Duke Siefried

To Duke

By Don Featherstone

I am delighted to hear that Duke Seifried is being given the latest MWAN Award for Services to Wargaming. I knew of him long before he visited my home in Southampton, U.K. in 1978, and was pleased to meet him again in August when I was in Milwaukee for GENCON/ORIGINS Game Fair. On that occasion Duke was immensely warm and gracious to me, and honoured me by saying that to him I was "family", when inviting me to his home at Clinton, Wisconsin.

Being twice as large as life and with a way that could charm the birds off the trees, one might be forgiven for eying Duke a bit warily - until being privileged to enter his Den and see his quite astonishing collection of wargames armies and realistic terrain. I have to say that Peter Gilder is perhaps the only person in the world capable of matching this collection in numbers and quality - and most of Duke's are both made and painted by him, taking up to forty hours a week!

Apart from the large wargames table at his home, the only other wargame of Duke's that I have seen was the huge and most impressive ONDURMAN wargame at ORIGINS with it's thousands of exquisite figures. I am sure that just as I was thrilled and proud to be awarded MWAN's shield, so will Duke be, because in his enthusiastic and practical way he has brought lustre and publicity to our hobby, while enjoying every minute of it - as I have done.

Duke - you truly have what we in Britain call STYLE!

Duke Siefried MWAN Honoree of 1989

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