I have just returned from a wonderful week's surfing in North Devon where the warm sea and the hot sun were most untypically English! Those facts may not seem to have very much to do with wargaming but, in a highly personalised fashion, they do because it was a replica holiday spent in the same place for a number of years stretching back to my pioneer days of wargaming. On those same beaches, and even whilst facing the breakers with surf-board gripped firmly in nervous hands, my mind was working on various facets of this fascinating hobby. On these very beaches were formulated the plans for the great Indian Mutiny, fought between Tony Bath and myself in about 1959 and here I dreamed of building up the Army of British Colonial troops that has fought so man enthralling actions against Zulus, Ghazis, Dervishes, and the arrogant Colonial forces of late 19th century France and Germany. It was indeed good to wallow in such nostalgia and to return home recharged with enthusiasm for the hobby -- actually I spent the week planning a Russian Army of the 1880's who are going to come down through Afghanistan and give a lot of trouble on the North-West Frontier of India! You may notice one or two regular features missing this month -- at the time of writing "Book Reviews" has gone and probably "Counsels of War" will follow. Do not be alarmed as it is only a temporary omission because there are so many new items to be reported upon in the "Must List" that it seemed only proper to give them priority over these other features. One of the magazines sent to me on an exchange basis with the Newsletter's unique format and is well produced by an enthusiastic editor with whom I get on very well and for whom I have the greatest respect. Those words, plus the old adage that it is better to be abused than ignored, may allay any annoyance he might feel when I say that a large part of the material of this magazine repels me. Any admiration or respect I might have for the technical achievements of the Germans in World War II are far out-weighed by the repugnance aroused in me by the Nazi Party and its followers. The modern cult of admiring and publicising the Nazis appals me and I deplore the fact that it is necessary for such a competent Editor to fill so much of his magazine with material devoted to them. It is sad that apparently there is not a sufficiently large reading public to justify the magazine being devoted to the technical and moral achievements of the British Army, for example. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 114 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1971 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com