The drawing on the right side of the page is by David Barnes and is based on a uniform worn by Maj. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee at Peking, 1900. Thanks, David! I would add that at 51 my hair is much more gray than is portrayed!
Someone last issue asked about SPENCER SMITH MINIATURE and I was unable to locate an address for them. I just received a letter from Peter Johnstone of SPENCER SMITH MINIATURES who reports that he not only is still offering these 30mm plastic figures, but is carrying the 25mm/30mm Tradition and 30mm Willie and 30mm Holger Eriksson figures. I've never seen the Eriksson line and would like to see them. His address is Spencer Smith Miniatures, The Old Rectory, Wortham, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 1 SL, UK (0 13 79-65002 1). It's been years since I saw the Spencer Smith figures - they were used by Charles Grant for his SYW period.
THE FIFTH COLUMN is a club newsletter out of the St. Louis area ("Big Muddy Historical Alliance) and President Joe Coffelt in the April , 1998 issue comments on their recent convention ShamrockCon 1998 on an incident which occurred at the con in which a participant displayed "poor sportsmanship" without offering details. The response to this was "the person in question was told that his behavior was unbecoming of a gentleman and has been removed from the Big Muddy Historical Alliance and has been informed that he is not to attend future Big Muddy events. I must apologize to everyone who was there and witnessed this, and to the fellow gamers at that game. I need to make the following statement about future events:
What a perfect way of handling a very difficult situation. My ongratulations to Mr. Coffelt and the Big Muddy Historical Alliance! If gaming groups, including local nonformal groups, would do this type of thing, I suspect we would all be better off.
Recon '98
In April (17-19th) I was a Special Guest at RECON, HGMS South's Spring Convention in Tampa, Florida. First of all, I'd like to thank them for inviting me; I really had a great time! Saw many MWANers I had not seen in years and met even more for the first time. Most enjoyable! I would also like to thank Craig Martelee and his wife, Anne, for the hospitality extended to me. Chuck Kennedy also deserves my appreciation for his kind offer to show me around the museums of Tampa. Thanks, Chuck! While there, I played in three wargarrics; I hadn't played in a wargame in about four years. I'll bet! On Sunday, I played in Nick Zizo's nice looking 25mm ECW game until I had to leave about half way through. I also played in two of long-time MWANer George Dullaghan's games: "The Battle of Adowa" in 15mm where I commanded the Italians against the Ethiopians, and a WWI game in which I commanded the Allies attacking a series of German trench positions. I won lost both games and to further add to my humiliation, George submitted several articles to MWAN on my tragic gaming experiences of that weekend.
George's games mirror my own efforts of years past where I would lug thousands of figures an hundreds of pounds of accessories to conventions. At least George has the good sense to do it in 15mm! I also had the chance to meet Bob Jones (of PIQUET) and found him to be a real gentleman! Vince and Sharron Clyant (of The London War Room) were there and I met them in person for the first time after being log-time friends via MWAN. Greatly enjoyed talking with them. I would love to see Vince come out with some sort of publication on scenarios; he has one of the most creative minds I've seen as regards this subject. Then there was the chance to talk at length with fellow publishing magnate Craig Martelle (he of THE GAUNTLET fame) and go running with him one morning at 5:00 through his neighborhood accompanied by his two dogs! Craig was nice enough to slow down his pace for me and pretend he was tired at the end of the run - thanks! Attending this friendly, well-run convention really reminded me that one of the most important reasons to attend conventions is to socialize with friends you don't have a chance to see often. Thanks again HMGS-South, for having me!
While at RECON, I attended several seminars given by Bob Jones: one was on PIQUET, Bob's ruleset, and the second was concerned with "Publishing Your Own Game". In this presentation, Bob reported that he felt there were 8,000-10,000 active wargamers in the US and a total of 50,000-70,000 world-wide. What do you think? Anyone thinking of publishing their own rules should attend this seminar as it was very interesting and well done. I was just so impressed with him, as was everyone else who came into contact with him. A gentleman!
Rules
Another subject that I have been doing some "wondering" about it (I would have said "thinking" except that it would imply that I've reached some sort of decision, and I haven't) is that of reviewing wargames rules in wargaming publications. To be honest, I've never felt comfortable about the way I do it in MWAN as I only go through them and "describe" them. I never play them and then do the writeup. If I tried to do this, (1) 1 would never review them because I don't play wargames, and (2) it would take a long time for the review to be published. One of the questions that I came up is "What is fair to the author?"
