From Patrick Baily The new MWAN looks better and better with every issue. I am very impressed with the job you have done, and very glad that you decided to keep publishing. In regard to your recent editorial, I have enclosed a pair of articles on roleplaying in wargames and an updated set of the SAVE THE PAYCHEST! rules which you were kind enough to publish several years ago.
I have been putting some thought into the question of how I chose periods to wargame, and thought that I would share my own experiences. It may sound odd, but most of my gaming periods and scales have come about due to fortunate accidents. My first big purchases were modern microarmor and 20mm Vietnam figures which I purchased from a friend who was in need of money and getting out of these periods. When I later developed an interest in 25mm Colonials, I was lucky enough to run into a gentleman at a convention who traded me approximately 300 painted figures for my modem microarmor collection. I had in the meantime been bitten by the WWII microarmor bug when I found some on clearance at a local hobby store when searching for some modern stuff. The WWII microarmor eventually were sold to another friend, and the 20mm Vietnam were traded to yet another friend for some 25mm fantasy and medieval figures. This trend continued, until finally I decided to take the big plunge into 15mm Napoleonics. You guessed it- I found two friends who were looking to get rid of painted armies as they had recently upgraded.
These figures I actually had to pay for, but was able to trade bags of new Old Glory figures for the painted ones. At its height my collection was about 5,000 painted l5mm Napoleonics, though some of these have now been sold and others have been traded for 25mm Colonials. And this doesn't even mention the vast amounts of painted and unpainted l5mm and 25mm ACW figures which have passed through my fingers. Strange how this seems to work.
My main periods now are Colonials, science fiction, and famasy/medieval- all in 25mm, l5mm Napoleonics and ACW, and 5min science fiction. I tend more towards the 25mm scale mostly for roleplaying reasons, as they are easier to see and work with, and because I enjoy skirmish gaming. I am lucky enough to play in several local groups, both wargaming and roleplaying- yes, some of us actually do both. I would like to pass on a recent incident related to the above which you might find amusing. One of our local groups, which my wife plays in also, plays a lot of SPACE 1889 roleplay. Not too long ago I was thinking about getting out of 25mm Colonials.
When I mentioned this to my wife I was informed that I was NOT getting rid of any of these figures, as we use them in the roleplaying. I was actually ordered not to sell the 5-600 painted figures I own. (I just thought I would mention this to make other gamers jealous.) I guess I am just lucky to have a wife who understands the lure of lead- she even does her own painting, though her 1/72nd scale F- 20 Tigershark in SS Autumn Leaf cammo has to be seen to be believed!
Well, have to get back to planning the next SAVE MISS PIMSBY! scenario for my Colonials. Keep up the excellent work, and I hope the articles may be of some interest to you.
From Tom Reed Last Saturday (the 14th ) the CITW (Central Illinois Tabletop Warriors ) held their monthly meeting at the Champaign Public Library. We had very good attendance, with 26 members showing up. A Brother Against Brother F&IW game ran by Phil Hall and Dean Spitz lasted all day. Also run were a 1/600th Ironclads game and a Volley & Bayonet ACW game by Greg Novak, and a Desperado old west gunfight by yours truly.
Oh, by the way, at the CITW business meeting in September, Rich Nelson was re- elected as president of the CITW and I was elected editor of the club newsletter, "The Vedette", as Walt LeBegue stepped down from the post after several years of outstanding service to the club. My 20mm French Foreign Legion project is on indefinite hold until I find some decent Arab infantry. The B&B Arabs look too much like Sudanese for my tastes, so I am looking for some Bedouins, Tuaregs, Riffs, or Berber type infantry. More like what you see in the movies, guys with cloaks carrying swords and gazelles. All of the French troops were painted by my good friend Dean Spitz, and then based by me. I am preparing to paint some civilians (archaeologists, film crew, etc.) for the game. My Wild West project is still ongoing. I just finished some Mexican villagers, pistoleros, and Mexican army figures. I sent 19 US cavalry off for Dean to paint and am preparing to clean up and mount 25 plains Indians so they can be painted next. When these are done I'll have all of the old west figures I need. ( Not that I'd let this stop me from buying more figures later. ) I'm trying to find the time to sit down and paint some of the ERTL cowtown buildings. I still need to purchase some wagons and cattle for the game. I really want to scratchbuild a Warwagon like in the John Wayne movie of the same name. I think I will start of with a block of wood and carve it into the correct shape for the main wagon box, and then add on the running gear from another wagon.
