The KommandeurVolume 44 Number 1 A Publication of AHIKS February 2009

without music or humor, it becameequally unimaginable to continue mylife without her by my side. So I shack-led her to my ankle. No wait... (tryagain) So I asked her to marry me.(better) Our first date was a hockeygame. If you love hockey, you under-stand the degree to which I felt I’dfound the girl of my dreams. I met abeautiful, funny girl who loves theNHL. Heaven. Since we've been to-gether she's also come to understandmy fixation with history and militarysimulations. I find it funny when Icome downstairs and catch her watch-ing black and white archival newsreelfootage of WWII on History Interna-tional. I do not, however, try to ropeher into an AH wargame (hey, I don'twant to scare her off completely!!!),but we do enjoy our occasional matchof Source of the Nile, Football Strat-egy, Outdoor Survival, or ConsultingDetective.

Call it boredom with my AAFESjob or a mid-life crisis, but the day afterour wedding we left Texas forever forCalifornia. Circumstances in my lifecontinually remind me that we “onlylive once” and, heeding this creed, Idecided to spend a year in Russell Rac-ing's Mechanics Training Programlearning the ins and outs of race carpreparation and maintenance. My firstjob upon graduation was with a vintagerace shop called Robin Automotive.They restore and race vintage FormulaOne and Can Am race cars primarilyfrom the late '60s and early '70s. Dur-ing that first year I was also asked towork as a “hired gun” for B-K Mo-torsports, an American Le Mans teamrunning a Mazda-powered CourageC65. I did this for two more seasonsuntil a certain surprise situation enteredmy life. His name is Zane and he's now2.5 yrs. old. The traveling involved inthe motor-sports industry is not condu-cive to a positive home environment,so I had to decide between my new

(Continued on page 11)

I'd like to start by thanking themembers and officers and to assureevery member that I will do my utmostto grow and improve our Society. Ihave great hope for the future of ourSociety and, while AHIKS has enduredits share of setbacks, I am positive thatwe can be a far greater organizationthan we are now. This is not to say thatanyone involved in the Society in thepast has failed to deliver. It simplymeans that as time goes on, new oppor-tunities present themselves to us and,like anything, AHIKS should take ad-vantage of those opportunities in orderto better itself.

AHIKS can't do this on its ownbecause AHIKS is not an independententity. It is a collection of like-mindedindividuals. It is the Membership. Yournew Vice President, Bert Schneider,and I will emphasize this idea: AHIKSshould be defined by the involvementof its members. The Membership givesit life. Your opinions, your approval ordisapproval, and your ideas all makeAHIKS something unique and per-sonal. Bert and I have discussed, atlength, the AHIKS mission, membersurveys and other ways in which to addunique value to the AHIKS member-ship so that, in this modern world ofinternet gaming organizations, we canbe seen as the obvious choice for allmail and online wargaming activity.There is no reason AHIKS should notbe the premiere wargaming Society.Under my watch, anyone remotelyknowledgeable about PBM or PBEMwargaming will know of AHIKS. Itwill be the gold standard of allwargaming organizations. That is mypromise to you.

So now, if you can bear it, I'll di-vulge some of the dirty secrets thatcolor my jaded past. I grew up in Tulsa,Oklahoma, and attended the Universityof Oklahoma briefly before transferringto Tulsa University where I graduatedwith a degree in Broadcast Media(Radio/TV/Film). My first job was as

an audio engineer and cameraman forStegman Productions. I traveled ex-tensively with this job, including atrip to the frozen Beaufort Sea northof Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Shortlythereafter, I took a job at SummitPost Production as an editor beforemoving to Dallas, Texas, to work as apost production editor and graphicsartist for a company that will be fa-miliar to any AHIKS member whohas served in the military: AAFES orthe Army & Air Force Exchange Ser-vice. If you're not familiar withAAFES, they are the governmentagency that runs the BXes (Base Ex-changes) and PXes (Post Exchanges);the ubiquitous “general stores” onevery US Army or Air Force base. Ispent three years as an editor/graphics artist before moving intocomputer animation, which I did forthe next eight years using the latesthigh-end computer technology at thetime, a Unix-based Silicon Graphicsworkstation and Alias/Wavefront’sMaya animation software.

During this time I met my wife,Kathryn. She's incredibly funny andas I couldn't imagine living in a world

Greetings from Our New President

CHARLES MARSHALL

2 The Kommandeur

Game NewsThis is a compilation of informationgleaned chiefly from Consimworld(http://www.consimworld.com), Web-Grognards (http://www.grognard.com)and Boardgamegeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com). Materialcorrect at time of writing:: January 31,2009Alan Poultergrognard@grognard.com)

NEWS

Vae Victis ceases game publicationSadly, because of the cost of the

game inserts, issue 84 of Vae Victiswill be the last to include a game. Toquote Pascal de Silva, writing in post5961 in the Vae Victis folder on Con-simworld:

“Gentlemen, the decision was not easyto take. The magazine is mainly distrib-uted through French book shops. Dueto the system, less than one magazinefor two printed is sold. The extra fabri-cation costs for maps and counterscan't be any more supported, becausesales have fallen down since a fewyears. Increasing the price of themagazine will not change thattrend...the crisis will not help. But VaeVictis doesn't want to completely aban-don game-publishing. We will have tofind a way to create and insert smallergames of interest, with no extra print-ing costs. There will be two specialissues per year. What will be inside isnot decided yet. I've got some ideasabout that, but I will have to convincemy chairman manager. If I'm success-ful, I guess it will be a another revolu-tion in VV life.... a positive one thistime...but the affair will be difficult todeal. Keep hope. Vae Victis was nearto disappear, but it's still alive. Canonsen Carton will still publish battles forJdG and Au Fil de l'Epee, no doubtabout that.”

In post 6000 Pascal goes on to say:

“The magazine is made for wargamerswho play with counters and those whoplay with miniatures. The French mar-ket is too small to split Vae Victis.H&C tried this with the special issues :it doesn't work. Sales of VV are stilldecreasing. Suppressing the game, themagazine will surely lose buyers, but

we hope it will gain some. VaeVictisis first a magazine, with a game in-side, and not a wargame with amagazine in the box. H&C will try toinsert smaller games, with a A4-A3map, 20-30 counters and 3-4 pagesfor the rules. The goal is to give in-terest to the hobby to potential newgamers and to provide quick, easy toset games to those who have no timeor no courage to mount the count-ers... First, we must try to make itsurvive, then we will think to developit again.”

