I j.o

WARGAM ER'S NEWSLETTER

No. 94.

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE ,FOR THOSE WHO

FIGHT BATTLES WITH MODEL SOLDIERS

JANUARY 1970.

- - ~

THE LITERATURE OF WARGAMING

Books by Donald Featherstone Personillly inscribed arid signed by the author.

"WARGAMES"_Battles with model sold iers. lli. 6<1. (53.50)

"NAVAL WARGAMES"_Sea Battles with model sh ips. 31s. 6<I. ($'4.75)

"AIR WARGAMES"_B3ttles with model lI i r(nllft. 3Is.6<I. ($4.75)

"ADVANCED WARGAMES"-Th is follow-up book to "Wargames" introduces a host of new ideas and brings the hobby up-le-date. ~S$. Od. (S5.25)

" H:l.NvBOUK 1'\."': !·; OJ.l:.L ... A LDI_:.t CLLL !::c'r a~t:; ". ,\n eszc ntia l reference book givinG de tails of t he worl u ' s f iGure­makers , museums, prints , books , records , dioram~ s . etc, e tc . Specia l edition f o r :la r ga mer ' s Newaletter sub ­scribers 16s.Gd. ( ,&2 . _'0 ),

"THE BOWMEN OF ENGLANO"-The story of the English archer and his longbow. 3Is.6d. ($4.75)

"ATTHEMWITH THE BAYONEn"_The 1st Sikh War 1845-6. 31s. 6d. ($1.75)

"ALL FOR A SHILLING A DAY"-The story of the 16th lancers In the Sikh War 1&45-6. ~.e;;:. :- :y out o f pri nt! . l i·e'·J l e ft a t 128 .- '; .

($1. 50) , sit""nec. b.: t h e a ut ho r .

NOJ AVAIL R:"'':; _ .;":?: .... :::;:.: :'H~ II E \i~L~·r 'r ..::] .

Fa csiQ::e ~e~~oduc tions o f t he 1s t ~di t ion of H . ~ . . /ells f~co:ls boo~ .r:":::'I'Li:: ;,'/d~S " 3 1s . 6d . (;64. 00 ) .

" -.;1 ... :; : :"1-. ~.I...) ';;L ..j lJL DI l!:rlS 1893-1 9 18 " an illustra t ­ed r e f erence ~..:.i c.e : o r collectors . Th i s is a b e a ut ifully i llustra te.:! C.:)o i! b y pe r ha p s the worl t! ' s g r ea te s t authority on Br itains so: :E e~s . L • . ; . :nCHIl. .\V.:; . 31s . 6d . ($4 . 00 ) .

cOIn:m s~e~:.! ! .!n the process of b e ing printed , the follo .. in ;- o oo...:: s o:r ..,Ionb.l d Fe a t hers t o ne Idll be a v a ilab le e a rly n e x t .;' e _~ .

",; ,"\.RG"M£ C ..... t.: :- : :i..s·' ( Stanley Paul Li mi ted).

" HILl i',,:iY !~L_::"":':!;'::;' ( i\aye and ilurd , London, ~Iit h Yo s doff !l ew York . )

OI B.,TrL.:.S _: .. !'.C ....:.. .. LDI !~R STI ( David a n d Cha rles ) .

A series of handbooks dealing with wargaming

Rules for AnO~N Wuga;"1e$ (1 000 B.C. to 900 A.D.) by Tony Bath.

2 Rules for Med.RvV pe,.,od by Tony Bath.

Rules for 1750 pet";od " Europe (with supplementary rules for operations in America) by T any &th.

Rul~s (or NapoleonIC V.'Mpmes by Donald Featherstone.

5 Rules (or Am~nCiln Cr. WM g1mes by Donald Featherstone.

6 Rules for late 19th Century Wargames (including Colonial Wars against Natives) by Donald Feath~ntone..

Rules (or 1917 period wargam~ in German South·West Africa (including rules for early tanks, armoured an, etc.) by Donald Featherstone.

8 Rules (or 19-+1 Normandy.type wargame by Philip Barke r.

3s. 6d. each (SOC.) or the S~t 018 for I guinea ($3.00) including postage.

"WARGAMES TERRAIN"- IOs. 6d. ( SI.50). Illustrated booklet describing how to cOO$truct realistic battlefields.

See: "WARGAMERS NEWSLETTER" for more handbooks now In process of prodUCtion.

ALL THESE BOOKS AND BOOKLETS MAY BE ORDERED FROM

THE EDITOR, WARGAMERS NEWSLETTER

Prices ;nclude postage and packing,

WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER

No. 94. January 1970.

EDITORIAL

A happy war gaming New Year to you all! Kay your dice always turn up 6 's, your tactical plans be fault­less, your opponents a menable and magnanimous and your own patience inexhaus tible! May the acrimony and dis­sent that riddles the hobby be .llowed to siemer down so that mutual respect and toleration is encouraged by personal contact and meetings between clubs and in­dividuals. ~e might never be able to have universal sets of rules but we can at least be reasonable and courteous when fighting under those not of our own de ­vising.

