Good day to all you armchair generals out there. We have an excellent assortment of clubs to acquaint and reacquaint you with today.

Still nothing from the folks in HMGS Gulf South or Rocky Mountain HMGS. Does anyhody play miniatures out there? If so, drop me a line or call, please!

And how about this new HMGS in the Tampa area--South? How about a flyer or a letter guys (and gals?).

Hello to our friends at Lion's Den Wargames. Ken Van Pelt, their fearless leader. along with Jon Haworth put together a very good issue of The Penny Whistle. The latest issue covered a free convention they attended in Branson MO, including a large refight of the Yom Kippur War. Ken also described a huge Gladiator/Chariot Race gala they put together for Border Wars. They used 54mm plastics and a 9' x 18' gaming arena, home-brew rules from other games, and lots of fun. It sounds like a great Historicon event--how about it Ken? He also described their interesting 30mm Foxhunt game, using cards and a simple scoring system.

They also offer f'or sale rules for chariot racing, WWII skirmish, fantasy magic duels, and skirmish gunfights at reasonable prices. Jon Haworth produced two nice scenarios for the gunfight rules. The first was based on the Baldknobber gang in Missouri in the late 1800s, and the second called Blood Gulch and the Texas Tornado. I recently won a gunfight at Shorecon, so I have a certain fondness for well thought out scenarios, and these sound very good. Other upcoming group events are listed. Swagger on over and join this band of gaming outlaws. 1205 Allendale Dr., Greenwood MO 64034 or call (816) 537-7883.

Hello to my future game club, Northern Virginia Gamers Wargaming Club (NOVAG). Yes folks, it looks like I'm going to that dreaded five-sided building and will likely live in the northern VA area. John McConnell heads up this group of dedicated miniaturists. They offer their annual NOVAGCON this November 2-3 at the Kena Temple in Fairfax, with a follow-up GameDay in April. They also attend all area conventions. Upcoming games at the Game Parlor in Chantilly include wild west gunfight, Konig Krieg, age of sail, Napoleon's Battles, Franco Prussian War, Mexican War, microarmor, Necromunda, and DBA. Not enough for you? Try a variety of fantasy games at The Gaming Realm in Frederick, microarmor, or Axis and Allies. Or their recent Battle of Leipzig with 5000 figures. Dan Wiley put together a nice WWII naval engagement, Cape Matapan. The newsletter also included an informative letter from a game club in South Africa. They sound very active there. There's also plenty of ads, calendar events, and informative notes. All you Virginia, Maryland, and DC folks should check these guys out. Only $7 for a year. P.O. Box 223660, Chantilly, VA 20153 (NEW!).

Brother vs. Brother ACW, Napoleon's Battles, Medieval Tactica Siege, Blue Max, Necromunda, boardgames, DBA, DBM, and alot more. Yes folks, you can play all these games with Historical Gamers of Indianapolis under the tutelage of Carl Overshiner.

In their latest newsletter Mike Galbraith offered some gems of wisdom for skirmish players:

1) Thou shalt have Fog of War;
2) Thou shalt have friction (as in Clausewitz not physics);
3) Thou shalt endure bad results with equanimity.

Sounds good to me. Other club events included a Railroad 18xx day, inter-club games, a Desperado campaign, and a DBA campaign. If you live in the heartland near Indianapolis IN, these guys are the bunch for you. Contact them at Nineteen Plus One at 2060 E. 54th St. 7 Village Commons, Suite 4, Indianapolis IN, (317) 726-1384. Or you can contact Carl Overshiner directly at 2118 N. Fisher Ave, Speedway IN 46224.

For just $10 a year you can join one of the finest wargaming organizations in the world. That's right, Major Bill Harting and the many members and sub-groups of HMGS Mid-South are available to you. And if having 30+ associate clubs wasn't enough, the August Dispatch had a distinctly international flavor, with German military art stores, French magazines reviewed, and British figure reviews. The Rio Grande Times section included some interesting tidbits from ongoing events, and NASHCON after-actions (I must get to this convention some day!). Numerous other conventions and game days are also listed (what do you expect from 30+ clubs?).

