From Steve Currie

Your articles for beginners is an excellent idea. The article or the step by step process of building a Norman army was great. I also enjoyed "pick your army" by Hell Hammond. My only gripe is that beginners should be told to organize their units as historically as possible, not just (for example) 24 figures because that's the best unit size in the game. (Ed. - I think that Neil is trying to help the novice player have a fair chance in a game vrs. a more experienced gamer, thus he is using reflective numbers to give your units a fighting chance).

Also send me info on SIMCON (1600 points? Wow!). I hope to have 1600 points of Franks painted, but I will probably have to field my Early Imperial Romans.

Recently Tom and I played three Viking vrs. Saxon battles, one of which was a Saxon victory (lots of hard fighting) and two Viking victories. Of the two Viking victories one was a total walk over in which the Saxons got slaughtered without much of a fight, and the othe was even worse in that the Saxon general was hammered at first contact. This caused more than half the Saxons to run away without even fighting! Amazingly, you can find all three of the above types of battles in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle fairly frequently.

Besides the ASC, I also have obtained Anglo-Saxon poetry which even contains excellent heroic battle accounts (Maldon is one of them)

From George Phillies

The Brian Lewis article last issue was unusually silly, even for gaming politics. (Ed.- And since when has SAGA ever had anything to to do with that?!!)

There are very good reasons why a nominal majority should not use voting to hog everything (championship every year) for itself. The most obvious is that eventually the W. of Chicago gamers will get disgusted, secede and run their own clubs' "Continental Tourney Championships". 'Nuff said?

From Mal Epstein Jr.

Just a brief not to say how much I enjoyed Neil Hammond's article which I think was especially well done. I can't wait for his next installment and I will attempt to put many of his ideas to the test in future games.

From Perry Gray

Thank you for your letter of 10 October, which I did receive ahwile ago. The delay in responding is a result of operator error when trying to put this through the printer. i erased the first draft after having problems getting the printer to copy it.

I do support your initiative to change, once again, the philosophy of NASAMW. I read with interest the latest issue of SAGA and still support a different approach to an organized hobby society. I do not like the idea of changing the venue of the NCT from Historicon, although it does tend to limit attendance from the west because of distance (and cost). I prefer to get away from the constant debate over rules, particularly as I have heard that the eighth edition is underdevelopment.

I am sorry to have missed Historicon as I enjoy the multi-player games which can allow beginners to mix in with the veterans and enjoy the hobby. The downfall of the NCT is that it caters to those who like to game competitively. This entails a lot of study to both master the rules and tactics, but often the two are not compatible or at least open to interpretation. The competitor can often be interested in how well an army does under the rules rather than interested in the specific army and/or the period of history. You have made a study of specific armies, how well can you portray their tactics in a tournament?

So far, I have found that. NASAMW has encouraged a very good standard for NCT and competition gaming. The other aspects of the hobby have suffered. Is there any emphasis placed on developing research on the armies, tabletop terrain or a host of other topics? What has NASAMW done to unite gamers as you and some of the other editors have done with publications that give space to convention reports and local events. Now that I am isolated (not from beer or schnitzel) from the mainstream of gaming, I find that the magazines and newsletters are important for different reasons than those that formerly concerned me in Canada. They now represent a source of current affairs rather than sources of ideas. I like to see correspondence from the various friends and others whom I have come to know over the years. I look forward to the latest installment of the Ethiopian army, tales of Sicilian Normans and what rules are in vogue. I hope that you can encourage a more diversified NASAMW to touch more people. So you can count on my support including a re-enrollment to vote!

On other topics, I spent 10 days in England in October and saw the Tower of London, two war museums and lots of beer. I go back next month and I hope to take in the British Museum and its ancients exhibits. This week, I got into a discussion on the Roman limes of Germany with another intel officer. He has mapped the line from Xanten to Regensburg on 1150,000 scale and has visited some of the sites. 

