Wakey-Wakey!! Dear Sir, A line of complaint re service on the part of some firms. About two months ago I made a special trip to London, partly to shop for Christmas and partly to visit wargaming and model suppliers. I visited one shop which regularly advertises that it is open from 9 a.m. to 6 P.M I arrived at 11 a.m. to find the shop closed with a sign on the door saying 'Open from 10 a.m. to 6 P.m.' After waiting around at this dreary suburb of London for 1/2 hour (11.30 a.m.) I enquired at adjacent premises to be told that "they have usually arrived by now, dear." I left. A few weeks later a friend, visiting London was asked to call to get me items I particularly wanted. He arrived at the 'shop' at 5 p.m. (1 hour before closing time) to find it shut and no lights on. When I heard this I wrote a polite letter to the proprietor complaining about the lack of service. That was a month ago. I haven't even had an acknowledgement. After this sort of 'Cavalier' treatment you might think me disillusioned but I have received extremely good service from other firms. Particularly I would mention Neville Dickinson of Miniature Figurines, nothing, however small, is too much trouble and Renwall Products Inc., of U.S.A. who have replied promptly by airmail to my letters. --Keith Robinson of Winchester Khalifa's Black Flag "On reading Mr. Johnson's letter in the December issue of the Newsletter perhaps the following might be of interest to him. What is "reputed" to be the Khalifa's Black Flag is not in England but in Scotland. It is, at present, in the regimental museum of the Queens Own Highlanders at Fort George. I am unable to say whether the trophy originally belong to the Seaforth or the Cameron Highlanders (the two regiments which are now amalgamated and form the Queens Own highlanders) but as both of these regiments were represented at the Battle of Omdurman this may be a minor detail now. If Mr. Johnson would care to wait until the Spring, when I shall be visiting Fort George, I will be pleased to gather further information for him." --Mitchell S. Davidson Wargaming "I have recently been concentrating on Ancients, but I have also had time for an Ancient naval battle which was decisive with few casualties to the victors for a change, two modern naval battles which proved the superiority of a battleship to a pocket-battleship, a minor A.C.W. engagement at Hawk Village, which showed the acute disadvantages of the "12" -- don't fire; 6" -- fire once; don't move -- fire twice" rule, and an unconcluded Peninsular War battle at Orbaco (here the honours were definitely won by the British). With such examples one wonders how the column attack ever worked! Incidentally this has been able to be left as it is a map game and unfortunately is terribly slow with the calculations for a 1 1/2 minute move and fire taking about a half an hour. An Ancient campaign supposedly taking place near the Caucasus Mountains ended with the devastating defeats of the invading Kalandian armies by Hykrian forces at Septar and Niles, a peace treaty immediately resulting as the Hykrians were the "goodies". Incidentally (again) I fought all these solo except the second World War naval which were against a reluctant father -- no solo wargamers left?" --S.C.A. May Giving Up Wargaming "I find it difficult to get down to framing this letter, because what I have to say is sure to sound trite. I have decided to give up wargaming on moral grounds, finding myself unable to equate it with the commands to love God and fellow humanbeings. Wargaming seems to me to a re-enaction or creation of an imitation of human suffering, however watered-down -- but this is supposed to be an explanation, not a sermon, so I had better shut up. This is just something I feel personally, so heaven forbid that I should try to preach to you. --Stephen May Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 95 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1970 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