From Henry Lubbers I will hit the big 50 this summer. I do not get to game as much as I would like. I'm sure you know the drill. The wife demands time (that darn commitment thing) and both my kids play high school sports that I go watch (that other darn commitment thing). Still I do manage. The basement is filled with a 7' X 13' table, villages and forests beyond counting and 24,000 troops (actually painted!) of various time periods to play with. AND STILL IT'S NOT ENOUGH. I guess that is the main reason why I enjoy MWAN. There is a great deal of comfort knowing that I am not the only sick, demented middle aged boy out there.

My current projects are finishing my 20mm WWII collection (I use Rapid Fire for big games) and my WWII Squadrons collection (those rules are really fun). But I am thinking ahead to Marlborough or Renaissance (about the only gap left to fill). I once though that I would stop all this non-sense when I hit my 40's, just sit back and play with what I've got. Yeah, right! I'm afraid I'll keep collecting and painting till they pry the brush and 10D from my cold, dead fingers.

I am a high school history teacher and I have the great pleasure of teaching a high school survey course on US military history. In addition I sponsor a military history club after school. Once a week about 12 boys (and sometimes even a girl) show up for gaming arid discussion. We only have about 90 minutes to work with so the rules tend to be simple and to the point. I wrote the enclosed rules to that end. Besides I can Xerox off the rules without any troubling ethical considerations. The kids are gradually moved up to larger games. We try to have a big game at my house once or twice a year where the kids can play a more complex problem out over several hours There have been several references in MWAN about other educators who do what I do.

I would like to hear more about how people like Jim Birdseye organizes his efforts. It seems to me that an aggressive public relations effort on our collective part will bring more young blood into the hobby. Not everyone can sponsor a club at a school, I know, but many of us have knowledge of battles and equipment that could be used in schools to promote the hobby. Many teachers would enjoy a nice visual presentation on the military events of a particular time period, if only a display of linear tactics with miniatures, for example. Of course there are still those who oppose understanding military events - think it barbaric. But I know a lot of kids who benefited from wargaming. The club gives them a chance to shine, make friendships and to learn. And after all that is what most of us enjoy about the hobby.

Again, thanks for all your hard work. The magazine is a little treasure and a great source of ideas, comfort and support.

(Editor's Note: Thanks, Henry, for the articles you submitted and your comments re MWAN, please note the article by Michael Davis in this issue re using wargaming in a school setting; happy 50th!)

From Jonathan Aird Firstly, may I wish you a rather belated Happy New Year - I hadn't realized quite how long it had been since I'd dropped you a line with comments on MWAN! Seven issues on (which is what - 1300 pages or so ?), it is hard to know where to start, so many excellent articles making the magazine a consistently good read every time. I thought at first that I'd just flick through the back issues and see what stands out, but it's a hopeless task, I get interested in reading something again and that's it, the letter will never get written! It'll be easier, probably, to mention my two dislikes (not bad, two dislikes in over a year !), and then just comment on the last two issues.

Firstly - issue 85 didn't have a letter's page. The letters are one of my favorite features, it's so nice to know that someone out there is getting all their painting done (or, conversely, that someone still has more to paint than you do yourself! Seriously, the letters forum adds so much to the magazine; it's like a dozen or more after game discussions with like minded people (as an aside, there seems to be very little of a "competition gaming" feel about MWAN, it's all about having a good time - which is something else that I really like about the magazine).

Secondly, for me, issue 83 had too-many rule sets in, since the Napoleonic Campaign Rules and the John Company rules took up almost 80 pages between them, I found that a bit heavy going. Of course both sets should have been published, but perhaps not in the same issue ? I realize that you can only publish what you have, and that 192 pages is a lot of space to fill, but these were Big Rules. Having said that, I thought that the Napoleonic campaign miles were excellent (I'm afiaid I still haven't managed to read John Company all the way through). It is, however, very generous of designers who have spent a lot of time and effort on Big Rules to allow them an airing in MWAN I hope it proves worthwhile to them in generating plenty of feedback from playtesting. I'd certainly like to read about how some of these rules sets have worked in practice.

Ok, so what did I like in the last couple of issues (85 & 86)? Stand out articles in #85 were the Maori Wars - I really like a background article accompanying a rule set when the subject is even slightly offthe beaten trail- the linked articles on the Great Northern Wars - everything to get you started in one place; the breakfast of Man - seem like fun rules for a quick end of evening game (but dare I suggest that the subject matter is Fantasy ? Nothing wrong with that and, of course, Stalky & Co. - very inspirational, and wonderful illustrations. I also enjoyed the short battle reports describing how different rule sets had worked out.

Issue 86 - particularly liked the back cover shot, what an incredible setup. Articles wise, the Chariot racing rules were good, although I'll have to scale them down to 20mm figures (or possibly smaller). Ignorance in wargaming and the Solo column both had handy tips that I can borrow straight away. I'd like to encourage Charles Lewis (letters column issue 86) not to give up hope - I believe that there are 12 of the Funcken Uniform books available in English, or should I say that there have been.

