Shortly prior to receiving MWAN #97 from the printer, I experienced a severe water problem which ruined much of my book collection, many back issues, MWAN correspondence and also affected my computer. A hot water pipe burst in five separate places and drenched the area in hot water as well as steam. I am fortunate that (1) I was awaiting the shipment of #97 from Rick Huele, my printer as it would have been catastrophic to have lost the mailing prior to being sent out, (2) I had almost sold the majority of my book collection via my "basement" hobby sale, and (3) I only lost my scanner and keyboard as regards my computer. I had a large file of correspondence which included letters from MWANers which required response which was also lost - if you are expecting a response from me, I'm afraid you will not be getting it and I am sorry for this. I also lost a large number of SASE which were requesting my latest listing of items to sell. It also took me considerably more time to put this current issue together than it would normally due to the loss of my scanner. I hope you will understand this situation. Thank you for doing so! It is funny as to the amount of importance we place upon personal items such as books. I have a group of perhaps twenty books which are my "favorites" - I found myself referring to them frequently purely for "enjoyment" purposes, not always for acquiring information. Their loss was keenly felt and it was very difficult to throw them away. However, things could have been much worse given the severity of the water condition! Stuart Asquith, long-time editor of PRACTICAL WARGAMER from the UK, recently informed me that PW has ceased publication. Stuart has been the editor for eleven years and PW was a high quality work. Its loss, as with any historical miniatures publication, will be keenly felt within the hobby. Stuart was recently in the US as the Guest of Honor at the Fall convention of HMGS-East and found his way to my house prior to flying out of Chicago. We had a very nice, though short, visit. He is, as the attendees of the HMGS-East Convention found out, a highly personable, down-to-earth gentleman with whom it is a pleasure to be around. If you think about it, it is quite possible that Stuart has been the most prolific wargames writer over the last fifteen years or so. Following my articles on my ECW project, a number of MWANers wrote and suggested that Stuart republish his FEW scenario series which appeared many years ago in a nowdefunct wargarnes publication. Would this be possible, Stuart? One of the "problems" in producing a publication such as MWAN is that one receives sample figures for review. How could this, you ask, be a "problem" - surely it would be exciting to open your mail box to find a package of newly released wargames figures? Well, yes, it is, but the "problem" arises when one is sorely tempted by these figures to enter yet another wargaming period and/or scale. This has happened to me a number of times. My 25mm SYW project came about because of FRONT RANK's beautiful castings; my 25mmm Napoleonic project was due to Peter Gilder's Connoisseur releases; my second 15mm and first 25mm ACW projects came about because of OLD GLORY's figures; my 20mm ACW collection because of KENNINGTON MINIATURES' fine collection; my 20mm WWII Russian Front project due to FIGURES, ARTILLERY AND ARMOR; my FEW 15mm collection was due to ESSEX; my re-interest in 25mm ECW because of RIEDOUBT's fantastic line; my Malburian interest because of ESSEX; and it goes on and on. Arrival of new releases can also push me into expanding an already "expansive" period such as release of THE FOUNDRY's 25mm SYW line! Nobody needs in excess of 4,000 25mm castings for a period. I couldn't even fit that many figures on a wargames table, no matter what size it happens to be! I am sure, however, that you are able to relate to this situation as you have experienced the same thing by reading about new releases or by seeing them in a hobby shop or convention. I have learned, over the years, to resist temptation(s) by waiting for six months or so, before acting upon "impulses" to start a new project. The addition of new release to the excellent B&B MINIATURES 20mm Franco- Prussian War has tempted me to the edge. BROOKHURST HOBBIES sent me a number of artillery limbers and guns for this fascinating period which I have long had more than a passing interest in. Larry Brom published a set of rules for the FPW some years ago and I do not recall the name and regret that it was one of the items lost in my recent water problem. However, it was one of those things where I kept the rules in my FPW file and referred to them every time I got the FPW bug. FIELDS OF GLORY is another rules set for the period which can serve as inspiration! WARGAMES FOUNDRY excellent 25mm FPW line was tempting although I managed to stay away from it. I don't recall the name of the UK company producing 15mm. FPW figures some years ago, though I purchased many of their releases and ended up selling the unpainted castings while in a "down- sizing" mood. The release of a FPW 15mm line by ESSEX makes it even more difficult to resist this period because it provides me with a choice in scale - 15mm or 20mm! BROOY- HURST surely is aware of my weakness for artillery; I can envision a wargames table filled with FPW figures - what a sight! We'll see what happens. Take a look at Mike Huskey's fine articles in this issue regarding Chinese Warlords of the 