleased to announce that Tony Adams, formerly of the HELIOGRAPH, and Andy Dumelow, of THE MAGAZINE FOR WARGAMERS in England, will be writing for MWAN effective with this issue. Tony will pen a regular column entitled "Wargaming as a Way of Life", and will cover a diverse sub)'ect matter while Andy and I will exchange articles for each other's publications although the exact frequency has not yet been established - I suspect it will be irregular for each of us. I personally have high regard for their writing abilities and I am sure you will enjoy these two additions to MWAN. It would seem as though historical miniatures wargaming is on an upswing, at least in the midwest. During 1986 there will have been a total of twelve fairly large conventions in the Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and northwestern Indiana area and my experience suggests that the number of historical miniatures events and attendees has been on the increase. LITTLE WARS had more younger gamers as well as a significant increase in gamers and I personally see gamers purchasing figures who previously did not do so. HMGS-MIDWEST, thanks to the untiring efforts of Todd Fisher, is increasing its effectiveness in a variety of ways including conducting the historical miniatures events at Gen Con (Bob Bigelow deserves credit for this as well) and there is serious discussion going on about holding ORIGINS, the nation's largest gaming convention, in Illinois with HMGS-MIDWEST playing a role. I would hope that we can continue this apparent "growth" trend as it can only benefit each of us individually and the hobby as a whole. Back to MWAN # 23 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1986 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com