I have just returned from the Engineers Exhibition in London where it is impossible not to be impressed by the sheer quantity, quality and volume of figures, books and accessories pertaining to wargaming. Model engineers may feel resentful at this large scale intrusion by wargamers and model soldier collectors, but it appeared to me that the bulk of the visitors were more interested in the militaria aspects than they were. in the and subtedly brilliant examples of model ships, engines and the like. Couple this conviction with the disclosure that one of my wargames books has gone into nine printinLs and is estimated to have been read by a quarter of a million wargamers and it becomes apparent that the hobby is a major one in this country and probably has more adherents than has model railways. And yet model railway enthusiasts have at least three or four well produced professional magazines while the hobby of wargaming has but this small- circulation journal as its true mouthpiece. Obviously this situa tion must be altered and steps are in progress to do so! Sharing my belief that our hobby deserves a larger and more widely circulated magazine, Roy Belmont-Maitland, that shrewd and genial entrepreneur who owns the Tradition shop in Piccadilly, has made available the full resources of BelmontMaitland Publishers plus an adequate amount of financial capital to launch WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER on a new and ambitious voyage. So this issue is the last of the small-in-size (but large in heart) shoestring Newsletters that have publicised our hobby since 1962. It will be replaced by a magazine of A4 size (the same dimensions as "TRADITION") with a reading content some 50% greater than before and with a new photo coverage. With the avowed aim of being the "Newspaper of the hobby", the new Newsletter will still be edited by me and will continue to welcome articles and contributions from all of you. But the magazine can only succeed and achieve a position in the hobby shops and on the bookstalls if it receives a far greater measure of support than in the past. Regular readers are asked to get support from friends and to publicise the hobby's one and only magazine so as to encourage and justify the labour, faith and finance put in by Roy Belmont-Maitland and myself. MOST IMPORTANT is for readers to note that all future correspondence concerning subscriptions will go to TRADITION, 188 Piccadilly, London W.1. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter #143 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1974 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com