NEW BOARD WARGAMES

Avalanche PressWar on the Equator is the latest

supplement for the Panzer Grena-dier game series. It covers the shortwar between Peru and Ecuador in1941. Campaigns and Command-ers: War in the East is the first in anew series of book supplements thatadds campaign games and WorldWar II role playing to the PanzerGrenadier game series. It requiresownership of Eastern Front Deluxe,Road to Berlin, and White Eagles.ht tp :/ /w ww .a va la nc he pr es s. co m/index.php

Compass GamesThe latest in the Eagles of the

Empire series, Spanish Eagles cov-ers the battles of Talavera and Al-buera. It contains the latest version3.0 rules.http://www.compassgames.com/

Critical HitA new ASL-compatible module is

Ivan's War which contains new sce-narios for the map from Stalin'sFury. Pointe du Hoc, in the sameseries, covering D-Day battles is nowin a second edition. A Gamers Guideand an Upgrade Kit for owners of thefirst edition are also available. Stalin-grad, in the Advanced Tobruk se-ries, is also now in a second edition.Also new in the same series is anExpansion Edition for Blo odyOmaha. http://www.criticalhit.com/

Fiery DragonCounter Strike: Liberia - De-

scent into Hell covers the Liberiancivil war of 1989-1997.http://www.fierydragon.com/

GMTChandragupta is the thirteenth

game in the Great Battles of Historyseries and covers battles in ancient In-dia from Pataliputra in 319 BC toKalinga in 261 BC. Unhappy KingCharles, designed by Charles Vasey, isloosely based on Mark Herman’s clas-sic game We the People, and coversthe English Civil War using three packsof cards for the early, middle, and latewar. Fields of Fire is a solitaire gameof commanding a rifle company,through three campaigns experiencedby units of the 9th US Infantry inWorld War II, Korea, and Vietnam.http://www.gmtgames.com/

Lock ‘n Load PublishingNot One Step Back is a digital

download only reissue of the Lock ‘nLoad Eastern Front World War 2 ex-pansion.http://www.locknloadgame.com/

Pratzen EditionsLe Vol de l'Aigle is the latest addi-

tion to their Napoleonic campaigngame system, extending it to cover thecampaigns of 1805, 1812, and 1813.http://www.pratzen.com/index_en.php

Victory Point GamesPaul Koenig's D-Day: The British

Beaches covers both Gold and Swordand uses the same system as his earliergames on other beaches. Hell's Horse-men is the second expansion for An-cient Battles Deluxe covers battlesfeaturing large Persian cavalry forma-tions.http://www.victorypointgames.com/

NEW MAGAZINE WARGAMES

Strategy & Tactics #255 contains thegame Hannibal's War, designed byJoseph Miranda.

World at War #3 contains The Bulge, aredesign, by Ty Bomba, of the titleoriginally published by SPI in 1979,which was designed and developed byJames F. Dunnigan and Eric Smith.World at War #4 contains USAAF: USStrategic Bombing ’44.http://www.decisiongames.com

The Kommandeur 3NEW DTP WARGAMES

BSO and Canons en CartonThe 24th and 25th battles in the

Jours de Gloire game series are Rolicaand Vimeiro 1808 . http://perso.club-internet.fr/fredbey/CeC_US.htm

Firefight GamesDeep into the Bekaa covers the

last tank battle of the Israeli invasion ofLebanon 1982. The Ukraine On Fire:The French Debacle 1919 covers thebattles starting in around Odessa in theRussian Civil War.http://firefight-games.com/

Minden GamesPanzer Digest #5 contains two

games, Thunder Gods covers kami-kaze attacks off Okinawa in April 1945while Breakout at St. Lo covers bat-tles in the bocage of France, July 1944.Mediterranean Salvo! is a new gamein the Salvo series.http://minden_games.homestead.com/

NEW WEB RESOURCES

Free games

El Valle de la Muerte (Felipe San-tamaría) (NB in Spanish)http://www.mediafire.com/?share-key=42ddbd8f3d5a95acab1eab3e9fa335ca9e018689c8c3e1f9

Germania: Drusus' Campaigns 12-9BC (SOA)http://grognard.com/info1/germania.zip

Tanagra (TCS/Roberto Chiavini)http://grognard.com/board.html#t2643

Official Rules

Barbarossa: Kiev to Rostov (GMT)http://www.gmtgames.com/bkiev/KtRrules-3.pdf

Clash of Monarchs (GMT)http://www.gmtgames.com/clashmonarchs/COM_Rules_baseline.pdf

First Strike (Schutze)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/40228/FIRST_STRIKE_RULES_%2010 -05-08.doc

Hannibal (Valley Games)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/40294/Hannibal%20Rules.pdf

Napoleonic Wars (GMT) (for 2nd

ed.)http://www.gmtgames.com/living_rules/TNW-Rules-2008.pdf

Successors: Alexander's Empire(GMT)http://www.gmtgames.com/success3/SuccessorsIII2_0.zip

Tomb for an Empire (B3G)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/39991/TfaE%20Exclusive%20Rules%20and%20Scenarios%2001-01-09.pdf

Errata

A Bold Stroke (Spearhead)http://grognard.com/errata1/boldstrtroke.txt

Clash of Empires: 1914 (3W/MDG)http://grognard.com/errata1/clashemp.doc

Espana 1936 (Games) http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/37323/ESPANA%201936%20FAQ.doc

Fast Carriers (SPI)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/38691/Fast%20Carriers%20Errata.pdf

Field Commander: Rommel (DVG)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/38451/FAQs%20for%20Field%20Commander.doc

Fields of Fire (GMT)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/40015/Fields%20of%20Fire%20Errata%20as%20of%20010909.pdf

First Strike (Schutze)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/40227/FIRST%20STRIKE%20ERRATA%20%20TO%20%20%20%20%2010-06-08.doc

Hold the Line (Worthington)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/36614/HTL_FAQ_30.09.08.pdf

Italia (Phalanx)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/39507/italia-clarifications_v1.4.pdf

Napoleon's Triumph (Simmons)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/36563/NTFAQ_v1.5.pdf

Nicaragua! (3W)http://grognard.com/errata1/nicaragua.doc

Operation Spark (CoA)http://grognard.com/errata1/opspark.doc

Prairie Aflame! (Khyber Pass)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/36531/P.A.%20Errata-Q&A.doc

Red Dragon Rising, in S&T #250(DG)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/40237/RDR%20FAQ%20-%20rev%2010-06-08.rtf

Spanish Eagles (Compass)http://grognard.com/variants1/silentwar.pdf

Successors: Alexander's Empire(GMT)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/38606/Successors%20FAQ%209-26-08.pdf

Rules Translations

Neville's Cross (HC)http://grognard.com/info1/nevcross.doc

Operation Nabopolasar Alea #10(Ludopress)http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/39688/Alea%20Issue%2010 -Operation%20Nabopolassar.doc

4 The Kommandeur

I welcome all of our new officers!I would also like to take a mo-

ment and thank all of the memberswho contributed to the AHIKS Per-petual Fund during the 2009 renewalprocess. For those who may not knowwhat the AHIKS Perpetual Funddoes, here is a brief history.

Bruce Monnin first proposed theAHIKS Perpetual Fund in 1994. Theobjective of the fund was to create apool of money, which generated CDor bank interest revenue to help de-fray AHIKS’ operating costs. Thanksin part to the Fund and the electronicK subscriptions this will be the sec-ond year of free membership renew-als for electronic K subscriptions forAHIKS.

A number of members have notrenewed their membership yet. Pleaseremind any member you know or arecurrently playing a game with to con-tact me at the address below to con-firm their address and email so wecan get them processed for 2009.Dues for the electronic K are free. Ifyou would like a printed copy of theK the cost is now $9.

Whether you have a printed copyor an electronic copy of the K, pleasetake a moment to send me a card oran email confirming your currentsnail mail address and your emailaddress. Some members have movedor changed email addresses and wemay not have your current informa-tion. This would help me keep ourrecords current and it will insure noone misses any copies of the K.Please contact me at the email orsnail mail address on page 12.

I would like to wish all of you avery enjoyable and prosperous NewYear!

Happy Gaming to you all!Bob Best

We are beginning a brand new yearhere at AHIKS with a new roster ofofficers. This is the first time in eightyears that we have had two candidatesrun for president! This is indeed anhistoric election for that reason alone.The membership actually had a choiceof candidates for this election!!!

In the interest of giving the mem-bership a choice of who governsAHIKS for the next four years, theExecutive Committee voted to waivethe two-year membership requirementfor presidential candidates for this elec-tion only. A revealing look at how yourExecutive Committee functions andhow decisions are made that affect oursociety is covered elsewhere in thisissue of The K.