After that I can make the box that the driver sits in and a turret to hold the Gatling gun (Making sure it can rotate, of course.) I think the wagon could look pretty good if done correctly. Several of us are playing a SYW campaign using SHAKO rules to fight the battles, John Sutton just got a copy of the Warharnmer Ancients Battles rulebook and we are planning to try it out pretty soon. Our main thought is that these rules may make it easier to coax some of the fantasy players in our area into trying something a little more historical.
From Kenn HART Kennhart@AOL.com or Kennhart@kennhart.freeserve.co.uk
Most interested in Steve Leopard's letter in MWAN # 95! 1 must confess to not knowing many Brits who have the slightest interest in the ECW apart from wargamers and reenactors, of which I have done both. We really have finished that war and as for the War of the Roses - were did he get that information from? Living in Yorkshire, born in Warwickshire and having many friend sin Lancashire I can inform him that it is now basically a media thing. When there is a sporting event on then the media with their love of history bring up the War of the Roses but that's about the only time, to my knowledge, apart from wargamers and reenactors, yet again when it is mentioned. I have a great respect for Montrose and have been over some of his battlefields.
Steve is quite right in his assessment of Highlanders but there is a tactic they used which he maybe interested in. During an ECW Scaled Knot battle, many moons ago, my regiment was faced with a bunch of hairy jocks charging down upon us. Our musketeers were given the order to 'Give Fire' and the Scots all dropped to the ground as if they had all been hit! Barely had the smoke cleared than they were on their feet and in amongst the unloaded musketeers. Oops! The steadfast men of the pikeblock soon got rid of the lightly armed and clad northerns and order was restored to our unit but it was a bit of a shock I can tell you. Talking to the Highlanders later over a pint (or two) of foaming ale they confirmed it was a legitimate tactic used by both them and the Irish during the ECW. Now how about a rule for that then!
New figures on the 15mm Samurai scene are from Feudal Castings, 15 Quarry Park, Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, DD8 4DR. These are SAM 5, 4 individual seated sculptured Samurai generals and to my mind are the best figures that Steve Shaw has yet produced. They are a must for holding court in their maku screens or even better commanding their war junks. Which neatly brings me onto a new range of ships produced by Scheltrurn Miniatures, PO Box 10231, Aberdeen, AB12 3TT (catalogue El). Fax: 01224 581311. They have a range of 25mm ships in their 'East to Cathay' range which are very impressive but unfortunately for me and me bank balance they have now extended this range into 15mm!
After much thought I ended up with 3 different types of vessel and will undoubtedly have the complete range before long. David Barnes got a ship for review and I really am looking forward to seeing his drawing when it is produced. There are figures for the 25mm range and after I introduced Steve Shaw to the guys from Scheltrurn with the immortal words "I want you to make me some crew for these ships", I believe it will not be long before my vessels are maimed. Finally on the Samurai front I picked up to interesting booklets related to the Killer Katana rules; 'Date's Battles' at 24 pages and 'Tokugawa's battles' at 20 pages by Brian Bradford. Considerable research has gone into these booklets and at 3 pounds each they are excellent value for money. Now I have my war junks those ECW armies had better watch out!
From Arthur Brooking I have been meaning to subscribe to MWAN for a while now, but I seem to keep forgetting. I have a subscription to Wargarnes Illustrated for the wonderful pictures, and I see MWAN as the content that would perfectly compliment them. My first exposure to wargaming (as with many) were those little green army men, who have finally received the accolades they deserve, having starred in the movie Toy Story and the computer game Little Green Men. Unlike most of my compatriots, I did not shoot BB guns at my figures, nor did I blow them up with firecrackers; instead I devised a system where I rolled a die and if it was a 6, then the shot hit and the bad guy was dead.
I soon ventured out into the wilds of the Civil War (now called the ACW, as others have had the temerity to have their own) and The Revolutionary War (likewise the AWI), with those great old play sets from Sears. Then, all of a sudden, puberty struck, and I was left trying to figure out what was wrong with me. After a few years of D&D, I realized the girls liked me better if I showered instead of rolling up new characters, and so I effectively dropped out of the hobby.
