Since I have been unemployed for two months I have had some time to contemplate several recent topics that have been brought up in MWAN. First and most important of all, I also thank you for printing the letter about organ donation. Four and a half years ago my wife had a kidney and pancreas transplant. Without these she would certainly have died. Organ donation does not cost anything for the donors family and is not against any major religion's doctrine. My best friend's brother died in a car accident. Through his death two people regained sight and several others got a second chance at life.

Now, off my soapbox. In a recent issue, someone was asking about gunboats in the colonial period. You did run an article about making them. I believe ft was sometime in 1995 or late 1994. But that was about making them out of paper. For yes, I too have a terminal case of Lyzard's Grin Fever. I caught this dreaded (at least my wife thinks so) illness while reading the miniature rules to Space 1889. I sent away for their catalog. I ordered some ship guns and have had this fever since. I wish I had known about them earlier when they had Fuzzies and Dervishes. I also hope that they will finish out their enemies of victoria line. Oops, back to gunboats. The only good picture that I have seen of a colonial gunboat is on page 20 of Ospreys campaign book on Omdurman. I also saw a picture of a wargame recreating a scene from the Steve McQueen movie 'The Sand Pebbles'. The ship looked great. I have made two ships. They both are made of balsa wood.

I start with a piece that is 4 inches wide by 4 feet. For building the superstructure I use smaller pieces of balsa wood. For planking I lucked out. Until recently I was a convenience store manager. When I started at a store they had a full box of wood coffee str sticks that they didn't use. These make perfect deck planks. For doors and hatches I went back once again to Lyzard Grin. At Ace Hardware and other places, I found bags of small pieces of different size balsa wood. These come in handy when making buildings and gunboats for making the superstructure, railing and users for gun mounts.

I have found the best way to mount the guns. After they are put together, I mount them on a 3/4 inch fender washer. Then I paint them. After that I cut a small piece of dowel and glue it to the center of the bottom of the washer. Then I cut a small hole on the ship where I want to mount the gun. This helps in two ways. The first is that I can swivel the gun towards the intended target. The second is that different guns can be used dependent on the nation using ft and year.

Are you WWII / modern wargamers bored with the same old scenarios? Read 'Marching Thru Georgia' by David Drake and S.M. Stirling. It is an alternate history novel about WWII. The wood is basically divided up by the major powers. BUT their is another power, The Domination of the DRAKA. Basically this is South Africa. The only thing is that after all major wars, the losers went there. They have modern day armament and they make the Waffen SS look like the boy scouts. Picture A-10's attacking Panthers and Tigers. Their infantry are armed with 5.56mm Assault rifles. This makes for some interesting gaming possibilities. 

Finally, are there any colonial gamers in the Far Northeastern Illinois /Southeastern Wisconsin area? I would like to do some gaming and possibly start a campaign using either 15mm or 25mm. I have started work on a system and a map. The campaign will be loosely based on several PBM games that I have been in. So far I have made a map that is the size of nine US letter pieces of paper. This is an island that will be where the major powers will fight each other and the locals for much needed natural resources. I plan to have a lot of random events happening to the players. In 15mm I plan to use Field of Honor. I am looking at having a 3 figure infantry stand equaling 1,000 men a 2 figure cavalry stand equaling 500 men and a 3 figure and 1 gun stand equaling 250 men and 20 guns. I plan on this island having all different types of indigenous people and some BIG surprises.

Well, I have ranted on enough for now. With being unemployed you'd think I'd have a lot more time for painting and playing. But alas, it has not worked out that way.