The English editions were published by Ward Lock Limited, London and the titles were - Arms & Uniforms (two volumes: 1 - Ancient Egypt to 18th century; 2- 18th century to present day), Napoleonic Wars (2 volumes), the Lace Wars (2 volumes). the first world war (2 volumes), and the second world war (4 volumes). They turn up quite often in second hand bookshops over here, usually I guess when people decide to keep their Ospreys and dispose of older books. They can be a bit pricey from specialist military book sellers though. They seem to have been, at one time, a near compulsory purchases for the British local lending library system, so there are a fair few disposed of copies floating around from that source as well (in fact, my local library still has several volumes on its shelves).

Also, agreed with Nick Nascati on the quality (and affordability) of plastic figures (although there are a few boxes which aren't up to much). I'm sure this is. at least in part, responsible for the growth in the number of 20mm metal figures coming onto the market. A couple of years ago there were about none (outside of 20th century, and they were mostly WWII), now there seems to be a new company appearing every month. Whilst the Qualiticast and the Newline Design Ancients ranges have been useful in boosting my Romans & Britons for the "hard to find" figure (I prefer not to have to convert plastic figures if I can get a few metal ones that look all right with the plastics), I'm now keen on the Tumbling Dice medieval and dark age ranges (I've appended a short review of these at the end of this letter). I've started on a small project to build up some DBA armies, based around a core of about 2/3rds plastic figures with the remainder made up with the Tumbling Dice figures.

The late medievals contain some figures which look really good (i.e. exactly the same build and height) with the Revell 100 years war English and French, and I'm also working up an early Swiss (with short pikes) army using the same figures. Whilst I was in the buying mood I also got some of the Dark Age figures to make up an Anglo-Danish and a Norman army, again based around a core of Revell plastics. This time though the metals are true 25mm figures, and so are a bit taller and chunkier than the plastics- I've decided that I can live with this, as long as I use the metal and plastic figures on different element bases.

The Revell Normans are, in all honesty, not the nicest figures on the market anyway, so I might go the whole way and replace them with more metal figures, it'll depend - I imagine - on how long they take to paint up and what they look like on the table. Once they're all painted up and based I'm expecting to use them mostly for a solo campaign, but that's some way off at the moment. I'm a slow painter, a couple of hundred 20-25mm figures a year would be a good rate for me. The other thing that's keeping me busy (if I could concentrate fully on one thing, I'd probably get more done, but maybe I'd have less fun) is making scenery for a Science Fiction skirmish game.

If you never buy anything else from Games Workshop I'd strongly recommend getting their new book "How to make Wargames Terrain". Although it obviously has a Fantasy/SF slant to it, most terrain items - rivers, hills, basic and advanced buildings - are applicable everywhere . A very inspiring read.

From Charles R. Lewis, 607 AIS, PSC #3 BOX 6612, APO. AP 96266: Just one or two issues ago I put in a request for anyone who might know where I could find a copy of Osprey's "Scandinavian Armies of the Napoleonic Wars". It has been out of print for at least 15 years. I didn't think I would get any responses, or if I did it would be either a photo copy or a copy of the book for say $50.00 or something similar. Well low and behold! Not a month after my query went out in MWAN, not only do I get a response, but I get a copy in very good shape from Durham England! It seems that an Alan Hughes had an extra copy he didn't really need anymore and just sent it of it. This may not be the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me, but it ranks right on up near the top of the list. It only goes to show that the fraternity of wargamers is still alive and well. I can only say that this goes a long way to making up for much of the infighting that we here form so many gaming groups these days.

My most humble thanks for the book! I never expected to actually see a copy!

From Charles Sharp Well, here I am back after a few months' concentrating on other things. Enclosed is a column for the next issue and a review of Arty Conliffe's new CrossFire rules, which I saw for the first time at Northwest HMGS' ENFILADE convention two weeks ago.

You've been to ENFILADE before, but this year it was bigger and better in a lot of ways. It's moved south of Seattle for the first time, to a new location with more space, better organized space, and room to keep growing, which we didn't have up In Lynwood. This year the convention also added another game session on Friday night, so you could potentially put in 28 hours + of gaming from Friday night to Sunday ailernoon. There's also more room for dealers in the new location, and we got Scenic Effects to come up from California and the Dayton Painter's Consortium out of the Midwest for the first time. Fantastic Games, our local historical miniatures retailer, also had Military Miniatures from New Zealand in attendance, a company that makes some fine buildings in 5,15, 20 and 25mm and some of the more exotic 15mm tanks and vehicles. I hope Fantastic goes ahead with plans to act as an Importer for their stuff, because it is quite good and very reasonably priced, and complements the 15mm lines already available from US manufacturers.

