Greetings and salutations, 0 my fellow Game Lords!

By starting a first subscription to MWAN (with #86), I have enjoyed the truly amazing contents authored by you "white metal folks." Since YE EDITOR actually requested an article on 54mm (1/32) figures in that same issue, I put hobby pen to paper for almost the first time first time since I helped introduce something called Dungeons and Dragons in an article in Don Greenwood's old CAMPAIGN magazine, lo those many years ago ...

I am a single, forty-five year old almost-solo wargamer with a deep background in board games, role playing, and military history as well. I live in Brooklyn, New York, ate-out ten blocks from where George Washington watched the Battle of Brooklyn unfold in 1776. About ten years ago I decided to dump my HO (1/72) plastic and commit to a large collection in the big "regular toy soldier scale," using as a core the figures, vehicles, and equipment I'd saved from my old Marx WWII playacts. At that time my old regular boardgame group had broken up, so I had time to work on it. My parents were selling the old house on Long Island, which also accounted for most of my hobby storage space. Still, the pull of the big scale has always been strong for me ("Feel the Force flowing around you, Luke!"), Besides the mainstream wargames who played in the smaller scales (you guys), I was told that there was a subculture of 54mm plastics aficionados alive and well in mail order, and some figures like Marx Civil War were available through that venue. With the excuse that I'd saved enough space by jettisoning my HO stuff, I planned to expand my 54mm collection, using the simple rules I'd adapted from books I'd found in my first trip to England during a seminar abroad while attending Beloit College (Wisconsin). Little did I know what astounding odyssey I was about to embark upon.

At this time there were, only a few manufacturers reissuing Marx and other toy soldiers from scattered original molds and factory dump finds. There were a small number of post-Vietnam era companies still making toy soldiers (and good old Britains from the U.K., which never gave up the ghost). And there was a collector's ethos of finding old figures at garage sales, keeping them "pure" (unpainted) and valuable, and perhaps setting up dioramas with them.

Since then an entire new plastics mini-industry has sprung up, led by us "nostalgic" baby boomers who want to get our old toys back. And new designs are appearing for periods Marx and the others never got around to in the fifties and sixties. My personal introduction to this phenomenon was pretty unusual, a combination of fate and idle curiosity based on my eclectic background in gamin" 'end soldiers. I had expanded my WWII and ACW armies and written rules for them. I even played out a few scenarios, which I love to write, as an extension of the games I played as a child, over the next few years.

Just about the time I was becoming interested in the new stuff becoming available by subscribing to a few companies mail order catalogues, a profile of Jamie Delson appeared in the New Yorker ("Small Scale War," May 14, 1992). Jamie is president of The Toy Soldier Company, one of the largest current dealers in the field. His catalogue is over 100 pages long! The article recounted the sad death of the toy soldier during the antiwar movement of the Viet Nam era (my college days as well; I was #2 in the draft lottery, but they stopped taking people just before I graduated in 1973). So in the early eighties there was almost nothing at all on the market, and according to the magazine account, Mr. Delson was reduced to buying figures from cakes in local Manhattan bakeries! Now I'd read veiled referenced to regular games in his catalogues, but the article actually described what he was doing, which was very creative. He was playing what we'd call a cross between role playing and wargarning, to amuse both his military interests and the dramatic instincts of his gamer friends. Additionally, all players were a team playing one side against the "bad guys" role played by himself, so I know he was not a competitive maniac. The fear of looking incompetent has kept many a new recruit from our hobby--its hard to convince them we're really just lovable churns! So I called him up, introduced myself as a customer, and humbly asked if I could come out and watch a session. He generously said: "Watch? Hey, come over and play!"