I do want to thank all of the mem-bers who took the time to cast theirballots and all of the candidates whothrew their “hats in the ring” andstepped up to offer their services to themembership of AHIKS for the nextfour years! I also want to thank theofficers who are stepping down for alltheir hard work and dedication toAHIKS… thank you all!

We had 30 percent of the member-ship cast ballots in the current electionof officers (56 members voted). As inall elections, some people choose not tovote for all of the officers up for elec-tion on the slate as can be seen fromthe vote tally below, and some mem-bers choose not to vote at all. A non-member (my wife) with no interest inthe election verified the election re-sults. The ballot count was as follows:

President:Charles Marshall—33Paul Koenig — 23

Match Coordinator:Paul Qualtieri— 33Robert Granville—23

Secretary: Bob Best—54

Treasurer: Brian Stretcher — 54

Editor: Omar DeWitt—54

Judge:Dave Bergmann — 52Randy Heller (Write-in)—1

MSO-Ratings Officer:Andy Johnson—53

From the Secretary

First off, I’d like to wish everyone abelated Happy New Year, and I hope theHoliday Season was a good one. Sec-ondly, while there isn’t much to report onthe UCP front there are still a couple ofnotes:

In addition to be being printed in thisedition of The K, the most current UCPlists are always available on the AHIKSwebsite or directly from me. Also, bar-ring any major changes, they will verylikely not be printed again in The K untillater this year.

With the start of the New Year, I havecleaned the slate on any items that wereon the “member want list.” If you hadsomething on there and still want it on thelist, re-submit it.

I would like to mention the followingFYI since it recently helped out a mem-ber with his request and will hopefullyprove useful to others. While I’m not sureif you are involved with Ebay, there is ahost of stuff available on there for AvalonHill games, ranging from CDs/DVD ofThe General to replacement sets of count-ers, new maps, and counters not origi-nally provided with a particular game.What I find especially interesting are thereference CDs available for games suchas France 1940, Chancellorsville, 1776,Jutland, 1914, The Longest Day, andothers that feature not only the game’scomponents but may also contain addi-tional material such as variants or relatedarticles. For the most part, these itemsseem to be reasonably priced with anindividual game reference CD sellingfrom about $5 to around $35 for a DVDcontaining Volumes 1-20 (120 Issues!) ofThe General. The various counters sellfor somewhere in between. There is alsoone seller who specializes in AH gamesand has his own website, offering addi-tional items that they don’t seem to list onEbay, such as professionally laminatedmaps and a whole host of different vari-ant and replacement counter sets. Theyalso sell a CD containing all the issues ofthe award winning magazine TheBoardgamer which was published from1996-2004 and covered only Avalon Hillgames. Their website is WWW.AHGEN-ERAL.ORG and IMOP. It is worth a lookalong with the items available on Ebay.

Happy Gaming, Brian

Unit CounterPool News

The Kommandeur 5

Feb. 12-15: Denver, COGENGHIS CON XXXhttp://denvergamers.org/

Feb. 13-16: San Ramon, CADUNDRACON 33http://dundracon.com/

Feb. 13-16: Los Angeles, CASTRATEGICON PRESENTS: ORCCON2009http://www.strategicon.net/

Feb. 14-16: Harrisburg, PAGAMERS OF WINTER 2009http://pocketchangeproductions.net/gowc2009.html

Feb. 19-22: Mansfield, MATOTAL CONFUSION XXIIIhttp://www.totalcon.com/

Feb. 20-22: Chattanooga, TNCON NOOGAhttp://www.connooga.com/

Feb. 20-22: Iowa City, IAGAMICON GAME FAIRhttp://www.gamicon.org/

Feb. 25-Mar. 1 : Charlottesville, VAPREZCON "THE WINTER NATIONALS"http://www.prezcon.com/

Feb. 28-Mar. 1 : Manitowoc, WIFIRE & ICEhttp://www.fireandiceconvention.com/

Feb. 25-Mar. 1 Charlottesville, VAPREZCON "THE WINTER NATIONALS"http://www.prezcon.com

Mar. 6-8: San Antonio, TXCHIMAERACON '09http://www.chimaeracon.com/

March 7-8 Kenosha, WIMIDWEST OPENEmail: AREA1@Att.net6829 23rd Ave.Kenosha, WI 53143-1233

March 12-15, Lancaster, PACOLD WARShttp://www.coldwars.org

A gaming, sci-fi, etc convention iscoming to Birmingham, AL, in March2009. I am contacting AHIKS to see ifthere is any interest in attending thisconvention from our southeast and pos-sibly farther away members. It wouldalso help spread the word on theAHIKS organization, and if interestedgamers show up who are not members,we could try to recruit them.

I would be looking at doing a vin-tage SPI, Avalon Hill game tournamentusing such games as Panzer Leader,Panzerblitz, Arab/Israeli Wars, D-Day, Stalingrad, Battles for the Ar-dennes, Modern Battles, games whichcould be played in 3-4 hours, the timeallotted per round.

If there is interest, could AHIKSoffer a plaque to the winner of theevent? I am hoping that AvalanchePress will offer a game to the winner orcan come up with another prize for theevent along with the plaque. I wouldlike to see this event take off and seesome wargaming at conventions, sinceOrigins and World Board Game Cham-pionship are about the only events youhear about in the south with a fareshare of wargaming.

I have talked to several of myAHIKS opponents about attending, andthey may be interested. But I wouldhope between 4 to 10 AHIKS membersfrom the southeast region could attend.

Any help you can provide wouldbe much appreciated, thanks.

Thomas Ten Eyckinvinsi007@yahoo.com

Mar. 13-15: Indianapolis, IndianaWHO'S YER CONhttp://www.whosyercon.com/whosyercon/wycms/

Mar. 20-22: Stamford, CTCONNCONhttp://www.conncon.com/

Mar. 20-22: Indianapolis, ININDIANAPOLIS BOARDGAMERS CON-VENTIONadam.daulton@gmail.com

Mar. 20-22: Stillwater, OKSTILLCONhttp://www.stillcon.com/

Mar. 21-22: Milwaukee, WIM-CONhttps://www.m-cononline.com/

Mar. 27-29: Rolla, MOCOGCON 17http://cogcon.cryllia.net/

March 27-29, New Albany, IN(suburb of Louisville, KY)NATIONAL BLOCK PARTYhttp://www.ohiovalleygamers.org/nationalblockparty.html

June 25-28, Columbus, OHORIGINShttp://www.originsgames.com/

Aug 4-9 Lancaster, PAWBC 2009http://www.boardgamers.org/

A good source for information on allkinds of conventions is the SteveJackson game site:http://sjgames.com/con

WantedStrike Force One: The ExpertGame Expansion (Victory PointGames) Copy acceptable. Sendasking price to Jim Dapkus,W6575 Dakota Ave., Westfield,WI 53964

TV News

Have you watched the 5-part serieson “The Wehrmacht” on the Historychannel? If not, be sure to catch any re-runs. Lots of new film and in color.

Also the series “Hitler's Body-guard” is on the Military channel. It isstill an on-going series. Fridays andSaturdays, 90% all-new film and a lotin color. A lot of people read about itbut have never seen it. Don't miss theshows.Bob Shurdut

ConventionNews

6 The Kommandeur

It was a cool morning. Cool andmostly overcast, the morning sunbarely visible behind the cloud cover.The battle standards fluttered in therather stiff breeze as the King pulledhis cloak more tightly about his shoul-ders. He could smell the damp earththat lay beneath his horse=s feet, freshfrom yesterday=s rain.

