Hello everyone. I have a pile of mail this issue, so adjust your reading glasses and hold on tight. A "newbee" hits center stage, the Last Square Gamers. They sent along their flyer, the Last Dispatch. It starts off with a riveting diary entry by a Wurttemberg Napoleonic soldier. Also included were some excellent Napoleonic web sites, some well drawn cartoons. Membership is over 30, and they game events at the Last Square hobby shop in Madison WI and Pegasus Games. Check them out at 5944 Odana Rd., Madison WI 53719, or (608) 278-440, or Paul Wollner, (608) 833-4263. Rhett Scott, VP of HMGS South sent a nice note updating their contact info and informing me about a now franchise-like club called Garrison Clubs. Their website is still under construction, but there are e-mail contacts for nine clubs in a variety of major cities. Check them out at www.garrison-clubs.rom. Chris Salander of the South Buy Gaming Club in CA dropped me a lengthy note with his newsletter. His 80+ club members live in the San Francisco to Sacramento area, meeting once a month on Saturday for games in the Community Room of Cupertino Library from 1000-2200. Dues are $20 per year, mostly covering their room fee and newsletter. They support a number of conventions (MendoCon, Celebrate History, Wargames. West GameCon, and Western Front) *in northern and central CA. Hot rule sets are Warhammer Ancients Peter Guilder's In the Grand Manner, Napoleon's Battles, General de Brigade, Piquet, and Full Thrust (space). Occasional games of Fantasy Rules!, Pirates!, Acrodrome, Pig Wars (a favorite of mine) Wild West Brother Against Brother, WWII AWR, colonial, and Spearhaead are also featured. Contact Chris to get the latest info and directions. I received a news update firom my friend Kevin Rourisaville, President of the Secret Society of Miniature Wargamers. They have 12 members, and meet the second Saturday of the month at the Adventurer's guild and the fourth Saturday at member's houses in Riverside or Moreno Valley CA. They've started a Bronze Age campaign, and have an avid following in Fire & Fury. DBM, DBR, Napoleon's Battles, and other periods are played, too. They support HMGS PSW events, and have no dues at this time. If you are a southem Californian, check thew folks out. The NOVAG gang continues their weekly Friday Napoleonic and ACW battles at the Game Parlor in Chantilly. In addition, Hailey Wynn and othets have been adding new events including SYW and other horse and musket periods. We fight a large 1813 battle next weekend with 12 playersan all day Saturday event. Should be fun. Bill Harting's newsletter, the Dispatch, covers events at HMGS Mid-South no latest issue has a number of interesting letters and articles. Theron Kuntz writes about his fascinating new booklet called the Metawargame Primer. It is 16 pages, (1/2 charts/diagrams) covering repeating concepts in wargaming and old and new ways to represent them--my $5 check is in the mad! Tom Dye, now owner of Mimfigs writes about their plans for repackagmg and releasing the line. And Duck Surdu and put out some skirmish and tactical rules for4 Mex-American War. Lots of other tidbits of course for the discerning southern gamer. The latest Camino Real Post lists events and gainers throughout the Colorado, New Mexico area. Hobby stores sponsoring events and supported conventions are also listed. Carl Overshiner sent me a list of die events planned for the Historical Gamers of Indianapolis. Tuesdays and Saturdays, 1830-2300 are the gaming hours at Ninotcen and One in Indianapolis. Current events include WWII, SYW, Viking Raiders using home rules, Advanced Squad Leader, Napoleons Battles, Spanish Civil War, Desperado, Brother vs. Brother, Armati ancients, and others boardgames. Door fee is $3. HMGS Pacific Southwest has wine usefW info in their latest newsletter. Steve Vcrdohva wrote a continuing piece on the Third Silesian War for you early hone and musket folks. Bill Withans describes some interesting ways to make trees for all scales. He also added a note that This issue of the Northwest HMGS Citadel contained some good stuff. Ed Teixeira sent in an a good ancients scenario centered on a patrol, but it could easily be adapted to more modern periods and played solo quite easily, too. Bob Seagle Laid out the OB for die Battle of Java Sea, and Charles Sharp spells out in lucid detail how to paint those WWII skirmish troops that are all the rage. Max Ray wrote a fascinating piece detailing the losses of Sherman tanks in WWII including reason for loss, and percentage that burned when damaged. Last Ed Teixeira once again published the 20 standing orders for Roger's Rangers, of which my favorite is, "Never use your gun when you can finish him with your hatchet." I said last issue Mike Dernem was a smart guy-I want to reiterate that. He talked a Commercial Art school into doing the cover art for the MIGS Great Lakes Herald for free. Amazing. He's also got size up to 48 pages