It is amazing how many people sidle up to me with a provocative leer on their faces and mutter "I always turn to your Editorial first to see who you are slamming!" Actually, the purpose of the Editorial is not to go around "slamming" at all and sundry but rather to bring to the notice to subscribers those things which should be known and not swept under the carpet. If in so doing someone gets slammed, then I hope that it is in the best interest of the majority. I believe that the purpose of a publication is to further the best interest of its readers and I would like to think that some of the crusades started on this page have brought benefits to the hobby in general and to wargamers as individuals. I am not really slamming anything this month but just reflecting a little more on the disquiet that seems to be around in the wargaming world considering the 1973 Wargames Conventions situation. When I consider that it was me who started running Wargames Conventions in the first place then perhaps I am getting old and jaded when I say that I cannot really understand why people go to so much time and trouble doing it now! Perhaps, like politicians, they like power and limelight although I am very well aware that, if handled competently, there is quite a lot of money to be made in these affairs. I say that without implying that Leicester and Birmingham the year before made a bomb out of them because I am perfectly certain that they did not - perhaps because they overreached themselves and they were run with a certain lack of professional polish. However, it is hoped that whatever Conventions are run this year that they will take place with the minimum of acrimony and bad feeling and that we will not have the unhappy sight of rival affairs competing against each other at the same time. Presumably the organisers of both of the main Conventions scheduled for 1973 genuinely have the interest of the hobby at heart - this being the case then they should get together and spread things out a bit. May I point out a new venture in this month's Newsletter -- the series "I Have Been To ..." This is aimed at placing before wargamers details of battlefields, museums and the like which can be visited in this country and overseas and which will bring riot only interest and pleasure to the visitors but may well benefit their approach towards the hobby. If you have been anywhere that you think will interest your fellow wargamers then do not keep it to yourself but send the details to me if necessary I will edit it but it will always get a fair hearing if suitable. I hope readers will notice the extra four pages this month (at great additional expense!) inserted because I did not like leaving out interesting articles for pages of adverts -- although we badly need the money! Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 131 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1973 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