About five years ago, my future wife, Brande, and I were walking past a hobby/game shop and we went in, me telling her that I used to come here all of the time to buy AH games that I would read, dream about, and never play. There was gaming going on in the back and Brande, who is bolder than I, rushed right in and asked the guys playing Spanish Civil War if we could join them, and Dick Larson (who was running the game) said, "As long as you speak Spanish". She quickly responded "Si, Senior' and batted her eyes at him. We played a bit and I was hooked on wargaming and (I am afraid) Brande on Dick Larson.
My tastes have run toward simple and fun over engrossing and accurate. (I am not sure if that is an accurate tradeoff but it feels right). I currently love Crossfire, DBA, Mustangs (yep, the AH game in miniature), Phantoms (a local modem adaptation of same), any wild west stuff, Flintloque (not historical, I know, but after all of that BBC I was hooked), Blue Max, Circus Maximus, Fire and Fury, General Quarters, Wooden Ships and Iron Men, and a whole bunch of others that I can not think of right now. My metric for evaluating new games is "Would Brande enjoy playing this with me?" And if so "Would my non-gamer friends enjoy this?" To this end, at conventions I try to play only games that I have never played before, in search of new eras/rules/scales/ideas. (I missed playing in yours at Enfilade a couple of years ago, but dang it was beautiful.)
Our first daughter was born about 8 months ago and all of those cool figures that I picked up last winter are just sitting on the shelf I have, however kept gaming. And my latest favorite game fulfils all of my requirements. Since the cover of your magazine advertises "Complete Rule Sets" I will include it here: peek a Boo: 1) Dad hides his head under a blanket and says "Where's Dad?" over and over until 2) Morgan pulls the blanket away and is rewarded with 3) a loud "There he is!" or alternately "Peek-aboo!" 4) Then Morgan may take the blanket and pull it in front of her face, in which case 5) Dad goes wild with pride and shouts things like "Peek-a- boo", "Where's Morgan", and "Hey Brand, we have the smartest one!" (Repeat) This is by far the most fun game that I have played in a while.
From Peter Johnstone of Spencer Smith Miniatures, Thank you for mentioning the availability of these figures in the last edition of MWAN which I found very interesting indeed. It reminded me of the old "Wargamers Newsletter" produced by Donald Featherstone years ago - and I bet this is not the first time you have been told that! I noticed, in the magazine, that mention is made of the early Prince August moulds and semiflat figures and the fact that the 'fully rounded' cowboys and Indians were no longer available. Well, I am pleased to say that I do have the moulds, as well as the others, and am happy to sell the castings. A full list is enclosed. I believe these figures were all designed by Holger Eriksson (but not absolutely certain) so there is a clear link with our main business venture. Hope you can mention this to your readership.
(Editor's Note: Peter sent along illustrations of "semi-flat "figures for what would appear to be SYW - 16 foot; 7 horse; gun and limber; as well as cowboys and Indians - 14 figures. Prices range from .70 pence per foot figure to 1. 40 for mounted).
From Michael Huskey I've pretty much filled out my two Marlburlian armies of 15mm figs, 90% Brokaw figs and 10% Dixon. I have 13 battalions of infantry each army with 7 cavalry regiments each and both sides have 6 batteries of guns plus single commander/general figures.
After lots of 58 experimenting I have finally got a set of rules I and my group are satisfied with. Using other rules sets ideas and my own, I made up a homemade set which are on 4 index cards for easy use and reference during the game. I am planning a big battle in November and will write up a battle report for MWAN. My current painting project is one I am really enjoying right now - I am going to do Chinese warlord armies of 1918-1930, their era of constant minor and major wars among the warlords.
As I read and do research I am continually surprised by what I'm leaming about that time in history. Osprey has a great painting guide for the time period and past into the Communist-Nationalist civil war. I'm using Peter Pig 15mm. miniatures from their World War I and Russian Civil War lines mostly. And for rules I found some great and easy ones on the Internet by a British gentleman named Mark Harmarn who also does the Gauntlet magazine. They're actually for the Russian Civil War but they work just great for what I want.
(Editor's Note: Would like to hear more about your Marlburlian Armies as well as the Chinese Warlords project, Michael!)
