MWAN EDITORIAL #91 By Hal Thinglum This issue has several reprinted articles from Jack Scruby's old publications. I have to thank MWANer Frank Borczak for kindly sending me a number of such issues. I had the majority of them in my wargaming magazine collection till some years ago when I got rid of them as they were taking up too much space and I didn't have a really good place to store them so as to keep them in good condition. A year prior to Jack's passing, I had conducted an interview with him, which I should reprint at some time, and at the same time, obtained his permission to reprint anything he had ever done. I have a number of interesting articles and publications which I shall run in the future. I am hopeful you'll enjoy them; I would think both old-timers and new-comers will find something of interest. The same is true for a number of articles recently submitted by Donald Featherstone, which were penned some years ago. Thanks, Donald!

I haven't received any feedback at all about the larger sized print in MWAN #89, I believe it was. I guess if it doesn't make any difference, I'll just go back to using the standard "12" point with MWAN #92. This issue will have a mixture of the two.

I have been madly working on MWAN #91. We recently finished a huge project at work which had required me to be there some 12 plus hours per day seven days a week. I managed to get MWAN #90 out in the mail within several days of getting it from the printer; not sure how I did that! Then it was time to start getting MWAN #91 ready to be sent into the printer. For something I do only six times per year, it really seems as though it occurs more frequently than that! Anyway, last night - Saturday - I was a little bored with typing and putting ads in, so I started looking around the basement for things to put away. I really do know how to have a good time! I ran across the 20mm Franco-Prussian War sample figures from B&B Miniatures, available from Brookhurst Hobbies, and pulled them out of their plastic bags to inspect them again, perhaps for the tenth time! Beautiful little toys, they are. Chunky and greatly detailed! This compelled me to find my file on this interesting period of history. I've long had a yearning to do this period since I played in a Steve Dake wargame with his beautifully painted 25mm

Wargames Foundry figures some years ago and read Larry Brom's rules for the period. Originally my intention was to do it in 25mm with Wargames Foundry figures; however, I have so many 25rnm periods that I changed my mind. I had a desire to do larger actions than 25mm would allow. Thus, I decided to do it in 15mm and even purchased a large number of figures from some company in the UK - can't recall the name at this time. I even made a trade arrangement with someone to paint them up in return for many unpainted figures from several other periods that I'd been saving for years. However, that fell through and I got into my "I'm collecting too many wargammg periods"

(I think I was up to about twelve at that time!) and sold them off. In the meantime, I'd made it a point to purchase a number of books and rule sets on the subject as well as going through all of my wargaming magazines and copying articles on the FPW.. If you don't do this, I'd definitely advise it. It makes it so much easier to store and refer to information when you get a "bug" to read about another period you are interested in! SO, last night I pulled my FPW file and went through it. At least two variants of "Fire & Fury", which I would use with this period; Wargames Foundry's excellent painting guide for the FPW, many articles on organization and scenarios; and B&B Miniatures' figure listing. Really had a good time! By this time, I was actively thinking about beginning to purchase figures (B&B) for this period in the upcoming year! It occurred to me that it might be difficuk to find 20mm (HO) buildings for this period, but then I remembered that I had a 1993 catalog from Walthers, a train company (PO Box 18676, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53218: 414-527- 0770), which listed HO products. Within it are listings from Kibri and Faller, and many other European manufacturers of HO buildings for the train table. I found literally hundreds of appropriate buildings, though they tend to lean toward the German/Prussian variety. This wouldn't bother me too much though, I guess. I did find a great HO "old-time factory" for $57.99; a saw mill for $32.99; and a farm complex with walls for $122.99 (perhaps a little pricey, but it sure looks nice!) which would be perfect for a French defense against a persistent Prussian attack; as well as many other structures. The great thing about such plastic buildings is that they wouldn't require painting as the plastic is colored. You also don't have to more than "average" assembly skills to be able to put them together. Something to think about!