I watch for trends at the conventions, and this year's ENFILADE proved what I'd thought was going to happen since last year: all the gamers that bought the 15mm WWII models last year have had time to paint them, and they were putting on games like crazy! In addition, several groups up here have been play testing Arty's new rules, so they invited him out as our guest and put on several games of CrossFire at the convention. In fact, the convention was loaded with WWII events, ranging from a 20mm Pegasus Bridge airborne landing game with scratch built actual models of the restaurant and buildings from the battlefield to 15mm games set in Stalingrad, the Ukraine, and Tarawa in the Pacific. The prize winner for best game at the con was Chris Leach and crews' Storming the Reichstag game in 20mm, with a full-blown Berlin street scene including both the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, wrecked tanks littering the streets, shell craters - a mouth-watering battlefield to fight over!

Having been around to a lot of the east coast conventions and several in the Midwest iri the past few years, I'll go a bit out on a limb here and say that I think this year's ENFILADE had some of the best-looking games of any convention in the past year. Everywhere I looked, from scratch built Napoleonic naval ships to Tarawaterrain boards to the Reichstag tour de force, there was excellent modeling and some stunningly good painting on display. Nice variety, too: in addition to all the WWII games, there were several WWI aerial fights, some 1950's jet air action, Napoleonics, 16th and 18th century field and siege battles, and our usual assortment of naval games (for the number of events all told, ENFILADE has the highest percentage of naval games of any convention I've ever attended).

After having my game at COLD WARS fall through because none of my figures arrived (shipping company didn't get them there until the Monday after the convention!), I finally managed to put on my WWII version of Eylau at ENFILADE. This got started when I began digging up information on some of the stranger units on the eastern front last year, and discov- ered what may have been the last great mounted cavalry action, a charge by part of the 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps during the fighting around the Korsun Pocket in February 1944. Mounted cavalry with machine guns and tanks in fog, snow, and mud: who could ask for more?

The first problem, and I hope all you manufacturers get this read to you, was that there are no winter uniformed troops available as such in any of the 15mm WWII lines. I ended up picking out the few Russians in greatcoats or padded jackets from Old Glory's Command and LMG packs, mixing them with Peter Pigs Soviet Scouts (the scouts are in the coverall camouflage suits, which are almost the same cut as the winter white coveralls, so a little white paint and they became winterized), and filling out the stands with troops in regular summer uniforms where I had no choice. For German troops, at least. The SS pack from Old Glory has lots of men in the camouflage coveralls, which. again, can just be painted white and are close to the appearance of the bulky winter clothing used in 1943-45.

Sure would have been a lot easier if someone would make packs of troops gloves, and greatcoats. It's particularly peculiar when you think how many of the Great Battles in WWII took place in winter: the Moscow Offensive in 1941, Stalingrad in 1942, Ardennes in 1944, Berlin in 1945 ... There are figures available in 20mm, but nothing marketed as winter figures for any army in 15mm.

Of course, the added problem for me was that the Soviet forces were all cavalry, so I had to paint up 100+ of Quality Castings Cossacks as Don Cossacks (blue pants with red stripe, blue cloth on top of the fur cap) and paint all the infantry as dismounted cavalry. I ignored the fact that very few of the 'dismounted cavalry' were wearing the distinctive Cossack fur hat, even though most of the photographs I have show them doing just that: my little men switched to helmets the way they were supposed to!

The other thing that made the scenario interesting was that at least one of the three cavalry divisions In the corps had a tank regiment equipped with US Lend Lease Sherman tanks. This gave me an excuse (as if I needed one!) to paint up a half-dozen each of white T-34s and Shermans, each led by a flag-waving commander in the turret of the commander's tank. Since the German forces were in the Korsun pocket at the time, they only had a couple of StuG IIIs and one PzKpfw IV, and a few half-tracks from the 14th Panzer Division that had slipped into the pocket just before it closed.

Neither side had a lot of off-board artillery, and the weather in February 1944 (low clouds, rain, sleet and snow, fog) made air support impossible. This kept the entire scenario -keeping to a minimum on the board', which reduced record. To reflect the pocket's problems, I added one balancing factor: the German player rolled a D6 die at the beginning of the game, and that was the number of his vehicles that had fuel and could move. in reality, the Germans had no annored vehicles on the battlefield, but I felt that without them it wouldn't be interesting enough for tank happy miniatures players.

The game went off very well, with two out of three German companies being shot up by Russian tanks and dismounted cavalry, while the few German armored vehicles proved their potency by slaughtering Shermans and T-34s alike. In the end, the last German company holding the village of Komarovka still had its tank support, and there was no way the surviving Soviet cavalry was going to get them out of there with their own armor gone. A German defensive success, but a near-run thing. My biggest disappointment was that, unlike the actual battle, nobody on the Russian side had the chutzpah to try a mounted cavalry charge! I still think it would work, if you're careful. Obviously, I'll have to run the scenario again sometime. Maybe after somebody produces some 'real' winter troops for me to paint.