It was quiet now, with barely asound besides the flapping standards,the occasional grunt of one of theGuard=s horses, or the clank of randomsteel against armor. That, plus the windrustling through his helmet. He sur-veyed his army from atop the slope.Fifty paces in front of him stood 2,000infantry of the Royal Guard, veteransof many campaigns, armed with theireighteen-foot pikes, and protected bythe heaviest armor a man could bear.The Guard also carried short swords forclose-in combat and heavy shields thatcould form a nearly impenetrable wall,if necessary. Another fifty paces infront of them was the regular infantry,with the shorter fifteen-foot pikes andlighter armor. Deployed in a solid lineeight ranks deep, this was the backboneof his army, some fifteen thousand inall. Most of them were formed in asingle straight line north to south, withsome 3,000 held in reserve behind themain battle line.

The king=s sister commanded hisarchers, or her archers, as she fre-quently reminded him. Rogues, shecalled them. Lightly armored but ex-tremely mobile, the Rogues were amost deadly force. What they couldn’toutfight, they could outrun. They couldlay down fire at a rate almost triple thatof his regular archers, of which therewere now few, because there was noneed. His sister=s 600 were more thanadequate. Divided into two groups oneither flank, they were more than capa-ble of covering the entire approach upthe mountain slope from either side.They were supported by the 500-strongPrincesses Light Horse, similarly di-vided into two cohorts on either flank.The king regretted only that his sisterhad insisted on standing with him in

the pass this day. If she fell, it wouldbe a great loss not only to him, butthe entire kingdom. She was not onlyinstrumental in the recruitment andtraining of her Rogues but had alsoserved as inspiration to many youngwomen who now devoted themselvesto the military service of the king-dom.

Fina lly, the re we re Lo rdSpencer=s 1,500 Guards Horse. Thesewere highly experienced heavy cav-alry, armed with lances and swords.A lifelong friend and confidant,Spencer had been with him since theyboth served under the former king,Eric=s father. They grew up together,and his father had accepted Spencerinto his service at an early age. Al-though at times undisciplined andbrash, Eric=s father had recognizedthat Spencer=s natural charm wouldmake him an effective leader. Hischarm also worked well on the ladiesand had led to trouble on more thanone occasion. Was it really that longago that they regularly rode togetheramongst the flowers in the fields ofErhannon? So long since the timethey tricked that oaf at the InnsbergTavern into betting against Spencer=shorsemanship? The money had beenmeaningless, of course. The attentionof the tavern keeper=s daughter was afar greater prize. How good it wouldbe to return to revisit their youth! Ifonly they could somehow evade theunending attention of the King=s Per-sonal Escort and return to the tavernas the unknown young men they oncewere.

Eric looked up at the standard,flying in the wind. His father hadchosen his family=s standard well.Against a field of green stood theTree of Life in gold. Its mighty, inter-twined branches reached for the stars,yet circled back into the Earth, alsoforming the roots of the tree. His fa-ther told him it symbolized how allthings were connected. The mightytree connected the sky to MotherEarth, and man was but a smallbranch on the tree itself. Man liftedhimself to the stars but in the endalways returned to the Mother. In theupper left quadrant of the flag wasthe family crest, a small red shieldwith a golden eagle. His father didn’tknow exactly when the family crest

originated, but it was believed to comefrom a time before the formation of thegreat kingdoms and empires that nowruled the known earth.

He thought of his father. He hadfallen on this very field some sevenyears before, defending the kingdomagainst a prior incursion by the EasternEmpire. His mother never recoveredfrom her grief and passed only twoyears later. At that same battle, LordSpencer had received his now famousscar, across his left eye and down hischeek. It had done nothing to discour-age him from seeking female distrac-tions. Hellfire Pass, this location wasknown as. It was the only practicalpassage from the Eastern Empire intothe kingdom. To the south, the moun-tains were too rugged for too far, andthe passes that lay there were easilydefended by handfuls of men. To thesouth, the mountains gave way to for-ests of broken hills and ravines, butmore importantly, those forests wereoccupied by a fiercely independenttribe known as the Brigands. It wasnearly impossible for an army to passthrough their territory without theirpermission, no matter how strong, be-cause the terrain was barren of agricul-ture and densely wooded. The Brigandswould readily and easily raid the sup-ply trains needed to feed an army anddisappear into the forest. And theynever gave their permission. Eric waspleased well enough that the Brigandsno longer raided into the easternreaches of the kingdom.

Eric deployed his army so that hisnorthernmost, or left flank, was an-chored by a nearly sheer cliff face,where the Scarlet Mountains roseabruptly from the valley in which thearmy now stood. To the right was theriver that carved out the valley, nowdeep in its own gorge some quarter-mile from the cliffs, fed by lakes evenhigher in the mountains. The tops ofthe cliffs were still shrouded in morn-ing mist. From the other side of thegorge, the Scarlet Mountains rose incliffs again and continued south forsome distance until they faded into theterritory of the Brigands. This was oneof the most beautiful places in the king-dom. When the sun set at certain timesof year, the red granite of the cliff wallswere completely lit and glowed as if onfire, and the entire valley was bathed ina red glow. There was no way into the

Prologueby Brian Stretcher

This is the beginning of a tale. If you wouldlike to read more, write to Brian or the editor.

The Kommandeur 7kingdom except through this valley,and through the army that now stood inthe path of some 35,000 troops of theEastern Empire.

Eric=s thoughts were interrupted bythe oppressive sound of Eastern Empirewar horns. Meant to intimidate the en-emy as much as signal their owntroops, the sound was magnified as itechoed off the cliff walls. Three longblasts sounded. A few horses neighednervously. “Steady there, lads,” saidSpencer. Spencer was on his horse tothe King=s left, while the Princess wason her own horse to the right. “Perhaps,m=lady, Emperor Kang wishes an intro-duction to the ladies in your service.After all, he has never been properlyintroduced.”

True enough. The Rogues had en-tered service after the last battle ofHellfire Pass, and women in servicewere still a novelty in most of the east-ern kingdoms. “Aye,” Sarabeth replied.“He will have to learn that it isn’tproper to come calling on a lady tooearly in the morning.” She lurchedslightly to go to her station, but herbrother reached out and caught hershoulder with a gloved hand. Sheturned to face him. Her blonde hairblew in the wind. Eric didn’t like theway she refused to wear a helmet, buteven as King, there were some thingshe could not tell his sister to do. “Goodhunting, sister,” he said. She noddedslightly and replied, “Good hunting,brother.” She turned to her sub -co mmander. “To your stat ions ,Rogues!” she commanded, and thewomen rode off.

Eric watched her go for a moment.“Sound the first pass,” Eric ordered. Atrumpet blew, three short blasts. Thatwas the signal for the front line to openranks so that the Rogues could passinto the front. After a few moments, theRogues were through, standing in askirmish line about 100 paces in frontof the main line, the light horse spreadout close behind. The enemy, mean-while, had passed the tree line and wasforming on the slope, some 600 pacesbelow.

“I do believe the Emperor has de-cided to lead with his horse,” observedSpencer, somewhat bemused. “Indeed,”said the King, slightly discomforted bythe thought. It was common practicefor the Empire to lead with its own

(Continued on page 9)

The VP’s Corner by Bert Schneider

I’m excited to be part of the newAHIKS leadership team!