The September issue contains expanded Jagdpanzer rules for all you microarmor aficionados (11 pages with charts!) A review of the advanced Armati was also included, and it sounds like a significant improvement. All you diehard WRG fans should take a look. If you live even near the South, you should seriously consider joining this enthusiastic collection of gamers. Write Major Bill at 101 Taylor Road, Estill Springs TN 37330-3831 or e-mail at majorbill@united.net.

Welcome back to our pages goes to HMGS Northwest. Mark Serafin offers an interesting newsletter, The Citadel. He continues the Napoleanic boardgame to miniatures campaign conversion. Chris Leach writes a nice miniature figures historical review. There is also a good SYW scenario for Quebec, and humorous bit by Doug Hamm about the cursed luck of units in their first battle. Lots of the usual ads and calendar stutf, too. If you live in the northwest US or British Columbia, this is a good place to find new friends and opponents. Contact Mark at 2614 Rucker Ave, Apt #14, Everett WA 98201, (206) 303-8475, mserafin@halcyon.com.

Sponsor of Historicon and Cold Wars, HMGS East, under the even handed leadership of JT Thomas and LTC Wilbur Gray, is the largest miniature wargaming organization in the US. Membership stands at just over 1400 and growing, with record attendance (3200) at Historicon. Their August newsletter held an intriguing review of a very miniatures-like computer wargame entitled "Waterloo" by Talonsoft. The graphics are said to be marvelous, and were it not for the hexes, a replacement for miniatures! Scott Holder also describes the 250 players who enjoyed ancients at Historicon. Calendar events and other useful information can be found in the newsletter, too.

Finally, a quote from the mouth of Dick Sossi, "Any cavalry let alive at the end of a wargame has obviously been misutilized."

Join the ranks through LTC Gray at 2727 Duke St, Apt 1106, Alexandria VA 22314, (703) 461-6723; ltcgray@,usa.pipeline.com, and send him your $10.

If you're not other wise engaged, and excellent time can be had if you join the Heart of America HMGS at The Armchair Generals Ball on May 8-11 at the Ft Leavenworth Officer's Club. In addition, they have recently incorporated the St Louis area wargamers to their ranks. The latest Communique, excellent newsletter that it is, contained some good reading. The Battle of Gaines Mill (ACW) seenario, a WRG Saxon-Romano-Britain scenario, a 1/700th scale WWII scenario for airwar, and a review of events for the October Border Wars. They cncompass many other subgroups, many of whom sponsor events at regional conventions. some of the best terrain and games I've played have been with these folks. If you live in Kansas, Missouri, or there abouts, contaet them at 2550 W. 47t St., Kansas City KS 66103. Only $10.00/year.

Steve Phenow, editor of The Messenger for HMGS Pacific Southwest, puts together a tasty morsel of a newsletter. While stylistically it leaves something to be desired, it is jam-packed with information of use to all wargamers. In fact, it looks much like a mini-MWAN. Historical info, scenarios, reviews, the works. An Apache battle, a naval column about WWII "What ifs...," club news from their assorted groups, a spirited review of Advanced Armati (with some modest changes offered), and a program for their Fall Campaigns held this November in Santa Ana CA. The lineup included two days of gaming with a 15mm DBM tournament, lots of WWII microarmor, Zulu wars, Armati, Grenada, Renaissance, ACW by Drum Barracks, Napoleonics of several rules, 1/2400 naval, ACW naval, WWI air battles, 16th century Japanese, Dark Ages WRG 6th, frontier wars, and a variety of fantasy and space games. Southwest gamers should check out PSW through Stephen Phenow at (818) 982-5002, or P.O. Box 701, Norwalk CA 90651.

HMGS-Great Lakes sent along a flyer from their flagship convention, Advance the Colors '96. Their October gamefest covered three days of fun. Many dealers, a raffle, DBM tourney, Napoleanic skirmish, ACW naval, WWII 15mm armor, Kelly's Heroes by Pete Panzeri, French and Indian War skirmish, Bastogne, Quatre Bras, Franco-Prussian War, Johnny Reb, Fire and Fury, Cavalry and Injuns, SYW, ECW, Dayton vs. Indianapolis Napoleanics duel using Napoleon's Battles, Philippines, AWI, and much, much more. If you live in the great white north, check out Great Lakes at 28 Carriage Dr., Delaware OH 43015.

List of Clubs

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