On To Richmond Dear Brian, I thoroughly enjoyed the latest issue of THE ZOUAVE.... I was especially appreciative of Clay Cooper's review of ON TO RICHMOND and his kind words about the rules. I do have one observation to make about the review however, and that is Clay's comment about the rebuilding rule wherein units that have taken casualties are allowed a CHANCE to rebuild their strength under certain conditions. Contrary to Clay's implied resurrection from the dead, this rule is intended to simulate the return to the colors of the stragglers, walking wounded, and those who helped their comrades back to the aid station. This phenomenon was well recorded in ACW histories, wherein units, seemingly devastated on the battlefield, were found to be able to gather back some 90 -95% of their fighting strength. If a change has to be made in this rule, it might be in not allowing 100% return. Dick Bryant Managing Editor / THE COURIER Constructive Criticism Dear Brian, I'd like to offer some constructive criticism, most of which is brought to mind by Volume 1, Number 5: I'm Glad that you've finally seen the light on the Freikorps figures. I thought you were much too harsh on them in earlier reviews. Similarly, I don't share your enthusiasm for Stone Mountain. Their primary view of variety is to change the length of the figure's hair. The figures I have are a couple of years old, but the anatomy of their horses and mules is terrible. Stone Mountain's "Ragged Rebs" are an improvement over the standard figures in the line, but they lack much of the detail evident in the Freikorps counterparts. I understand your decision to go to a quarterly format. I am more concerned about editorial quality than frequency. One sort of article I would NOT like to see in THE ZOUAVE is the survey article on well-known figures, battles and campaigns. General Jackson has received more than enough coverage elsewhere for his life and campaigns to be reviewed in your magazine (Please understand that I am not objecting to Mr. Cooper's scholarship. I understand the time and effort that went into such an article) Your article on Brawner Farm is the sort of article that I believe will help you establish a secure niche among Civil War magazines. You have taken a somewhat obscure topic, researched it thoroughly, and translated it to the tabletop. The discussion of Jenkin's Ferry in a previous issue was another good example of this sort of work. The scenarios included in the magazine would be more useful if you described the size of the tabletop, the scale of the figures, and the frontage of an average infantry unit. If this information was available, I believe the scenarios would be easier to adapt to different rules systems. Thus, they would appeal to more of your readers. Mr. McHenry's article on figures painting was not sufficiently detailed to provide much help, but at times it was too specific to understand. Just what is "blacklining"? When you go to the new format next year, I'd like for you to reconsider your single-column page composition. The narrow margins that you use make for very long lines of type. When following an article closely, it is difficult to return to the left and arrive successfully at the next line of text. Overall, I enjoy reading THE ZOUAVE. If I didn't, I wouldn't have bothered with this letter. Thanks for listening. Bill Winter Des Peres, MO. (EDITOR'S REPLY): Thank you for your letter. To prove that I listen, I decided to print your critique. As regards your points, let me start with figure reviews. My only complaint with the Freikorps figures was that the castings were quite brittle and arrived in pieces. Those figures, made of a fairly brittle metal alloy, were packed in haste to make a deadline and I was assured that this was not normal procedure, thus the better review the second time around. Friekorps does make fantastic figures! Stone Mountain, in my own opinion, makes figures in a different way, and deserves much credit for the emergence of ACW gaming. They were the first company to make an extensive line of castings for the period, and while the figures are not as detailed as Freikorps (this may have something to do with the metal) , they are quite nice to paint up. They were also the first company to help us out! The articles we carry, including the one on Jackson, are often in response to the number of requests we get about info on certain personalities, battles, or units. While there are those members who have easy access to basic reading material, we have members who are either novices to the period or who come from such exotic places as Oman and Bahrain. I wonder how many books on the Civil War are contained in their local libraries? Your mention of a need for more information in our scenarios to assist members in converting them to different rules sets is well taken and is addressed in my editorial. "Blacklining" is a technique of painting a thin black line between colors to better separate them when viewed. For example, on a Confederate coat that has a gray sleeve and a yellow cuff, the line would be placed between the two, which makes each part look more distinct. It makes an incredible difference and should be tried. Finally, your suggestion about going to more than one column almost gave me a heart attack, even though I tend to agree with you. It would limit space, which is already a problem, and would cost quite a bit more to accomplish. Perhaps in the future we will be able to do it. Thank you for all of your suggestions. They showed that you pay attention to the magazine and I am in no way offended. Back to The Zouave Vol I No. 6 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 The American Civil War Society 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