Like some of our members, I gotstarted with wargames back when Iwas in Middle School and then HighSchool. I continued my fondness ofplaying and collecting these gameson into college. After college I con-tinued to play wargames with associ-ates from work and others. Then amilestone came that forever changedmy game playing habits. I had myfirst date with a lady who is now mywife. After we got married, mywargaming days seemed numbered.Going back to get my Masters degreetook a toll, as well. I stopped playing,completely. I sold off most of mygames, and I never thought I wouldget back into this hobby again. Well,four years ago, I found myself recov-ering from major surgery, and I hadsome time on my hands. I startedbuying up some of my old favoriteAvalon Hill wargames. I even boughta few SPI games. I discoveredAHIKS. I started playing wargamesagain—and it was fun!

I never thought I would have aunique opportunity to work withCharles Marshall, Paul Qualtieri, BobBest, Brian Stretcher, Omar DeWitt,Dave Bergmann, and Andy Johnsonto help lead AHIKS into the 21st cen-tury. I’m really looking forward tothis “journey.” We have a great dealof work to do. After getting togetherwith Charles and the other officers,we will report back to you, the mem-bers of AHIKS, with our thoughts,ideas, and plans. We certainly willwant to get your feedback andthoughts as well, since this is yourgroup.

I think Peter Perla summed uphow I feel about wargaming when hewrote the following in his book “TheArt of Wargaming.” “What is itabout hobby wargamers that inspiressuch devotion and sacrifice by theirplayers (not to mention their fami-lies)? Competition, fellowship, andspending an enjoyable social eveningcertainly play a part in the attraction,but those can be obtained in sports,or bridge, or any number of otherpastimes. What makes wargaming

unique is its ability to teach its playerssomething about war and somethingalso about themselves. These are thesame characteristics that make profes-sional wargames important researchand educational tools. The designers,players, and analysts of hobbywargames have far more in commonwith their professional counterpartsthan either group may imagine or careto admit.”

For those who want to get to knowme a little more, you are welcome toconnect to my Facebook at:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?sid=c8982259bf4836435a4d27abbd9da329&id=1390705548&hiq=bert%2Cschneider

“It is common sense to take amethod and try it. If it fails, admit itfrankly and try another. But above all,try something.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Bert Schneider

BERT BACKPACKING IN THE CATALINA

8 The Kommandeur

PUBLICATION DEADLINESArticles will be accepted at any time

though submission of an article does notguarantee its publication. News items willbe accepted if received in sufficient time toallow production schedules to be met.Deadline for next issue: March 31, 2009.

GENERAL INFORMATIONThe Kommandeur (K) is the official

newsletter of AHIKS, an internationalsociety of mature adults who playhistorical simulation games by mail.AHIKS is an organization of amateurs,staffed by volunteers, and is not affiliatedwith any game company or publisher.Society dues are yearly. Additionalinformation about current rates is availablefrom the Treasurer. Subscriptions to TheKommandeur are available to non-members at $3 per issue. We do not acceptadvertising. We do accept “ad trades” onan issue-for-issue basis with otherpublications and organizations. Directinquiries to the Editor.

TreasuryNotes

that there may be no way to followthe action in an individual game.Your players may not be totally will-ing to keep and provide their recordsfor you to follow.

As a gamemaster, however, youget to follow the action of a singlegame closely. Other than serving asthe master of fate and final arbiter ofdisputes, it is fun to observe a gameunfolding over time, seeing both mis-takes and brilliant play. Sometimesit’s difficult to keep one’s mouthshut, but you have to in order to befair. But, being a GM is almost asmuch fun as playing yourself, withoutthe burden of having to work outmoves in a timely fashion.

The nice thing about running ei-ther a game or a tournament is thatneither takes a great deal of time inthis day of email. My time is pre-cious, and I don=t have a lot of it leftover for gaming, but squeezing in aquick note to players or rolling a fewdice takes little time at all. A regularPBM offering shouldn’t take muchadditional time, although it will costsome postage. Cost can be a majordrawback to a snail-mail tournament.

To run a tournament, you don=teven need to set up the game, youjust need a copy of the rules and er-rata, and the map for reference. Torun a game, you will need to eitherset up the game, keep a paper recordof unit locations, or use one of theavailable PBEM computer programs,such as Cyberboard, VASSAL, orWarplanner.

I know there are some of you outthere who find you have little time toactually play the games you love, orno space in which to play them. How-ever, you can become just a littlemore involved in your society byoffering a tournament or to serve asGM. It=s well worth the small timeinvestment.

Treasurer=s ReportI have very little to report this

issue. The renewals were sent to theSecretary with the votes, and so thisreport does not reflect the receipt ofprint renewals or contributions to thePerpetual Fund. Those will not cometo me for a few days yet, and so thatupdate will have to wait until nextissue. I can tell you that our total in-terest income for calendar year 2008

A Bedtime StoryElsewhere in this issue I have pro-

vided an account of the beginning of amedieval battle. I hope it provides youwith some modest amusement. Pleasedon=t take me to task for the story beinghistorically inaccurate, because I knowit is. There is a deliberate blend of bothancient and medieval tactics andweapon systems. In that regard, thestory is probably closer to what youwould find in a fantasy novel than anyhistorical accounting of a battle, andthat=s what I had in mind. Fantasybooks, even the good ones, rarely givea good description of numbers, tactics,weapons, or the flow of battle, becausethe stories generally focus only on themain characters’ part of the action.This one does both.

The story was not originally writtenfor wargamers, however, but for aspiritual retreat for teenagers. So, thereare a number of underlying themeswithin the story. I’ll leave those for youto discover. Omar asked me if therewas more. At this time there is not any-thing concrete, but, if there is interest, Imight be able to come up with more.

GM vs. Tournament MasterOne of the things AHIKS can pro-

vide to gamers is a source of both gameand tournament masters who areknowledgeable, reliable, and fair. Ihave had the pleasure of serving asboth, as in my previous War at Seatournament, and currently as gamemas-ter for a Third Reich game.

I greatly enjoyed running the WAStournament, as I got to know some newpeople, a couple of whom are now inmy inner gaming circle. And, it wasvery easy to run. If you organize a tour-nament properly, it mostly runs itself.Only a little prodding is needed tomake sure your players are actuallymaking progress. More difficult is deal-ing with persons who start the tourna-ment but can’t complete it, as that cre-ates holes in the field of players. Butpatience and understanding go a longway towards keeping your participantshappy and involved. About the onlydrawback to running a tournament is

was $242.06, the equivalent of morethan 26 print memberships.

Starting Checking Balance (12-1-08):$ 2,139.42

Income:Dues and contributions: $ 0.00Expenses:K December >08 Printing $ 88.35Transfer to Perpetual Fund $ 0.00Checking Balance as of 2-1-09:

$ 2,051.07

Perpetual Fund Balance, 12-1-08:$ 2,666.14

Interest Income: $ 0.00Contributions transferred fromchecking: $ 0.00Perpetual Fund Balance 2-1-09:

$ 2,666.14

Operating funds in CD, 12-1-08:$ 5,660.62

Interest Income: $ 0.00Operating funds in CD, 2-1-09:

$ 5,660.62

Total balance in CD, 2-1-09:$ 8,326.76

Total Treasury, 2-1-09: $ 10,377.83

Until next time, Brian Stretcher

The Kommandeur 9

missile units, to disrupt the enemy linebefore attacking. The Empire was notknown for its horsemen but did havereliable medium infantry, and lots ofthem. Eric did not savor the idea of theRogues having to outrun charginghorse, even if it was uphill.

After about two minutes, the enemyhorse had formed and began moving upthe bare slope. They moved slowly atfirst, at a walk, but slowly increasedspeed. Too slow, and the Rogues mighttear them to pieces before they reachedthe line, too fast and they would bespent before they reached the main lineand easily defeated by the rested infan-try. The Rogues had an effective rangeof about 300 paces, and so they waited.