This issue of the Newsletter see:s to be rather over-weighed with news about books. the one band, this might be frustrating because today books are highly prieed and appear in such profuaion that only .& milliona ire could afford to keep up and there are just not enough hours in tbe day to read the. all . On the other hand, r eading about aoldiers and wars is the very 11fe blood of wargacing's e8s~tia1 backgroQDd. Only by reading accounts of past realities can we learn enough to formulate realistic res. to ~uild our armies up in correct and authentic fashion and numbers or fight our Oat.tl, •• in a tactically correct manner.

Do not push reading aside for ~ting, moulding and painting. It is no use baving the mOst wonderful ar~e8 if 10U know nothing about them. The hours spent in reading up a campaign before eabarking upon its tab l e-top r econstruction is time well epent. Only by such reading can t!!a varguer "get into the right mood" for what is to follow and, as every vargaze~ ~cvs. it is very tempting to plan a rmies and war­games for a particular period a! ~e~ ~e&ding a good book on tha subject.

Of course, I have a vested inte~e8t in urging you to read" because part ~iving comes from writing . ReTert~el~.3, if one has to say tbat there is a ",reat pleasure in life (no not tha~. ?onaonby!) then it is not unreasonable tbat it ~B reading books.

DON FEATHERSTONE.

WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER is edited and published (rom:

69 Hili Lane, Southampton, Hampshire, England, SOl SAD

£1. 16s .. 0d. United Kingdom; £2. Os. Cd. Overseas (15.0.0. In U.S.A. and Canada) ADVERTISIKG- RATES IN- THIS ' MAGAZINE

of my single to claim

Full Page Half Page

, .. ..; .. £5. -6. -d. ($12) .

£2.106 . -d. ($ 6) . C IQS8ifi~d adverts

Quarter Page i:: i ghth Page

£1. 55. -d. ($3). 125. 6d. ($1.50).

2d. (2c) per word.

2

GermQII kniChu socking and snling fir~ /0 <) ~llltk

,FIRING INTO THE BROWN!

I 'i the November Wargamer's Newsletter , Davel Hillw d will surely have aade Surenas turn in his g Te - putting his Partbians at Cannae in­stead f earrhae! Or, as the Inspector of Taxes , said the Batchelor who claimed childrens j

allow ce - "was this a typists error?" 'N .T.Thurbon.

(~t was NO typing error! Editor).

--oodoo---12 year old Christ Arnett of ·.est Vancpuver bas a wide selection of Colonial

units, all with the exception of two made f~om Airfix plastic figures. His Colonial armies consist of:-

Turkish infantry and cavalry; Bulgarian infantry and cavalry; 35th Sikh Regiment; 2nd Kaffir Guards; 2nd Scots ?usiliers; 17tb Regiment of France; French trained Chin­ese regulars; ArabSj Zionist fS--Qersj Boersj Zulu riflemen and spearmenj mounted Natal s ettlers; Mahdi spearmen and 8~ordsmen ; Afghan riflemen; RUssian Caucasian Rifle Brigade; 4th Russ i an Guards; Kounted Natal Nativesj Arab horsemen and camels; Dervish­es (made from Ancient Brito~s ) ; Mahdi Gatling gUD; Boer cannon and gunners ; British Royal Horse Artillery; French Horse Artillery; 5th Senegalesej 9th Regiment of the French Foreign Legion; German South~est African Troops; Moros; U.S . Infantry; Italian Bersaglieri; British Grenadier Guards; Italian sailors; Vietnamese infantry; British elephant gun ; 14th Algerian infantry; 1st Mexican infantry; Mexican Volunteer Cavalry; Fuzzy-Wuzzy with camels; Sa.oan regulars.

In the making areChinese Boxers , Tonkinese, French sailors, Egyptiansj 2nd west Indian Regiment. He is aleo aaking French and British gunboats to bombard villages of nativ~ supporting ei~her One of thes~ countries.

All of the troops : entioneo. have been converted out o"r standard Airfix fi gures. Exceptions are the 35th Sikhs and the Afghans which are metal figur~s .

---00000---i iiAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT •••• ?

DEPAJ~H2i:S SST UP BY THE FRENCH IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES Beg inning in 1792 vith the acquisition of Savoy, the French gave Department Nos .

to occupied territories. :n 1300 the French WOn t~o great victories over the Austri ­ans. Bonaparte defeated : hec at Marengo (4 June) and Genera l Moreau was the victor a t Bohenlinden (3 December ) . The hust rian Emperor was compelled to sue ror peace and by the Treaty of Luneville ( F'eb:"'ua.r J' 1807") recegnised the four client states set up by Revolutionary France. These vere the Batavian, Helvetian, Cisal pine and Li gurian republics - the first being Dut ch , the second Swiss and the l ast t~o Italian. Napo­leon 's Kingdom of Italy, where Prince Eugene de Beauharnais was Viceroy, was confined to Lombardy a nd Venetia. Defeats at Ulm and Austerlitz in 1805 led to further mutila­t ion of the Austrian Empire, ~or by the Treaty of Pressburg (26 December) the loyal Tyrolese were given to Napoleon's Bavarian allies and Austria lost three million SUbjects.

