My apologies to our esteemed editor and MWAN readers for the recent absence of Pieces " from the pages of the best wargame magazine published, due to a relocation.

This column is being written in our new home in Mokena, Illinois. My family and Murff-Turf have moved from Carol Stream to this new "southern" location. I just finished setting up the computer after the move, and it still operates, even with the growing stack of "left-over" parts. Isn't technology grand? Amid the appeals of my wife to put up curtain rods, and adjust this and move that, and unpack this, I am working on this column. Although we relocated from a smaller to a larger house, it is unbelievable how much "stuff" there was to move. I almost reached the point during this ordeal of packing and carrying, where I was willing to admit I have enough, or even too many figures and books and magazines and tools and terrain and etc. That is a scary state of minds I'm sure you'll all agree.

We are still am looking for a few units which have gone AWOL during the trip. This move also gave me a new appreciation for the logistics of moving a people from point A to point B. along with all the equipment and hardware, artillery and fodder for the horses. My wife keeps threatening a garage sale of my stuff if I don't have it all properly stowed away, so I have to get back to the work at hand. If you need to contact me the address is now 20028 Pinegrove Drive, Mokena, IL 60448, or call 708-478-0846 between 6:00 and 9:00 pm.

Historical Pursuits, P.O. Box 9462, Fayetteville, NC 28311, (910-822-1813) - This company produces cast buildings. I purchase several 25mm unpainted, cast ACW buildings from this company including the stone house at Manassas (CW25-1 $24.25), Brawner's farmhouse (CW25- 3 $18.25) and barn (CW25-3 $18.25), MacPhearson's barn (CW25-4) $42.00), the Rose farmhouse (CW25-6 $34.50), summer kitchen (CW-26 $13.50) and farm outbuilding (CW25-80 $6.50), and the Privy (CW25-5 $4.00). I was very impressed with these structures. They are cast with sharp detail and a minimum of flash or mold lines. The stonework and wood textures are very good, and will take paint and a wash well. These buildings do not have interiors. Some of the structures have molded parts which must be attached. The McPhearson's Barn is a massive structure, designed to be placed on a hillside with entrance doors on each side on different levels. It could be used as a major focal point on a wargame set up. I am looking forward to painting these building to use in games. My telephone order for these buildings was taken by Dave Paddock, with a friendly efficiency, and the buildings I ordered were promptly sent to me well packed to withstand the ravages of transport. Postage and handling was charged at 10% of the subtotal of merchandise. Write for their catalog sheet which lists 1 5mm buildings for Napoleonic Ewope, Prussia and the Rhineland, the American Civil war, the Ancient wars, and Accessories. They also list 25mm buildings for the American Civil War, Revolutionary War, and The Micro Range (5 to 6mm scale) for Central Europe.

Raventhorpe Miniatures, RLBPS, 805 Blenheim Drive, Rockford, IL 61108, 815-397-8318, fax 815-229-8232. This company offers a large collection of 20mm figures representing the WWII soldiers of Germany, Italy, France, Japan, America, Britain, Russian, Romanian, Polish/Slovak, including Panzergrenadiers, Afrika Corps, Marines, Battle of the Bulge, and Paratroopers. They even offer an intriguing choice of Ralian Colonial Camel Cavalry, and early WWII French Cavalry. Other figures available from this company include choices from the periods of the Colonial era, Middle Eastern, WWI, the Mexican Revolutionary War, and the Zulu and Boer Wars. Some sample figures from this line were offered for review. Two, which I really liked were the USB19 figure of the Section Forager figure (20mm top of stand to eyes), carrying a basket of fruit or potatoes (S1.20), and a General Patton figure (24mm top of stand to eyes) carrying a baton and armed with two pistols (USB21 S1.35). The samples also included a nasty looking figure with a really fine flamethrower at the ready, posed on one knee. He is certainly a pyromaniac. One can tell from the look in his eyes! This figure has detail including straps, heels on his raised shoe, tanks and hose on the weapon, and fingers on the hands. The Patton figure has an air of determination and superiority in the pose depicted in this casting. One can almost "see" the pearl handles on his pistols. Another package of figures reviewed was the DA2 WWII British Armored Car Regt. Infantry of 10 figures ($12.00). The detail on these figures is nice and they are molded with natural poses. These figures certainly do tempt me to start collecting, .. just one more period. I have always wanted to have a Guns of Naverrone game or one of the many other cinematic WWII epic raids in a game. Have you ever though of a Stalag 13 game? Imagine the possibilities of secret tunnels, hidden equipment, guard towers, and Commander Klink (oops, wrong movie!).

Royal Oak Ministures (royaloak@tir.com) 1013 W. 12 Mile Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073 810-546-6781 - Royal Oak supplies a wide range of various periods and scales of buildings for wargamers in four ways: (1.) Unpainted at 45% of the painted price on their listing sheet, or (2.) buildings painted as listed in the flyer, or (3.) any buildings which Royal Oak will order for you from suppliers such as Wargames of Brookhurst shipped to them at 100% of the retail price plus postage, or (4.) Royal Oak will paint a building you send them for 100% of the retail price. They have many catalogs and advertise they will help you find what you need.

