From Ken Raetzman Last year I placed an ad in MWAN and received many requests for lists. This included all of my 15mm Napoleonics. I even found a buyer for all my old unpainted Heritage/Empire Napoleonettes. Thanks for your help! Also through MWAN I was able to get in contact with many fine miniatures companies. I found out I can not get Napoleonics out of my system. In spite of my injuries, I am still able to do a limited amount of painting, etc., I've found that because of the availability of prepainted figures and fine painting services, I can still do some Napoleonic wargaming after all. Also, because the new 15mm figures are a bit bigger, I seem to be able to see them a little better for any 'touch-up' or 'finishing that I deem necessary. I have purchased a few GAJO Napoleonic sets and currently have an order in with John Price Painting Service. With that what little hobby budget I had is totally shot! Through the sale of my stuff, I have had many worthwhile, interesting and informative conversations with fellow wargamers. They all have been very courteous and helpful. Since I am out here in the middle of gaming nowhere, it has been quite refreshing to get a chance to talk to some fellow hobby enthusiasts. I have come to the conclusion that, as a whole, wargamers and collectors are a quite decent group of people. It is nice to see that there are still so many decent people around, especially in our hobby. Even though I have sold many items, I still have well over half of my collection left to sell. I have added more figures and books to be sold. I guess I will stick to 15mm Napoleonics and my 1:32nd scale WWII figures. I no longer have the time or money for anymore figures than that. Thanks again for your help!
From Stuart Schoenberger Does anyone know what happened to the AWI figures produced by Washington's Army?
From Wayne Downey While awaiting Old Glory's upcoming release of Boxer Rebellion figures, I've decided to try to put together two small games based on these great movies. If you haven't seen "Army of Darkness", it is a wonderfully empty tongue-in- cheek spoof on horror movies. The climax of the film features an attack on King Arthur's castle by the 'Deadites" (army of the dead). I'm not usually into fantasy stuff, but this movie is a hoot. Aliens is a fantastic film and I think it would be a lot of fun to recreate the small unit actions between the Colonial Marines and the Aliens.
From Phil Wood Thanks for another year of MWANI- I have enjoyed MWAN very much and am looking forward to this year as well. I don't have as much hobby contact as I did in the past, so MWAN has taken on a greater role in keeping me in touch with a hobby that I enjoy so very much. This past year I have been busy rebasing Heroics 1/300th Ancients that I was able to get through Sutler Wagon ads. The little buggers can tax my old eyes, but I find the end effect very pleasing. I was also able to donate some of my unwanted figures to needy wargamers last year. This helped me clear out some room in my small hobby area and hopefully helped out some fellow wargamers at the same time. I am looking forward to finishing up on my Ancients project as far as rebasing goes and getting back to some painting soon. I still need a few more figures and I am thinking about conversions. (Editor's Note: Thanks for donating your figures, Phil!)
From George Dullaghan I'm collecting the Foundry Darkest African figures. They are very nice. So far, I really like some of the Arab swordsmen, an Arab with a monkey on his back that is wearing a hat and some obese native Chieftains as in the Tarzan movies and the Naked Prey. I also like the Porters and some of the Monyuema (bandit types) are good. Vince Clyant of the London War Room is making me a great square of Kharkov. I'm reading a good book about naval warfare. I'm also playing video games (sports) but this year, I'm also going to get into computer wargames and I'll write about them when I do. Despite all the above, I still work about sixteen hours a day, which I know you can relate to. Magazine is terrific! You need to do something special for MWAN #100 or #120 - maybe have everyone write an article about their absolute favorite period or something.
From Bill Widrich My son, Jonathan, started painting some of his 25mm Napoleonics the other day. He did very well but lacks patience. He thought that he could have a few painted in twenty minutes and was a little bummed when he saw that it would take a bit longer than he thought, even though I told him it would take a few days to finish just a couple. He did, however, enjoy the work quite a bit, and that is what is all about! Once again I find myself in a wargaming dilemma. I have been building (slowly) my AIM 10mm Napoleonic armies with a view toward using my GHQ Terrain Maker for the terrain. I figure that it should work well, but I was wrong. The 10mm figures do not fit well with the GHQ terrain as the GHQ stuff is smaller. What are my options? Well, I could go ahead and play on the terrain I have and ignore the proportion discrepancy, NO. I find the visual aspect of gaming to be the most important. Two, I could build an entirely new set of terrain. This option is more feasible than the first. However, there are several things which must be considered. First and foremost are the precious few hobby dollars that I have to invest, which I think would be better spent on lead. Plus, there would be the time that would have to be spent on construction. Then, and probably most important, I just don't have the room to store a second set of terrain. So there we have it. What to do, what to do! I did call MWAN advertiser, GEO-HEX; WOW, that stuff is expensive, but I think I could swing it if I sold my current terrain and weaseled a few dollars from my wife out our state tax return. So, we shall see what happens.