---00000---

HINT OF THE MONTH

Sometilll.e ago I discovered a product called "PRESSGRIP TACKY ADHESIVE", a thin, gummy-like substance sold in tubes and used spe cifically for tacking cine titling letters to background boards . It forms a ncn- permanent adhesive and I have found it invaluable tor attaching figures to trays in War gaming. I use Vinyl floor tiles, cut to size, for my trays (usually about 3" x 2") and all I do to set up a Company, Batta­lion or Regiment. etc. , is to put a spot of Pressgrip on the bottom of each figure's base and place the soldier in position. Wi t hin about 10 minutes the fi gures are firm aft« the adhesive is set. When the time comes to change the tra y or subtract casual­ties the figures are eased off with a little firm pressure , or by slid"ing a knife Dlade bet~een the base and the tray. Pressgrip , when it set s , becomes gummy and if 10U ~ant to clean either the bases or the trays a fterwa rds - a lit tle white spirit or ,etrol fluid will t ake away all vestiges of the adhes ive. This stuff works equally

CONTINUED ON PAGE '9 ----

,

THE tJSE Or MERCENARY TROOPS

by

Russell Vallance

Being a History under­graduate, I have recently been dOing some work on the rise ,of Sweden's Baltic Empire and I thought that a few observations on the strategic implica tions of the use of mercenary troops by a sma ll country mi ght be of interest to readers of the · t~ewsletter . I\lthough the examples I quote belong to the "Pik e and f·l usket" period they hold true for almost any period , I th ink.

'fhe hirin~ of mercen­ary troops by H country with limited resources was an extremely hazardous business. ::i weden ' s ex­periences in the . .;stonian campaigns of tbe 1570 ' s is _R~"'!!5/~"-a good example of this • .• t this time S./eden was clin ",: ­ing desperately to a few

3

footholds in Estonia and a ttempti!li: ~o 3dvc::o.nce to lh<? ~;ast and throttle i{ussia ' s tr.:uie outlet by seizing the city of har'1a . "t. the s a me time she f a ced conctnnt belli Gerency from Denmark, and being a country oi 6&illl population was fOl'ced to rely hea.vily on German mercenaries . :\ cO:::lon p.rac~ice s e emed to be to hire mercennries far beyond the countries capacity to par a:::d. ;::e= indulge in ' specul ;'t tive ~I'-Irl'are ', hopinG to seize a rich province or cit,. the :,e ve~lles of .... hich woul ':: pay the troops off . If thi"l failed , as it often did . then -:;!le .=e :-cenaries would be Given a few impor tant fort­resses as 'security' for their a:rears of pay . uuring the 1570 ' s the Swedes were forced to turn over 3 vital border fortresses to German mercenaries \~ho prorn.ptly sold them to the Danes and Sweden los~ seTeral valuable provinces in Southern ~weden to Denmark .

It thus became impe r ative !"o:- 3·oteden to seize Na, rva so Lort! rtuthven, a Scottish aristoc r at . was authorized 1:0 .:-a i se about 5 , 000 Scots mercenaries . 'i'hese tro ,)ps a rrived in Sweden and their !i:-s~ ~1 vas in the slight ly unusu~l currency of best dairy butter! They marc hed across 5¥eoen, r avaging the countryside, but refused to e!l\ba rk for ~stonia until t he i:- pay h.a::?: been brought up to date. 'rhe officers began to plot with Court facti~ns to oYe :,: ~~ov the KinS and in desperation he paid t hem money earmarked for t he P8.]': C:::lt. 0: .:. e :-c enaries (German) already in J.;stoni a . 'fhe Scots at l ast embarked. The ~vedisb c~der in Estonia was in a difficult position. He could not trust mercenaries to g~rison fortress es in case they sold them to the en en~

and so l arge numbers of loyal troo~s ¥e re tied up and his field a rmy was trds composed of German and clcots mercena ri es . 2e had to seize Narva quickly to r aise the money to pay the troops , but the troops would not advance until they had been paid. 'rhe mer ­cenaries were at last pers uadec ~o ~ove against a fortress to the weat of Narva but when the siege became protracted the ~ercenaries again refused to fight until they had been paid. A quarrel broke out be~ween the Scots and the Germans beca use the Scots had been paid more . and the ~uss ians looked on amazed as the two gr oups fought a pitched battle under the fortress valls whilst the Swedish troops s tood he l plessly by. About 3 , 000 of the Scots were massacred in this battle. Ruthv en and the remnants re­tired and tried to So over to the Russians , but were disarmed by the Swedes and RuthVen and his officers spent the re st of the ir lives in Swedi:;h pr i sons. The cam­paign, of , coYrs$l collapsed.