All of the "Fire & Fury" variants for the FPW use the "regiment" as the basic unit; not the "brigade" as in the ACW. From what I read, this is because regimental sizes in the FPW were equivalent in size to ACW brigades. Also, they appear to use the same number of stands for a regiment; not a different number of brigade stands as in the ACW.

Thus far, the B&B Miniatures FPW line is not completed. However, there are infantry and artillery (though no limbers) for the Bavarians, French and Prussians, as well as cavalry for the French and Prussians. I am very much attracted to these "chunky" figures! I have a Russian Civil War gun, crew, and limber from this company and it is very well done. I can only imagine what a table-top full of these 20mm figures would look like. I can only assume that they will be adding to this line in the near future as they did with the Russian Civil War and the French Foreign Legion lines.

Along this line, I am going to turn over this column to Tom Reed of PO Box 363, Tolono, Illinois, 61880-0363, who recently wrote: "The first project I started is my French Foreign Legion game. I am doing this project in 20mm scale using the beautiful BB& Miniatures line from Brookhurst Hobbies. When I am done I plan to have two 18-man infantry platoons, one mounted infantry platoon, two hotchkiss MG's, one 75mm cannon (also shown mounted on a camel; a great looking figure), a pack howitzer, an ammo train, and a unit of Arab scouts. The Arabs win consist of one or two units of camelry, three units of horse, and 100-120 assorted Arab foot. Added to this will be such things are Arab civilians, a group of archaeologists, a well digging construction crew, and my favorite, the film crew and actors/actresses. All of the figures will be mounted individually on metal stands For use with "The Sword and the Flame"), and I will use larger magnetic movement stands for masses of troops (for use in the "March or Die " rules by B&B) ".

Thanks, Tom, for butting in! I'd be very interested in an in-depth figure and rule review on these B&B products, if you get the chance. By the way, Tom is looking for a copy of the French Foreign Legion game by Yaquinto, if anyone can help him out. I can send him a copy of the rules, however, I don't have the floor plan for the fort.

By the way, I hear through the grapevine that Essex has released a 15mm Franco-Prussian line. Given the quality of Essex figures, I'm anxious to see it.

While on the subject of the FFL, Village Green in the UK offers both a "20/25mm" and "25mm/30mm" FFL fort. They would be perfect for this period!

I can tell that I am definitely in a "wargames expansion" mood this weekend! I'll have to be careful as to what I do, if past experience is any indication!

For instance, while looking for my B&B Miniatures catalog - I am also in a "20mm mood" - I found my "Russian Civil War" file. I did have a huge interest in this period several years ago, however, I just have some doubts as to how to organize it to refight the battles of this period. However, B&B offers Polish Army figures from 1917- 20's and this appealed to me as it offered another "theatre" for the Russian Army to take part in. I like Tom's approach to the FFL period as it takes a "conservative" approach to collecting. I've already built a FFL collection, which has since been sold, which was probably about 1500 25mm figures strong - much too large, but it was so difficult to stay away from adding WWI French figures when Wargarnes Foundry released their WWI line and it went on and on! Anyway, I know I'm not alone in this regard, am I!

One approach to the "problem" of going off into periods on a "whim", or because of the release of a new figure line, is to purchase a small number of figures and construct a diorama for that period. Because of the small number of figures required, one could even justify having the figures professionally painted for you. Sounds more and more appealing to me as of late.

Talking about the release of a new figure line tempting us, I am reminded of when Peter Guilder came out with this 25mm Napoleonics in his own venture. I recall thinking that certainly these figures were as good as we were going to see. Now, you see new releases like this all of the time. Amazing the quality that is being put out within our hobby!

I am fresh out of articles for MWAN and would request that you consider putting together something for MWAN. Looking forward to hearing from you all in this regard! Could also use some quality color photos for the front and back covers. I would also appreciate figure/wargames accessories/rules set reviews as well. These don't have to be new releases to be of interest to the rest of us.