1900's. An excellent idea for a period! It is amazing to me as to the number of obscure periods now available; also the number of periods one can "convert" from the presently available wargames figures. Some time ago, Michael published some articles on the Russian Civil War, another obscure period which is gaining in popularity. There are real advantages to collecting in such periods as you have much more "work" to do in organizing the period and finding figures and accessories. We all know that this can be the best part of a period/collection for us - the pursuit of information! My stock of articles is currently at zero and I would encourage you to submit an article and/or letter for publication. I would greatly appreciate this! By the way, I am appreciative of your continued support of MWAN via resubscriptions and ad continuation. Thank you, as well, for your kind remarks accompanying your resubscriptions! I find them to be most rewarding and motivating! With MWAN #100 just around the comer (July-August, 1999), 1 find that I have not been able to think of a "special" approach to that "milestone" in publishing. It is very difficult for me to believe that so much time has elapsed since MWAN #1 appeared! Anne, who is now 19 years old and a Freshman at the University of Illinois in Champaign majoring in Speech-Language Pathology (as did her father!), was only several years old and I was considerably younger (with brown, not gray hair!)! It is surprising as to how many early subscribers are still with MWAN from that initial subscription list of about twentyfive individuals as well as those gained over the first five years or so! There is no doubt that you are viewed as "friends", even though I may never have met you or corresponded with you. For the last few years, I have been trying to think of an approach to republishing early editions of MWAN. There have been several possibilities: (1) Putting early MWANs into one publication of perhaps 300 or so pages and eventually covering perhaps the first 76 issues or so; (2) Publishing all rules sets contained within MWAN within several 300 or so page publications; or doing a "Best of MWAN" approach of perhaps 300 pages. Time is always an issue in selecting an approach. This topic came to my mind again due to the loss of my scanner. I will need to replace it and I am thinking that perhaps scanners have increased considerably in ability since I purchased mine (over five years, I would think) and because of this, I may have an easier time scanning articles. Sometime ago, I scanned the first one hundred pages of MWAN and found, to my dismay, that the result was not useable. I guess I will know what to do as soon as I replace my scanning equipment. I would draw your attention to Russ Lockwood's (161 Lambertville-HQ Rd., Stockton, NJ 08559; 609-397-4265) MAGWEB (http://www.magweb.com). His novel effort has increased to some fifty magazines concerned with historical miniatures wargaming and history in general. For a subscription fee, you receive via your computer, a new world of hobby information! In 1998, Russ put out 229 magazine issues plus 194 other articles and now has over 10,000 articles in its archive! It is personally satisfying to note that MWAN is consistently within the top three most read magazines on MAGWEB. Russ currently put together a list of the one hundred most read articles from MAGWEB and this list is available at: www.magweb.com/sample/98mv100.htm if you are interested in taking a look. MWANer Clif Castle would appreciate it if we give a "plug" to the United States Pike and Shot Federation which is the main group for Renaissance wargaming in the USA. Membership is $15/year which gets you four THE REITER magazines and a year round league competition. I can say that I've enjoyed many articles within THE REITER and if you have an interest in the Renaissance period, you would be well-served by joining this organization. Remember Peter Gilder's "Wargame Weekends?" Didn't you dream of spending a weekend with Peter looking at his collections, playing in several games, and having the chance to purchase his figures at discounted prices? Well, THE BUNKER WARGAMING HOLIDAY CENTRE (7 Bramble Dene, Woodthorpe, York Y024 2RL, UK; telephone 01904-705399) offers you the same opportunity. Shaun McLaughlin is the owner and was kind enough to forward a number of color photos of his games in progress. I find them to be most impressive and hope to utilize some of the photos on the covers of MWAN. I also hope to include a review of THE BUNKER by MWANer Mark Bevis within this issue. Thanks to Shaun for the fine photos! If anyone else has had the good fortune to attend, please consider writing an article regarding your experience(s). I would respectfully request that if you utilize the services of any advertisers within MWAN that you consider informing them that you saw their ad in MWAN. Advertisers have informed me that they remain pleased with the exposure they receive within MWAN and as you would expect, advertising income is crucial to MWAN's existence. I am still interested in finding someone who can write a regular column concerning what is available on the Internet re historical miniatures wargaming. From letters, I gather that there is a great deal of helpful information to be obtained however, not having the Internet, I have no idea. If anyone is interested, please contact me ASAP. I would also like to find someone who could do a regular column on any number of historical