If system and order are to be maintained then progressive pursuits have to be governed and controlled by rules and conditions designed to produce authentic and realistic simulations of the events under recreation. Over and above that aim is the need to temper the rules so that the activity is not "over-controlled" or prevented from progressing in a flowing, interesting and enjoyable manner. Accepting that we are discussing games, it is obvious that some of them - such as Monopoly, Ludo, the majority of boardgames and, perhaps most to the point, Chess - are controlled by standard sets of rules acceptable to all and unlikely to be amended or altered. But because of the extremely diverse nature of the background of wargaming, its historical time-span and consequent effects upon military formations, tactics, arms and equipment, genuinely standard sets of rules are difficult if not impossible to formulate. This situation is particularly aggravated by differences in character and temperament of the wargamers themselves, coupled with personal visions of warfare conditioned by highly personalised interpretations of conflict as portrayed by books, films and T.V. Hence we have a situation where far from there being any unanimity or standards of wargames rules, there are almost as many different sets of rules as there are wargamers! With perhaps but a single exception, sets of rules controlling competitive games fought in National Championships are discarded in the following year in favour of versions which set out to remedy actual or fancied faults and anomalies notable during the previous year's competitions. On a personal level, wargamers pay lip service to the practice of fighting to the last's rules when "away from home" - albeit often with bad grace and a considerable lack of understanding and tolerance. The notable exception briefly mentioned earlier are the professional rules of the Wargames Research Group, whose Ancient rules have been standard at a number of Conventions and are largely accepted throughout the Society of Ancients. This last factor bestows the invaluable boon to members of that Society, both in the United Kingdom and overseas, of being able to meet and wargame against each other in comparative harmony with both contestants fully aware of the implications and results of the rules they have agreed to accept. Recently the Wargames Research Group published a 5th Edition of their Ancient Wargames Rules which my personal confidence in the integrity of the Wargames Research Group convinces me is a genuine attempt to clarify and improve, in the light of experience, previous editions of these rules and not a modern commercial ploy based on expendability and sales-figures. It seems that this 5th Edition quite drastically changes many of the known features of W.R.G. Ancient Rules. A long explanatory feature in SLINGSHOT reviewed them in an advantageous manner but subsequently Ian Beck of the Halifax Wargames Group went into print in the NORSEMAN (magazine of the Northern Association of Wargamers) with an article sparked-off by ".... the scandalous (one Halifax lad used stronger unprint, able words) reviews of the 5th Edition in a recent Slingshot". Ian asks "Have the reviewers actually tried using the (I use the next word loosely) rules?" - and goes on to say that "the 5th Edition is the biggest let-down in the history of Ancient wargames". Seemingly the Halifax Wargames Group are going back to the good old 4th Edition rules .... with a few amendments" and " .... want to know is whether anybody else is interested in joining us so that we can use the same amendments and still be capable of inter-club activities?" This editorial is not intended to "stir it up", nor is it intended as a criticism of any publications of the Wargames Research Group. Rather, the Wargames Research Group have systematically pursued the only policy possible in our haphazard hobby of providing standard background rules overlaid with specific conditions to adequately cover the historical aspects of the period in question. There may be an answer to the morass of wargaming rules but unless everyone in the hobby literally dons a dull uniform dress and acquires the philosophic docility of the present-day Chinese, then I doubt if anything will transpire. And if it does happen in that way then include me out! Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 175 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1976 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