From Jim Birdseye of 2538 Yorkshire Dr., Augusta, GA 30909-3769: 1 have been doing some traveling lately promoting a project we are working on here in Augusta. On one of the these outings I went to Tampa for Hurricon and got to visit with the folks in HMGS South, Nick and Liz Zizo put on a fine con despite the Hurricane. Being my stupid self I noticed that the Southbound lanes of the interstate were empty as I approached Tampa but the Northbound lanes were packed, could there be an evacuation in progress? I drove on in the rain. I'm glad I was stupidly ignorant because the con went on despite the Hurricane. After all, Tampa passes for high ground in Florida. The guys in Florida had a lot of nice things to say about you. I've enclosed a couple of items, the Siege of Augusta flyer and the pledge for the International War Museum. I'll send more on the Museum project later. Keep up the good work and I hope to see you soon.
From Edwin Youngstrom Congratulations on producing the finest magazine going for miniatures gamers! After a couple years of reading second-hand copies, or reading the electronic version on MagWeb, I recently subscribed. Gaming here in San Antonio seems to be gathering momentum. There is a monthly DBA tournament, and the Thursday night club meetings of Lone Star Historical Miniatures (LSHM) are always crowded. Lots of Hostile Aircraft. BloodBowl, DBA and Napoleonics. One member keeps providing scenarios that do not feature evenly balanced armies, but rather mission-oriented forces that are capable of carrying out their mission (ie hold the town, take the battery, defend the bridge, etc.). Great fun and sparking yet more figure buying and painting.
From Gary Evans If you know of anyone with issue # 73 that is willing to part with it .... please let me know. I'm also looking for MWAN issues prior to #30.
From Bruce A. Meyer Just read your remark in issue #95 about the problems of representing Colonial battles with the typically smaller regulars severely outnumbered by the natives. I've been using Piquet. I looked at it for years and frankly was intimidated by the size of the rulebook. Finally played a demo at Historicon and it convinced me that it was handleable. Actually I found out that most of the pages are full of examples and the set up information and the rules are straightforward once you understand the theory. Piquet is definitely not for everyone. It is the Howard Cosell of rule systems, you love it or you hate it; no inbetween. It is a vast departure from existing rulesets. To me, the core of the system is the characteristics deck. This defines how your army maneuvers and fights. That is why it works well for colonial battles. You can make the regulars maneuverable and able to bring their firepower to bear.
The natives can be made unwieldy, rotten shots but extremely dangerous if they get in close. You have the ability to adjust them for good units such as 59 Sikh gunners. The game becomes one of the regulars plugging various holes in the dike and seeking attrition to break the enemy while the natives fight to close and end it. Morale levels are quite different between the two forces. Games come down to the natives becoming dispirited and leaving despite being mostly intact or the regulars responding too slowly or inefficiently and being over run. What I like is that the regulars can make choices and win, they don't have to just play defense. A brazen charge at the enemy, while not the best of odds, does have a possibility of blowing away the whole army. Give it a try.
From Kevin Killian To those who periodically correspond with me, please note the change of address. This recent personal move provided the realization that Kevin has way too many unpainted figures. The majority of the unpainted are 15mm ACW, NAP, and Crimean with 25mm Nap, SYW, ANC and Fantasy. It has been all I can do, not to purchase more! I really like the Old Glory 15mm AWI and WW2 and if it wasn't for my recent move which prevented me in attending Historicon, I would have added a few thousand to my unpainted inventory. My home project is to build a new wargame table that will be pleasing to the eye as well as to the pocketbook. The plan will be to take a TX 8'X 3/4" Veneer Oak Plywood, glue edging on it and attached it to unfinished modular kitchen counter units you can purchase at Home Depot. Sand, stain and finish the unit to personal taste should produce a proper product. The storage space under the table will allow a safe haven for fragile gaming items and the height of the counter units seem to work quite well. In the case of extending the table for those huge battles I will build another unit 4' X 4' with detachable table top to be stored under the basement stair steps.
My big push has been to paint as many ACW that I can fit in since it is the era our gaming group normally games. Johnny Reb for the 15mm is our main fix with Brother vs Brother for the 25mm as a sideline. In the past month I have been rebasing my 25mm, ACW to Fire and Fury. I have been using 2" square bases cut from oak baseshoe and staining them light honey maple. Add a piece of Blue felt to the base if Union and Grey for Confederate, then finish with a little flocking to the top to hide the attachment of the figure and we have a great looking gaming piece. My plan is to build the armies at Gettysburg starting with the second day. My next big purchases should be terrain pieces for Gettysburg, not lead.