I used Greg Lyle's and Rich Hasenauer'S new Battleground rules, the WWII Fire & Fury variant which has been testing for several years now. I think they provide the best clean playing tactical game of any set of rules I've seen. Units are infantry squads and sections of 2- 3 vehicles, so each player usually controls one to two companies, or with experience, a small battalion. The interaction between armor and grunts and artillery works very cleanly and accurately with these, and (what I like best) historical tactics work, and the historical organization of the armies' makes each of them different. You can't fight a Soviet rifle company the way you would a US company, and a German force is designed for someone who knows something about the tactics - an inexperienced gamer can get into trouble with the sophisticated German combined-arms teams faster than with any other force!

In fact, the most common problem people have had with these rules in numerous games I've run testing them, is that they don't know enough about small unit tactics to play them well. It's a little unnerving to think that a course or two at Fort Benning or West Point might be a prerequisite for playing a miniatures game! Since Battleground differentiates between all the heavy weapons instead of 'lumping' them together into a single platoon-stand the way larger scale games do, you have to know how to use the weapons to cover your troops. Otherwise, your Poor Bloody Infantry take ferocious casualties - as they did in the real war, of course. This problem is particularly acute for a German player, since his company can have a wider range of immediate supporting weapons than almost anybody else, and he has to know how to use them all.

Luckily, Rich has a great graphics system of data cards which organizes all the information about each of the weapons and squads. One double-sided charts sheet, a few cards in hand, and all your information is right at hand. Like Chess or Go, you can get all the information in a few minutes, the problem is it may take you a long time to know what to do with the data! The best thing I've noticed lately is that the world war two rules community is following in the footsteps of the ancients folks. Say what you will about WRG, but virtually everybody playing or writing rules for ancient and medieval games mounts their figures the same way. This makes it real easy to try different rules without major re-basing and physical labor. Almost most all of the popular and recent WWII rules use figures mounted in roughly the same way: stands of 1 to 1- 1/4 inch square. This makes it easy for me to paint up forces that can be organized (by adding or subtracting commanders and heavy weapons) as battalions for Spearhead or Command Decision, Companies for Battleground and platoons for CrossFire. This also makes it possible to do the same game at different levels. I was looking at Scenic Effects new Stalingrad Factory and Remagen Bridge pieces at ENFILADE, and thinking that I could do a game of companies fighting over these with CrossFire or Battleground, depending on how much tank and heavy weapons support I wanted to play with, or battalions duking it out in head or Command Decision, and all with the same figures and terrain and each giving a different game! Talk about getting your monies' worth out of the hobby!

From Michael Parker: I won't write at length or this letter will never be posted, but I feel I must add a few words to the arguments that seem to be arising about the reviews of Wargames/Guernsey Foundry. We all have favorite manufacturers, but I buy a lot of Foundry figures and I thirik there are several reasons why they are widely and favorably reviewed:

(1) They produce high quality figures, anatomically correct in good poses with well researched unifonn detail.

(2) As well as "popular" periods they have wide ranges for some of the less common wars (I speak here very much as a Colonial gamer - who else produces really good ranges for Sikh Wars, Opium Wars, NW Frontier, the Maximilian Expedition etc).

(3) They deliver pretty well by return of post and aren't afraid to give "tasters" by way of the odd sample figure for new ranges.

(4) They send out samples to the best of the trade press so that their figures can be reviewed , and they back that up with advertisements to let people know what is available.

(5) They complete range; - it may take a little while in view of the size of the ranges to make all the masters, but most things a gamer could need turn up eventually.

(6) If you pick up a 'phone to them they are not afraid to talk to their customers about what is in the pipeline, what the customer would like to see, etc.

(7) To sum it up, they are a thoroughly professional outfit but run by gamers for gamers.

If that isn't enough of a recommendation wait till you see the Plains Cavalry to go with the Plains Indians - mine arrived today. The only trouble is that I have decided to have a serious "go" at 25mm ACW and am in the middle of my first batch of Confederate infantry. I shall probably stick with "Fire & Fury" rules, although I am tempted by "Johnny Reb III" which I recently purchased. I would be interested to read an article comparing available rules for this very popular period.

May I raise a question: being a very bad (and very slow) painter I am very much in favor of preprinted flags and some ofthose commercially available are of excellent quality. The drawback is that they look too small. From photographs and paintings it appears that ACW flags were large but compared to my Foundry figures the Confederate flags I have purchased look to need to be a good 15% bigger. Do your readers have any recommendations?

From Kirk Gustafson: I am writing to you at the suggestion of Pete Panzeri. Pete and I have been corresponding via the internet regarding war-gaming. Obviously Pete is an old hand at this stuff, and has been very patient with all of my newbie questions. He suggested that I write to you to request a sample of the MWAN newsletter that you publish. He describes the newsletter as very helpful to someone who knows virtually nothing about war-gaming (like me).

To give you a little bit of background about me, (or like I told Pete - "My Life Story - The abridged edition" ). I am 34 years old, married and have 4 children (and obviously very little free time). My interest in war-gaming is the result of one of my first vices, that being the collecting of 1/87 scale military miniatures. I bought my first ROCO pieces (which I no longer have)backin 1980Or 1981.0vertheyears I have only occasionally purchased other pieces of ROCO, Roskopf, Matchbox and ESCI. In the last couple of years I have found the time to dig my collection back out, and start adding to my collection again.