Dick Bryant of THE COURIER had what I thought was a very fair way of handling rules reviews. The rules set would be sent to someone who specialized in that period; they would play the game and write up a review which would then be sent to the author who had a chance to "counter" any points made by the reviewer. The main point against this approach is that it is terribly time consuming and rules writers usually want to get the news of their rules out to the public ASAP. I'd be curious as to (1) how rules writers feel about the subject, and (2) how MWANers feel about it; meaning, as a potential consumer, what influences you to purchase rulesets when reading reviews? Please drop me your thoughts on the subject(s). Thanks!
After attending Bob Jones' PIQUET presentation, I was reminded of what I thought when the system first came out, namely, that it was a good idea and something overdue, to have a "basic" rules system for multiple periods of history and then have "extra" rules for the specialized characteristics of each historical period. I still think this is a good idea and am surprised that it hasn't caught on more. I recall years ago the series TAC-50, published by SYSTEMS ANALYSIS, was attempting to do this, I think. They had perhaps four rules sets out covering different historical periods of history but the "basic" rules were the same between them all. Several years ago, I had the chance to pick up the SYW set (Renaissance, Napoleonics, and 19th Century) as I wanted to have it around for reference. I'd once had the 19th Century and SYW, but had sold them. Still would like to pick up the 19th Century book again. They used an interesting dice system and I've wondered why more rules sets didn't go to it, namely, the "difference" between two dice, which gives, I think, a different type of result with less variance, almost more of an "average" die type of result. One of the first rules sets I wrote (I 5mm ACW) used this type of die system.
What Doing?
What have I been doing hobbywise? Not much, I guess; my occasional reading has been concerned with the Thirty Years War. I would like to thank everyone who sent me materials on this subject; I am planning to put it together for MWAN at some point in the future. Just don't have the ambition to do it at the present time. Surprising how much material I have although I still haven't found "a" book on the TYW - might not be one available, I guess. I was at Borders Book Store yesterday and ran across a new book on the TYW though I can't for the life of me remember the title or the author. It was someone I've never heard of before. I was tempted to get it, but it looked far too "scholarly" for me. I mean, I don't want to hurt myself learning about this period, do I?
The apparent release of 25mm Spanish Civil War figure by FIGURES, ARTILLERY, ARMOUR (FAA) is a surprise (see What's New in Hal's Mailbox this issue). Might encourage more 25mm vehicles as well. I've seen a listing for 25mm WWII vehicles from BATTLE HONOURS, but haven't seen any of the models as of yet. Rumor has it that THE FOUNDRY may be producing a 25mm Russian Civil War (RCW) line. If this is true, I would surely be drawn into this fascinating period. I can't pass up an article on the RCW without making a copy of it for my files. It would give me another chance to use my 25mm Russian buildings which are now painted and awaiting basing. I would assume that one could, in this instance, use THE FOUNDRY's 28mm WWI line to supplement the period. I can't recall if they make Russians - I don't think they do. Interesting to think of. Speaking of the RCW, I have found the two OSPREY books on the subject very interesting. Just checked THE FOUNDRY's listings for 25mm WWI; they make British, Australians, French, and Germans. From what I've read, some of the Russians wore British and French gear and used their equipment. In the equipment range, they offer 13 and 18 pdr field guns for the British, a French 75mm field gun, German 7.7cm N.A. 96 field gun, and British Mk. IV male and female tanks ($54.95 each!). Will be interesting to see what does happen in this period in 25mm!
Adverts
I recently received a letter from a former subscriber in Australia who took me to task (rightfully so, to some degree, and it was done in a very gentlementry fashion) for continuing to accept advertising from a former MWAN advertiser who did not honor his commitment to the Australian. This subscriber contacted me regarding the problem and I then contacted the advertiser and asked him to resolve the situation. Apparently, it was not resolved. In this instance, I ceased running the advertiser's ads sometime after this (I really don't remember when) and ran something in the editorial that his ads would no longer be in MWAN. However, it does bring a point or question to my mind, namely, what can be done by the customer, and the wargaming press, to address such situations?
When I started MWAN in September of 1982, Anne (the "address sticker-onner") was turning three. She just graduated from high school with honors last week and will be attending the University of Illinois (where her father received his Ph.D.) in the fall majoring in Speech-Language Pathology (as her father did). Remarkable, truly remarkable, how time goes by.
Have you been in any number of discount stores and seen the large plastic storage boxes for under $10.00? They're great for storing wargames figures and terrain; I have a tall storage box in which I store 25mm trees under my wargaming table; great for efficient storing! I also have storage boxes for my SYW 25mm collection in which I can store ten 37-figure units in each. They then go under the wargames table stacked three high. I also use them to store hills, buildings, wargaming magazines, etc. In one box, I can save about 150 wargaming publications. I use the smaller boxes for storage of figures for "new" periods I am planning; I group the figures in plastic ziplock containers and keep them in the boxes.
Enjoy your summer!