Bringing thi s type of chaotic campa i gn to the war games table i s a daunting pros­pect , but a campaign usine unreliable mercenaries could be more attract ive when there are at l east 4 people partiCipating as i t gives the subordin~te commander(s) much more scope for independent action and discourages the supreme commander from being too dictatorial. The campaign could be organised by the two protago~ists drawing up their

4

nationa.L armies with regard to a "war chest", a long the lines of Neil Cogswell's" 'Seven Years War rules described in the Newsletter, to the limit of their resources. ·'rbe two mercenary commanders then place a substantial force of merc enary units into 'a central pool. Each protagonist must employ a minimum number of mercenary units an~ the opponents can then bid for the rema inder, the commander offering the highest pay per week · winning. Unemployed units are kept in the pool and can be taken into servic, at any time. The players a re advanced the first three months mercenary pay by 'inter1 nationa l bankers' and have to repay the loan within twelve months. "After 6 months each player may discharge units who have been fully pai~ into the pool. Thus , each commander has more troops than he can pay for and must capture further sources of re-' venue: this c~ be easily handled by giving towns and fortresses varying cash values which can be collected after occupation of, say, a month. If further revenue is not captured then the commander must give fortresses and cities to the mercenaries who are at liberty to go over to- the enemy, or underpay his national troops, thereby re­ducing their morale. Mercenary troops often went for periods of 6 months or even a ,.ear without being 'Paid and a progressive 'table of disloyalty" can be worked out to ~over this s ituation. Al l kinds oI Machiavellian plots abounded - supreme commanders; ~ould crafti,ly arrange to put Ilercenary troops he owed money to in the mOst dangerous ~si~on in a~t~ SQ that thAf ~Qllld be killed off; mercenaries, suspecting this,

~metimes deliberately disobeyed tactical orders; subordinate commanders r eceived

efty bribes from the eneay to act tardily; mercenary units sometimes changed sides d fought for the enemy for free (and a ll the plunder they c ould get), and there was

lways the possibility of mercenaries acting as a third party by attempting a coup ~'etat or seizing a few cities and setting up a pe t ty kingdom.

The uae of mercenaries did have some advantages, though. They were usually weterans and fought well if paid well. Their morale can be computed separately from ~he rest of the aray and vas s ocetimes higher (witness the Irish troops at Culloden) . ~ercenaries sol d their loyalty for cash and would often remai. aloof from do~est ic political disturbanc es . LD ~he French Revolution the French-speaking Swiss regiments were the first to mu tiny whilst the German-speaking mercenaries remained a l oof: ­Harshal De Broglie wrote to Louis XVI in 1769 saying, "Of the 120 battalions of in-1antry and 80 battali6n3 of ca va lry under my command I can count on the loya lty of bnly 40 bat talions of fore ign t r oops". LOYRlty ~as to some extent a vested interest t'or-merclmary otttcns tar i~ vas their obj~ct to remain: tn em'fS1l:)yment anll t'0Q. much double dealing would jeopardize this . Trai torous subordinates were often l~able to instant execution (keep a loaded revolver in the wargames room). Use of mercenaries might be risky financiall1 but a small s tate always faced the problem that over­conscription and heavy c~5u&lties amongst nationa l troops couid lead to popular dis ­content and revol t necess itating the withdrawal of units from the campaign for the maintenance , of internal order.

'~onomic' wartare ~igh~ not a ppeal to many wargamers but it was a vital factor in most of the wars of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and ~ven such l arge states ,S France and Spain c ould be g reatly hindered in their campa igns by heavy debts (e.g. Phillip II in Bolland the the ?rench army in America 1776-83) . A campaign incorpora­ting a few of the sugges~ions above would get going more quickly as the force with a large mercenary componen t must act rapidly whilst the command~r can count on ~he loyalty of the troops . Long prot r acted Sieges would be dangerous and so the campaign would not bog down in t hi s direction. A reMlistic tension ia ,also create~ between the supreme commander and hi s subordina tes.

MERCEN!RIES! !

Charlie ',esencraft

The very name should make any commande~ tremble. Men who are prepared to sell their servic es and who will fight just as long as the money l~ts. Kingdoms can be won- using such troops - but who dares to t ue the risk of using them? Has the other side bribed them to turn a flank at a critical etage in the battle, or will they carr~ the position as instructed? These troops will have to be watcbed as clqsely as the enemy. pare you l eave them in reserve or will they suddenly fallon you from t_he rearr. For tho8e l}"llQ ', haltf! a ~h... 11;<t:~e t o use such troops I offer the following rules. For those who do not have this courage , who prefer to use only traPps on whom one can rel~ 100%, I wish the best of luck. Who knows, you may be right! And yet ••••• Anothet dimension has been added to wargaming.

Mercenaries cos t i the normal points v.lue to Mercenaries...L inc,rease the ~pp~ent size of his

buy. army.

So any commander can, by buy-! So fA J~ll~nt of Intan:to

•

.5 that would cos t 30 points is obtained for 15 points as Mercenaries.

f.tercenaries tight and have the same morale as normal troops, with the one im­portant difference. After both sides have written down their orders to the respective troops, each commander throws 2 dice for each Reg iment of Mercenaries he commands. If a DOUBLE is thrown, refer to the Table below, otherwise carry on as normal, Mercen­aries obeying orders .

DOUBLE 1 or 2.. The Reg iment has been bribed by the enemy, who will immediately take control of it .