Imagine an entire warehouse full of endless tables upon which the battlefield extends from one type of terrain to another. An entire drydock area where a mighty ship is a-building leads to an open field, which in turn leads to castle battlements, and even underground mazes of rooms (shelves built into the table sides). Now visualize eight foot tall shelves making up aisles where 54mm toy soldiers just waiting to be used. Fill up expertly painted figures that size onto the battlefield I've described. See men pushing entire rows of cartons filled with marching units up to assault walls on the tables! Holy mackerel, its a wargamer's orgasm! We played Knights of Malta versus the Turks. We played the Foreign Legion versus the Black Flag Pirates in Nineteenth Century Vietnam. We escaped down the river from Revolutionary France in canal barges. I ran a "Terry and the Pirates" adventure set in WWII China, guest starring The Dragon Lady, G'mo Chiang Kai-shek, real life Japanese naval air ace Saburo Sakai, and the Japanese Death Commando Frogmen, armed with German assault rifles! Wah-hoo!!! All with Jamie's own rules (to be published some day) for his own time traveling mercenary company "Harold's Rangers" (what if Harold Godwinson and Harald Hardrada became partners? Hmmm... ).

"Sure," I hear you say, "we'd all like to have giant armies painted by professionals to play with free of charge in an limitless space ... but how the heck can you play with such big figures in the 51 x 91 space of a typical Brooklyn apartment?" Well, although I learned a lot by seeing the new hobby product before I had to buy it through the mail, Jamie has two young kids now to spend quality time with, so the semi-solo career of Charley Elsden continues in his own home with the help of a cousin and a few occasionally appearing friends. And we all have our own likes and dislikes in rules and techniques which we want to realize fully in our own rules systems. With a warehouse to play in, some people can play 1: 1 (one figure equals one man) game in 54mm. But most of us can't do that.

Yes, as an old wargamer, I too have adopted the REVEALED WORDS of the Great Gods WELLS,GRANT, and FEATHERSTONE! In the thirty plus scenarios I've gamed 1776- 1945, I've found it to be simple: CUT THE MOVEMENT AND RANGE SCALES DOWN! That is, take your rules for the smaller scales, and somewhere midway between them and ranges you'd use if you were playing in a rural backyard where you had unlimited distances to usurp, make a gaming decision about scale. ITS ONLY A GAME, FELLAS. Besides, effective weapons ranges are different from maximum ranges, and terrain features that cut down your LOS make it easy to "hide" units from each other at small distances.

I use 1:4 "Company" scale for WWII (50) figures per company, and 1:20 "Regimental" scale for ACW (50 figures per regiment) and AWI (25 figures per regiment). True, you can't fit the whole of a major battle on the table. But I've gotten very satisfactory results with Shiloh, 2/3 of Antietam, and yes, the First Day of Gettysburg. Not to mention the Singapore campaign, East Front armored action, and of course the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn mentioned above. of course, the same number of units present are not represented. I multiply or divide units by scale. If a division becomes a brigade but the major historical factors involved are evoked, that's fine. Otherwise, sheer exhaustion would reign. If a crucial ridge line changed hands 23 times in real life, we are satisfied if it changes 3 or 4 times in the course of the game, yes?

Although I fight "setpieces" like the ones mentioned above, I specialize in the construction of weird scenarios: Glorietta Pass, The Great Galveston Naval Raid, or the 1943 Allied Drop on Rome (well, it almost happened). During scenario construction we take the table area available into consideration, with an occasional use of off board areas (you mean you actually sit on your living room couch?).

The fellow who said he gamed with "54mm collector's figures" (54mm metals?) in the letter column of Issue #86 said that he was looking for the perfect One Page Rules. I favor simple rules as well. Comprehensive simple rules that cover "everything" but 3/4 of which are used only in unusual situations. So my ACW rules are 100 pages long but cover everything from naval rules to railroads, from the Zouave Rush ("passage of lines") to Indians to the entry of European Regulars and Restricted Recognition. But most of the time its just a big reference volume, with the few pages of D1O tables at the end the only ones regularly left open! For WWII I have partial damage and repair for AFVs, but simply classify all tanks as "light, medium, or heavy." I get realistic battle results, and most guest players, whether hard core garners or total novices, have a good time.

Now, the main reason I'm writing this is to let you know it works. I cannot send you my rules because it would make my publisher unhappy--but they should be available in the next year or so. (They were twenty years in development, after all, and I can use the money) . But II d like to help you "white metal wargamers" check out the Big Scale for several reasons:

1. 54mm garners are not organized like the White Metal Tribes, and I can't get people to come play with my stuff.

