1. Number 89 of the Midwest Wargamer's Association Newsletter (Sep-Oct 97) arrived, and I was impressed with the fact that a gentleman named Henry Lubbers had four separate sets of rules published within the issue. Henry is a subscriber to the REVIEW, which places him a cut above the rest, and he had virtually inundated MWAN Issue #89.
One of the published sets is called FIRELOCK & SCALPLOCK (page 129), a man-to-man French and Indian War skirmish rules system. Everything was going fine as I went through F&S until I noted that this game, purportedly describing the actions of woodsmen, Indians, militia, and trained European troops, didn't have a single Indian referenced in it!
Instead, the text constantly referred to 'native-americans'... some sort of bland, generic, across-the-board beings who ran through the woods clad in loin-cloths. These native-americans, it was noted, won ties under the melee system if the combat occurred in the woods... this was the only positive attribute they were assigned. Indeed, the term "native americans" wasn't even capitalized!
Whatever happened to the old-fashioned Indians of my youth? Indians that ran through the underbrush at twice the speed of the white guys, stole colonial wimmen in the middle of the night, and got a "+4" in melee? Shrieking, warpainted, frenzied, likkered-up, scalp-hunting, demoniacal berserkers... Iean and mean warriors with whom you'd ensure your own units would avoid contact at all cost. Where'd they go?
In my next set of rules conceming the French and Native-American War, I'm going to ensure the Native-Americans get, not only the "+4" in melee they so richly deserve, but the ability to zip through the underbrush at a multiple of the speed which those clumsy, Euro-Caucasian troops possess.
2.Another item of ethnic interest. Saw the movie HOMBRE, an old western film with Paul Newman. Paul had a packet of money which was wanted by the Mexican Banditos, and they, in retaliation, had kidnapped an American woman. Paul and the Chief Bandito met to negotiate.
The bad guy's demands were phrased rather concisely: "Geeve me da money or we tshute da wooman!"
Paul turned out to be as much of a bad guy as the Bandito himself... "Go ahead and shoot the woman!" was his answer. My kinda guy!
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© Copyright 1997 Wally Simon
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