SPACE 1889 VICTORIAN ADVENTURERS IN 25MM GDW, PO Box 1646, Bloomington, IL 61702-1646 has just released ten 25mm white-metal figures for their SPACE 1889 game. These figures are sculpted by Bob Murch of RAFM and are the same size and character as the popular 25mm RAFM lines. The figures are as follows: army officer w/revolver; army officer w/sword, navy officer, inventor with pistol, thug, missionary, lady w/revolver, lady in traveling clothes, gentleman in top hat, and hill martian nomad. I believe the set sells for about $10.00. If you are into SPACE 1889, and I suspect a fair number of historical miniatures wargamers will find this period very attractive; you will want these figures for sure. If you know you will never play SPACE 1889, you may still want to pick them up. Of the ten figures, only one would be useless for strictly historical players. The oThers would be nighly vaiuaole though you may have to remove the "invention" from the inventor's hand. The British officer w/sword is in a dueling pose leaning forward w/cork helmet; the second officer with pistol wears a glengarry cap and is a very nice figure. The navy officer holds a telescope under his right arm and would look very nice in my Sudan gunboat. The ladies and gentleman make great civilians while the "thug" will make a great sailor for my gunboat. Lastly, the missionary can be used in games as well. A welcome addition to the historical miniatures areal Figures kindly provided by Kevin Fitzpatrick (Thanks again, Kevin) of GAMES, CRAFTS, HOBBIES AND STUFF - ad on page 13. HEKI MINI-FOREST OF TREES About a year ago I picked up a box of these trees (code number 205) at my local railroad hobby shop and I picked up a second box yesterday. You get 20 trees for $24.99 and these are the best trees I have seen for the money. There are at least five different types, perhaps more, and they fit in very well with 25mm figures. I based mine on washers and then painted the washer GEO-HEX green and dipped it into static grass and obtained a very nice terrained base. Highly recommended. There are other sets, though I did not care for them all that much as they seemed to contain a number of lousy looking pine trees. WOODLAND SCENICS TOMBSTONES For a number of years, I've been looking for this set having had purchased a set years ago for my 15mm ACW setup. I finally found them yesterday - code # D-201; price $4.50. There exists a wide variety of tombstones which would work well for either 15mm/25mm figures. I plan on using them with ra; 25mm RCW army by making a cemetery on plexi-glass complete with stone walls. Ac longs an I am mentioning HERI, I should mention that I obtain my static grass fro' this company. The American distributor for HERI is PORTMAN HOBBY DISTRIBUTORS, 851 Washington St., Peekskill, NY 10566. I mix three or four different colors of grass together to obtain a more realistic grass color. Then I just paint the base of the figure And dip it into the static grass and let it dry for a few minutes. Very effective and quick terrainingl GDW''S SOLDIER'S COMPANION - GDW has released SOLDIER'S COMPANION, a combination rules book and army list for SPACE 1889. Big deal, you say, Aha, I would have said the same thing before I saw it. Greg Novak, a good friend of Frank Chadwick (developer of SPACE 1889 and Head of GDW), told me this would be a rules set for either SPACE 1889 OR the Colonial period and I told Greg, "uh, uh". BUT, this is an excellent booklet and any Colonial player will want one. 176 pages of text in an eight and a half by 11 inch booklet for $15.00. What's nice, and there are several nice things about it, is that the rules are very straight forward and playable (Frank was even nice enough to credit Greg and myself for rules ideas taken from some of our rules sets). There is also a large section on organization of units for ALL countries, naval ruts., campaign MOD, AE3 stage rules since you "lifted" my morale rules frow Rorke's Drift, Frank, .you can be sure I'll do the same for some of your excellent ideas for my ruled). It also has a section on roleplaying, which I liked and some sample scenarios for SPACE 1899. You will not be disappointed when you purchase this geml RALLY ONCE AGAIN- PADDY GRIFFITH'S ACW BOOK I know this book has been out for some time, but I just recently was lent a copy by George Grove after never having had a chance to run into it although I wanted to get e. copy. Paddy has done it again and written what is to me, THE best ACW book that an ACW rules writer could have in his library. Paddy makes a comparison between the Napoleonic Wars and the ACW and presents a good case for feeling that the ACW had a lot more in common with the Napoleonic Wars than with WWI as the majority of writers have long felt. He goes into detail on such issues as command and control, drill, fortications, infantry firefights, cavalry, artillery, and much more. I am glad that I have postponed writing my ACW rules until I read this book as RALLY ONCE AGAIN will