2. While some esoteric collector's plastic figures run $100 or more per figure, cheap reissue and new figures can be had for 50 cents or less per figure. You can try Big Plastic out for very little outlay. Remember, as you get older so will your eyesight! You won't be able to paint those tiny guys forever!'

3. The former trickle of 54mm plastic has become a flood. with many new company start ups just in the last few years. As a wargamer, you'd be astonished at what's now available in this scale. This "collectibles" field is ready to break out into gaming in a big way.

Here are a few examples of items just out in the last few years in my favorite periods:

WWII: A wrecked foam building, Sherman, Chi-Ha and Tiger tanks, Chinese army soldiers, large palm and oak trees, German combat engineers with Goliath mini-tanks. Imperial: Zulus, 24th Foot, cheap Gatling guns, Afghan tribesmen, unclad riverboats.
ACW: The world's first plastic ACW Zouaves, new figures detailed with overcoats, tin cups, and sniper rifles, in dark blue, light blue, gray, butternut, and rifle green, foam ships Monitor_ and Merrimac.
ALAMO: New tin lithe full 3D buildings, US figures with "Mexican War" type visor caps,~l Mexican mounted cuirassiers, lancers, and "Sombrero" militia, shako infantry and artillery. Small "come and take it" guns.
AWI: New lines of everything--a year ago this period was almost nonexistent. Now its the fastest growing; you may have seen the BMC "Yorktown" playact in Toys R US. The first 54mm plastic Eastern Woodland Indians, color variants to expand infantry sets into other European 1 8th Century wars.

In general: Ingenious mounting board systems for creating permanent or temporary multiple figure units; castles, buildings, terrain, and vehicles from new general toy companies adaptable for the 54mm scale; new photoguides and catalogue reprints showing figure lines both old and new; etc., etc., and etc.

Here is the basic reference material for the 54mm plastic hobby:

MAGAZINES:

Plastic Figure and Playset Collector: The Marketplace Magazine, Specialty Publishing Company, PO Box 1355, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54602-1355.

Toy Soldiers & Collectibles, PO Box 301, Libertytown, Maryland 21762-0301.

REPUTABLE MAJOR DEALERS:

These sell the latest in HO (1/72) plastic as well, and some sell 54mm new metal too.
The Toy Soldier Company, 100 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10024 (201) 433- 2370 The Marxman, 72-50 66th St., Glendale, ICY. 11385, (718) 456-5138

Stone Castle Imports, 804 N. Third St., PO Box 141, Bardstown, KY 40004 (502) 897-0207

Excalibur Hobbies, 63 Exchange Street, Maiden, MA 02148-5523, (617) 322-7910

If you have not been in contact with this part of the hobby, you may be surprised at what is a\ ailable, for the plastics field is offering as varied and diverse product as was ever available, either in the fifties and sixties, or in metal back in the 19th Century heyday of William Britains in the United Kingdom! The only difference is that rather than being marketed to the general public, although this has started in a limited fashion, it is being offered through the specialty marketplace, much like the white metal wargaming products you have worked with for so long. Jamie Delson reported in his TSC Catalogue for Summer 1997 that over only two months new goods were sent to him from 27 different manufacturers. Whoa! This in .' field where only five years ago at the major annual East Coast Toy Soldier Show (held at Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey) every dealer would be hawking the same 3 or 4 items new for that year.

SO, if you are old enough to remember the Fifties and Sixties, everything old is new again. If you don't want to pay collector prices for old Marx playacts (by the way, if you kept them they're worth money) you can recreate everything that was in them except the tin lithe buildings (available at most hobby shows at ninth hand) by buying reissues of soldiers, vehicles, terrain, and equipment. There is also the product of exotic foreign companies-my collection includes figures from Canada, Mexico, England, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, China, etc. Some of the foreign product is new, some reissued but reaching the USA fir the first time, and some just reissued. Besides the periods I mentioned there are also Romans, Vikings, Mongols, Aztecs, Medieval knights, NATO and Warsaw Pact troops, etc.