now. Impressive. Some excellent now web sites in this issue, along with a plug for the HMGS Origins Team (sounds like fun, wish I had the time to do it). Darryl Smith made rocaders aware of the poterrdal loss of the only Ohio ACW battlefield due to industrial encroachment Portland, where John Hunt Morgan and his raiders were nearly wiped out. Painting tips for Amerinds, battle reports, a fascinating series by Clinton Roilley on casualties over time and their affect on armies, and much more. These are first class gainers. A nice photo of GIs defusing bombs graces the cover of the January Column from Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance. They haw two mini-cons and a full 3-day con set for Feb, Aug, and Nov respectively, as well a monthly game days at either Games, Craft, Hobbies and Such or The Hobby Shop-both in the St Louis area. Pat Lewis describes die wonderful world of latex and how you can make a kinds of cool terrain features with it cheaply and easily. Also, lots of samurai stuff (rules, painting, figs), 18th and 19th century moles and figure reviews, and rule variants General Quarters naval rules by Bob Stusse. 63 members and growing. Well, the altest couple of Spearpoint from NASAMW are interesting. The newest DBM release is out, version 2. 1, and everyone scam to be griping. Not that the rules are bad, just that the. change is the sixth one in as many years and not necessarily worth the effort. Players can't seem to keep up with all the changes. Truthfully, that is partly what has kept me from playing ancients the List several years-the constant changes in WRG 7th edition and DBM. Yeah, I play an occasional Armati or Flower of Chivalry or Might of Arms, but it's not steady. On a better note, Soon Holder and the many people who organize local tournaments are doing a fantastic job setting them up, getting players, and publishing the winners. Kudos. For those craft-minded folks (like me) Brett Drake offers several useful ideas, including advanced uses of wood glue, and how to make for taking to tournament play. The scholarly Darrel Smith (I've seen his book collection), wrote an excellent piece on the ancient Indo European civilization of the Tarim Basin in modern day Yinjiang province, China. Mark Garcia tries to drum up interest in a national ranking system for tournament play. NASAMW is also offering issues of Spearpoint for prizes. Finally, Terry Gore plugs his new Medieval Warfare rules which will debut in a tournament at Historicon. Great issues-great gamers. HMGS East continues to hold high the flame of historical gaming. Of course Cold Wan will probably be over by the time you read this, and Historicon fast approaching By the way, the last Historicon made a $17,000 profit!!! That does not count membership funds! Amazing. Besides the awesome gatherings, smaller but no leas meaningfid efforts are made. Bob wrote a tasty article concenurig the role of a bakery, the invention of croissants, and the fight against the Turks in 1683. This newsletter also had the membership roles--I have 10 other players in my zip code--time to make some phone calls. HMGS Midwest under Randy Giesey a readying for their flagship Lade Wan con in March at a new location in Rochelle I hope things work out well there. Deep thinkers here-Mark McGinnis writes a scholarly article on War Theory-what's behind war and society. And someone at Florida State wrote about the exploration of the Confederate ironclad Phoenix which was found in upper Mobile Bay. The list 38 game clubs as affiliates-excellent! Well, MIGS West has passed 125 members-sh" hotl I always like to hear about good news in the hobby, and growth is good news. The last vcouple newsletters Editor and President Chris Salander sent me had some good stuf in them. For you Horse ECW/TYW types there is an interesting revision of the the WRG reaction test charts-simplified and unproved! Also info on woodwork colors for Napoleonic artillery as well as horse colors and their units, a scenario for WWII naval, and wine Stunrigeschutze Battalion OBs for Spearhead. Best of all is an interview Mike O'Brien hold with Maj Gen Julio Hang of the Argentine Army discussing the Malvinas Campaign (Falklands). Fantastic! There was also and interesting guide to grading to pricing painted figures-I thought the price ended up a bit high, but the idea of standardizing is top notch. Overall, well done. Keep up the good work Chums. The demise of HMGS Heart of America has been greatly exaggerated. Gaming continues apace. That "matrix guy" Chris Engle is holding Hamster Con in October in Indiana looking for 100 attendees. The flagship Call to arms will be over when you read do, but the event list looks impressive. Some battle descriptions, humorous quotes, event lis~ and other tidbits round out he West Commuique . Keep on chuggin guys. Good to hear from all of you-please keep those notes and newsletter coming! Back to MWAN #99 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