periods. The only periods that are covered currently are the Seven Years War (Jim Purkey) and WWII (Charles Sharp). Jim Purkey announced in his latest SYW Journal that he is looking for someone to assume responsibility for his publication due to an expanding family. Congratulations to Jim and his wife and I would add that James has done an excellent job of making information on the SYW period available to people since taking over for Bill Protz some years ago. If someone has a specific interest in the Colonial, Renaissance, Skirmish gaming, Napolconics, or any other period/subject of interest, please contact me. I would prefer that anyone interested have the ability to produce at least four columns per year consisting of any length the writer would like to do. I would like to eventually have a number of columns devoted to specific wargaming periods. We all have our wargaming/hobby "dreams". Mine is to have an area specifically dedicated to my hobby as a number of MWANers have. This came to mind due to a recent letter from Orv Banasik, who announced that he just finished his wargaming area. When I daydream, I envision having a permanent table which would allow me to conduct solo wargames and leave it set up for long periods of time. The current problem I have with this is that MWAN arrives every two months and the wargaming table must be cleared off to serve as a "work area" for dispatching MWAN! Retiring to a wargaming area whenever there is an hour or two and playing perhaps one or two turns of a solo game just sounds very appealing to me. MWANer Rich Barbuto's (1707 Ridge Rd., Leavenworth, KS 66048; phone 913-651-5009) efforts with the SOLO WARGAMER'S ASSOCIATION and his MWAN column are well worth reading and inspire one to consider this approach to the hobby. I can just picture my 15mm ECW/TYW, 25mm SYW, 25mm NWF, 25mm WWII Eastern Front, or 20mm. ACW collections on the tabletop awaiting my next brilliant "move." Other daydreaming thoughts are consistently concerned with the subject of "campaigns" and I have made it a practice to copy any articles appearing in wargaming publications on this subject and maintain them in a central file which has grown quite large over the years. There is a wealth of information available concerning campaigns ranging from "complex" to more "simplistic" approaches. Many rules sets contain campaign rules, thus it would be quite easy to carry out a project such as this. Although it is more difficult to conduct campaigns on a "solo" basis, THE LONE WARRIOR (publication of the SOLO WARGAMER'S ASSOCIATION) has had many articles on how to accomplish this successfully. Donald Featherstone's writings on this subject many years ago were concerned with maintaining a "journal" of events pertaining to the campaign, another tempting aspect related to these daydreams. I recall sitting in my upstairs toy room, as a youngster, with my 54min plastic toy soldiers set up on a large model railroading table my father made for Christmas and writing down events of a "wargame" I was playing in which casualties were determined by tossing the affected figure in the air - if he landed face down, he was "dead" while face up indicated that he had somehow escaped injury and could be placed back in the "game". I don't recall how I determined which figures were "hit" although it was probably merely a "who's within range" type of approach. Other strong memories include setting up a "sawdust" (borrowed from my father's table saw) island in the basement for a WWII invasion with the MARX 54mm soldiers and landing craft as well as a large "ship" I had somehow acquired which seemed to fit size-wise with the 54mm figures as well as self-made wooden warships whose guns consisted of wooden dowels (it was amazing how many of my father's wood shop materials I could use toward my purposes). I still have photos of this particular setup and it is great fun to review them from time to time! My mother also constructed cloth "parachutes" for my paratroopers in preparation for a planned "invasion" of Joe Vanderville's (who also loved toy soldiers and spent a career in the Navy) country situated in his back yard. The paratroopers, though a "surprise", were not as successful as I thought they would, as we could not decide how to handle this facet of gaming. This occurred in the ninth grade and was at the very end of my "toy soldier" period. I can still recall the "sadness" I felt when I finally put them away for the last time. In attempting to determine how I will handle "basing" for my Malburian project, I am sorely tempted to stay with the "three stand" concept from Howard Whitehouse's ECW rules (Old Ironsides). My ECW/TYW foot units are based three deep in three rows for a total of nine figures/stand and this approach looks especially "nice" to me. Horse units are four figures/stand. This approach, would in my mind, call for a "roster" type system, which I wouldn't mind. It is possible, with only three stands, to represent a "square" and of course, it would be easy to represent the other formations (line and column). The FIRE & FURY basing approach is also a possibility due to the fact that whole stand removal is utilized resulting in an ease of playing. We shall see, I guess! Thanks again for your continued support of MWAN and please consider penning an article or two on any aspect of the hobby you may have an interest in. Enjoy your hobby!!!!!! Back to MWAN #98 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com