Ed.- It's always good to hear from Perr•y and I. for one, will ho glad when he gets back to North America... I miss him! As far as philosophy goes. it is not secret that I consider- myself an historian first and a wargamer second. In that regard, I always do quite a bit of research into tactics, generalship, makeup and armaments before I purchase a new army. Many times. the research actually dissuades me from purstring the interest. For example. I always wanted to do a Welsh army (sorry, Dave Armer. I know this is your latest project, but the Welsh were a pretty sorry bunch in the open and, unless you can get a campaign going and can stay in the woods and hills. you won't have much of a chance. Resides that. with the tribal jealousies and feuds, it would he unrealistic to conceive of bringing together a 7-10,000 man army which would require at least one and probably two or three unreliable hostile ally generals!

Anyway. I like to think of SAGA as having an appeal to non-wargamers as well. In fact. there are three subscribers that are not miniature gamers-- thev lust like the articles. I will always try to encourage the Mark Bloom style of in-depth r-esearch in each article. These contain plenty of interesting information about the times and men who fought then. Please keep this type of informatiive article coming... they are what make SAGA successful.]

From Brian Lewis

Good work on the latest issue of SAGA. As Assistant Editor and general purpose article collector of MIGS Dispatch, I know how rewarding it is when your readership responds by submitting significant quantities of material, and how frustrating it is when they do not.

It was interesting to see Jim Kasper's discussion on the moving of the NASAMW NCT to Denver following my discussion of the same issue. Jim raises a number of good points, especially regarding the excessive attention given to competition and the NCT. (Who is this Mark Lewis guy he is citing from the previous issue of SAGA, anyway?) However, I still maintain that putting the NCT in Denver is ill-advised because participation will certainly diminish and that the decision was made in an unacceptable, unsystematic and undemocratic matter. Jim is no doubt correct in pointing out that a considerable proportion of NASAMW members are from west of the Mississippi. However, is Denver close enough to groups in California, Texas and the mid-west to expect an increase in participation from groups in these areas?

I would also like to comment on whether players should be allowed to drop out of the NCT before they have played the last round. Jim is correct in pointing out that players who drop out during a tournament can cause considerable difficulties for the organizers and their opponents. However, I think that we should distinguish between the various methods of withdrawing from a tournament. It is clearly inconsiderate for a player to simply quit without notifying the tournament organizers and his opponent, and I would agree that some steps be taken to discourage this behaviour. However, if the player asks to be allowed to withdraw from the tournament simultaneously with another, while providing the organizers and their opponent with plenty of advance notice, it is a fairly straightforward matter to adjust the matchups and little (if any) damage is done.

No doubt by now you will have received a number of letters on the subject of moving the NCT to Denver. I apologize to anyone from the Colorado group who was angered by my comments. No where in my article did I say anything negative about them. For what it is worth, I have gamed with a few of these guys in the past, and they have all exhibited excellent gamesmanship and were among the more enjoyable games I have ever played. Furthermore, it seems as though they are a well-organized and efficient group. I am confident that they will do an excellent job of organizing the NCT. It's just too bad that it is so far away from so many people.

It is good to see that there will be another WRG tournament at SIMCON this year. You indicated that there will be no unofficially recognized rules interpretations of amendments recognized. Where does this leave the NASAMW interps? Do any of them apply, and if so, which ones? Since we have been gaming with these interps for a year it would be a very difficult task to mentally separate them from the rules themselves, and it is hard to believe that hey have not had an impact on how the game is played. Since NASAMW is working with Phil Barker on the latest set of interps, will the set expected to be released early this year be used?

Ed.- We are going to he using WRG as written, the same as we did at FREE TRADE WARS held at last year's HISTORICON. Last years NASANW nterps have (I believe) been mostly put to rest and with the 1992 OFFICIAL WRG NASAHW interps, which have been fully approved by Phil Barker and will be appearing in SAGA, the old interps will be gone or good. Scott Holder was instrumental in getting these approved and ready for this year's tournament schedule. They will be in effect at SIMCON, I believe, if they have been published by then.

There is nothing outrageously strange contained in them, in fact. they make good sense, something many of last year 's ill-advised ones did ot. With this issue of SAGA. I have included a summary sheet so hat you can see for yourselves what Scott and Phil have come up ith. I especially like the experimental rules section!]

