Armaments Chapter Two Verses Nine to Twenty-one:

And St. Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying: “O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.” And the Lord spake, saying: “First thou shalt take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.” Amen.

Let them have their Hen’s Teeth and their Holy Grails. Hyperbole has become second nature for late 20th Century society, and we here at Simulacrum will not be left behind in the quest for the mostest. So it is that we introduce a new column, specializing in what we believe are the truly rarest of the games, magazines and ephemera of war-gaming. These items will be referred to as The Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch. You are challenged to tell us why you think this title is appropriate.

The first item to appear here is a booklet, called Designing Wargames, published by Lowry Enterprises in 1978. It was first advertised in Campaign No. 88, although the illustration below comes from No. 91 because the original ad, a full-page back cover, was partly illegible due to the use of dark blue ink on a black background. The booklet was edited by Dana Lombardy and Don Lowry, with essays by Richard Berg, Tom Dalgliesh, John Hill, Don Lowry, Mike McGuire, Al Nofi, John Prados, Randy Reed and Lou Zocchi. A veritable pantheon indeed, missing only Jim Dunnigan to make it complete and definitive.

Similar books by Nicholas Palmer, Jim Dunnigan, Steve Jackson, Jon Freeman, Sid Sackson, and the staff of Strategy & Tactics magazine are out of print and uncommon, but still appear for sale or at auction on a regular basis. Designing Wargames has simply never appeared, either for sale or even as part of a related discussion. I discovered its existence entirely by accident, while going through a recently-acquired copy of Campaign, and subsequent inquiries on the Internet have resulted in absolutely no information, or even recognition, whatsoever.

This booklet would appear to be a most interesting treatise by a distinguished group of authors. It is possibly one of the first books ever published on the subject. The subject matter and the contributor list, combined with its rarity, make this item deserved of the accolade as the first Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

Needless to say, if you happen to have a copy, please contact Simulacrum so that this information may be more widely disseminated.