DOUBLE 3 or 4. No Pay! Regiment refuses to fight or advance during that game­move. If engaged by the enemy as per melee it will join the enemy.

DOUBLE 5 or 6 . Mercenaries do not like the look of the enemy and march off the battlefield .

Now who will dare to use these men? Of course , once they join your side they will fi ght loyally for you - for 3 game-coves anyway while they bite on your money _ after which you begin to have your doubts as they insist on throwing those two damned dice again !

A commander could use a whole ar~y of these troops, but he must be prepared to kill otf some himself or even be curdered on the fie l d.

J.Gibson writes: Charlie .esencraft. the use of the rules never knows how long decide to go over to

"I believe you are publishing an article on mercenaries by I have played with these rules with Charlie and I can recommend regarding the ~e~ce~aries, they add a lot of interest and one they are going to fight for you before they either pack in or the opposing sid~" .

- --00000---

WE MAY NOT MAK 3 '.:.'~ ?3::.5~ /:.3. GAK::; SOLDIERS IN THE WORLD •••• BUT A LOT Ojo' Otrrf CU5~VJofa..s. ':'::::LL Us THAT WE DO !

"/rite us today for a s pecial. Bulletin we have prepured. fOr Brit ish war­gamers which explains how to purchase our new 1970 ca talogue (listing 1500 war game soldiers) and how to order military miniatures from the United States.

You ' ll find a whole new world of ~ouel soldiers awaiting you at Scruby Miniatures!

6

COUNSELS OF WAR.

"I notice on re-reading the Newsletter tbat an article on the s ubject of Napoleonic Bca l es tends to condemn the 1:100 represen­tation on two counts. I do not think that & 2" musket range is necessarily called for", t he " greater coars eness of approach ot referr­ed to Alan "Hansford-waters can, I think, be applied here, a range of 6" can be used with great success 8S has been proved by Neil Cogswell in his 7 Years' War Rules. I .gre~ however that the other difficulty cannot be entirely overcome, but by using brigade squares and columns it is possible to pro­vide a big enough target to withstand fairly large casualties without losing its appear­

ance to too great an extent. The problem of s kirmishers is overcome by forbidding artillery or troops in close order to fire on the skirm­

ishers (after all using artillery on skirmish­ers is 111ike shooting mosquitos with a rifle tl ).

To summarise on the 1:100 scale, I should like to state t he two reasons for my adoption of

this scale. Ch."":",,, Pol~~ Ga,d .. I 1807

1. I preferred to fi ght my early Napoleonic Battles as a genera l r athe r t han a r egimental C.O.

2 . And anyway, wit~ lici t ed resources an army of, at the most , three battalions and two guns would no t have provided much scope for different forces. I would have found myself fi ghting wi t h t he s ame armies over a different terrain in every battle.

'/lit h t he Ai rfix . a poleonics J intend to change to a 1:20 scale , J confess to being influenced by the &any Napoleonic Battle Reports which have appeared recently in the Newslet t er."

J. M. St reet.

---00000---

"In a rec en t Uewslet~er a: t i cle t he advantages of the 1-:25 scale relative to the 1:100 sca le were discussed . I feel an important point was mi ssed: that a regiment of 2 , 400 men ( 24 fi gure s) was not a unit in the Brit i sh a rmy. Regi.ents were of varying numbers of Batta lions and split among va rious Brigades. Thus in the 1:100 scale the smallest unit in the Br i ti s h ara, is the Brigade which can haTe between 16 and 40 men depending on the number of Bat tal ions ."

Donald Oddy .

---00000---

DE.LTORAMA BU RY· PULBOROUGH ' 5USSE.~"

liANDMADE. MODELS foR.. WIT1<.C;AMES Ii<- J) IORAMA S

f R..E.t

•

•

Thie Month - AnthonY Sheppard

About four years age there were just ~our ot us, aysalf, John TUrnbull, Philip Hall and Johq Rewett and we are still, so far, togetherw I no~ colle~

Austrian and RUssians. American Civil War, Mediaevals ~d Desert Warw Philip and John Turnbull snao collect A.C.W. (we muet have about 3,000 b~ween us) land. Napoleonics. Philip has the aost, lIaiJiLy French 4Dd British, as well as Mediaavals and. poa~war ~ritiah and Soviet araies (only s.all). JQbn Turn­~ull haa aainly Prussians and Ancient ROllana. Be is keen, with Philip, to branch out into 30aa 18th century figures but both find it expensive.

As you can gather our interest, at pr~ent, ~entre8 on Napoleonic wargames. We have hap 80 •• ~ntere8ting battles. We have been greatly h.iped by &the !act .t.bat the _'!Garclsoll.!.', which. cloa..d dOlim i..D. WHAT MAKES LondoD, has opened in Knaresborough. Hr. ~dy the proprietor has allowed us to use hie c.ll~ and our ftroup has grown. Mr. Connor of Harrogate -*" already A WARGAMER joined us and nov 80.. aore people fra. ~ogat. are ~o.1ng along. People have coa. in froa Io~ , the Isapherson Group fro. Leede. Halifax even Ire. Man- TICK. ? ~he8ter and Teeside. The group should rise to about ~ dozen. Hr. Hardy has profited fro. us, V8 buy our troops, etc., fro. his whenever ~osBibl. and we in turn have seen a boo. in our hobby up bere.