From John Costea Noticed in the last issue of MWAN that you were thinking of using VOLLEY AND BAYONET rules. The first time I played a game using these rules, I didn't like it at all. It was a British vs Afghans and it just didn't seem to play right. The more I played them, the more I liked the rules though. I've always tried to keep my games simple and V&B allows me to do that. I usually make up a one page cheat sheet for players and spend less than 30 minutes explaining the rules. At the conventions and game nights, I have run games using V&B, the players are usually playing the game with little help from me by turn two and the game is over with a clear winner in three hours. As long as I keep the game moving, I can get the players to do three-four moves per hour. After every game I've run at conventions using V&B, I have had players ask where they can get the rules. I've only had one player complain about the rules; he wanted something with more detail. I've never really liked rules that have you decide the formation for every unit under your command; shouldn't your brigade or regimental commanders know what to do? I've only played in one game where we used the road column rule and it was a waste of time. V&B are my rules of choice. I use them for everything from ECW up to 1900 and from 6mm to 30mm. With 6mm troops, it works out very well with the 3 " X 3 " bases because you can put a lot of troops on the base and it looks very nice, like a brigade of troops. I have currently based for V&B 6mm ECW, Crimean, Franco-Prussian, Austro-Prussian, l5mm Clive in India, 20mm Napoleonics, and 30mm British Colonial-1900. If you have any questions about the rules or whatever, please feel free to let me know.
(Editor's Note: Thanks for the information, John; would like to hear more about your basing techniques as well as which 6mm figures you are using.)
From Frank Puleo I want to comment on the announcement in MWAN #97 re The Sword and the Flame rules. I think it's great news! I'm by no means a rules nut; I don't read every set of rules that is or has ever been published. Hell, the guys I used to game with will tell you that I seldom read all the rules we used to play! In any case, I know and like TSATF, it was probably the first historical rules set I ever played. I admit I made some modifications to my set, however, they were minor and the end result is still clearly TSATF. I don't get to play much of anything anymore, but I'm very glad to hear that TSATF is not missing in action any more.
From Peter MichaelsWe have been playing a SYW campaign for about 3-4 months. A few of us decided that we would dust off our armies and play some linear warfare. If you play SYW or earlier 18th century wars, you will know that it is not popular with gainers and those that do play are usually extremely enthusiastic. We are using WARFARE IN THE AGE OF REASON 1st Edition for the tactical rules. The campaign rules are roughly based on the AOR Campaign supplement's Bohemian Blitzkrieg rules, with the map of the area modified. We incorporated the idea from CHARGE, and all the players have their own dukedoms, with one player being the "Imperial" forces. Since all of the participants had mixed armies (i.e, Prussian and Austrian, or French and British, etc), the dukedom idea allows everyone to play with their own toys. Reinforcements are whatever you paint (or buy painted). So far, we have fought three major battles. The inevitable misunderstandings of the command rules, or the map deployment rules, etc., have been encountered and mostly resolved. Our current problem is that maneuver has virtually ceased and now everyone's total armies are sitting facing Imperialist armies one move away from each other. This has caused some large, unwieldy battles that are satisfying to know one (but pretty to look at before the carnage). The Orders of Battle are based exclusively upon the players' figure collections, so to represent campaign losses, we total the casualties from a given side at the end of the battle and then use the AOR campaign system idea of dividing by the standard unit size and removing that number of cavalry regiments, artillery batteries or infantry battalions. In general, the casualty figures seem low compared to the number of units leaving the battlefield in rout. AOR has no rules for giving units attacking routers from the rear a free blow or something like that, so when units rout, they rout intact and the player gets the remaining figures back for the next game. It's led to some interesting after battle reports where large portions of the army have been defeated, yet they return the next battle almost intact, ready to fight again!
From Rob Dean The local club, the HAWKS, continues to be active. We had a one-day minicon back in September attended by more than forty players, and we continue to play a wide variety of games. I am currently running a campaign emphasizing communications and fog of war for our Not Quite the Seven Years War Charge! Project, using 40mm semiround figures as mentioned in my article on casting. A lot of hobby stuff has been disrupted by business travel lately, and I have been experimenting with carrying a painting kit and figures on trips. One of my club compatriots, Chris Palmer, was talked into doing a battle for a school with me recently. We built a section of castle wall in 54mm, gathered about 70 Accurate Hundred Years' War figures, and set up for a day with a fourth grade class studying the Middle Ages. The students were given the rules in advance, along with plans of siege equipment made using commonly available parts and a point system. The students were divided into groups, and each group was encouraged to develop a plan for how to attack the castle and then built siege equipment according to the plan. They were given some incentive - each group which succeeded was given a homework pass allowing them to skip one assignment. When the students were ready a week later, Chris and I ran them through the game. Everyone seemed to be having fun, and hopefully they will have learned something from it. In my own workshop, I've been trying to concentrate on a few projects instead of spreading my efforts out. The main projects this year are the Dark Ages in 25mm and the French and Indian War in 40mm homecasting. I am also currently suppressing the desire to start a new project by researching it extensively before starting. This time it's the Late Bronze Age, and the thought of the Trojan War and Hittite/Egyptian chariot wars is almost irresistible. On the other hand, Chris recently lent me Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian books, so I'm having to suppress a desire to buy a bunch of 5th Century figures as well. I guess that's just the way it goes in this Golden Age of Miniatures!
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© Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum
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