La Gloire - An All Color Miniature Wargaming Supplement & Old Glory's Painted Figurine Catalog, Issue #1, Volume #1, Spring 1997, $6.25 US and $8.50 Canada, Black Falcon Publications, 41 Greengate Road, Toronto, ON M3B IE7, Canada, John Jennings, Editor, Publisher. I purchased a copy of this classy looking "catalog/wargame supplement" from my local wargame hobby shop. When I reached home I took the first opportunity I could to examine this glossy, good looking magazine which measures 81/4" x 10 5/8", 59 pages. This is a valiant first effort at a company catalog and marketing piece. The articles in this catalog are titled:

Romans vs. Gauls -The Battle of Sambre,	The Sons of Vladimir (I)ark Ages),
French & Indian Wars - Plains of Abraham,	The Battle of Lutzen,
Prussian Line Infantry Uniforms of 1812,	How to Build Ponds & Streams,
American Civil War - Battle of Iuka,	Apaches, Grudge Match ,
Chane Yee's Ice Trolls of the Nordic Wastes.	Tigers vs JSIIs

When I purchased this catalog, I was attracted by the titles of these articles. I had initially hoped this Miniature Wargaming Supplement" was intended to be a publication similar to a more general appeal wargaming magazine such as Miniature Wargamin& MILAN, or W=games Illu~raied On closer examination, I found that each period article in this catalog is preceded by a b11 page Gsting of figure packs available, with color photos of painted sample figures from the Old Glory line, specific to the period covered in the article. This is a well crafted marketing catalog for 01d Ghty figures. The articles (except one on terrain making) describe conflicts which can be populated by specific Old Glory line figure packs. This marketing display of the Old Glory line, with these tightly knit photos and "articles" is a powerful inducement to order a few more Old Glory figures. A suggestion I would make to the editor would be that the photos of the groups of figures used in a few places (such as those on pages 19, 37, 40, and the rear cover), should be photographed with a much smaller f-stop to improve the depth of field, and better display the paint jobs on these figures. (Pickey, Dickey!)

Seven Years War Association Journal, VoL VIII, Winter 1996, Membership Directory (http://www.ennet@com/bphywassoc.html) or apurky@aol.com to reach the editor) 3127 Perk Place, Evanston, IL 60201 - In this issue is an (international and regional US) Association 1995-96 membership directory, a directory of SYW products, and an internet directory of 18* Century sites. This directory states "Please feel free to contact any and all members whether it is to organize a local wargame, a wargame convention, or simply to seek information." What a great way to help support warganung. Now that I have (sort of) completed our family move, I will be joining this group. They have a great annual convention in South Bend, Indiana.

The Command Post, Inc./The Zouave - American Civil War Gaming Society20578 Alliance Sebring Road, Alliance, Ohio 44601, 330-821-5562 - My wife says I have too many figures. She hass only seen the painted ones, so she really has no idea! The unpainted hordes are stored deep in the dungeon and remain largely unknown.. Since she met David Reynolds at Historicon one year and has seen his world, she has awarded her seal of approval. I have to agree with her. I am about to send a large band of Vikings off to Ohio to be painted. All I have to do now is to be ready to explain to her how they followed me home. If you have the heartbreak of that embanking unpainted lead problem like me, try sending some to David at the Command Post and I think you will be pleased with the quality, price and promptness of his service. I have heard a rumor he even paints for Royalty! His prices for painting have been simplified as shown below:

Figure Size	Infantry	Cavalry	Guns	Mtd. Leader
10mm	1.00	2.00	1.00	2.50
15mm	1.50	3.00	1.50	3.50
20-25mm	2.50	4.50	2.50	6.00

Stand labels for your figures - Would you too like to have really snazzy labels for the bottom of your figures stands? Are you obsessive/compulsive enough that this appeals to a part of your personality? If you can identify with this desire to label all the figure stands, let me recommend a procedure to help you. This procedure involves the access to and the use of a word processing program and a laser printer. Those of you that are computer "jocks" will probably scoff at this choice of subject matter, but for those of us that are computer/word processing challenged, read on. I have had very good results using Word Perfect 5.0 and beyond (they are now up to Word Perfect 8, by the way). If using Word Perfect, try to use version 5.1 or better if possible, as the more current versions are less dependent on printer fonts, etc. Any major word processing package should be able to achieve similar results to those described here for Word Perfect (Microsoft Word, etc.)