See, I have to constantly remind myself to be practical not wishful of embracing another era. Next year is my tenth anniversary of the first metal figurines I purchased. They were 15mm Napoleonic British casted by Minifig and bought at the old Tin Soldier in Minneapolis. Now after painting 38,000 figures from various eras and manufacturers and gaming many games; I look back and wished I would have started wargaming ten years earlier so I could have twice as many figures. Regards to all.
From Grant Forsythe ForsytheG@aol.-com: At the risk of wearing out my welcome, I decided I'd better respond to Ron Delie's latest article. After reading his first paragraph, it was obvious that one of my bonehead comments had gotten under the poor guy's skin, so I thought I should apologize. I also wanted to apologize to you, as editor, since I may have unintentionally incurred the wrath of others of your readership. I promise you, Hal, that this will be the last on this debate from me!
On a lighter note, been spending most of my wargaming time in "ancients-land" working over Classical Hack with the author and friend, Phil Viverito. We have been having a good time with his [historically-emphasized but noncompetitive] rules down here. My stuff includes armies from the Greek and Roman periods, all l5mm. As my eyesight dwindles, I may lose my long standing argument with Chris Hughes and Bob Marshall and be forced into the 25min scale. Dave Bonk's beautifully painted 25mm Old Glory Mongols almost con me, and Phil Viverito, down here for our local convention, TSS's Southern Front-which, incidentally, was our best con yet, gave me some 25mm Wargames Foundry figures to paint which I will tackle this winter. That scale intimidates me because I have always relied on the figure size to hide my painting job, But both master painters, Chris and Bob, insist that the 15s are harder in many ways to paint. I guess it's just whatever you are used to. I have always liked the esthetics of 25s, but thought the 15s were more gameable (space-wise). Well, I shied noticing at Cold Wars and Historicon this year that I was having a heck of a time seeing the 15s, so father-time is forcing me to the larger scale (I will probably be painting 54mm armies in a few years ... ).
I ran into Steve Dake at Historicon-hadn't seen him for a few years. Talk about a master painter-his work is gorgeous. Anyway, he mentioned that he is willing to paint for money, so if anyone needs figures done, he is terrific. George Johnson, Mr. GAJO, was notably absent from Historicon, electing to go fly fishing in Montana with his son-what kind of prioritizing is that?
Finally, as a really off-the-wall endeavor, I got Al Slisinger (Old Guard Hobbies) in Michigan to strong-arm one of his engineer-customers to draw up a blue print for a 3 foot Zeppelin to use with Bill Koffs rules, Red Barron. Bill said he wants to do a multiple Zep game (if he ever breaks away from Formula racing!). So now, armed with the print, I have to figure out how to build the thing! If anyone has some construction ideas (quick and cheap are the parameters!), let meknow (ForsytheG@aol.com). If I (or someone) come up with something brilliant, maybe others in your readership would be interested, and I will put pen to paper with a "how to" article. Thanks again for a wonderful publication - like everyone else, I always go into seclusion for several days when it at my doorstep (Gosh, Hal, now I know why the divorce rate is so high in America).
From Brad1ey H. Thurmond thurmond@netusal.net: Let's see, what sorta' gaming have I been doing lately? Well, for starters my wife and I have been busy with our first child. Olivia is nearly a month and a half old and is currently trying to convince her parents that sleeping at night isn't really all that important or necessary. Otherwise, some of my gaming buddies and I have been getting ready to start our DBR campaign of the Italian Wars. We've played a couple times and continue to make modifications to our campaign rules. The French have done well for the most part. We'll see if my Milanese can change that this time around! We're using the NZ Group's Wars of Italy rules with some modifications. Those rules are available from Military Miniatures of Texas. I think they advertise in MWAN pretty regularly. They were very helpful and my order arrived in less than a week. Give 'em a try!
All the NZ Group's campaign sets I have purchased so far have been very good. The basic campaign rules are more or less the same for each period so if you I like one, you'll probably like'em all. I'm also working on a public demo for the college where I am employed. In February we are holding Tech- Know-Fest, a day long event showcasing science, technology, and education. The committee for this event approached me and asked me to do something to demonstrate history education with my 'little army men". Currently I plan to run a few DBA games and to design a couple handouts to help those interested in our hobby get connected. I plan to use DBA because its easily learned in a few minutes and I have a number of matched pairs for it. How ever it turns out, I'll try to write up a short piece describing it for you. Keep up the great work with MWAN. Your magazine helps keep me connected with the hobby and never fails to impress and inspire!