But, more and more horse eruptedfrom the trees. Those in front weremoving faster now, at a rapid trot.Those behind followed up rapidly.There must have been a good 3,000 ofthem, enough that their movementcould be felt through the ground towhere Eric was sitting on his ownhorse. Close enough that Eric could seethat these were not the typical lighthorse of the Empire, but heavy cavalry,heavily armored, with riders that weresimilarly clad. Mercenaries!

Faster they came. The ground wasshaking now, the bedrock below thethin layer of topsoil rumbling with thethunder of 12,000 hooves. Closer theycame, then faster. The Rogues in frontcould now see the dirt being thrownfrom the horses hooves. At 200 paces,the order went out. “Loose!” shoutedthe sub-commanders, and 600 arrowsflew into the air, down the slope at theoncoming horse. But few fell. Most ofthe arrows simply bounced off theheavy armor, or were caught by theheavy wooden shields of the riders.Undaunted, the Rogues withdrew sev-eral paces, and fired again. And again.The horse still came.

“Sound the recall, now!” orderedEric. Trumpets again, this time a differ-ent pattern. The Rogues quickly scram-bled ahead of the advancing horse andthrough the ranks of infantry. Somewere lifted to safety by the light horse,which similarly withdrew. The enemyhorse were drifting to the King=s left, tohit the left side of the line. Meanwhile,the Imperial archers had come out offrom behind the tree line, and wereadvancing up the slope, followed di-rectly by swarms of infantry. Recogniz-

(Continued from page 7)

Thanks to everyone who voted inthe election. I’ll try to fulfill theneeds of the Society and fill Roger’sshoes as best as I can. The numberone Society need, based on the emailsI have received in the one day sincethe election results were announced,is an internet die roller. This projectrequires the participation of the Web-master, and I will get this moving. Iam looking forward to working withCharles, as well as the rest of the So-ciety leadership, to implement someof the interesting ideas contained incampaign promises.

My gaming choices favor gamesover simulations although I will FTFplay most anything. One PBM matchI have ongoing is a Richthofen'sWar scenario using the 5-secondgame variant published in The Gen-eral. It doesn’t get more gamey thanthat. It’s great fun and a game I willcontinue to play. On the other ex-treme side of the game/simulationspectrum I am in a non-AHIKSPBEM Whistling Death QS game.Also fun, although much more workand complex than RW. I have a non-AHIKS Cyberboard game of Down-town in progress. Downtown is mycurrent favorite, and I recommend itto anyone interested in Vietnam or airoperations.

Downtown is a relatively recentrelease and Richthofen’s War isancient by comparison. Like most ofthe membership, I buy and play new

games, but I mostly play games Ihave been playing for a long while.The approximate average age of thegames listed in the Open Match Re-quests in The K, mine included, is 27years. Twenty-seven year old gamesin a hobby in which conventionalwisdom holds that there is a “state-of-the-art” in game design are severalgenerations removed from playerscoming into the hobby who are learn-ing on games which are currentlycommercially available . Playingnewer games will attract newer gam-ers. I believe it can be that simpleonce we get the message out.

Newer is not necessarily better,but it can be. I was crushed in a Cy-berboard Fire in the Sky game withmultiple email exchanges per turn inthe same time it took to do three snail-mail Panzerblitz exchanges. Fire inthe Sky PBEM was an intense andenjoyable game experience madepossible by email and computer gameaids.

I will certainly have more infor-mation as I work into the Match Co-ordinator position. Until then pleasesend any suggestions or ideas to meat:PAUL@PDQSC.COM orAHIKS@LIVE.COM.

Once again, thanks everybody foryour current and continued support.

Regards, Paul Qualtieri

Greetings from Our New MatchCoordinator

ing the danger, Eric ordered Spencerto take half the Guard Horse to theleft, in case any mercenaries brokethrough. They would have to hold.

The mercenaries thundered ahead.Undaunted by the Rogues= arrows,they closed on the King=s left flank.One hundred paces out, they loweredtheir lances, yelled, and pressed homethe charge. By training, the front fourranks of infantry knelt down, plantedtheir pikes into the ground, and drewtheir shields across their bodies.Mother Earth shook as momentspassed like hours. Finally, steel metsteel. Men and horses screamed.

TO BE CONTINUED? IF YOU WANTTO READ MORE , CONTACT BRIANSTRETCHER OR THE EDITOR.

10 The Kommandeur

Standby opponents for new members only

Ron Brooker 1252 Bull RunPaul Heiser 1051 Afrika Korps, Gettysburg

88, WaterlooRobert Johnson 0073 Russian Campaign,

Stalingrad (Holcombevariant), Bulge-65, -81Rick Roksiewicz 1108 Victory in the PacificThomas Oleson 0111 Anzio

(Anyone who desires to be listed as standby fornew members please inform the MC.)

Open Match Requests from Paul QualtieriIn requesting matches, it’s helpful if you use the Match Re-

quest Form available in each issue of The Kommandeur or onthe AHIKS website http://ahiks.com/. Mail the request to me at143 Wainwright Manor, Summerville, SC 29485, or email theequivalent information (including your email address) to me at:paul@pdqsc.com. When a match is set up, only one of the play-ers should request ICRKs for all players.

If you plan to change or have changed your address, phonenumber, or email address, please let Secretary Bob Best knowas soon as possible to avoid delay in the receipt of your Kom-mandeur, ICRKs, and other valuable AHIKS information.

Please send top portion of completed ICRKs to Match RatingOfficer Andy Johnson.

1776 (AH) (1442) Herbst1904-5 (Avalanche) (0916) Dandy E1914 (AH) (1554) Trosky MAdv. Squad Leader (AH) (1382) Massey EAdv. Third Reich (1430) Warnick CyberAfrika Korps (AH) (0757) Qualtieri CyberAfrika Korps (AH) (1252) Brooker MAfrika Korps (AH) (1051) Heiser MAfrika Korps (AH) (1567) Driver ADC 2Agincourt (GDW) (0200) Bowie MAnzio (AH) (0111) OlesonBattles for Ardennes (SPI) (0757) Qualtieri CyberBlitzkrieg ‘75 (AH) (0011) Betros AnyBreakout Normandy (AH) (1413) LongestBull Run (AH) (1442) HerbstChickamauga (SPI) (0044) DeWitt ECivil War (VG) (1315) Reid ECruiser Warfare (Avalanche) (0916) Dandy ED-Day 77 (AH) (1567) Driver ADC 2Diplomacy (AH) (1442) HerbstDrive on Paris (Gamers) (0275) ScanlanFifth Frontier War (GDW) (1315) ReidFrederick the Great (AH) (0757) Qualtieri CyberGettysburg ‘88 (AH) (0711) Leonard EGreat War at Sea (Avalanche) (0916) Dandy EGuns of August (AH) (1554) Trosky E/MInkerman 1854 (SPI) (0044) DeWittInvasion America (SPI) (1382) Massey CyberJutland (AH) (1554) Trosky MLuftwaffe (AH) (1554) Trosky E/MMidway: Turning Point (Aval) (0036) Yarwood MMidway (GDW) (0275) ScanlanNATO (VG) (1315) ReidNATO (VG) (0757) Qualtieri CyberPanzer Leader (AH) (0757) Qualtieri CyberPaths of Glory (AH) (1243) O’ConnorRichthofen’s War (AH) (1554) Trosky E/MRussian Campaign (AH) (1051) Heiser MRussian Campaign (L2) (1466) Svensson

Russian Campaign (AH) (1345) Scarborough MRussian Campaign (AH) (1551) Dohrman CyberStalingrad (AH) (1567) Driver ADC 2Twilight Struggle (GMT) (1382) Massey CyberA Victory Lost (MMP) (1243) O’ConnorVietnam (1315) Reid EWar & Peace (AH) (1554) Trosky E/MWar at Sea (AH) (1345) Scarborough EWaterloo (AH) (1051) Heiser M

Members willing to volunteer as GM

Achtung! Spitfire—William Lindow 0988Flight Leader—Paul Qualtieri 0757History of World—Jeff Miller 1303Midway (GDW)—Bill Scanlan 0275

E (member requests e-mail only) M (member requestsmail only) E/M (either OK) Cyber (Cyberboard)

Note: this list is updated periodically between issues of TheKommandeur at http://ahiks.com/.

