NEWS FLASH!!! John Hill of Johnny Reb and Advanced Squad Leader fame has had a heart attack. He's recovering but going to have a quad-by pass. Wish him well.
Boy, was my In-Box full this month! We'll kick off first with a warm welcome for the Lake County Rifles Wargames Group. Terry Cabak wrote and filled me in on their acti'vities. They meet formally twice a month Mundelein and Carpentersville, Illinois. No word on how big they are, but their interests span history from Troy, to WWII, with play primarily in 20mm plastics (easy and inexpensive to get started. eh?), as well as some 15mm. They even have a scratch-built HG Wells War of the Worlds set up. Cool! I'd love to see that. These folks play mostly land warfare, with sailing ships and WWII naval thrown in. The CR's also have some e-mail campaign systems, which are worth investigating. Sounds like a winner for those in the Illinois area. Give Terry an e-mail at companycmd@worldnet.att.net.
Had a copy of the United States Pike & Shot Federation newsletter Hailshot passed on to me by Hal. Discussion revolved around several DBR tournaments at Historicon and Los Angeles. A review of "1644" rules for ECW by Rick Priestly (of Warharumer) fame were included. Set tip for 25mrn figures, the rules include army fists and campaign rules, and were given a "thumbs up." A positive review of medieval 15mm figures by Roundway Miniatures followed, then a player's standing for their year-long tournament. Interesting. You can reach these folks through Mike Hazen, editor of The Reiter, 2313 Maher Dr. 42, Santa Rosa CA 95405.
Tornado Alert 429 informs us that Tornado Alley MIGS's theme this month is San Juan Hill. Celebrating the upcoming Centennial of the Spanish-American War in July 1898, the opening page describes their "battle in a box" by the renowned Richard Houston, featuring 300 15mm figures, rules, tables, special cards, dice, and terrain map for only $85--pretty good del. It will be featured at their flagship convention TwisterCon in Oklahoma City in late March 1998. Scott Saylors drafted an outstanding set of Marlburian skirmish campaign rules (would play well with Pig Wars rules) which is motivating me to go buy some figures (yes honey, I know we haven't paid the Christmas bills yet).
Someone also wrote a nice piece on scratch building or converting equipment for Vietnam era gaming. Finally, a color print service called Uniformology is described, offering over 1000 military color prints of soldiers in uniform from all periods. The owner Philip Cranz can be reached in Texas at (817) 626-0586. TA has 14 clubs advertising in the newsletter, too (all listed here). Join them for a game.
Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance has topped 5 members with their recent co-con with Heart of America HMGS. Success has allowed them to plan four minicons for the upcoming year, as well as the Border Wars again in Oct 98. The first mini-con will have passed when you read this, 24 January at the Jefferson Barracks, MO, with the theme Ardennes Throughout the Ages." Sounds interesting?! Seems the War of 1812 has been popular lately for them as Mark Johnson described the battle of Lundy's Lane (been there-very interesting). The event calendar has 19 entries for the next 7 months--these boys and girls are busy! Call Pres Bob Stusse for a good time.
Word from the front about the latest effort by HMGS East, was that Fall In! was a great success. Membership has climbed to an astonishing 1627 under the fine leadership of Bob Giglio. The newsletter included a thoughtful article by Buck Surdu on how to improve the treatment of gamemasters at cons. Other interesting stuff included an interview with Russ Lockwood about MAGWEB, convention reports, events, a promise from the Pres for more entertainment vs. reports in the newsletter, and lots more. Jon these winners now or at Cold Wars. See you there.
Hello to our friends at Attacktix in Denver. They recently supported Tacticon '97, ind are gathering support for Genghis Con XLX in February put on by the Detrkvr Garners Association. While historical miniatures and boardgames are played at Attacktix, fantasv filled the newsletter pages-Gorkamorka, Live Action Role-Playing, Stock Car Championship Racing Card Game. Great Rail Wars (somewhat historical). and more. Whatevet your passion you should be able to find it at Attacktix.
The NOVAG gang is active as ever. Friday night we fought the second round of battles in our 1812 Napoleonics campaign (Napoleon's Battles- - 15mm). Yours truly (playing Poniatowski) did a credible job holding the line against the advancing Russians led by Greg (Kutezov), but a better player might have slapped him around a bit more. A variety of other games are played at our primary hangout in the Game Parlor in Chantilly, VA. There is a Napoleonic boardgame campaign in progress, a huge (6'X20') Battle of the Bulge game in 1/300. the occasional Old West gunfight, a WWI air aces campaign (home rules run by Dan Willby), and of course the numerous card games and role playing games. Two Fridays back I played in a very pretty Mexican War game put on by John McConnell, our club Presidente. I teamed with Cleo Lieb (yes, a woman wargamer, and damn good, too) and our valiant troopers advanced bravely from the safety of the fortress to drive off the scurvy American dogs and their infernal artillery. We succeeded only marginally, driving off one battery that had run out of ammo---only costing us about 1/2 our command-talk about the Charge of the Light Brigade. Ugh! Week before that it was Tony Jacoby's SYW using Koenig Krieg--a great multi-player event. As you can see, we have an excellent group, and would love to have you join some of our 250 members any Friday or Saturday. You won't regret it.
