I received a letter, which is printed in the letters section of this issue, from an old subscriber, Tom Covenay of California. Tom has written several articles for various magazines over the years and I have a lot of respect for his ideas. Tom takes the current rules systems dealing with Ancient and Medieval wargaming to task for not replicating military history with any accuracy. After thinking about this for some time and lotting my own misgivings once again come to the fore, I must admit he is right.

The other evening, Gary Comardo, Terry Andrews and I refought Clontarf (1014 A.D.) between the Irish and Norse-Irish. We didn't use WRG ... nor DBM, which Gary prefers. We used a system out of the Warhammer Battle Manual! Why? Because they felt right for this period of battle with heroes, limited movement, large groups of barely controlled figures and a sense of not really knowing what your army might do--all attributes of warfare in the 11th century. As for the game, which was a lot of fun, by the way, we critiqued the rules systems available and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to play a game reflecting the times we were trying to replicate.

The last couple of days, I've been putting down ideas, things I've learned through my research and thoughts others have talked to so about. I don't know where it all will lead, but it's exciting work and maybe I'll get a clean, fun rules set to fool around with at home. At any rate, Tom, I'm sorry to lose you as a subscriber, but thanks for letting me know your reasons.

My book has gone in another direction, one that's encouraging, thanks to a positive response from another publisher, but which will probably result in it being considered more of a textbook than a general interest work. In any event, it's back on the burner again and I'll keep you posted.

Glen Boise has also written a critique of my article defending the 7th last issue. My article was written with the intent of eliciting some response and Glen has eloquently taken up the defense of DBM. I've written enough on this lately and hope one of you will respond to his letter!

KINGMAKER, the PC game by Avalon Hill has been a lot of fun as of late. I finally managed to expand my memory on my old Packard Bell 288 PC, bought DOS 6.2 and loaded it all in. It's frustrating watching the plague wipe out your armies and heir to the throne, but it's a fast-paced game (it can easily be played in an evening) if you don't have too many factions to deal with. Highly recommended.

As far as painting goes, I'm still working on those 25mm Burgundians. That should take me up through Easter! The problem with 25mm figures is that you want to make them look so nice, with shading, eyes, etc. At any rate, here's wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season!

SOME LATE NEWS...

I HAVE JUST SIGNED A PUBLISHING CONTRACT WITH GREENWOOD PUBLISHING GROUP (PRAEGER PRESS IMPRINT) TO PUBLISH MY BOOK. IT IS GOING TO BE ENTITLED THE NEGLECTED HEROES - LEADERSHIP AND WAR IN THE EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD. I HAVE SOME REWRITES TO DO WS WELL AS ARRANGE FOR SOME PHOTOGRAPHS, MAPS, ETC. SO ANTICIPATE A PUBLISHING DATE OF LATE IN 1995. 1 AM QUITE EXCITED BY THE WHOLE PROCESS AND AM LOOKING FORWARD TO FINISHING THIS PROJECT, STARTED EIGHT YEARS AGO, AND WORKING ON MY NEXT ENDEAVOR, A CONCISE MILITARY HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. 1066.