1. Bob Coggins, HMGS Program Manager, reports that although this year HMGS "imported" no wargaming stars of the stage or screen as guests of honor for HISTORICON, next year, he's thinking about inviting two of the "biggies" in the hobby: Dr. Paddy Griffith and Don Featherstone.
2. We note that in the latest of Hal Thinglum's Midwest Wargamer's Association Newsletter (MWAN), Hal has raised his subscription rate to $20 for the year. That's a fairly huge jump from the $15 price formerly paid for the 6-issues-a-year publication. What with all the paying advertisements in each issue, I wonder why Hal couldn't hold the line at $15. You may have noticed that the only advertisement in last month's REVIEW was a half-page advertisement for GAJO enterprises, a purveyor of wargaming goodies. Mr. GAJO had written, requesting a full page ad, and asking "How much?"
In effect, I replied: "Nothing!... but if you purchase a subscription, I might fit your ad in now and then." I did not define "now and then". So much for my business acumen.
But just to show I was really a nice guy after all, I put the GAJO notice in the June issue... there is no doubt that GAJO sales have, by now, increased more than a hundred-fold. Sad to relate, as we go press, Mr. GAJO has proven nonresponsive.
3. Bob Coggins sent in a review, published in a British magazine, of his recent Avalon Hill miniatures game, NAPOLEON'S BATTLES. The article was not at all friendly, and it appeared that the reviewer was really "reaching" at times for not-so-nice-things to say.
For example, one comment is that the rules show a
... lack of originality... in the fire, melee amd morale systems which use the now somewhat antiquated system of modifier tables.
I didn't follow this at all, for I hadn't realized that use of modifiers was outdated... I thought that everyone used 'em... why, you might even find a modifier or two within the very pages of the avant-garde REVIEW!
In another instance, in effect lamenting that he expected to find a set of rules that would keep him glued to every page, the reviewer found them to be "... rather dull and long winded". And all this because, apparently, he doesn't like the authors' stand-up comic routines, for he finds Craig Taylor's comments to be "... chatty American humour which doesn't come off."
That'll teach Coggins and Taylor to try and inject humor into their rules... they had better stick to historical realism and not go into competition with the Smothers Brothers.
4. The latest COURIER (VOl IX, No 3) arrived, and it contained what I thought was. an interesting letter to the editor concerning the wargames rules copyright question. The writer brought out the point that ... if an author learns that his rules have been used in a public context without permission, he may seek legal redress through the courts.
I was interested because Phil Barker has been complaining aloud of late, in the pages of the COURIER, of the use of a modified set of his WRG ancients rules for tournament play without his consent. Scott Holder, a PW member, runs the HMGS WRG tournaments, and I was curious as to Scott's rebuttal, if any.
Seeking Truth and Knowledge at the last PW meeting, I wandered into the the holy of holies, the sanctum sanctorum - the room reserved for WRG play alone - and I asked Scott and those present about the matter.
It turned out that most of those in attendance, including Scott, hadn't even seen the COURIER issue, but another PW member very vociferously stated that the letter writer was, in effect, full of boolshot, because the copyright holder, i.e., Barker, having the burden of proof, could never prove any losses. Therefore, continued the PW member, one could then file a counterclaim against him (the copyright holder) for damages.
As soon as the term "counterclaim" was mentioned, I realized that those in the room knew even less about the topic than I did - and my knowledge was miniscule, indeed. There was neither Truth nor Knowledge to be gained here, and I dropped the subject.
My curiousity in the matter stemmed from a brief investigation of mine... way back in the early days of computers, when I headed a computer club... into the state of patent and copyright law, concerning the horrible things that might happen to he who pirated software.
My information, of course, is now somewhat dated - the research took place about a decade ago - but I found that the law in this field had taken an interesting turn: whereas it had once looked at the loss of prof its suffered by the wronged party, and assessed damages based on that issue, it now looked at any wrongful gain incurred by the breaching party.
If this doctrine is applicable to both Scott and HMGS, they'd both better stay on their toes. Wouldn't it be interesting if the entire HMGS treasury, all $25,000 of it, was judicially declared "wrongful gain", brought about by HMGS hosting the WRG tournaments without Barker's formal consent??
5. For some time now, Don Featherstone has been authoring a series of articles in the COURIER. The pieces do not deal directly with wargames; rather are they reminiscences of Don's "old wargaming gang" and the good times they all had.
I note that on occasion, Don, in referring to one of his old acquaintances, states that the fella "was a bit of a Wally".
Although I admit to having certain doubts, I must make the most of this, take it in the best manner possible, and regard it as a compliment, to wit: that the "Wally-person" to whom he refers was head and shoulders above the crowd, was of superior intellect, was both witty and humorous, and could easily have been knighted for bravery under fire. Yes, the wargaming world could do better if there were more of us Wally's around.
6. There was a time, in my speckled past, when the very thought of playing with 15mm miniatures sent shudders up my spinal column. Yet I now have a fairly extensive assortment of the little fellas: moderns and ancients and English Civil War and American Civil War and Napoleonics... I game with them more often than with my 30mm collection.
I like to think of it as a maturing of my awareness of the hobby... whatever that means.
And suddenly, an even more radical break with the past. In this issue, I describe one of my latest efforts... a fairly huge-scale game for the American Civil War in 6mm!
Now, YOU can maneuver the Army of the Potomac! Now, YOU can command Lee's forces as they march to Gettysburg! And so on. In truth, just looking at them forces you to visualize a large-scale game.
Tom Elsworth introduced me to the 6mm teeny-weenies, and Robin Peck furnished me with enough to experiment with. But I'm not truly sure they've won the hearts and minds of our group... in short, they're just too small to have any personality of their own, and, in effect, they remain only board-game tokens.
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