My oldest son Trent -age 11- is showing a keen interest in my collection and really wants to "do something" with them. A school project on WWII only served to fuel the fire more, and at his suggestion we started searching the internet for references to military games and miniatures. It was while on one of these "fishing expeditions" that we first stumbled across Pete Panzeri and his contributions to the rec.games.military.historical newsgroup. I have looked locally for other wargamers and have not had any luck. There seemed to be lots of interest in Role Playing Games (even my younger brother is into those), but nothing in the way of wargamers.

Pete has offered to contact the Heart of America RMGS for a member referral, and also suggested that I write to you and tell you that my son and I are "gainers in isolation". Neither my son or I have ever played in a war-game, so we really need OTS of help to get started. Pete has offfered to set us up with an appropriate set of figures and miniatures to get started. I told him that first I needed to learn more out the rules, play and strategy before he sends me his stuff. I don't want bother him with sending it until my son and I know enough to put it to good use Ice that we get it.

I guess that's the reason that I have contacted you (Gosh, and I said this was going to be the abridged version??). My son and I would really appreciate you sending us a sample of your newsletter so we can begin to get an idea of what is involved in learning to war-game. Seeing how neither of us have ever seen your newsletter, it wouldn't even matter if it was an old one that you had left over. I know everything in it is going to be new information to us.

(Editor's Note. If anyone is in Kirk's area and able to provide him with some assistance, please so! Good luck and hope to hear from you again, Kirkl)

Terry Hooker of THE SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORIANS SOCIETY. This society, which you may already know has over the past year attended various wargaming conventions and obtaining a stall from where we talk to the wargaming fraternity with the view to enlightening them on the various wars and military campaigns that have taken place in Central and South America, including the Caribbean during the past 500 years. In the hope that they will be inspired to spend time, effort and money into creating a wargame on one of the many scenarios that spring to mind when thinking about Latin America, this practice is to continue as one of the Society's objectives for the future with shows being booked for 97 and 98.

One of the most asked questions besides that of uniforms used, is "are there any figures available to purchase, if not which figures could be converted." As both Ian Sumner and myself are not wargamers, we can only mention some of the more obvious manufacturers with a generalization of their respective periods that either cover a set Latin American war, two periods that people are aware of are the Maximilian Adventure (Mexico 1863- 7) and the Paraguayan War (1865-70), while Mexico of the period 1890-1920 appears to be on the increase [ The U.S. - Mexican War 1846-8 is more commonly know in the U.S. than the U.K. although I believe that there are figures produced that cover this war. ] Other periods such as the Wars of Independence, and the British invasions of the River Plate ( 1806 & 1807) are areas where figures could be converted from existing Napoleonic troops and Guerrillas / Civilians from the Peninsular War.

We have found that if figures are also displayed on our stall, they can be utilized as a focus point for a manufacturer while also showing what figures are available for that particular war or period. Generating increased awareness of the various figures, while also enabling the wargamer to view a painted version for a more visual effect of the end product.

Alas the figures that we used initially were hand made by Mike Blake In 54mm, but upon reflection, it appears to us Hat if we displayed figures which are already manufactured we could be helping in creating sales for He venous producers. We would not sell the figures but handout figure lists of the period Hat He wargamer required so Hat he/she could contact the manufacturer/s win a view to purchase.

If you would like your collection of related Latin American figures to be displayed on our stall would you send one of each figure so Hat Hey could be painted and glued to a display unit that will represent a single manufacturer's output of Latin American military/civilian figures. In this way, we will have on show about six or seven units Hat encompass all of the present figures available to buy, while also having a supply of figure lists from each manufacturer to hand out when required. As new ranges come onto the market, these will be added to the collection and the designated display unit.

We believe that this mutual association could benefit all parties concerned. Our society will also endeavor, if requested, to assist in uniform research for figure Latin American military figure ranges. Some suggestions: Mexican Revolution. Spanish-American War, Buenos Aires 1806-7 and He Wars of Independence. I look forward to reading your comments on is enterprise.

(Editor 's Note: I would like to put in a good word for Terry Hooker, who has been publishing this excellent journal for a number of years and also has put out a number of special publications on Latin American military Affairs. I think this is an excellent idea; let us know, Terry, what type of response you get./)

From Jim French Having read Stephen Huckaby's "Premeasuring: The Wargamer's Taboo" in MWAN #86, I feel the urge to take computer in hand and dash off a letter. In a modern war, Remeasuring (also known as prearanging) is done all the time. Mr. Huckaby mentions the laser range finder. The M-60AI tank (in which I was trained at Fort Knox in 1978) was equipped with an incidence range finder, which operated much like the split image focusing in a 35mm single lens reflex camera. This particular device is much more likely to be used in combat as it is passive and can not be detected by the enemy.

