I was interested in your intention to do a Burgundian battle on the lines of Flowers of the Forest. I hope to produce a simulation of the battle of Montlhery, briefly described in WRG's Armies of the Middle Ages. The scenario has the largely cavalry element of Louis XI's standing army confronting a larger but heterogeneous Burgundian force under Charles the Rash, acting as the sharp end of the noble's revolt. The situation is simple, but there are all sorts of what-ifs. I do not think there is much scope for subtle strategy, like Flodden perhaps, but the situation, to me at least, is exciting: a battle for high stakes between an organised, trained and drilled mounted force and what is, in effect, an up-market feudal array supported by English mercenary archers, until they trampled them. There was even some infantry street-fighting in the village. There are enough what-ifs to make for a good chaotic scenario I think: the arrival or non-arrival of reinforcements for both sides; the usual medieval treachery; Burgundian dithering and so on. [Groom of the Scanner: I'll play the Burgundians then.] My sources apart from WRG are only two so far, PM Kendall's great biography of Louis and Commyne's memoirs. These happen to be two of my favourite historical books. My copy of the latter being a beautiful Folio Society edition of a translation, also by PM. Kendal, of the first seven parts. I am going to try to obtain a copy of a biography of Charles via the library service. [Groom of the Scanner: I may be able to help you there - I have a little list of books I have reprinted...]. (CHV: Bang goes the advertising revenue!) The battlefield is a bit of a problem. At present I am reduced to scaling up Michelin 1:200000 road map and interpolating verbal descriptions. I think that I may end up with a more diagrammatic area map, so this lack of detailed info might not be a problem, he said optimistically. COR WOW! (Albeit five years late): I recently finally succumbed to temptation and bought some Revel plastic figures. Not the tasty latest British Waterloo riflemen but the W.W.I poilus and Stahlhelmeted Huns. Oldies admittedly, but the detail is amazing. Those Lebel bayonets, the sort that Bruce Willis nearly got up his bare bum in Twelve Monkeys really look the business. With metal figures these tend to look more like garden tools than weapons. The heavy machine guns are also very well represented. The men (and German Shepherds) and their equipment are modelled to a recognised scale and convincingly proportioned. Humans are a lot thinner in general than most figure designers seem to allow for or metal-casting permits. nevertheless, Mr. Never-Satisfied would have liked one or two tubby little figures, especially in the French set, and would also have preferred the sprue not to betaken out of the top of the helmet. If the plastics manufacturers produced comprehensive ranges rather than what at present appear to be small selections of figures from a period aimed at the diorama- maker, by rights they ought to sweep the board. I admit to being a list freak, especially of other people's favourites. For what it is worth here is my own Desert Island selection of historical games. 1. Rommel in the Desert 2. Up Front 3. Hitler's War 4. Wooden Ships & Iron Men 5. Republic of Rome 6. Caesar at Alesia 7. Custer's Luck 8. King of Kings/Ancients 9. Airforce/Dauntless & the expansion kit 10. War & Peace Back to Perfidious Albion #96 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. 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