serve as the basis for my rules. Specific details of how many rounds required to cause a casualty; highly enlightening thoughts on the infantry firefight (this will sure change my rules writing for this period!); and so much more. I don't know the price, but it can be obtained by writing to HOWARD WHITEHOUSE, Gl, 1031 Scott Blvd., Decatur, GA 30030. Please send him an SASE with your inquiry. Make sure you save one for me, Howard! Most highly recommended and congratulations to Paddyl GDW'S SPACE 1889 PRODUCTS: CONRLIN'S ATLAS OF THE WORLDS - TALES FROM THE ETHER - CLOUDSHIPS & GUNBOATS - SPACE 1889 SPACE 1889 - This evidently is "the" book you'll need if you are to play SPACE 1889. It is a hardcover book with two hundred pages of text (price $30.00) and provides the reader with a background on the world of SPACE, which is a science-fiction role-playing game set in the 19th Century during the Victoria.: colonial expansion. From what I understand, the discovery of an energy source known as "ether" allowed man to travel to the planets and Frank Chadwick's amazing imagination goes wild, though everything presented to be very possible, with this system. Frank is heavy on history in this system and from what I understand, Howard Whitehouse did quite a bit of writing for him for SPACE 1899. This book covers the following: discussion of the main characters as to their careers, attributes and skills; some background history on the Victorian Age; the referee; equipment for the period; the status of science, combat, rules re travel and exploration, space travel, and descriptions of three planets (Luna, Mare, and Venus). A well-written, exceedingly well-presented (as we've come to expect from GDW), and enjoyable book/system. As I've mentioned before, I rather suspect that a number of us hard-core historical miniatures wargamers may be getting involved in SPACE 1889. There is something very romantic about the Colonial period and the way Frank presents SPACE 1899, also as I've said before, makes it very believable, if you can believe that! If you aren't moved to purchase SPACE 1889 yourself at this point, then observe a game at a convention if you get the chancel CONKLIN'S ATLAS OF THE WORLDS (SPACE 1889 SUPPLEMENT) Frank is certainly going after SPACE 1899 in a BIG way judging from the number of SPACE 1899 items appearing in my mailbox as of late (are you trying to convert me, Frank?)! This is an 80-page booklet which provides background information on mercury, Venus, Earth, Mare and Luna. When I say background information, if you know GDW's work, you'll know that it is very detailed indeed! It possesses maps, statistics of the planets and inhabitants and a section of aMip combat. The maps include Earth, of course, and the map for Africa possesses the capability for us historical-types to use for large scale campaign games as they have hexes. Most of the other maps use hexes as well, but I like this one a lot - Europe is good as well. The Americau map has the railroad system which would be interesting for us as well. Some good stuff. $10.00 is the price. Should be available at most hobby ships, I would think. TALES FROM THE ETHER This booklet ($63.00) provides the SPACE 1899 player with five scenarios from this ever-growing system. They are as follows: The Burning Desert - "An old school chum's appeal taken you to Mercury's Twilight Zone, sandwiched between burning desarts and icy glaciers. The bright side holds the key to a sinister scientist's plot for domination of the world metals market." Drums Along the Border -"Savage raids against the native settlements along the outer border of the German colonial enclave take you to Venus. The Germans blame the British. You must disprove this slander and find the real culprit, a daunting task indeed on a world where simple survival in the bush is a full-time occupation." River of Life - "Cyrus Grant, with whom you previously journeyed to Luna, has disappeared deep within the Moon while searching for the origin of a mysterious glowing medallion. Now you must retrace his pathway along a subterranean river. But what you will find at the end of the river may upset the very foundations of your unde-standing of the Solar System." Anarchy in the Ether . 'High above the Earth is Harbinger, Her Majesty's Orbital Heliograph Station, a vital link in the world-spanning British Empire. Now the French anarchist Ravachol has escaped and plots the station's destruction. With only hours remaining, it will take all of your skill and daring to thwart this monstrous scheme." Ausonian Stalker - The sewers of the Martian city-states are complete ecosystems unto themselves, breaking down the wastes of the city into gases (for heating and light) or organic fertilizers. So efficient is this ecosystem (at breaking down organic material) that it is lethal to any Martian. When a murderous beast begins a reign of terror and then takes refuge in the sewers, it is obvious that the beast is not of Martian origin. It is also clear that