A tank crew in a hull down position will also hav eprepared a range card for the terrain to their front. This card will show various points on the ground with their asimuth and range noted so that the crew can quickly line up on targets, especially at night. Crew-served weapons will also generally have a range card prepared in the defense.

While attending the Armor Officer Advanced Course in 1978, our platoon played five wargames with GHQ Microarmor, three defensive and two olftnsive games. During on the offensive games, I was a tank platoon leader. I instinctively picked up the range stick and measured the distance to a T-62. Major Mills of the Australian Army, one of our instructors said, "You can't shoot now. The firing phase hasn't come yet."

Thinking quickly (something I do on extremely rare occasions) I replied, "I'm just chekcing the range with my incidence range finder, Sir." He congratulated me for thinking quickly. I recall that I missed the shot though. In the next scenario, I commanded a TOW section. The scene was repeated. Major Mills, smiling evilly, said, "Gotcha this time! TOW doesn't have an incidence range finder." The point of this ramble being that we wargamers need to be knowledgeable of the weapon systems we use. We need to know whether we are equipped with the latest in laser range finders or the Mark I eyeball. (Editor's Note: Good to hear from you, Jim; I served on the M-60 in 1967-68, though we had a few M-60A1's in our battalion.)

From Phil Hartman I am looking for information on Edward I Welsh Wars. We are in the middle of a western theatre American Civil War campaign. The rebellious south is getting the worst of it right now, we use Johnny Reb III and like the rules so far.

From David Mebust In regards to paint brushes, I prefer M. Grumbacher brand. Specifically I use a 10/0 #178. This is the same brush as the 0000 of a few years ago. I do not understand the change in numbers. My feeling is that any brand with "natural" - animal hair brissles is what you want. I have gone through a few synthetic brissle brushes, on sale at half price, and gotten a month's use before they fray out. Next I have found that while painting - I clean the brush often and always lick my fingers and straighten the bristles often. Also never let paint dry around where the hassles are attached; this will kill them for sure. I can get two years out of one brush.

From Harry Jarosak Just received MWAN# 87 some comments: This plastic soldier thing - 15mm metal run about .20 each; 25mm metal about .70/$1.30 and higher. The plastic 1/72nd scale are $7/$9.00 per box which is .14 to .18 per figure and can be higher. I don't care what paint and coating you use, a plastic figure will not stand up to wear and tear. When that stand drops offthe edge of the table, it won't hold up paint-wise like a metal figure. When you have a metal figure, you have a collectible piece that you can have some pride in (really no matter what the quality of the paint job). The concept of enjoying a painted collectable is really an unspoken and unexplored part of our hobby. Plastic users can't be doing it for the money-saving issue. Where in plastic is the Napoleonic or Civil War personalities pack? And, with the variety of figures today, who needs to be converting? And all this from someone who collects 54mm and 1/32nd plastic figures for collectable purposes!

The wargame armies are metal. This "Rule in MWAN thing" - one of MWAN's strengths has always been the various rule sets it publishes. As we all know, and I've been wargaming metal for 25 years, we are a fickle lot that still has not settled on a 'showcase" main set of rules. There are some popular sets, but new entries are always claiming to "Bring in the Fun and Whatever" that we've been missing all these years. Now there are rule sets for every personality and desire, but a fundametal quest permeates the hobby. Game mechanics have been and continue to be a problem. The hobby is matured to the point where personality alone does not sell" the rule set.

Projects - I've been back to some 25mm Napoleonics lately, as well as 25mm Dixon ACW. The German 15mm WWI's need someone to fight. There are still not enough 15mm Mexicans for my Alamo.

But all the rules have come along to a good point - and are forever changing based upon study and insight (oh, those swift-moving Napoleonic squares). The key - the Grail, if you will, is getting the simple set that reflects the gaming period historically. The complicated set that reflects history has been done. The simple set that reflects Beer 'n Pretzels has also been done. The challenge is in simply reflecting history, and in a way that one would not feel comfortable using his Marlbur'ian aremy as Napoleonic. Meanwhile, Historicon is a few weeks away. And no, Hal - the madness doesn't stop. That great Spend-Fest will be here. More metal, books, structures, and what not in that great magnet for the pocketbook!

From Paul Trapani I am working on some 20mm FAA figures on early WWII British. Also, some Haseqawa 1/72nd kits. Great figures and kits go together well. I am using Testors model master paints. I really love the colors and durability, almost more than water based paint. For your information on brushes, I use a brush made by M. Grumbacher "RENOIR" Series 626 R=rounds. These are red sable brushes - not synthetic. I used to paint pictures on canvas in oils. I kept a few when I sold all my fine art materials to get into miniatures. They work very well and if properly cared for they will last a long time. These brushes have long black handles. GET THESE BRUSHES AT AN EXCLUSIVE ART STORE. YOU MAY FIND THEM IN AN ARTS & CRAFTS STORES. USE TESTORS BRUSH CLEANER FOR TESTORS ENAMELS. Works better than Turpeniod Odorless Cleaner. Oh, the prices of the brushes may be a little more expensive but it's well worth it. I have used them for 12 years and use them on my miniatures. I think you will like them.