From Dave Markley I have enjoyed reading MWAN immensely and have been a loyal reader since about Issue 80. As a result of the Wild West Skirmish rules [from Bryan Ansel] of Guernsey Foundry which you published in MWAN 82, Walter O'Hara and I have become very involved in playing and refereeing games of The Rules with No Name. As a result of those games, we have written a number of additional rules and felt that MWAN would be a good place to share them. Please find enclosed three articles for MWAN. They are also provided as MS Word files on the enclosed diskette. If you cannot use Word files I can convert them to WordPerfect.
The three articles include one with our rules additions, one describing how to build a shotgun template play aid, and one which recaps a scenario we ran at the HMGS Fall In convention. Feel free to use or not use these article as you wish. Walt and I have known each other for about three years and share wargaming a our common bound. The rules additions for TRWNN came about from many lunchtime conversations and several playtest session with Walt's Guyz Night gaming group.
I have used our modified rules to host two skirmish games at NOVAG Conventions. After running a very successful game at Fall In, we decided to write up the additions and an after action report and send them to you as possible MWAN articles. As with all things procrastination, jobs and family have delayed the submission until now. To introduce myself, (I can't speak for Walt) I have been playing wargames since 1966. Most of my early games were board games from Avalon Hill and then SPI. Of course my real start was countless battles with little green army men and Airfix HO/00 figures.
I have been gaming off and on ever since. Although I have always liked miniatures, it wasn't until the early 90's that I determined that miniatures was the kind of wargaming that I really wanted to pursue. My primary periods of interest are American Civil War, Victorian Colonials, World War 11, Wild West and Science Fiction. As with all gainers I have more unpainted figures than painted and have had to work hard at resisting new periods. My wargaming has recently taken a real upswing now that my son, David, is nine and has matured enough to actually play with rules. He is a big fan of Wild West skirmish games and we use his Lego sets for our terrain and figures. They look good and they solve the painting problem. I have also written some basic Star Wars Rules which we use with his Micro Machine collection. He and I are building him an Imperial Guard Army for Warhammer 40K. This will be allied with my Space Marine Army. We are also working on 54mm plastic soldiers for Civil War Skirmish games. I need to modify the "Brother Against Brother" rules so they move a little faster. I haven't gotten David used to the idea of morale failure as opposed to removing casualties. I want to say again that I really enjoy MWAN and the effort you put into making it a quality and inspiring magazine. I took forward to reading each issue. If I didn't purchase MWAN through a local dealer, I would subscribe. Well enough for this time. Thanks.
From Chuck Vadun I have been painting rather a lot the last few days and am convinced these old eyes aren't what they should be. I can't seem to make the 25's look as good as the 15's I used to paint. I picked up an excellent adobe structure by a company called Epic. Never heard of them and I did get it at a fantasy gaming store but it has three roof levels and a base. Reminds me of the Hudson & Allen castle keep I used to have. I also found a source for a 25mm colonial gunboat for only $20, so I have ordered it and will report - if it's a good one. Also noted that Savage & Soldier will be on line soon. The intention is to republish it all electronically. The first article was on the Egyptian army and came just in time I for me As I was about to paint my Sudanese troops the wrong color.
From Prisco Hernandez I am currently working on several projects: El Cid 25 min (Christians vs. Moors), Wars of Polish and Austrian Succession in Italy (Austrian vs. Spanish) in 15 min and Lepanto in 15 min. (Spanish vs. Turks). I would like to describe this last project in some detail. It began with the purchase of two galleys with Minifigs crews from 19 Century Miniatures about three years ago. Some time later I added four more galleys - two Spanish and two Turkish. The crews were Essex and the galleys scratch built our of balsa wood and cardboard. This really cut down on the cost! I recently built eight more galleys for a total of six standard size galleys and one large capitana per side.
The crews for these galleys are Gladiator and Armada figures on the Christian side and Jacobite Miniatures on the Turkish side. The Gladiator figures are large and chunky. They show nice detail when painted and tend to dwarf the Essex but on separate ships they can all be used in the same table. The Armada figures are well sculpted and sturdy figures. They come in a bag of fifty and include six different poses with large muskets and arquebuses. The large musket with stand is perfect to simulate ship's swivel guns. These figures are made of pewter and are very sturdy, excellent for the constant handling necessary in 15 min skirmish gaming.