I still get the "bug" for the Peninsular War and continue to add to my already hefty file of articles and books on the subject. One of the problems I have, aside from the fact that I don't really need any more wargaming periods, is that I have a hard time selecting a figure scale. There are so many fine lines available. Old Glory has an extensive line in 25mm as does Front Rank and Redoubt; in 15mm, there are even more manufacturers producing such figures: Essex, Old Glory, Jacobite - the list goes on and on. There are also a number of 20mm manufacturers available. To me, the appeal of this period is that one gets to do Napoleonics in a somewhat "limited" fashion, yet you can still have colorful non-French/British units in your armies. What does bother me, I guess, is the old "line" (British) vs "column" (French) idea. I'm not sure what kind of a wargame this would result in. I would enjoy seeing some articles by MWANers on the Peninsular War and the type of gaming allows. Articles on the various scales/manufacturers and the variety and extent of wargame accessories would also be of interest, I would think. I've been making my way through Oman's six volume set on the Peninsular War and can get really "caught up" in reading about it when I get the time to do so.

Some years ago when Redoubt was coming out with their first line of Peninsular War figures and I began to realize that my growing collection of 25mm figures for the Napoleonic Wars was going to become a "monster" project (I had painted some 2,000 French line infantry), I started planning for a Peninsular War type scenario based upon an incident from a Richard Sharp novel in which our hero defends a Spanish Church with a variety of Allied soldiers. Attacked by a large French force, he repels attempt after attempt to take the Church. I went so far as to purchase the Redoubt figures: British rifles, regular line infantry, Highlanders, Guards, Spanish, and Guerillas, thinking that the Church would have served as a "rallying point" for many types of Allied soldiers who had fallen behind while a retreat was taking place. I had plans to scratch built the Church. It was my intention to use my already painted French line infantry as "waves" of attackers with each battalion (37 figures) representing a single company of French. The Allied figures were to be mounted individually on washers. I even had personality figures for Lt. Sharpe and Sgt. Harper, which were available from Redoubt. I think I had intentions for some fifty or so defenders and, of course, nearly a thousand French attackers! Would have made an interesting game, especially for a convention.

That's the neat thing about such approaches to the hobby. It's fun to plan out the project; search out the appropriate items to use; scratch-build a special building complex; paint the figures; and write the rules to allow for the whole project to work as you wish. If anyone has done something like this, I'd sure like to hear about it!

I've had been thinking for some time about a possible "Special Issue" of MWAN, which would not include reprinting back issues. The thought of retyping many hundreds of pages does not appeal to me at the moment! However, what I came up with, is to have an issue entitled "Approaches to Miniatures Wargaming" which outlines how we go about selecting and collecting a period. A "perfect" example would be Brian Carroll's "Birth of a Nation - Or - 'You Want To Put How Many Figures In A Battalion" article from MWAN #86, which was, in my humble opinion, one of the finest articles on the subject that has been put out in the hobby. Take a look at it and think about doing the same for one (or more) of your periods of interest. What I'm specifically thinking of is something like this: (1) Why did you do it; what attracted you to that period? (2) How did you go about planning and organizing the project; what figure scale/manufacturer(s) did you use, and why? (3) What game scale did you use, and why? (4) What wargaming accessories did you use and why? (5) How did you go about painting the period? (6) What set of rules are you using and why. (7) What would you do differently if you were to do it over again? I think this would be the type of publication that everyone would enjoy and learn something from. I am also thinking that it would be good to add pictures (b/w) of the projects but am unsure of this due to the cost. However, when submitting articles, please send pictures as well. I'd like both a "hard" copy and disk, if possible. I've always liked this type of article most of all in the wargaming press! Length of the issue would be no problem and I'm sure I could fit in everything submitted. Let me know what you think about this and consider starting your article for this special issue!