Dear Dave,

I noticed that for some reason I had not completed the Confederate artillery complements for the Burnside article in the Spring 1994 Zouave. Therefore, here they are:

Miller 2 x 12 lb. N, elite
Read 2 x 10 lb. P, average
Richardson 2 x 12 lb. H, 2 x 12 lb. N, elite
Brown 2 x 12 lb. N, 2 x 3" R, average
Reilly 2 x 3" R, average
Garden 2 x 6 lb. SB, 1 x 12 lb. N, 1 x 12 lb. H, average

I can only think that when the previous disk corrupted, I did not mange to save as much as I had thought, as my own copy also has the above missing.

Dear Dave,

After receiving the Summer 1994 issue of The Zouave, I just had to make some comments on Jim Zykla's article Iron at Sea: Civil War Naval Gaming. In his article, Jim mentions the 1/600 scale ships that Thoroughbred Figures makes, stating that they are far too expensive for gaming purposes. However, these ships, in their unfinished form, range in price from $8.75 to $13.75.

The $35.00 models are for completed ships, which include a walnut base. As to their limited line, there are currently around twenty ships available, with more on the way. These ships are the epitome in naval wargame castings, packaged with painting tips, ship information, and even a scale flag to be placed proudly on your model.

The Houston's Ships line is very good as towards completeness, but some of the detailing of the ships, as well as scaling problems (some ships are actually 1/1100), has led me to go with the Thoroughbred line.

There is another set of rules for naval gaming that I'm aware of, and that is Iron and Steam, written by Jeffrey Koppe, and available for $5.00 from the The Soldiery in Columbus, Ohio. Unlike Age of Iron, which classes all guns as light, medium or heavy, with no difference in rates of fire, Iron and steam breaks gunnery down into specific calibers of guns with specific rates of fire. These rules do suffer from a rather wordy and unclear explanation of ramming attempts, so we just use a modified version of Age of Iron. Also, these rules suffer in a production sense, as they are printed on a nine dot matrix printer, and there fore are a little hard on the eyes. However, they are worth checking out.

One final note: one of the best reference books on ACW naval forces has got to be Paul Silverstone's Navies of the Civil War, Naval Institute Press. This is a compilation of all known data for every ship which served, launched or was planned during the conflict. Confederate information is still sketchy, but enough data is usually provided to rate the ships for most sets of rules.

I just want to say I appreciate Mr. Zykla's article, as I enjoy the naval aspect of the war nearly as much as the land conflicts. I also respect the effort that The Zouave brings to broadening my knowledge and enjoyment of the Civil War.

Press Release

Jim McCarron has notified us that Musket Miniatures is now a full-time business. Jim will be expanding his current historical figure and cast resin building lines . The company has moved to a new manufacturing facility in Denver and plans on opening a retail store and wargaming room in the near future. You can also call Jim at (303) 439-9336.

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