The Jacobite Turks are from their Napoleonic range. These figures are really neat. They are somewhat old fashioned in that they come in packs of 24 identical figures but when painted they are really nice looking. They are slightly taller and thinner than Essex. I bought a pack of musketeers and one of sappers. The sappers are something else. They are dressed in pantaloons and enormous turbans and wield wicked looking axes! Great figures for Turkish marines. Jacobite also produces a nice command pack with commander, standard bearer (flagless pole) and trumpeter (tour of each).
With two fleets of seven ships apiece I am ready to fight some small to medium sized sea battles. I plan to paint up extra crews so I can game asymmetrical actions of say nine ships against five or so. I also intend to paint up additional figures and guns for use in amphibious operations and sieges. Jacobite makes great large Turkish guns and artillery crews in their huge turbans. The Turks had lots of both. I remember that a few MWAN issues ago you were describing how you were interested in ship actions for your 15 min ECW project and wanted ideas on basing crew figures.
Well, I base my crews on size 4 10 flat washers which come in boxes of 100 for about $1.50 per box. After glueing the figure to the washer I base it with ScaleCrete modelers cement. This is a thick water soluble cement mix that hardens into a nice base. Then I paint the surface the color of the ship's deck. The result is a nicely mounted figure which is very stable for gaming purposes and the base does not occupy a lot of space on board the ship. Try it -you might like it! I intend to fight a couple battles using From Oars to Cannon rules and will tell you how they go. Well, take care and good painting (and gaming).
From Michael Davis Just thought I'd write a personal note of thanks for your help relative to the new club at Monticello High School. Please keep us in mind as the kids got a big boost from your generosity. The club is growing slowly in part because the school is so involved with many activities and clubs. However, I teach each year in my Social Studies Department utilizing miniatures and/or board games. This has been a good thing for spreading the hobby and getting me into the classroom!
Of late, I have been examining some of the very fine board games that have recently been released, notably Hannibal from Avalon Hill, and Close Action from Clash of Arms Games. Close Action is a Napoleonic ship game that lends itself quite readily to miniatures. I am using GHQ Fighting Sail ships and hexagon blue sheeting for the table top. I also hope to complete work on a 25mm Dark Ages fortress for all my bellicose Danes, Saxons, and Angles to romp around with. Play by E-mail or PBEM has gotten very big using freeware utilities such as VMAP or CyberBoard or commercial entries like Aide De Camp for the homebound board gamer. With a QuickTime or Digital camera, or a QuickCam, can miniatures be far behind? Lots of neat stuff happening. You are invited anytime to come down to the U of I for a crash course on board games, Hal!
For summer club activities, I hope to have my club tackle the wonderful 10mm ancients figures supplied by Division after Division and some 15mm. ACW figs given the club courtesy of Stone Mountain Miniatures. We will also attempt to host some sort of a weekend or one day con next year if at all possible; I will certainly keep you posted on that! Take care, and thank you for all the good work and information you supply our hobby.
From John Baxter I have managed to find your fine magazine via Magweb. Congrats on the excellent work! I am also a subscriber to The Heliograph and have been encouraged by the enthusiasm shown in both publications by the US wargaming fraternity, a welcome change from some of your UK counterparts. I read with interest you NWF efforts. As you may have guessed from my Heliograph subscription, my interests are British colonial.
About two years ago I completed a later Sudan collection of around 800 figures in 15mm (Essex and Two Dragons). Now I'm hooked on Foundry 25mms. I too am about a quarter of the way through a NWF collection, most of the figures, which I bought in the UK last year. I visited the Nottingham WE factory (can you imagine what that was like. Face to face with more Foundry colonial figures than you can poke a stick at) and picked around 200 figures. The British are as follows: 6 x 16 figures inf battalions; 2 x 8 cav (four squadrons really); two mtn guns; one maxim; one 15 pdr (I just had to get the limber); and command.
