First of all, we'd like to thank you for subscribing. We're not a large group, but I feel that this is an advantage (not necessarily monetary!) in that the intimacy of a smaller group allows more internal discussion and comraderie. Of course, this used to be the way it was in the wargaming community as a whole. I remember when my family moved from Rochester to St. Louis in 1965 1 had a copy of Jack Scruby's early publication called Table Top Talk with the names of two St. Louis area wargamers John Zaharias and Doug Johnson. Not knowing anyone in a strange city, I called both of them and we got together over our mutual interest and became friends. That shared interest has brought me personally together with people I never would have otherwise met or corresponded with.

It was disturbing to watch the fragmentation of our hobby into two camps - the historical miniaturist on one hand and the role playing fantacist on the other. There used to be much crossover in this... sure, I played D&D for awhile when it first came out. It was new and novel, my family enjoyed it as well. But not as a steady diet and as the millions of rule books, manuals, etc. appeared, I quickly returned to my real interest of historical gaming. Now, it seems, the conventions are divided into two distinct divisions and neither the twain can meet.

Sociologically, this may reflect what American society as a whole is doing, this fragmenting into distinct social groups, but I'll leave it to someone else to define that!

Equally disturbing is the fact that the once "united" Ancient wargamers are also splitting into groups ... not violently opposed to each other it's true, but the vitriolic mail abounds with strong feelings. My own personal feelings about the various Ancients rules will be published in a later issue of SAGA, suffice to say that while mostly using WRG for friendly games (mainly because of the tournaments... practice is necessary) I have several reservations and complaints who doesn't? But the fact remains that these rules have been a boon for the hobby, no one can debate successfully otherwise. Virtually all rules for this period written since have incorporated large parts of WRG structures and mechanisms. Anyone researching the period for their own rules quickly realizes the work that has gone into them, their accuracy and premises are sound for the most part, the real problems cropping up when they expand the rules to cover the Dark Ages and Middle Ages. However, what other period has the tournament structure that we ancients gamers do? So while not righteously defending Phil Barker and company, I do still applaud their efforts and, as maybe a lone voice in the colonial wilderness, thank them for giving me so much in the way of people I've met and become friends with and a game mechanism which allows me to constructively pursue my creative interests and studies.