From ChesterIt has been my honor and privilege to serve the

Society. I salute those who served, those who volun-teered, and those who will steer the good ship AHIKSinto a brighter day.

The Society is in as capable hands as it has everbeen, and I look forward to the direction of the newadministration.

Simply a proud Member of the Best Wargaming Soci-ety Ever,

Your Buddy, Chester

The Kommandeur 11

career or my son, and I chose my son.It wasn't a hard decision; being an ex-animator in the Bay Area of San Fran-cisco isn't the worst situation to be in(the kid's not bad, either!), so I startedmy own home-based business doingcontract work for various animationand production houses. I'm currentlyinvolved in the development side of arender engine which consists of a lot ofless-than-thrilling but steady test work.

I'll wrap this up with my turn-onsand turn-offs. Okay, forget the turn-offs. Here are the turn-ons: wargaming(go figure); history (favorites: Rommel,Napoleon, Washington); mechanicalthings (cars, cuckoo clocks, orchestri-ons); musical things (concertinas, bag-pipes, hurdy-gurdys); sports (football,hockey, racing); food (German, Indian,Greek); music (Jazz, classical, 70s prog-rock); hiking and camping; flyingthings (boomerangs, Zeppelins, kites,WWI-era aircraft); all things Scottish;all things Victorian (penny-farthingbicycles, mutton chops, Sher lockHolmes); smoking and bbqing meats;cars ('67 Volvo P1800s, '64 and '71VW Karmann Ghia); my wife (shemight read this); and most definitelymy little man, Zane.

So, that's me. But I intend to makeAHIKS about you, the membership. Ilook forward to working with everyonein this incredible Society—officers andmembers alike. Much like our previousPresident, I, too, will be 100% avail-able via phone, email, or video-phoneat nearly any time of the day or night. Itis not my place to command or dictate;my place will be to act as a conduitthrough which the membership will beable to take an active part in the direc-tion of our Society. So, please, put yourhand on the wheel and steer this shipwith me. Our progress depends uponthe input of our membership.

Thanks, Charles Marshall

(Continued from page 1)

Book ReviewThe Savage Wars of PeaceSmall Wars and the Rise of AmericanPowerby Max Boot428 pages, maps, photographs©2002 Basic BooksReviewed by Omar DeWitt

Surprisingly, this may be the onlybook on America’s small wars. Thereare several on those of Great Britainthat I have found interesting. Brit-ain’s Forgotten Wars, ColonialCampaigns of the 19th Century byIan Hernon and Victorian MilitaryCampaigns, edited by Brian Bond,are two of them.

The first of our small wars wasagainst the pirates of North Africa,the Barbary Wars of 1801-1805. Tolist a few of our other wars: China1859, Korea 1871, Samoa 1899,China 1900, Philippines 1899, Carib-bean 1898-1924, Mexico 1916, Rus-sia 1918, Vietnam 1959-1975.

The author has some interestingthings to say about the Vietnam con-flict. The U.S. marines had run someinteresting small wars in CentralAmerica against guerillas, but West-moreland handled the war as if hewere fighting against Germany inWWII. This approach did not work,since the North Vietnamese just dis-appeared into the jungles when facedwith a large opponent. Westmore-land’s war ignored the civilians, whowere feeding and hiding the guerillas.There were a few cases where a cou-ple dozen marines were given care ofa small group of villages. They frater-nized with the civilians and protectedthem. These villages, which had beensupporting guerillas, stopped doingso and thrived. The author isn’t surethis would have worked all over thecountry, but it would have had a bet-ter chance than the plan in use.

Mr. Boot is not happy with theAmerican policy of interveningabroad with the goal of accepting nocasualties. “Any nation bent on impe-rial policing will suffer a few set-backs. The British army, in the courseof Queen Victoria’s little wars, suf-fered major defeats with thousands ofcasualties in the First Afghan War(1842) and the Zulu War (1879). Thisdid not appreciably dampen British

From the EditorWe have a new president, vice presi-

dent, and match coordinator. You havealready read their greetings to the mem-bership. I am encouraged because they allseem ready for their posts and have excel-lent ideas for our future.

The UK AHIKS has had trouble get-ting/keeping members. They plan to dis-cuss their future in March, and we hopeto relay the outcome. Considering the sizeof Great Britain and the US, and the smallnumber of members we have, it is notsurprising that they are having trouble.We hope something positive comes fromtheir meeting. If not, we encourage theremaining members to join us. Free, ofcourse, to the web members.

The Chit Holding service we haveoffered in the past has been withdrawn.There was essentially no member requestfor the service.

The password for this issue is“Arquebus.” Originally a heavy match-lock gun, later the name was applied towheel-lock guns, and finally came tomean a gun of fine workmanship as dis-tinguished from the musquet, or commonmilitary arm. One of the earliest mentionsof the arquebus was its use by the Swissat the capture of Neuregensberg in 1386,in the war with Sempach. It was also usedat the siege of Rapperswill in 1388.

When I asked the membership for clipart or information on how to get it, I gotno reply. Apparently no one knew. I fi-nally discovered Clip-art.com and paidfor a month’s subscription (out of myown pocket). Clipart had thousands ofpictures and a few that I thought wereappropriate for The Kommandeur. Youwill find a few of them in this issue.

I am interested in buying a copy ofAfrika Korps. If you have a copy forsale, let me know its price. I am mostlyinterested in the map.

determination to defend and expand theempire; it made them hunger for venge-ance. If Americans cannot adopt asimilarly bloody-minded attitude, thenthey have no business undertaking im-perial policing.”

The author writes well and has in-telligent arguments. The book was veryinteresting.

12 The Kommandeur

CENTRAL OFFICES SUPPORT SERVICE OFFICERS

The web version of this issue (incolor) is available at our website(www.AHIKS.com).User name = “AHIKS”Password = “Arquebus ” (Both arecase sensitive; do not include thequote marks. If you use the CapsLock to write AHIKS, be sure to takeit off for Arquebus .)

If you still have trouble accessingthe web version, contact Tom Thorn-sen at the address above.

44/1

As AHIKS strives to keep costs and dues down, there is something you can do to help. Our Per-petual Fund, started by Bruce Monnin and Frederick Kraus, can always use more donations. The in-terest from the Fund helps lower the dues. A few dollars from you could help AHIKS become totallycost free. Give it some thought. Send Brian Stretcher a couple of dollars.

