Not a great deal new to report this month although mysterious hints have come from the direction of the Hinchliffe camp about a startling new range of 25mm models that they have turned out. Apparently the idea was given to designer Peter Gilder at the Model Engineers Exhibition and within two weeks he had turned out a complete range of masters! He will not tell me what they are but says they are the best yet! I am told by Lou Zocchi designer of the boardgame Battle of Britain that he has turned out a booklet and mapsheet which allows considerable change and improvement in the game. Lou tells me that if any of my subscribers want copies, $3.00 buys a copy of the rules and 20 Play by Mail sheets which weigh about 7 oz and will be shipped 4th class unless 1st class or air postage is included with the order. 100 Play by Mail sheets are also $3.00 and weigh about 7 oz. Both are available from Tsgt. Lou Zocchi, 2067 Comm sq., George AFB, Calif 92392, U.S.A. Lowrys Hobbies, P.O.Box 1123, Evansville, Indiana 47713, U-S.A. has just published his Civil War rules for miniatures called "Hard Tack". Each book costs $2.00 and is really more than just a set of Civil War rules. The book goes on to describe how to design your own set of miniature rules and how to balance out the relevant factors like time and distance. His "Star Trek" game is almost finished too. It is not a boardgame adaptation of the series but more closely resembles Fletcher Pratt's type naval conflicts than anything he can compare it to, if he has to compare it to something. Dick Tennant was very impressed with the October Battle Report "The Battle of the Brown Hills" by Gary Gygax (contrary to the opinion of some other readers!) Dick says he has seen a map for anyone wanting to embark upon this campaign. Called "The Middle Earth Map" it is based on the history of the Tolkien's (Hobbits and all that). It is available in poster shops and card shops and apparently is put out by a firm under the name of "Hang Up", the number of it is 25 and it retails at 75P. It exactly fits into the spirit and atmosphere of the War of the Wizards and as this seemed quite popular it may be of interest.. The latest Natham R. Preston catalogue contains the announcement of the Mercator and Viking lines of Armour Models in 1:200 scale. All prices are shown in DV. Mercator have in stock the British tanks, Mk I (M & F) and Mk IV (M & F) and the Renault tank FT 17 (M & F). Outside of these units for World War I and the RUSSIAN tanks, T34/76, T-34/85, KVI and KV-II, the nearly complete line of German armoured units is available. Price list as follows, allowing 10% for surface parcel post from Germany: PZ III and IV (any model) - Dm 4.50 Pz38 (Hetzer) - DM 3.50 Panther and Tiger (any) - DM 5.00 88 cm. FLAK - DM 3.50 7.5 cm PAK, 3.7 cm PAK, 3-7 cm FLAK and the 2 cm FLAK - DM 2.00 Models of the British Cromwell, Charioteer and the familiar Sherman tank are planned, but not currently available. All of these, when issued will be priced at Dm 4.50 Address is: Preston, P.O.Box 2388, 86 Bamberg, West Germany. I am informed that the Avalon Hill Company have discontinued production of the following games - U-Boat; Tactics II and Bismarck. Readers will know that all Avalon Hill games can be obtained through this magazine - write to the Editor for particulars and prices etc. Partly because I am a bit short of new items to report and partly because it is a new item anyway, I would like to draw the attention of readers to a book that is to be published on 6th March next. Entitled "WARGAMES THROUGH THE AGES 3,000 BC to 1,500 AD" it is the first in a series of four such books by Donald Featherstone which will detail the history of warfare, tactics, armies, etc., from the beginnings of time until today. The book has chapters (each with its own illustration) dealing with the Sumerians; Ancient Egyptians; Assyrians; Persians; Greeks; Macedonians; Romans; Carthaginians; Roman Civil Jar 50-44 BC; Gauls; Germans; Goths; Britons; Cavalry Armies; Huns; Mongols; Saxons; 'likings; Normans; Byzantines; Chinese; Franks; Japanese; Indians; Crusaders; Saracens; Ottoman Turks; Swiss; The Hundred Years War and The Mercenaries. it also includes a unique system of assessing the fighting value of each army so that it is possible to pit Assyrians against Romans for example and to know the odds required to give a good game, being fair to both sides. In addition, the "style of fighting" of each force is detailed and a system is described whereby that style of fighting 14UST be used when employing such a force this does away with incongruities such as Ancient Britons carrying out skilled manoeuvres worthy of Montgomery at Alamein when facing Romans whose wargamer-handler might not be so tactically-minded - with anomalous results! The book also deals with alternative moves and orders and contains appendices on the Availability of Wargames Figures; Pictorial Sources for Ancient and Medieval Troops; Suggested Read. ing; Relevant Articles in Magazines and Journals (covering a 15 year period); General Notes on weapons and a section dealing with the Jar Games Research Group Ancient and Medieval Rules. This book, published by Stanley Paul, can be obtained from bookshops at £ 2.75p or from this magazine at £ 3- OOP ($8.00) when it will be personally inscribed to the purchaser and autographed by the author. In the Kellogg's Corn Flake packets can be found some very nice little plastic "Warrior Models" - described as "fully-detailed models of a famous warrior from history ... he could be a Highlander, a Crusader, a Musketeer, a Viking, an Egyptian, a Turk, a Spanish Infantryman or even a Zulu." These are very nicely made little models and, in sufficient numbers could well be used to make up a small-scale tabletop skirmish. They rather remind me of the French military figures given away with a specific brand of coffee in France. With reference to the very first paragraph of this "Must List", I have heard enough whispers to now believe that this brand new set of masters turned out in record time by Peter Gilder could well be 30mm scale American Civil War figures. I am not quite sure of the value of this particular period in this particular scale because they will not fit in with much else that is around (unless you happen to have some 30mm scale Scruby figures from way back) and also I suppose they come into direct competition with the Airfix figures of the same period although in a different scale. However, most of the metal figures turned out these days are in competition with their plastic counterparts so perhaps that doesn't matter. Incidentally, Peter is showing his versitility in another field by constructing all the background terrain for photographs to be taken by that master photographer Phillip Stearns for a new book "The War Game" in which a number of authors (myself included), write on well-known battles of history simulated as wargames - edited by Brig. Peter Young. From the Squadron Shop Inc., 23500 John R., Hazel Park, Michigan 48030, U.S.A. I have received the first two issues of their SIGNAL Publications. One is called Armor Number 1 "Panzer III in Action" and the other is called Aircraft No. One "Luftwaffe in Action". Each 11" by 8" and containing 48 pages they are packed with photographs of tanks and aircraft respectively. Many of these illustrations are completely original and show views of tanks and aircraft which are of the greatest value to model makers and wargamers. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 120 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