Hope you enjoyed the extra length of MWAN #81 (192 pages). I hope you are pleased with the extra rules sets I have been able to include in this issue. Please remember that with the extra length of MWAN, I am in need of articles to fill the pages, so keep those articles coming in! Thanks for your response thus far!

I continue to read as much as I can find about the Northwest Frontier encompassing the First and Second Afghan Wars, the Sikh Wars, and any NWF actions in the last half of the 19th century. For anyone interested in the Afghan Wars, I would recommend that you look at T. A. Heathcote's THE AFGHAN WARS 1939-1919 (Osprey Publishing Limited, 1980), which provides an excellent overview of the three Afghan-British conflicts. Also, WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED has published a very good series on the Afghan Regular Army in the 19th Century by Ian Heath over three issues (don't know which issues, sorry), which includes WARGAMES FOUNDRY'S colored plates for uniforms. The uniform plates are also available from WARGAMES FOUNDRY (see "What's New in Hal's Mailbox" column for details).

For 25mm figures for these three fascinating periods of British Colonial history, you can't go wrong with WARGAMES FOUNDRY, supplemented by LYZARD'S GRIN and a very small selection from DIXON. REDOUBT MINIATURES has an extensive range of excellent, though considerably larger, figures for the earlier Indian period(s), though one can select some items, such as mortars and bullocks, from their range which will be very useful for later time periods.

If any MWANers out there are aware of appropriate 15mm figures to use for this time period, I would appreciate hearing from you so I can pass this information on within these pages. What I like about these periods is that there are so many possibilities, not only the tabletop, but, also for using the same unit for different periods. For example, the WARGAMES FOUNDRY TP infantry can be used for the First Afghan War as British line infantry and for the Sikh Wars as Native infantry. The British 1857 Mutiny figures can be used prior to, and after 1857. The Pathan horse, foot, and artillery can be used for a one hundred year period as can the Sikh War "irregular" figures by WARGAMES FOUNDRY. Presently, I am concentrating on my artillery units for these three British Colonial periods, attempting to figure out how I can use the limbers and horse teams/riders for the Sikh War and the Second Afghan War without having separate limbers for each of them. One could also use the "irregular" foot, horse, and artillery against both the Sikhs and the regular Afghan Army. By putting together a force of Russians from WARGAMES FOUNDRY Crimean War line, you could add another enemy army for the Afghans, irregulars, and even the British in "The Great Game".

THE SOCIETY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY WARGAMERS (SOTCW) who publish THE JOURNAL, one of my favorite wargaming publications, reports they now have an American member who will be handling US subscriptions and producing the publication in the US. Chris Scruton, 4131-98th Lane NE, Blaine, MN 55014 will be the contact person. If you haven't seen this worthy publication and you are into WWII gaming, you are missing something great! They are always right on top of new releases in the 20mm/15mm and microscale areas' they have top notch articles; and they also have a lot of enthusiasm and a down to earth approach, something which always appeals to me.

BROOKHURST HOBBIES, who carries many UK figure lines sent samples (see review page) of the 1ST CORPS 25mm WWII line along with a listing which states they have released Russians, including two poses of Cpl. Steiner (from the movie CROSS OF IRON) and a set of his squad attacking a Russian mortar position - from the opening scene of the movie. Boy, oh boy! I've been doing a pretty good job of "downsizing" my collections and avoiding " expanding to new periods, and they do something like this! 25mm would be ideal for skirmish type WWII games with several dozen figures. I'm also told that the 1/48th plastic models will fit well with 25mm; doesn't that sound tempting to anyone to has ever had even a passing interest in WWII? My interests in WWII in the last twenty years or so has been "limited" to the Pacific campaign, in part because my father was a combat infantryman with the 32nd Infantry Division, and the Eastern Front, simply because from an early age I was fascinated by the sheer size and scope of the campaign.

I've been purchasing a fair number of 20mm Pacific Japanese, American, and Australian figures with the intention of doing some gaming in this period. Initially, my objective was to mount them on single figure bases, however, the more I think about it, I will be going to bases with three figures on them. I have a number of landing craft; both American and Japanese, as well as lots of palm trees -- from my old French Foreign legion collection; beautiful looking beaches made by Howard Whitehouse for my Sudan project; a few US and Japanese light tanks; and I've been looking for appropriate period buildings in 20mm. I know I wouldn't need many of them; just enough for a small village or military post. I have rivers and a great looking swamp made by Andrew Doyle of 3D CONTOURS, so I really have enough items to set up lots of different type scenarios. Banazi(!) attacks across a river; commando raids deep into enemy territory; fighting Japanese retreats and/or attempts to escape encircled areas; Japanese night surprise attacks; landings and/or withdrawals on/from beaches; ambushes; attacks on enemy-held hilltops (Curt Murff of MURF'S TURF constructed a very well-done hill with a trench system); infantry raids on airfields; the list can go on and on. You don't need lots of figures obviously. Lots of opportunity for "hidden" movement; and random "chance" cards or occurrences (patrol becomes hopelessly lost in the jungle; reroll each turn to determine when/if and where they appear).