Brian Stretcher5282 Deer Path, Milford, OH 45150-9418

EDITOR/PUBLISHEROmar DeWitt1580 Bridger Road NERio Rancho, NM 87144-1579(505) 891-8846AHIKSomar@cableone.net

SECRETARYBob Best4307 South Larwin AvenueConcord, CA 94521(925) 798-8608b52bob@prodigy.net

JUDGEDave Bergmann429 Countryside CrSanta Rosa, CA 95401-8011(707) 528-0800opusone1945@sonic.net

MSO-RATINGSAndy Johnson III2951 Carlsbad CircleAurora, IL 60503-5612(630) 820-3991DADJ3@AOL.com

PRESIDENTCharles Marshall151 Scenic Ave.San Anselmo, CA 94960(415) 459-8699chasmarsh@sbcglobal.net

VICE PRESIDENTBert Schneider12520 N. Lantern WayOro Valley, AZ 85755(520) 841-1295bertnpeggy@comcast.net

MATCH COORDINATORPaul Qualtieri143 Wainwright ManorSummerville, SC 29485(843) 709-5396paul@pdqsc.com

TREASURERBrian Stretcher5282 Deer PathMilford, OH 45150-9418(513) 576-6466comDoctorlaw@juno.com

WEB SITE MANAGERTom Thornsen113 Glensummer RdHolbrook, NY 11741-5007(631) 472-3566Bjorn2wok@aol.com

MULTIPLAYER COORDINATORRobert Johnson338 Lexington StYork, PA 17403bobjinpa@comcast.net

UNIT COUNTER POOLBrian Laskey162 Hull StreetAnsonia, CT 06401(203) 732-1009Magikchristian@sbcglobal.net

ARCHIVISTWilliam A. Perry21 Fitzgerald LaneColumbus, NJ, 08022(609) 298-9823bpilot8@comcast.net

WEB SITE ADDRESSwww.AHIKS.com

The Kommandeur 13

AHIKS Top 40 Active PlayersWith a Rating Qualifier “C” or greater in all categories.

Players with the same Rating are then ranked by Qualifier (Number of Games Played - Number of Different Opponents– Number of Different Titles). All match completions as of December 31, 2008.

We have a new Top-40 leader. Brian Stretcher has passed Kevin McCarthy into the number one rating position.

Rank AHIKSNumber Rating

Number ofgames &qualifier

Number ofopponents

&

Numberof

titles &

1 885 B Stretcher 1980 69 M 23 K 28 O2 496 K McCarthy 1885 19 G 8 F 4 D3 707 P Landry 1780 32 I 11 H 6 F4 901 A Fickbohm 1775 10 D 5 E 3 C5 1007 R Heller 1770 57 L 17 J 15 K6 1051 P Heiser 1755 50 K 23 K 11 I7 299 A Bowie 1670 65 M 22 K 21 M8 1222 C Minshew 1665 36 I 15 I 9 H9 377 D Grant 1645 22 G 9 G 11 I

10 746 D Tierney 1625 44 J 17 J 14 J11 444 F Kraus 1625 30 H 15 I 8 G12 1345 T Scarborough 1610 119 R 35 N 15 K13 1243 E O'Connor 1605 24 G 10 G 8 G14 544 L Jerkich 1605 14 E 6 E 6 F15 305 W Klitzke 1585 194 V 50 Q 40 R16 1263 C Xanthos 1585 9 D 5 E 4 D17 243 P Martin 1565 39 J 18 J 6 F18 914 R Shurdut 1565 13 E 5 E 5 E19 341 L Deck Sr 1560 38 J 23 K 13 J20 1264 J Unnerstall 1560 8 D 5 E 5 E21 988 B Lindow 1550 43 J 21 K 12 I22 1413 C Longest 1545 29 H 13 H 9 H23 364 T Holtz 1535 43 J 19 J 13 J24 951 N Markevich 1520 18 F 9 G 7 G25 1086 M Mitchell 1520 5 C 4 D 4 D26 1013 R Cottrell 1515 14 E 5 E 7 G27 1455 S Andriakos 1515 5 C 3 C 3 C28 36 M Yarwood 1505 82 O 30 M 26 N29 916 G Dandy 1475 13 E 6 E 5 E30 1217 J Harkins 1470 17 F 6 E 7 G31 470 T Thornsen 1470 63 M 26 L 18 L32 711 C Leonard 1455 57 L 19 J 7 G32 854 D Bergmann 1450 19 G 6 E 4 D34 1453 R Passow 1445 12 E 3 C 6 F35 1075 A Morley 1385 27 H 12 H 7 G37 451 J Mueller 1375 38 J 15 I 5 E38 225 R Segarra 1375 18 F 10 G 8 G39 1430 P Warnick 1350 14 E 6 E 6 F40 416 W Waldau 1345 16 F 9 G 6 F

Name

14 The KommandeurAHIKS Numerical Rating Chart

W/L: Winner gains & loser loses listed valueDraw: Add value to lower player, subtract from higher

Difference inrating points

Higher ratedplayer wins

Lower ratedplayer wins

If a draw, lowerplayer wins

0 to 50 70 70 051 to 100 65 75 5101 to 150 60 80 10151 to 200 55 85 15201 to 250 50 90 20251 to 300 45 95 25301 to 350 40 100 30351 to 400 35 105 35401 to 450 30 110 40451 to 500 25 115 45501 to 550 20 120 50551 to 600 15 125 55601 to 650 10 130 60651 to 700 5 135 65

701+ 0 140 70

QualifierNumber of

gamesNumber of different

opponents playedNumber of different

game titles

A 1 to 2 1 1B 3 to 4 2 2C 5 to 6 3 3D 7 to 10 4 4E 11 to 14 5 to 6 5F 15 to 18 7 to 8 6G 19 to 24 9 to 10 7 to 8H 25 to 30 11 to 13 9 to 10I 31 to 36 14 to 16 11 to 12J 37 to 44 17 to 19 13 to 14K 45 to 52 20 to 23 15 to 17L 53 to 60 24 to 27 18 to 20M 61 to 70 28 to 31 21 to 23N 71 to 80 32 to 36 24 to 26O 81 to 90 37 to 41 27 to 29P 91 to 100 42 to 46 30 to 32Q 101 to 115 47 to 52 33 to 36R 116 to 130 53 to 58 37 to 40S 131 to 145 59 to 65 41 to 45T 146 to 160 66 to 70 46 to 50U 161 to 175 71 to 75 51 to 55V 176 to 200 76 to 80 56 to 60W 201 to 225 81 to 85 61 to 65X 226 to 250 86 to 90 66 to 70Y 251 to 275 91 to 95 71 to 75Z 276+ 96+ 76+

Qualifiers For the AHIKS Rating System

Note: All new players start with a rating of 1200.

The Kommandeur 15

AHIKS MATCH REQUEST FORMComplete this form and send to the AHIKS Match Coordinator via postal mail or e-mail.

Name _______________________________________________ AHIKS number ______ Date ______________

Address _____________________________________________________________________________________

Phone __________________________ email _______________________

Initial here if you do not object to having your email address included in the open match request list ___________Note: This will allow other members to contact you directly. Your email address will only be included in The Kand the ahiks.com match request lists.

Additional instructions/comments:

Game

Com

pany

Version

Postal

ICRK(dr#)

OOB Combatsheet

PBEM Other*

Cyber-board

ADC2 Vassal Other :Specify

1

2

3

4

* Enter any or all of the following codes:

A = Area match only

G# = Will game-master this number of players

N = Will play new member

E = Send my match assignment by e-mail

F = Will play fast opponent only

M = Desire multiplayer match with this # of players

O = Will play opponents outside of US/Canada

S = Desire slow play

AHIKS Match Coordinator

Paul Qualtieri143 Wainwright ManorSummerville, SC 29485(843) 709-5396paul@pdqsc.com