"I have been a reader of your magazine for some time and a wargamer for nearly 10 years (man and boy). During that time I have 'fought' in many periods and in many battles, both as a member of a . club, ass teacher introducing the hobby to 5th and 6th formers in place of the more traditional Games played in school, and solo at home. I have noticed over the years that as the game has become more popular certain changes have come in the attitude of those taking part in the hobby. When I started wargaming the only books available were your own and wargamers were few and far between. If one mentioned what one did with ones spare time it was greeted by scorn, hoots of laughter, silence or some other negative reaction. The coming of 'CALLAN' seemed to show many people that not all wargamers were nutcases or entering their second childhood. However, this attitude seemed to produce a certain kind of cameraderie when one met other wargamers and I still find it among those who began wargaming at about the same time as I did. Playing the game and enjoying it were important and losing was something that one had to accept. Nowadays things seem to be different. Attitudes have changed so much that I now no longer seek the comfort of a wargames club but prefer to fight solo at home. I am fed up fighting against people whose sole aim in life is to win at all costs. These are the people who choose Ancient armies which are totally unbalanced when compared to documentary evidence but whose 'moral factor' or 'fighting value' make them virtually invincible. These are the people who mock my 'German' Napoleonic army whilst laying out a French army which is 75% Guard (and normally Old Guard at that!). These are the people who call themselves 'Modern' wargamers and yet field TIGER Its by the score against my more balanced armies. These are the people who, in my opinion, are making a mockery of the whole thing and who can, and have, driven other people out of the hobby. I am sorry that my letter seems to be so scathing but I do feel that unless it is said things could well get worse. I do not want a return to the days when wargaming was a fringe hobby in which only a few took part but I would like people to think a little harder about what they want, out of the hobby. If they want to win all the time then by all means do so as lone as they do not want to fight me or try to belittle my views. Part of the enjoyment of wargaming is the research which most do. I like to see correctly painted Old Guard on the battlefield but. I also like to see a few Line Infantry as well. To me balance is the most important thing. Balance in ones armies brings accuracy and enjoyment. Balance in ones attitude brings understanding as well. I hope that this totter is not too long for your most interesting and stimulating magazine and that, if printed, it will bring some response. I also hope that some people will think about what I have written so that, I can go into a club again without the fear that I will he surrounded by "wargamers" that do not really appreciate my views on the subject." --R.G.Cordery of Charlton, London Figures and Sizes "Recent discussion on 5mm wargaming published in the Newsletter has meant that I am still not decided on the way to employ my "heroics" NapoIconies. You may remember my earlier letter (published December 1975), in which I advocated fairly large units, correctly divided into companies, etc. Well, I still maintain that this wou:d be ideal for a group of wargamers (ideally operating command teams-) and having plenty of space, and indeed time (though this latter would not he too restricting, with several placers to move the troops). However (despite my attempts to contact the wargames group that supposedly exists in Madrid), I still have to play solo, which means that I do not really have time to he concerned with individual figures - and so I now intend to record losses in actual men. This means, of course, that the figures themselves (apart from occupying the correct frontage) become purely decorative - opening the way to reduction in unit size (highly desirable from a spatial. and economic, if not from a visual, point of view). On the other hand, I can see no point in having figures to serve a decorative (rather than merely symbolic) function, unless they can be manoeuvered to represent the various formations of line, column, square. This means that each unit must have sufficient figures to be able to represent these formations - and that each move can represent a maximum of 2-2z minutes, which in turn limits the size of units if all our distances are not to be ridiculously small. At present I am working on 1mm = 1 minute - oddly similar to old 25mm concepts, isn't it.? All this means I am still fighting on a grand tactical, rather than a strategic scale - if one wants a rather more strategic scale, it might he better to discard actual models altogether (though I suppose we could retain I figure per regiment, in a type 'roster', for merely symbolic purposes). With this end in mind, I sent for Table-Top-Games Micro Napoleonics - but I was sadly disappointed with this - I had long ago adopted cards to represent units, while building up forces (and for "dabbling" in other periods), and I had expected something better from a commercial undertaking - but I found their rules ._unnecessarily complex, whilst still being far from comprehensive. I imagine a much better wargame/boardgame link would result from Paddy Griffith's rules, though I share Kevin Theakston's doubt about, recording the status of so many units. Interestingly, Paddy has reversed the current trend of ever more precisely calculated casualties, by