From Chris Nelson I'm not sure if you know or not, but one of the truly great wargamers passed away earlier this month. I got a card from the Vietmeyer family saying that Fred H. Vietmeyer had passed away on May 2. It was a shock as I had only heard from on the phone in late 1996. I first became aware of Fred for his battle reports in the "Old" Courier. I got involved in Napoleonic wargaming and used his COLUMN, LINE AND SQUARE. Over the years we exchanged letters and information on a variety of topics. Fred was always helpful. Now that he has passed away, there will be an emptiness but let it be known that he was a GIANT.

Regarding Charles R. Lewis' letter - I think that some of the Wargame Foundry Boer War figures might fit what he's looking for. I just can't recall the numbers. Finally, the History Channel had a great program on the siege of Louisbourg. Its outstanding what the Canadians have done to restore the fortress.

From Greg Seefeldt What I enjoy most about MWAN is the sheer fun and enthusiasm that permeates it. This attitude has always left me with a good feeling for the hobby. I hope that I can share this with fellow as well as new gainers. I am new to Rapid City and am looking forward to linking up with existing historical gamers or starting new interest in it up here.

From Mike Reese Fred Bultman forwarded me MWAN 86. I have had four calls for the Valiant 1:2000 sailing ships (1/200 in the Suttler's Corner!). Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas plus one call my son took without finding out where from. MWAN does get around. Sold them right away.

MICHICON is in a month. This convention is normally EVERY June 19-21, usually on Father's Day, but a week later (or should I say Father's Day is a week earlier, since 19-21 June is the convention). Still being held, for the 3rd year, at the Van Dyke Park Convention Center at 13 mile and Van Dyke. Five whole miles away! I assume this letter will appear AFTER the convention. I "play tested" the convention game I am running the 215'. 1943 WW2 on the southern side of the Kursk attack it pits part of a Tank Corps against the panzer regiment and one Grenadier Regiment, the antitank battalion, and an artillery battalion of 3rd SS Panzer Division. The Soviets have three tank brigades plus three Corps regimental units (SU76, SU152, ?), plus a regiment of infantry starting on the table. Rules are Spear Head. "Play test" is quoted because I DON'T play test ANY of my scenarios before a convention. Convention games NEVER have the same results as a game in the basement or among my friends. I did run the game to get an idea of how many players it could use and how hard it would be for either the Soviets or Germans to win. Looks like 3-5 Soviets and 3-5 Germans so I should be ok there. As for winning, it will be difficult for either side.

The Germans have to knock out a LOT of Soviets to win, and the Soviets have to pin down and really hurt the Germans to win as well. Ah, a game which neither side can win. Perfect. The ' play test"? Well, on turn one my motorized grenadier regiment rolled in, moving second, right behind a Soviet tank brigade and blew away a T34/76 with a Bison (150L12) as well as several trucks. The T34 turned out to be the Corps Commander. Oops. Quick look at the rules. game must go on. Bison had to fire at infantry and guns before it could fire a tanks. We would resurrect the Corps Commander and continue. The Soviet move two was over (Bison fired due to the target moving out of its zone of fire - opportunity fire) so my second unit came in, a tank battalion. Soviet 3.d move - still couldn't roll to change their orders - so they moved out of sight, and the Corps Commander tank went up in flames as my Mark IVG 75L48 guns knocked it out. Loss of the Corps Commander meant the Soviets COULD NOT ISSUE ORDERS. This meant once they moved to their objective they would go on defend orders and not be able to move again, as the Germans moved around them and chose where and when to attack. OK, we gave the Soviets another commander and ran the game ....on. Anyway, like I said, convention games can't be "play tested".

Read Steve Dake's letter from Jackson, MI. Enclosed is a picture of my 25-28mm Tech Guard Company. This is for Game's Workshop WARHAMMER 40,000 game. Their small scale - EPIC 6mm - used to have both Imperial Guard (read Infantry) and Tech Guard (read Armored) type troops (they dropped the armor troops- it's all IG now. Typical "British" infancy tank mind set). I did a 25mm (actually 28mm) Tech Guard unit using 1/35 scale armor I purchased on sale ($8-9 per kit), plus some scratch-built armor, plus ONE GW kit. Game is fun and any modern/WW2 player can kick butt since most of the SF players really have no idea of combined arms tactics. Modifying the figures is fun too. I have several boxes of the plastic "old" figures which are easy to modify. I found the 1/35 scale weapons fits them pretty well - they have oversize torsos and heads. The new figures have a Russian looking IG troop type, one "Rambo" type, one desert warrior (Arab, not Desert Storm), nomadic Hun type cavalry, and one modern looking infantry type. I use the latter as much as possible. I also use other figures. My cavalry uses modified Confederate DIXON 25mm figures (see picture). The lances have a HEAT charge on the end, with a contact fuze. The other picture shows the HQ vehicles and Tank platoon, 1~ Platoon, and most Of 2 platoon. The HQ has two BMP-2. The Tank platoon two T80's (1 T74 and 1 T80 actually) and a modified BRUMBAR. The 1st Platoon is Recon, with a BMP-2 as HQ and two squads in BMP-1. One squad has jump packs so they ride on the top of the vehicles. There is a squad of five Rough Riders (Cavalry), a squad of one light tank and two walkers (single pilot in an open cockpit with an assault cannon as weapon on a two legged walker), and a SP heavy mortar. 2nd Platoon has a BMP-2 HQ vehicle, 3 squads in BMP-I, two T55 tanks, and a Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tank. I will have to look at the 25mm WW2 figures coming out since at $1-2 per figure it is MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE. I calculate the GWUSA figures are $3.50 each with cavalry at $8 each. The armor is $27-37 per model.

