"I am sorry that your reminder about subs got overlooked. I have been somewhat less than static since April, having been from Shaijah to the Far East, Singapore and Brunei, and back. I returned to U.K. in June. Now I am with the Fleet Air Arm as a SEABALLS or GBGLO at H.M.S.Fulmar ONAS Lossiemouth). This lasts until next summer when the hands of MOD will be played again! I have just come off Ark Royal where I have been in on some wargames for real. I can't understand why my suggestion that simulated target evaluation could be done by using dice and 'rings'! Anyway, I enclose a cheque for 2.10p in respect of a further 12 months - I hope it doesn't throw you! Ch for the day that I have time for hobbies again." --Major David Jeremy "I particularly enjoy your magazine as it seems to be the only place where one can put forth an idea without having it immediately ridiculed. I have seen an editor chop up a letter by inserting his comments after each paragraph and woe to the writer (I didn't buy that one). Also yours doesn't seem so restricted to one aspect but stays of general content. Keep up the good work." --S.Richard Black of Ill., U.S.A. "I thought it was about time to give you a rap across the knuckles! I still have not come across anything on the Franco-Prussian War, there is a dearth of material on Colonial Wars (you must be sent some battle reports!) As ever, we have the flood of Napoleonic stuff, which is alright if you like that sort of thing. Instead of giving space to "Make Your Own Army", which is really very poor, I think you should select a particular uniform of a particular period and give the complete rundown on it. "Battle Report of the Month" in October's issue comprised of six pages, half of this being taken up by maps, well really! Whqt ever has happened to those magical reports by Don Houghton? The only dependables now are the Miniature Figurines ad, editorial and Must List. As for calling the magazine "Wargaming" don't be carried away by the trend instigated by "Minifigs". I make no apologies for my sharp tongue!" --Alan Morrow of Bradford "Whatever the Newsletter is called, it will always be the best magazine on the subject for me. I have read several copies of "a rival magazine', - it is empty, devoid of interest, biased towards A.C.W., highly commercial, and most of the writers cannot spell. I read with pleasure the letter from Peter Tickler, as the animals that squashed his Legionaries were fighting for me. You might be interested to learn that Michael Czopowyj (mentioned in Peter's letter) has just arrived in Southampton as a Student at the University. He says that he may well look you up, and perhaps go along to the local Military Society. His painting and converting is fantastic! You may not believe this, but some of the best modellers in the Country come from the tiny, unheard of, village of Scredington. Michael is a great painter and converter, Gerald Scarborough writes very popular articles for "Airfix Magazine", and Peter Gilder used to live here." --C.J.Buffham of Scredington "I went to the Birmingham Convention. Although I enjoyed myself, I wondered if the whole idea of Conventions might not be re-thought, by lessening the importance of wargame championships and emphasising the get-together and exchange-of-ideas by wargamers" --David Bradley of London "Your September cover intrigued me. Are you sure it should be "French troops in action 1915"? I say this because the Germans (all of whom seem to be dead or dying, I am sure this sketch must have been made during the War for the propaganda machine) are wearing their 'Coal scuttle' helmet which was not in use until 1916 while the French 'Casques' were only issued to about half the troops in 1915, the rest being issued during the Verdun battles. Still, not that such a small point matters in such an excellent magazine but it really set me wondering as to whether it was a printing error or a bit of artistic licence on the part of the original magazine. I also notice that the Vice-President of the Gardens High Wargames Club has the same name as myself. I hope he has not been receiving nasty letters from anyone about some of my articles. The picture heading this article also set my poor brain going. Vho is this character? At first I thought he was a German paratrooper but the helmet does not look right. I then thought he was a Russian or American but they do not have Eagles on their sleeves. I finally came down to the weird idea that he might be Polish! Not being able to 'fix' his nationality is annoying me, I wonder if you could clear up the problem for me. Chris Beaumont's articles on the Janissaries are really impressive, he must have done a lot of research to produce them and I think it is a good thing too for a lot of Nations do not get a fair hearing from history books and the Turks are one of them. The Blenheim battle report was good but it is funny the way so many actual battles results are reversed on the wargames table. I suppose it is because of the historically defeated side being ultra defensive and probably having the greater advantage of hindsight than the victor." --D. Clark of London "I think that a battle report can be one of two things - it can stir the imagination and provide exciting and entertaining reading if it is written in a historical-narrative style. The report can be written in an expository, technical style if the purpose is to make some point about the rules or situation used in the particular battle - While I have always prefered the former style, I think that both styles have their merits. What I do not care for is the battle report that launches into the results of the battle in the "Turn one:" type of format with no preliminary information about situation or battle plans. Battle reports that are neither interesting reading nor instructive in technique really have very little to offer the reader. One more small point. I like reading battle reports, new rule suggestions, 'how to do it' articles, and uniform information articles. However, articles which come under the general heading of "random thoughts" or someone's general ideas on a rambling variety of subjects sure leave me cold. The type of article I am referring to is one much like this letter would be if you were to publish it. In the "letters" column I think it would be alright, but as a separate article, it sure would not offer much to the average reader. In my opinion, people's thoughts on the hobby' surely have a place in its literature. However, they seem to show up in several departments in your fine magazine. I, for one, would consider the magazine space could be put to more widely appealing use." --Terry Griner of U.S.A. "I see Gary Gygax mentioned me and my adventure in the great Canadian wilderness, ordeal is a better word for it as we were lucky to come back alive. We walked 16 1/2 hours non-stop only eating an apple on the way. If we had not stumbled upon an Indian trapper's cabin we would likely froze to death. It sure scared our wives. Just one point, we were not lost just stranded at the wrong end of a huge lake by the worst storm in the history of this area. The weather office is some help, they said we had 3 nice days and then 4 days of non-stop bitter rain and snow fell upon us and the lake was such a turmoil we could not put to sea to get back. I have been canoeing in the wilderness a while now, but a chain of unexpected events beat us this time." --George A. Lord of Ontario. "I had a letter from the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. They are introducing Wargaming as an 'Interest' at all three levels and 1 was asked to draw up an outline scheme - possibly because of the Duke's visit to Oswestry or because someone I knew at War Office suggested me. I drew up a scheme which involved painting up a force, reading books on Wargaming and on the chosen period, being familiar with the literature, including magazines, of wargaming and keeping a record of games and campaigns. If it is accepted I will let you have full details. I did not have much time in which to do it otherwise I would have liked to have consulted you. I took a draft along to the Convention and had several of the better known wargamers cast their eyes over it which removed a few bugs." --Peter Davis of Birmingham Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 117 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