The best way I have found to painlessly make labels for troop stands with this program is to utilize the "Table" function. With this function and a little practice you can turn out the stand labels very smartly. First I create a table with enough cells to cover the unit I am labeling. Say six rows and four columns makes twenty-four cells (labels). Next, format the cells for centered text, small size, and single outline. Set a fixed row height and column width slightly smaller than you figure stand dimensions. I use 2 3/8" x 1" stands, so I size the labels/cells 2.25" x 0.9" to fit. Then I type the name of the unit, figure brand, unit size and date painted and painter's name in the first cell. Then using the F9 key to open the font menu window in Word Perfect, I select text on the label and size it to fit the label. I make the name of the unit is slightly larger than the rest of the text on each label, and use the "bold" feature to highlight that name. The text font size must be adjusted so that all the text will fit on the label. Be prepared for a little trial and error. Using the right size fonts should have no trouble getting a large amount of information on the label. After the first label is made as you like it, it is a simple and quick task to "block", "copy" and "paste" the text into each cell of the table you have created. I have successfully used this process to make labels for individual figure stands measuring from .75" square (.70 label size) to my larger multiple figure stands mentioned above. When all the labels are made, simply print the sheet, cut them apart using scissors or a paper cutter, and glue them to the bottom of the stands. I use Elmer's Glue or a glue stick (available at office supply stores), rubber cement would work also. For the next set of labels to be made you can quickly repeat the above process, or use the "Edit - Find and Replace" feature of the program to find and replace each example of the "La Sarre Regiment" with the "Burgoyne Regiment" for instance. The word processing program will quickly replace a specified line of text with another throughout the sheet of labels. Be sure to save your work to a file, and you can reuse the label making table format file.

Second nature Plantastics Foreground plants - These are plastic plants intended for use in your aquarium. Several of the eight varieties offered can be used to simulate that ever elusive underbrush, small trees, etc., depending on the scale of your game figure. I particularly like the "113 Hairgrass" variety. These product is sold in two package sizes. One package contains 8 molded bundles of this green colored "grass" (4 short and 4 long) on a base measuring approximately 112mm x 28mm. These bundles are in two heights of 45mm to 70mm.. The other size package has 4 bundles (2 of each height) mounted on a 55mm x 28mm base. The larger piece is priced at $2.79 each, and the smaller at $1.99 each. The other varieties I purchased to use with 25mm figures are " 101 Anacharis" and " 102 Ambulia" and "103 Cabomba." These would probably work with figures from 15mm to 25mm. Look for this product at your local pet store. These could be useful for terrain in a variety of locations and periods. The bases of these plastic plants are intended to be buried in the aquarium gravel, and would need to be terrained for table top use. They could easily be grouped on some terrain pieces for a nke effect (leaving space between them for movement of figures, of course.

Modeler's Mart, Sunshine Drive, Clearwater, FL 34625, 813-461-3922, internet address - www.pageworld.com/modlersmart - A new newsletter/catalog from this company was recently received. There has been a change in the ownership of this company. The new owners are Dale Stewart and Alan Conroy. Some of what Dale and Alan carry include Frontier, C in C, Minifigs, Military Miniatures of New Zealand, Old Glory, BP Cast, Yucca, TCS, JR Miniatures, Wargame Accessones, Geo Hex, Viking Forge, books, flags, rules and accessories. They offer a new Catalog" for $5.00, to be available after May 1, 1997. The flyer I received states those that pay $5.00 for the catalog will receive a $5.00 purchase coupon.

Wargame Accessories, 7566 20th Street, North, Saint Petersburg, FL 33702, 813-S22-6204 (evenings) - Magnetic Movement Stands - If you have your figures mounted on metal stands (ferrous metal) you can use the movement stands this company offers. They are now suppling "Armati" magnetic movement stands. These stands are made with plastic bottoms and magnetic material on top sprayed green and sealed with a clear spray. A package of these stands (10) 3 1/4 x 1 3/8" is priced $9.95. Their flyer states they will produce stands in many sizes, and that special orders can be filled in 4-6 weeks. A discount is offered on the price of stands: $50.00 purchase - 10%, $100.00 purchase - 20%, $150.00 - 30%. Shipping charges are 20% of order to $25.00, 10% to $75.00, etc.

Miniature Service Center (MSC), 1525 Bridge, #163, Yuba City, CA 95993 916-673-5196, - MSC is the sole US importer of Redoubt Enterprises figures. In their Renaissance Range they now offer a War Wagon ($39.99), a Deli with booty ($15.00) (Is that pastrami or corned beef?), and a Three Musketeers or ECW Table Set, and more colorful Turk cavalry. There is also information that Redoubt designer Brian Philips will be developing an ACW range. Other releases are planned in the Napoleonic Range, and the Battle Group (U.S. Infantry).

H.G. Walls, 3026 Springhrook Drive, South Bend, IN 46614, 219-299-0352 - A new figure catalog arrived from the self-described "...architect, philanthropist, inventor, soldier of fortune and wargamer." Mr. Walls has published a nice listing of the Elite Figures he has available, and some of the new "Kits For Scenic Buildings" he is offering. The Elite figures (25mm) are available in a variety of periods including Napoleonic of several nationalities, Seven Years War figures, and ACW figures. The building kits include 6 buildings kits intended for use as ACW or Wild West structures, ranging in price from $24.95 to $36.95, and all require painting and assembly. These 25mm buildings look very nice, when finished and painted as seen in Mr. Walls (can I call you HG.?) game set ups at the last Little Wars. He also offers four packages of signs for these buildings, and a side staircase kit as accessories. The staircase kit is great!