Such has been the interes t sho~, t~t the Army Apprentice Caap at Pe~y ~ane, Harrogate, have asked us to do a d •• ~tration battle. We have been up ~or a rehearsal and hope that it is a succeps. The battle is all planned out t'eady. They have a grant of £50 for the hobby plus a large rO.e ••

Po. there _Ad

De n-.y AlpY"enfic-e wen-~ 1lrTn"-e!i III Ue ::;liInCl llno'r" ~ ~.Ci.ef1 ill' Canner .. ~e-fought Battle of Marston Moor, they sent about .100 'boys as Rouadheade. We went t. tsee it and in all it was a succe&a. 'l'he.re "aa a · group of trees acrosa the field whic.t. Pbstructed eur view but it waa well dOAe. the cavalry were ~er but the celeara were ~arv.llous. There were soae !~ incident~ as te.pers fraye. slightly but there wer+ ~o real injuries. The loud-epeake.ra were Pberly eited and .any could net follev " the ~g .. entar1, which was so vital for tbe publLc. The good weat,er helped .ake it an ,.njoyable trip.

--00000---

JOU WRITE TO US - Continued.

"I'.,.e kept it (the article. -At tbe Cob-onel'a Ta.ble'! vhi9h recently a.ppeared ill

~he Newsletter) relativel,. light hearted ~ tried .to cater f,r .e.t wargaae readers, " ut I have attempted to describe eur OVD .t~itude to wargaaing (aine '«nd the Colonelt~ e have always felt that colour &ad excit.a~nt take precedenc, eTer 'legi.tica' - I ave always bad the feeling "that you t.~d tp agree with this .olleral principle. I

~uppose he and I are a little re.o~e fro. tee usual ranks of wargaaers. And proba~IT ~ little old fashioned in our approach to t e hobby. " We treat it all very seriou.IT ~ut we do enjey it i •• eneely and re.,.el in t e poa., and tradtt on of warfare t withent !ever parallelling the gaae to tbe horrors 8,J1d t gory de"t.U' of actual battlegroUJl~ ~onditions. Is it lIy iaagination , or ill t~re a tendency t. ferget that eur bobby ~ pn eAthralling and rewarding pastille and !!1 a aere hankering after war for war'. ~ake? Perhaps this is wby I still lIacb pre~er the 'Newsletter' to it's glessier­lookiag coapetitors. I find I can be enterlai.ed by it and neTor exhorted to follow 'wargaaing' trends. These are inevitably other people's tren4s, anyway - and the hobby, I think, should rellain iDdividua1iet~c." ~

Don Hou~ton (of Bedforda~~re) ,

· ·_-ooPoo---

" k1'l"D.ail.1- .. W\frd "UtI. Un! ·t{oveaber leeue at "Wargaaer'. hews~etter", in so auch that

~ was \ery pleased to see Mr. Cogswell's "EFaaination for Gen.ra _ 1750", and will

ertainl,. be having a go at it ayeolf. "'fhi. to a., ale., with the ether articles of " our woll balanoed aagazine, .eeas to be t~ Ter,. essenoe of ~argaai.g aDd the approa" h to it aa a hobby, net a way ef life."

~. Freno~ (of Ba8iDg.to~e)~

8

A Napoleonic Battle being fought by Richard Bryant of the New England ~argaae8 Association. For a further descript ­i ~n. see "News from the Clubs".

Aner eeeiii,t; ~!l.e lilI "lhe'''A1eJiio~~U:HOrrrs .:lnd liis gro"up in ~orce5tershire re - staged tbe siege with a Mexican army 5,000 strong of}Qaa plastics ' and the 185 defenders of the Mission pIne Sa. eoustOD'S force made up of conversions and flats.

Re-created Waterloo Campaign - French Cuirassiers croasing the Somme near Nivelles, with Light Horse Artil lery to their ,rfta;-. a~.d lS,un, ~,c;>.sition5 to their left. (Scruby 20mm figures ¥~dfii'& 1:D611lG'r'ti collee tioD) .

10

I

9 A. J. !mONS

Derrick Atwell

Following on H:G.Wells and Robert Loui, Stevenson, there is a strange gap in the literature on our pastime.

'Little Wars' is short, practical, and eminently readable: it seems strange that a flood of Wellsian War Game Clubs did not tDstantly spring into action. Instead we find almost a Dark Age lit only by the rule. of Captain Sachs in this country and those of Fletcher Pratt in the States.

With this in min d , it was with cons i derable interest that I read:-

October 20th, 1921 - ~or the first ti • • explained to Symons Rules for a Strategi4 War-Game.

November 4th. 1921 November 19th, November 21st,

_ First prac tice ga.e on Swinton - Cirencester Street. _ Most cons~derable game yet. 3.30 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. _ First campaign of THE WAR-GAME commences. 1st Cavalry and

2nd Infant r y Divii i ons on each side involved.