having Just 6 status categories (equivalent to having a 25mm unit with just b figures). Presumably, this does not matter too much in a bin battle and would seem to be a useful simplification, and indeed, he is right we do try and pack too much into our rules (I notice that boardgamers are much less prone to this, and wonder if it might have something to do with the presence of actual figures - usually recognisable as belonging to this or that sub-unit). Anyway, part of the interest of the game is surely trying to beat the enemy at all levels of command. If you are lucky enough to be able to wargame in a group, operating command teams, then fine. But if not, I fear few players would want to leave the responsibility of other levels of command to a simple dice throw (though perhaps something along the lines mentioned in Don Featherstone's "Wargames Through The Ages - Vol III" could be worked out). Hoping this will be of interest, and will stimulate more 5mm discussion." --Martin Bates of Madrid, Spain Wanting to Get There "I hope the Southern Militaire was an enjoyable venture. It is a pity that I can never get along to these wargaming functions. Being in the Army I find that I am either miles away in another part of the world or, as I am at the moment, up to my neck in some course or another. At the moment I am nearing the end of a lengthy Arabic language course, which Allah willing I will finish in May prior to a tour 'somewhere in the Persian Gulf' as they say. One of these days I will get round to having a go at Skirmish Wargames, probably in the modern period I think. The Northern Ireland type situation would lend itself perfectly to this type of game, the patrol v sniper scenario. One would not have to even go to the trouble of making 54mm scale buildings, since a lot of action takes place in pretty wild country, particularly on the South Armagh border areas, which was my 'patch' some two years ago. There would be plenty of scope for scenarios such as, ambushes, attacks on isolated police stations and army posts involving a dozen or so figures. The only problem for me would be getting involved in such a personal type of wargame, having been there and seen the results of bullet and bomb, it would be a bit too real and nothing like blowing away of couple of 500-strong Napoleonic battalions with cannister!" --John Cook Tribute to Steve "Maisie and I thank you for your very kind letter of 29th March, enclosing the April copy of the Wargamer's Newsletter - which arrived today, together with its notice in reference to the Steve Curtis Memorial Trophy. Earlier this week, Mike Blake had rung to tell us that the Trophy to Steve was nearly ready, but we had not realised that it would be finished and competed for so soon. Perhaps your readers may like to know that we have received tributes to Steve from many parts of the world, and a copy is enclosed in which the writers have formulated a mythical county in the Old West and have named a mountain range and an old steam-boat after him. (See next letter). Now that we have handed over the reins of Skirmish Wargames to Ian Colwill and Mike Blake, (all letters for Skirmish Wargames should now go to Ian Colwill at 24 Mill Road, Gillingham, Kent), we are striving to get back on an even keel, and although not wargamers, my wife and I will never forget the tributes and deep feelings expressed by so many of your readers. Your great hobby and pastime brought very considerable happiness to Steve." --Angus and Maisie Curtis of Watchet, Somerset "Dear Mr. and Mrs.Curtis, We would like to thank you for your very kind letter and to express our sincere regret and sorrow about your son. Although we never knew him lie provided us with a great deal of pleasure through his efforts. There is no way we can ease the loss to you but we would like to make a gesture in a manner we hope and think he would have appreciated. We do not mean this in a flippant way but have named a major mountain in our mythical county and one of our steamboats after him as a reminder to us of the man who made our fellowship in these games possible. Should you wish to show our first letter to his colleague, Mr. Ian Colwill, please feel free to do so. Our sincere best wishes to you." --Robert W. Munson for all of us of "Dona Ann Co." Response "The response to the Steve Curtis Fund has really been tremendous, hasn't it - most heartening to think that so many people who knew Steve by reputation only in many cases should respond so warmly. We all felt that the Convention and Tournament went off very well, and enjoyed ourselves very much - though the girls felt the strain rather. One further very pleasant duty I have is to give you our sincerest thanks for the way in which you instigated and supported the whole project from the very start. Undoubtedly without you and the Newsletter it would never have happened, and we would like to make this clear. We hope that the event will become an annual one and Neville Dickinson has kindly offered us facilities at his event every year and we are discussing the details with him at the moment. Naturally we will keep you fully posted on developments. With this somewhat major time-consuming project out of the way - most of the buildings we rebuilt/ repainted for the event, and many of the figures created especially - we both hope to answer your plea for articles and bring the Skirmish Line back to a regular basis, starting with an update on progress on various projects." --Mike Blake of Skirmish Wargames Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 171 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1976 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com