I've basically based this on the Tirah FF (Kempsters brigade) With divisional troops, plus some extras (Guides Cav, Inf, extra Sikh batt, the 15 pdr). The Pathans are around 180 strong. I am about 60% through painting the Brits. As with most wargamers, I have the problem of too much lead. Not satisfied with 200 plus unpainted figures I already had, I bought some 70 Sikh infantry for the I st Sikh war, 25 Sikh irreg cav, 1 0 irreg lancers from the IM range and some Brits from the Ist China war range (picked them up in Sydney for around USO.90 each).
After I finish the 1890s NWF, I will step back in time to the 1840s and do the Ist Afghan war. I'll already have the Pathans and will use the Sikhs for some unreliable allies (I can see some three player games here). The Sikhs and some of the British/Indians will also form the basis of a I st Sikh war collection (well, they will in about five yrs time). What about the Old Glory releases! Those boys must have been busy. Around 130 packs for the colonials alone! I can see myself picking up some of the Indian infantry
(WE don't really make "vanilla" Punjabi inf for the NWF), the Heliograph party and a mtn gun mule pack. The dismounted cav also look interesting. Hopefully Old Glory will keep WF a little more honest in the price stakes Any whispers on what the Old Glory figures are like? I nearly forgot the Darkest Africa stuff. I've got about a dozen of their packs, which we are going to use for a participation game next yr. Great figures. You might see some stuff I wrote for Richard Brooks in this months Heliograph on Burton and Speke.
Anyway, good luck with MWAN.
From Dan Richardson When I receive MWAN, I rip it open immediately upon receipt and read cover to cover. Then browse for weeks later. My favorites are the letters, your opening volley, convention reports and the Sutler's Wagon. I ran an ad in the Sutler's Wagon in #93 and received 10 responses from 10 different states: Arizona, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin. All 10 MWANers ended up buying something. I talked to most on the phone and all were just as friendly as can be. Finally, I enclosed a copy of HMGS MidSouth's Dispatch. I really enjoyed Bill Osborne's "Osprey Ozzie" awards article that begins on page 16. 1 thought you would like it, too.
From Darryl Smith HMGSGL@Aaol.com. I wonder if any of my fellow MWANers are going the same problems as I seem to be suffering from? Every two months I receive my issue, of MWAN, and within a day or two I have the thing read from cover to cover, forcing me to wait for what seems eternity for the next issue. Even with the increased size of MWAN, I still want more! Hal and all the others who contribute should take this as the highest compliment. Every one of us should thank Hal by sending in an article at least once a year. Think about it; something that will pay back Hal for the dedication he has shown us over these many years. Don't worry about not being a good writer, or about content; anything related to the hobby will be of interest to your fellow MWANers. Every two months Hal and his staff give of themselves to produce a fantastic magazine for the rest of us to enjoy. Isn't it time we all gave something back as a way of saying "thank you"? I find MWAN to be a great source of hobby information.
I find it hard for me to pick out any one favorite thing over another. I scramble over The Sutlers Wagon hoping to find a great deal. I read the letters section, enjoying other's viewpoints on the hobby. I like Curt Murff s Bits & Pieces very much; John Stafford's Wargame Clubs of America is a must, just to see what other groups are doing (thanks for the plug about Great Lakes, John!), Russ Lockwood's magazine review column gives me ideas about what I want to subscribe to next; Hal's Mailbox lets me know what is out for me to buy, and Hal's editorial always motivates me in one way or another. Add these "regulars" to the articles submitted by the readers, and you wind up with a very friendly magazine.
And that leads me to my next point: the MWAN subscribers. As you have read in the past I have been looking for Horizon Bleu WWI minis for awhile now. Quite some time ago Paul Hannah contacted me and supplied me with some figures, but in response to my letter in #94, David Sweet sent me a package with around 75 figures for free! Out of the blue, in my mailbox, a very nice package! Thanks, David!
It is these examples of comradeship that makes MWAN so enjoyable. This friendly attitude amongst the MWAN subscribers is just the sort of thing that the Board of HMGS Great Lakes is striving to attain as well. Our newsletter is a smaller version of MWAN, it has that friendly, informative feel to it. Also, more and more of our members are getting involved, whether it's running games, getting the local hobby shop to honor members a discount, or talking about the great time they had at Advance The Colors last year with their friends, encouraging them to come this year. I sincerely encourage anyone in our region to contact me about Great Lakes, and I think your find that we are a great chapter. e-mail me for a membership form at HMGSGL@aol.com.
(Editors Note.Thanks for your kind thoughts re MWAN!)
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© Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum
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