HMGS Mid-South Dispatch starts off with a game report from Tropicon on his 25mm WWlI East Front skirmish - alas Sgt. Stiner was killed, but the scenario sounded a lot like some old games of SPI's Sniper we used to play (city fight). Other entries included more Redneck Etiquette (When sending your wife down the road with a gas can, it's impolite to ask her to bring back beer), a WWI section describing the Fokker D7 refight of a WWII Lvov scenario, and the usual huge event Est. Mid South is one of the most active MIGS's around -look up Major Bill for an introduction.
El Camino Real Post reports participation at Micro Con in November and Albuquerque Game Fair in December, as well as weekly gaming at area stores. Gainers would be wen advised to ask Don Wolff for a copy to fmd gainers in the Red River Valley area. -Now expanding into Colorado.
Another nice newsletter hits the streets courtesy of Bill Hogan and HMGS South. "Rebel Yell," besides having a nice color photo cover showing the battle at Tinian at Hurricon. begins with a very detailed article by Greg Sav\inos on using the Napoleon at Bay boardgame for a miniatures campaign (funny, we are doing that at NOVAG). Their Spring con will be RECON on 17-19 Apr in Tampa, and ... our august leader, Hal Thinglum, will be the Guest of Honor. Huzzah! An extensive review of Wargames Foundry ACW 25mm, a movie review, game reviews, battle refights, WWII microarmor reference guide, painting guide, flag-mounting guide, and more gorgeous color photos. Nice job Craig. You southern gainers need to join up.
The Penny Whistle, newsletter for Lion's Den Wargamers is available on MAGWEB. The latest copy included several updates to the many game rules the club publishes. They also mentioned their joint adventure with the Boy Scouts--a weekend historical learning experience at Wilson's Creek. Great! These folks re creative and civic minded. Missouri gainers, A-ten-ITUP
Welcome back to the Triangle Simulations Society. Their flagship con Southern Front was held in Durham NC 14-16 Nov. No news on results, but the 100+ members are sire to put on a good show. Neal Smith continues to handle newsletter duties, and their own David Bonk is now on the HMGS-East BoD. Congrats.
HMGS-Pacific Southwest returns with news of their Lightning Wars convention, as well as Historicon participation and several other West Coast cons. E raphasis seems to be on attending local CA cons to recruit fantasy gainers through demos and large, colorful multi-player games. Good idea. A very interesting advertisement by Money, Changers (310) 575-1935 fists authentic coins of various ancient and medieval dynasties for collecting. Neat and fairly inexpensive. Contact Tim Daun or Chris Snell to enlist.
The gamers of NASAMW continue their excellent contributions to the hobby. Ancient gaining has gotten a great boost from them over the last few years, and the Spearpoint chronicles many of their achievements, as well as interesting history research, game notes, and other tips. The latest issue chronicles the dozen or more conventions and tournaments this fall, including various national championships for DBA, DBM, WRG, Armati, and others. In addition, Lynne Viverito did a nice piece on the Bayeaux Tapestry, William Chriss wrote an excellent description of the 4", c. BC Greek armies and wars complete with DBM army list, and Darrell Smith wrote a final (part 4) scholarly piece on the Sarmation armies. Phil Barker, god of wargaming, adds a short note on Sassanid armies, while Kevin Donovan penned part 2 of a late Samurai article. Inforrnative. If you have the barest interest in ancient wargaming, you really can't go wrong joining these folks.
HMGS Northwest jumps back into MWAN -with a couple newsletters. Tire fall was busy for them with a "How to" Weekend event encompassing figure painting, terrain making, vehicle painting, basing of figures, scratch building, and game presentation. 'This was followed by their con Break-through in November. Wesley Rogers wrote a terrific article describing how to create an MS Access database for keeping track of campaigns. Very useful! And Steve Burt wrote a Napoleonic conversion for Fire & Futy rules. Other articles discussed colonial naval events and personalities, book reviews, and why campaigns fall apart. There was even some errata for the Blue Max game, and a plug for the Spring Enfilade! Con. Regular games can be had with these avid gainers in locations across Washington and Oregon. Drop Mark, Seraphin a line and he'll connect you.
The Herald newsletter for the Colorado Historical Gamers, has a startlingly beautiful color cover this month showing the Battle of Detrain. Steve Weeldreyer, club Emperor, kindly sent me a copy. Inside we find that a DBM campaign has begun, that the Mahdi has been temporarily defeated in a Sudan campaign, and that Waterloo was refought for the 6,578 1h time (Napoleon S Battles-15mm) and the French beaten once again! Other games include ACW using Volley & Bayonet, microarmor WWII using Spearhead, and Sword & Flame. It's fun to read about all the fun they have fighting three battles. Steve's setting up a SYW campaign, and they hold periodic painting contests. Great games, great friends. Join them!
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© Copyright 1998 Hal Thinglum
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