only adventurers not of Martian origin could follow it into the sewers and stop it." The scenarios are very well written and presented. What I find interesting, just speaking for myself (and I am a die-hard historical miniatures player) is that the more I see of this system, the more likely that I would play in a SPACE 1889 game where I would never, repeat never, play in a Sci-Fi game or Fantasy game. Wonder if others will be so moved? CLOUDSHIPS & GUNBOATS This is a boardgame in which in order to play, you need to own SPACE 1889 or SKY GALLEONS OF MARS to be able to use as it is a module. Price is $20.00. It includes a booklet of ship record forms; six full-color deck plans; two sheets of stand-up character cards and plastic stands to mount the character cards. The color deck plans feature overhead views of British gunboats and Martian cloudships and the character cards can be placed on the deck plans. The deck plans would also serve, if you get into it, to provide you with floor plans for creating your own models of the gunships and cloudshipsi There is a gun list providing information on all European field and naval guns as to firing statistics and their combat values. Each country's gunships are presented in detail - quite interesting! I would be remiss if I did not mention that LYZARD'S GRIN (see ad on page 41) has many, many Colonial period weapons which can be used for you scratch-builders who decide to build your own gunboats for this system! THE KING'S WAR THE KING'S WAR is a boardgame published by THE PIKE AND SHOT SOCIETY (RENAISSANCE WARFARE 1450-1700). Copies are available from Gareth Simon, 98 Priory Rd., Tonbridge, Kent TN9 2BP, England at six pounds (airmail five pounds extra). Non-sterling payments are one pound extra. Checks should be made payable to The Pike and Shot Society. THE KING'S WAR was devised by Charles Vasey, a prominent boardgamer, and features a very large map of England (18" X 24") for the game. Also included are two smaller player maps and of course, the game pieces. The rules booklet is 44 pages long and is well presented. Charles presents his designer's notes (I wish all miniatures rules writers would include this type of section!), and then there are sections on the rules, recruitment & desertion, fortifications and walled towns, sieges, assaults, a very good section on politics of the period, campaign rules, and scenarios. I've long had a yearning for the ECW period (my good friend Rich Black has a very nice army in this period which we have not played with for years - Geez, Rich, we haven't played period in years, have wel) and I'm glad to have this copy on hand as I'm sure I'll use it someday. ECW devotees will enjoy this. As with many boardgames, the campaign systems) it possesses and the maps are very valuable to us miniatures types! Let me throw in a plug for THE PIKE AND SHOT SOCIETY which publishes ARQUEBUSIER, their journal for Renaissance Warfare. Subscription price is 16 pounds airmail (11 surface) for the US and nine pounds for the UK and there are six issues published per year. I've seen copies and it is quite good. FEATHERSTONE'S COMPLETE WARGAMING Our good friend, Donald Featherstone, has done it again! FEATHERSTONE'S COMPLETE WARGAMING (208 pages; hardcover; David & Charles Newton Abbot Publishers; 14.95 pounds) contains the "old" Featherstone approach with the "new" trend - lots of color pictures of wargames in progress ala Peter Gilder. This book does not include sections from prior books Donald has penned, it all appears quite fresh and new. Don covers, in his entertaining fashion, Wargaming for Real (in which he discusses chance cards, classifying commanders, surprise and concealment, morale, time charts, etc); Instant Wargaming in which Don discusses the ACW and presents a set of simple rules for the period; The Storming of Eben Emael with rules ideas; a nice section of the "Fog of War"; the Colonial period; WWII glider and airborne operations; WWII Western Desert tank warfare (in which Donald himself took part in WWIII); the Boer War; Thirty Years War; Napoleonics; Commando Raids; Ancients; Chariot Warfare; a great section on Weather in Wargames; the Peninsular; Macedonians; the English Archer; another enjoyable section on Civilians in Wargaming; the American Revolution; a short section of Mercenaries of the Middle Ages; and a reference section covering what you need to be a wargamer, reading materials, rules, terrain, wargaming associations, and forming a club. interspersed throughout the book are interesting tidbits for rules and historical information. What I enjoyed most of all were two of Donald's fictional pieces concerning wargamers. I'd like to see more of this type of writing from Donald in the future! A most enjoyable and well-written book which should be well-received by the hobby. Congratulations, Donald! American price is $29.95. Back to MWAN # 41 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1989 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com