Here at last was proof posit i ve that R. G' s lit t le masterpiece had not entirely fallen on stony ground.

A.J. A. Symons is less well-knovn than R.L . S . or H.G. Yet his book 'The Quest for Corvo' is in its way a mas te r piece .

The 1921 WAR-GAME .... a s the braio-ctild of Captain Harold Fisher, who had met A .• J. at a deba ting society of all unlikely plac es . A glance at the list of debates shows that the Psychology of Cr owds was one 5ubject . Which suggests that our modern morale rules would have been seized on with enthus i asm. The arrangement was that Fisher de­yised the Rules and A. J . spen t his tiae t r y ing to circumvent them - at which he was remarkably adept!

To return to the War Ga.:.ei it vas pl ayed on a 1" Ordnance Mapi a session of 4-5 hours was likely t o result ~T in the pushing back of one section of the line a mile or two. A campa i gn tak.ing seTe r al ~onths. r o quote yet more from Julian Symons most interesting biogr aphy about A. J . - Yor a year this game occupied a good deal of my brother's time, and his charac~eri6tic passion for verisimilitude in games is well expressed by t h e t yped r eports o! C~paigns which accompanied the War Game, as well as the Race Game. Now the latter ga:~ is conc erned with Horse-Racing and one of A.J.js reports "is published; althoU6~ C~ ~ust have been very young at the time, it sparkles with all the polish of a r e-all..] -:.op-flight r acing journalist. Who knows if the miss­ing Campaign reports mi ght not ~Tal Bobert Louis Stevenson's classic account of the affair around the Sandusky; of ~ce s&d end of the editor of the Yallobelly Record. He was hung by order of L~01d CsbotL~ .

A.J. was a man of many in~erests; he b&d written books on Emin Pasha and the ex­plorer Stanley; he was an expert aDat~ur forger! Co-founder ot the Wine and Food Society and a born c l ub secretary . ~ith all these interests and talents had he been with us still; one could visualise a Colonial Wargame Convention; the rules would be complex, written orders might vell have been forged!

In the alcoves would be Palm- Trees; t he doors would be guarded by immense Africans with fearsome t ribal tattoos and a6segais; as befits the organiser of The Wine and Food Society the menu would have been unforgettable certainly and possibly indigestable. This I a m not i nventing , i t is the menu that he did lay on for an African dinner.

Paw-paws - Peanut soup - Turtle Fins - Sgg-Plant and Mango Fool - Corn on the Cob. Of course they should have washed it down with Palm "~Vinei actually the wines were more suitable an exclusive caval ry ~egimental dinner or perhaps a similar affair at Sandhurst?

Many readers will rightly say that the re is little about wargaming in this arti­cle. If I have done no more than introduce a few readers to the ' Quest for Corvo and Julia n Symons' - A.J .A . Symons . Hi s Life and Specula tions - published by Eyre and Spottiswoode 1950, I sha ll be qui t e content .

(

10

FRENCH MILITIA IN ~POLEONIC WARGAHES

Fred H. ~etmeyer

French non-regular troops are really ~ many grades of efficiency ranging from: -

1. Local ceremonial honour guards infantry and cavalry - used mainly in local

~arade8 or to help gendarmes keep inrernsl order in towns and villages. These militia ype Honour Guards are not to be confuaed w~th the Guards of Honour of the Imperial uard 181}-14, although that cavalry was rec~uited from this source.

2. Provincial National Garde regiments such as used on national borders and to ~uard sea frontiers.

3. The National Garde Infantry Cohorts (Battalions) of 1812 designed to defend ~ranee while the Grand Army was in Russia.

Although many National Garde units had striking uniforms they ranged in various

~rades of combat training. For example thej National Garde of the Pyrenees and the aria Militia both campaigned extenSively, ~6pecially in Spain, but the latter also

"n German;r.

f The latter - both infantr;r and cavalry - eventually entered the Young Guard when

apoleon had to raise nev aroies after 1812~ Eighty-eight of the Cohorts, in turn in 813, became 22 line regiaents and their artillery and some of the other Cohorts con­

r erged Voltigeurs became Young Guard . Thisi is all probably the case of when experi­~nced line infantry is no longer available and the regular Yo.ng Guards are depl eted br became Middle Guard to repla ce losses, then the best of militia becomes Young Guard and the average ~litia becomes line.

At any r ate , for che purposes of wargaming we require finding suitable mili tia type units which can be his~orically used. The wargame rules would allow that these ~lltla units are weIth less in-mele~i-~-not- f±re-ao well, have lower combat effee­~ivene88 and morale, but also cOst less per unit. And here is where thei r value comes ~n - it still takes one abot to kill them - and they can man constructions effectively.

I suggest that all Ai2itia type units ~e lumped together to produce a third type general army available ~ the Napoleonic vargamer, i.e., Imperial Guard, Line and tlational Garde Militia - Wl.les:3 you \-{ant to get real complicated with individual unit hvaluation of tbe l atter, of course.

