Letters

Letters to the Editor

by the readers

EDITOR'S NOTE:

In early February, we received the following letter from a group in Canada seeking guidance concerning the ins and outs of running a wargaming organization. It was too late to print the letter in our February issue, but we publish it now. --WS

Dear Wally

If any of our readers wish to send in a comment or two to the fellas in Canada, please feel free to do so. The PW club is not the most organized wargaming club in the world, and any advice from us might simply be the blind leading the blind, but... we'll do what we can.

We were happy to see your address in a copy of the Wargamers Digest, and are writing to you and your fellow players to ask for advice and help or information in miniatures' gaming, because our club is not doing so well -- our biggest of many problems is a lack of information: up here in Canada we're isolated from the mainstream of gaming resources, and our dollar puts us at a disadvantage in purchasing. So we are asking if you and your members have any magazines on miniatures, including WW2, Ancients, etc., that you might want to trade or sell. Perhaps Battle or Slingshot or others?

Also, we'd enjoy knowing what armies you or your opponents own. How many figures do you have yourself? What scale are they in? and what was your reason for choosing this scale? We disagree among ourselves on this. What is the smallest size table you would recommend to new miniatures gamers?

Our games are too slow and defensive in nature. How would you speed up games in Ancients, ACW, WW2, SYW and Colonial eras, etc.? Also, how do you break a defensive deadlock in games of your favourite period? This is a big problem for us.

Could you please tell us what manufacturer you and your friends buy figures from. Do you find Ral Partha too expensive, Heritage sloppy at all in the figure design? Is MiniFig poorly detailed, Lamming on the small side, and Grenadier rather bulky? What are your preferences in this matter?

What sum do you estimate you and your friends individually spend on the miniatures hobby a month? - $10.00? $30.00?

Can you think of 3 or 4 attitudes you dislike among opposing players? We have trouble losing gracefully, often, and especially recently some of our members have come closer to blows than their forces on the table!

Could you please recall for us the circumstances surrounding your most memorable game in Ancients, SYW, ACW, Napoleonic, WW2 or Medievals? We especially need outside experience here due to our narrow and confined knowledge.

What rules to you use in your games? WRG? Universal Soldiers, Empire? others? Are there any rules you would like to see minimized or cut out, in your games of Ancients, SYW or Medievals? Even WW2 or Colonial Periods? Do you have anyone in your group interested in modern armour and tactics? There is a growing interest here in that field.

Do you or your members have any photos of your games we might pay you for, to see what other people are doing? Could I ask what tactics in your Ancients or Gunpowder periods have you found frequently successful in attaining local victories over enemy troops? We have a crying need here to generate an enthusiasn for action and movement in flanking, and skirmishing encounters, in Ancients, SYW, Napoleonic, ACW and WW2 periods, which most of us are into.

Are you or your players interested in collecting any pieces of gaming material of any era - or selling or trading? Perhaps you might tell them of our interest in their gaming activities; or, if you feel like it, post this letter for them to read, and ask them to write a page or two on any advice you and they might care to send down to us.

Once again let us in Canada extend our welcome to you, to the warmer south of us, and hope that we may hear from you.