From Paul Georgian

G0T MY DECEMBER ISSUE OF SAGA. ENJOYED IT, AS ALWAYS. I SEE IT'S TIME TO RENEW SO HERE'S MY CHECK FOR $20.00. ON THE NEWS FRONT EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE ALL SET FOR THIE WRG OPEN AT COLD WARS IN MARCH. I'VE COORDINATED EVERYTHING WITH SCOTT HOLDER AND LARRY ESSICK FOR SPACE, ETC. JAIMIE HAS BEEN VERY SUPPORTIVE AND IS I IN CHIARGE OF GARNERING THE PRIZES FROM FIGURE MANUFACTURERS. THE PLAN IS THAT KRUSE WITH, ROD BURR, ONE OF SCOTTS UMPIRES AND I WILL UMP ONE ROUND EACH SO THAT NOBODY FEELS LEFT OUT OR OVERBURDENED. IT ALSO SEEMS THAT THE NASAMW INTERPS CONTROVERSY HAS BEEN LAID TO REST FOR THIS YEAR, AT LEAST. KRUSE AND I TALKED TO P B A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO AND HE CONFIRMED HIS OFFICIAL SANCTION ON THEM.

IN THE NEWS FRONT FROM NEW ENGLAND, WE JUST HAD OUR GATHERING OF THE CLANS CONVENTION ON THE 17TH AND 18TH OF JANUARY. WE HAD A SMALL WRG 15MM TOURNAMENT WHICH WAS WON BY KRUSE USING BLEMMYES. PRIZES WERE SUPPLIED BYALCON AND THISTLE AND ROSE N THE FORM OF DBA PACKS. OUR NEXT CONVENTION AND TOURNAMENT WILL BE HAVOC VII ON 4 & 5 APRIL AT THE CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL IN W ALTHAM, MA. THIS WILL HAVE 15MM WRG TOURNAMENT FOR A NATIONAL OUAUFIER AND A 3A TOURNAMENT AS WELL

SORRY YOU WONT BE AT COLD WARS, BUT I'LL PROBABLY SEE YOU AT I'HSTORICON. WE'LL WE TO GET TOGETHER TO FIGHT THAT NORMAN/BYZANTTNE GRUDGE MATCH. ROBERT DISCARD VS. JOHN TZIMISKES IS A TOUGH FIGHT. 

From Mitch Abrams

I'm driving to work and the sports announcer says that since Washington and Miami will win all their remaining games there will not be a National Champion in college football. However, always on the forefront, the reporter suggests that one of the major sports advertisers (I think it was Nike in this particular report) should foot the bill and bring these two teams together for a championship game.

A few days later I opened my newly arrived copy of Spearpoint and was pleasantly surprised to see the words "It would be logical to think about converting NASAMN into an umbrella organization for players of any ancient set." Who should write this but Phil Barker. A more revolutionary statement I have rarely seen written, especially in an ancient newsletter/magazine.

Why? Everyone agrees that society members and ancient wargamers are free to play whatever rules they like. There is no bar to people playing any rules or even their own rules. Still, when it comes around to Historicon it always comes down to the one big sanctioned playoff; WRG 7th Edition (or is it 7.4, I loose track).

While not inhibiting those fellows from having their own brand of fun why does this have to be a 'this or nothing' type of affair. Why not have an open type of format for any of the other rules.

For those that have not read the article even Phil mentions four different rules sets (Newbury, Tactica, Ancient Empires, DBA and write your own rules) and this might be an arena where the knowledge that there will be an open 'tournament' for different rules sets would spur individuals into more activity. I would think this would draw more people to our sector of the hobby. By being inclusive rather then exclusive we could generate greater numbers in the many facets of the hobby.

To come full cycle, there would not be a need for one tournament winner to meet another tournament winner to see who was the final tournament winner. There is enough room in the hobby for multiple rules sets as well as multiple open tournaments. To me Historicon seems the perfect arena. Perhaps giving people this type of choice is what we need.