One of my three first year subjects was Politics, for I hope to do History and Politics, and I was astounded to find out that the History and Politics classes are rife with potential wargamers. However, the lack of student facilities at Glasgow has hampered any club being formed. A few of the History profs are very interested in Military History and the Uni Library has a well stocked, and well used Military Science library. But in Politics the number of potential gamers is staggering. In 3rd year there are political wargames based on the 7 Day War with opposing countries in separate rooms in the TV house. This year there were cries for tactical rather than strategical warfare and us first years who were called in as couriers were initiated. Some had played Diplomacy at High School and were very interested. But with all potential gamers far flung over the West of Scotland, most of them in the Glasgow area, and the decidedly scarce communication among students at Glasgow because of the overcrowding and lack of facilities there seems to be little chance of setting up a club. In fact in the field of wargaming I have been rather out of luck in the matter of opponents. Since I picked up "Charge" in Motherwell library in 1968 1 have been hooked. It seems that there are more than I interested in wargames in the area for all the books on the hobby that arrive in the library have been immediately put on the reserve lists and have never come off them. During my last year at High School I collected quite a few military modelling enthusiasts and wargamers. When we came back for sixth year we were to start a wargaming and military modelling society, but alas with an extreme shortage of teachers at school I took the chance to go into University. Compensation has been the History and Military Science libraries in the University. Up till I went to University I had a good A.C.W. set up but I did not have many ,source books: Southall's "Lee's Lieutenants", Henderson's "Stonewall Jackson" and Catton's A.C.W. trilogy. So nudged on by my equally fervent love of SF I did all my battles and campaiCns in fictitious continents. My scope gradually widened to include late 19th century Colonials and Indian fighting wars, where for a change the indians were goodies, and the 19th Cavalry the baddies. I used your late 19th century rules for the Franco-Prussian games where in a rather higgledy-piggledy countryside the French trounced the Prussians, in attack or in defence, and I didn't take my mitrailleuse except back with the artillery. But with the discovery of the Ancient Rules put out by the Ancient Wargames Research Group I had found a worthy opponent to my A.C.W. especially when I set it in a fictitious past in a Tolkien-like atmosphere. However the A.C.W. soon hit back when thousands of books on military history, tactics, etc., faced me when I went to borrow my first History essay books. There are a hundred or so books on the A.C.W. alone because this is one of the third year essay topics. These do not include the O.R. but from what I have heard about its inherent contradictions I don't think that this matters. But with a wide range of books on military uniforms, regimental histories, tactics, military history, etc. With main nationalities being British, French, German (including a fantastically illustrated book on the German soldier up to the end of d.W.I, alas wholly in German, but there is a German-English Military Dictionary), Austrian and American authors, there is a lot on the periods, 1750-1970, a little on the Ancients, and nothing on the Pike and Musket period. There are books by Oman, Fortescue, Carman, Turnbull, Rustow, Henderson, Catton, von Moltke, Jones, Clauswitz, Chandler, Napier, Houssaye, bulky tomes on the Siege of Sebastopol, dusty training manuals from 1780 onwards, Royal Artillery and Household Brigade Journals respectively 1859-1960 and 1862-1882, plus a whole avalanche of 1900 to 1913 British manuals, including the 1913 Field Service Pocketbook with the accompanying Amendments dated 1st April 1914 with revised war establishments etc. Faced with this flood of source material I have something to do next year when I hope to get something done about starting up a club in the History or Politics classes. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 115 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