I also read the Bulge scenario in MWAN 87 page 27. 350 points divided by 26 vehicles (not counting empty trucks - that makes it 32 vehicles) gives me an average of 13 points of fuel per vehicle. CD2 movement is 50-60 inches per turn on a road (full movement). At half movement it would be 25-30 inches per tum. 17 feet is 204 inches divided by 25 is 8 turns. Vehicles (I didn't count the motorcycles) use 2-4 (Panther-Tiger 2) units of fuel per vehicle. That gives me 6-3 Turns of movement. In CD2 that means you can't get across the table unless you move full speed down a road, or change your fuel distribution from evenly per vehicle. Hmm. I would bring in the Panthers and Mark IV with the armored cars and towed anti-tank guns with Paratroops loaded on them and have the Tigers come in last with minimum fuel and with Paratroops with them. One company of Panthers, the towed AT guns, and the infantry with the Panthers are dropped off to hold at TROISPONTS and the RR/road bridge to the NE. The Tigers hold entry point I and the road bridge east of the RR bridge. Most fuel should be on the Mark IV and one company of Panthers. The Panthers lead followed by the Mark IV and armored cars. Your best bet is to go west on N23 to the Neutmoulin Bridge. That bridge, once taken, will allow you to move to and secure entry point 3. Defense can be made to the North in Chevron with paratroops and Panzer IV. The other Panthers should be holding near the N23 label and road junction to the west of it. Paratroops should also hold that road junction. The idea is to use the tanks and weapons using only 1 point of fuel when moving (trucks. Puma, Mark IV, SPAA). You use one company of Panthers whose frontal armor is relatively immune to enemy fire to push your force as far as it can, then drop them off in the middle to conserve fuel and guard the open stretch of terrain. Your empty trucks and the Puma can look for fuel dumps. The Royals and one company of Panthers will hold the most endangered point which is the eastern road entrance. They can sit and shoot. As a stationary Panther or Tiger, holding a defensive position, need not move I am not sure the "abandon" rule would hold? Don't know if this will work, but it should give the Germans a chance.

Now, converting to Spear Head I go only 9-12 inches per turn, so I need to change the points of fuel and/or fuel usage. Hmmm. I ran a TRACTICS game set in the Bulge several times that was unique. The US player had one 57mm ATG and a halfback, a platoon of engineers in a town, and was guarding a bridge. Vehicles were moving towards the town from several directions, including trucks and jeeps and some Sherman tanks. From down the road came a couple jeeps, followed by a couple of Shermans and then a Panther, then several more US vehicles, then a German column with a Tiger leading. Behind the town from the west came reinforcements of two Sherman platoons and a company of infantry in trucks. Lead two jeeps from the German side were Germans in US uniforms. Shermans were German. Panther coming just before the Shermans was captured and had a US crew. Had a lot of fun with that one. It never occurred to the players that the information the judge was giving them might be false.

The jeep crews were shown the entire US defense, then as they radioed that back to the following column, they moved west to meet the US relief column and direct it down the wrong road. The Shermans secured the bridge and the Panther, absorbed into the town defense was in one game captured by a German from one of the jeeps and in the other had the commander shot and a grenade dropped down the hatch. The German Shermans captured the command post, drove over the 57mm gun, and blew the US halftrack up as they secured the bridge. Boy, were the guys paranoid after that. Early skirmish gaming.

Slapped a game on the disk this letter is on. Keep trying to get your Russian Front skirmish game done.

From Mayor Michael Turner I want to put in a pitch for the last shop I frequented while I was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth. Phil Kilgore's TABLE TOP GAME & HOBBY in Lenexa, Kansas City is both an outstanding store and group of people. Phil owns the building next door to his shop and converted it to several gaming tables with all the amenitities. Dry wipe boards on the walls, plenty of terrain of all sorts, soda machines, facilities, etc! 15mm WWII was picking up steam as I left. RAPID FIRE and SPEARHEAD were both used as the basing can be the same. I think they will end up with SPEARHEAD's order system and C2 setup and other parts from RAPID FIRE for a "house" set of rules. Between Peter Pig, Old Glory, and Quality Castings, the selection of figures/vehicles is good and the scales look good on a big table. In addition, Quality Castings is starting to put out aircraft at 15mm scale!