Your hapless correspondent once again screwed his courage to the sticking point and ventured to the meeting of the Kaiser War Gamers in not-too-distant Fontana, California. You remember the bunch of D&Ders, boardgamers and other assorted types I told you of a few weeks back? Well, armed with my Franco-Prussian veterans, some simple terrain, a brand new set of rules, and my 11 year old veteran gaming son, I entered the hallowed gaming halls. I had just entered the place when their current trustee (they have no officers except three trustees who somehow became a group treasurer, secretary, and Czar (in an unclear manner) told me that we must leave by 5 pm because, oh!, the excitement of it all, they would, at that time, have their annual Pizza feed and business meeting. This trustee is a twit who buttons the neck of sports shirts and those so-very-funny wargamer pins. At any rate, after vigorous discussion, they decided that, if I cleaned up my game and promised that neither David nor I would eat or say anything, we could stay for the meeting. They really know how to make a fellow feel welcome. The game went quite well with David and I drubbing three locals and the rules being very well received. It is, however, interesting that no one, I repeat no one in the club, could guess what century the Franco-Prussian war took place in, let alone recognize the figures. The single most baffling thing about this club's members is their complete absense of historical knowledge about even basic events. As both gamer and scholar I stand aghast! Now for the pizza. I had long wondered if this group had any capacity for Organization...now I know. Each member was assigned a pizza, 4 members to each. All pizzas numbered...haven't seen anything like it since the Corps. In the middle of eating, a business meeting took place following the "oh, shut up" method of parlimentary procedure. They voted funds for a convention which was held the summer previous, and yelled a lot. I did find out what they do with the money they collect. It's used on pizza and saved...end of year shows $500 in the till. Boy, could PW show them how to spend! There is another expense. The club buys board games but nobody seems to find them. Some other may shed light on the meeting. I found, somewhat to my own surprise that some members are able to read. There were several Marvel comics being seriously studied throughout. This last trip may well be my final trip to Fontana as a new club is forming in nearby Redlands...after all, could it possibly be worse? Let me close with a few more positive words on figures. I have recently received some Stone Mountain solid-cast 20s and some Amer. Rev. 25s; both are very nice. The new twenties; in running poses; are a little stiff and the metal is quite brittle (I lost four figures), but detail is simply all you could want. Of special note is the general's walking house, which is the best wargame horse I have seen, and that includes Minifig and Hinchliffe. The 25s are so nice they tempt me to go into 7 years war...nuff said. 'Till next time...Bugler, sound the charge! Back to PW Review March 1980 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1980 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles form military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com