There is also a lively trade in "animated" original figures. After all, if you can easily swap heads, arms, and weapons on metal figures, imagine what can be done in plastic! Not only will some companies paint your figures, some sell totally unique figures made of combinations of available figures. For example, my 54mm ACW Garibaldi Guard Regiment (First Foreign Rifles; 39th New York Volunteers) is made up of WWI Italian plumed hat heads and others on ACW and other bodies. Want a character figure of Indiana Jones and his father? It can be done. A few topics have not been made yet--WW I figures; 18th-19th century naval crew. But it will probably come in the next few years. As for Napoleonics, new figures, reissues, and variant colors are leaping off the shelves.

Some 54mm collectors are now actually complaining that to much is coming out for them to buy it all! Can the organization of 54mm wargaming be far behind? I hope not. In the meantime, gamers in the NYC area are invited to call me at (718) 596-8834 or from anywhere to write to 14 Cheever Place, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11231, for a taste of BIG SCALE WAR. Good gaming!

* * *Postscript* * *

By the way, warm regards to the Atlanta club, who initiated me into white metal wargaming (25mm?) circa 1973, my only such adventure, when I lived in Decatur, Georgia for a few short months after college. At that time Craig Taylor (first of Battleline Games and today at Avalon Hill) was "posted" there: It turned out that I was living just a few blocks from a hobby store where the only wargaming club for hundreds of miles was meeting regularly! I only had time to play once in the loft they had set up above a local hobby shop, before I moved away again. I'll tell the story, and if anyone remembers the battle down there, let me know...

One fine day twenty-four years ago, four ACW columns were advancing toward a town in the center of the battlefield. From the West, one CSA and one USA, and likewise one of each from the East as well. Victory points were to be given for the occupation of each town building. This day's fighting was a part of a larger campaign, but I was a rookie, and if the side commanders were following a larger strategy, nobody told me! Instead, to make sure the newcomer got in the middle of it, they appointed me to command the spearhead of one Union column. This was the Iron Brigade--First Brigade, First Division, First Corps. I determined to role play this unit aggressively, to be worthy of the honor.

As we approached the town, we came into artillery range of the opposite Confederate column, and I detached some guns to bother them. A lucky shot as I began my on the job training of learning the rules, and a rebel caisson blew up, destroying both gun and crew-- beginner's luck! I detached my cavalry (Rush's Lancers) to keep the Southerners from flanking me as I entered the town. Now, a charge by the only USA cavalry regiment to actually carry lances into battle might be fun--but no luck, the greybacks were rushing into town to set up fortified positions, seemingly uninterested in an open field battle on the outskirts.

In fact, both Confederate columns were hurrying into town. Meanwhile, for reasons I do not know to this day, my counterpart spearhead commander of Union column #2 (a gracious fellow named Terry Haney, in fact) was instead halting in front of a building on the edge of his side of town, waiting for supports. Deploying from column into line as fast as they could, my regiments entered the town. Soon I was engaged in the streets, the enemy taking more buildings initially, since they had clearly decided to grab as much as they possibly could with both columns! Yikes!

Unable to communicate directly with General Haney, I sent a mounted courier urging him to come on, but calculated that my brigade would be chewed up and out of the game effectively before I got his help- if he chose to give it! But hell, I was the only one scoring any points for our side here, and the day was half over. So while the relaxed membership of the club drank cokes and discussed fine points of campaign strategy, I was bayonet charging enemy occupied buildings. Well, we were the Iron Brigade, weren't we? Huzzah!

Soon I was taking Gettysburg scale casualties, while the other commanders behind me simply moved their units up the road towards the town. As the afternoon ended, General Terry was still camped outside of town, my own supports were coming up, and I threw in my last fresh Black Hat regiment. With more figures casualty capped than not, things looked dark indeed.

Suddenly a shell burst overhead, and I lost consciousness. Being carried from the field, and invalided back home to New York City soon after, I never did learn how it all came out! Anyone down there know? Ah well, Adieu and adios, admirable Atlantans.

Shards (MWAN #92)