The categories of National Guard Militia are as follows (one casting equals 20 historical soldiers ):

1. Heavy cavalr;r - Paria Guard Dragoons. Steel grey regular dragoon uniforms with r ed trim. One squadron with two stands with three castings per stand plus a three man command stand . See Bob Bard's "MILIHISTRIOT" April 1968 for uniforms.

2. Light Cavalry - Lyon Gardes d 'Honneur. Imperial blue elite chasseurs-a­cheval type uniform. Two castings per company but the number of companies i s unknown to me, except that there was only one unit: company? squadron? regiment? Other cities such as .Pav, Nantes, Strasbourg, also had cavalry units - in fact there were supposed­ly 25,000 such cavalrymen available in 1813, but a ll had different uniforms. See "Military MiniC:tture Collector" October 1963 for uniform.

3 . Light infantry - "The National Garde of the Pyrenees, also known as the Ghasseurs de Montagnes. Brown- Haroon legere uniforms. At least four bat t alions for the one regiment with four castings per each of the six companies in each ba ttalion. See "Military Miniature Collector" April 1959 for uniform.

4. Line infantry _ Red , green, or white uniforms. Natidnal Garde Regiments suc~ as the Paris Garde regiments No. 1 and No . ¥. There were two battalions in each regi~ ment but at allp.l~f'!:r ,· t.hB.ll·l!lb6 strength with four castings per each of the six com­panies per battalion plus a four man regimettal command stand. See "Kilihistriot" January 1968 , BUcq.uoy Cards Series 45, or H urtoul le plates Nos. 33 and 34 for unifor~ colours.

5. Line infantry - The 1812 National arde Cohorts were organised the same as t;M~!!1?o"u~ench Li ne exce t each cohort b d its ovn artil~~_"_1'I!~re_~wa~~

11 pahies of six castings each with aD average of three battalions to the Ligna regiaent, ,whi le each National Garde Legion bad on thd average the eaa. number at cohorts per ,Legion. The cohorts can also b. used singly. The uniforas on a 30mm casting vere the eaae as the regular ligna with ODe variation: the eagle vas silver and the •• -

,brailler,.. on the flag was silver. A cut. tr,ick here is to only paint an extra silver eagle command stand for ligna battalion (regiaent) - ant now you have National Gar •• 'Cohorts to Wle when ;you wishl

6. ArUller,. - The 1812 Cohort foot a'l'tilrer;r which appeared about the same as the line 8 pOWlders. In our :>:"ules, except tor the first "bot, ... e require all militia :artillery atter :Uriag cast a die next turn to s •• it it reloaded. in tiae to fire a­'gain. A "noll boweTer Mana it is positi.,el,. loaded the following turn. The militia 'guns cost only i price but we only allow tva of them for every 660 to 1320 caatings with none allowed for the first 660 aen.

7. Elite infantry - In 1809 on the DUteh seacoast and in 1810 on the Spanish border - in sO.e cases, onl,. the converged elites of the National Garde Regiaents ~ere calle' to active service. This would ~low for four company battalions ot Grenadiere ot Voltigeurs, with four caetin~ to the c~~~. These would be siailar in concept to OUdinots Regi.ents d'elite at Aueter11tz. In 1~13, grenadier cohorts !were foraed of four companies of su cutings per coapany - probably tram the remain-' ing cohorts not inducted into the regulu anty in 1813. "Mixed" cohorts of one grenadier and four fusilier companies were also used - the miseing voltigevrs were ~robably the ones that as converged units vere inducted into the Young Guar ••

Now I haTe a question: to explore t he ~e%t category of Napoleonic soldier capa-

~lity. doea any reader know of any unifora differences betwe.n the French regular

orse Grenadiers of the Guard unifora and tbe French velite (cadet) Borse Grenadiers f the Guard unifora? It appears there verft .,elites attached to aany of the guard its - up to two squadrons per regiaent of Old Guard cavalry or e.,en a whole batta­

ion of .,elite infantry per Oli Guard reg~nt ot infantry.

The velites of the Old Guard Gren.dier~, for example, wore the aaae uniforae as the regular Grenadiera of the Guard except that inetead of the bearskin hat, they wo~ .. 'I.8 .. ae. ~ Itev ~ ~ ~ 'de._UbI ulihs9 ~ hlites M"8' tr'O't" ~ ~apability military units and ve open Pando~a's box again for obtaining guard units hot equivalent to regular guari qualities.

-oopoe--­

tou WRITE TO US - Continued fro_ Pas- 14 .

"On .aClatioDs I always find '.arga.er's, Newsletter so eti.ulating that I wish I ~ad tiee to layout another gigan t ic c .. paigu ae ay older bro~her and I always had ~one before. While .oat warg~ at schooL is confined to ATalon Hill type ga-es ~d large soale DiploaacJ aatches, I found bse for aan7 ef tht Newsletter's articles ~n courses at the uniTeraity. For 3nglish bistory, I coaposeA tvo papers on the tactical iaplicationa af Raat~a &1d J.tl~d; wbile discussing the Hastings study ~ith the profeeeor, he . brought up t he fact ~bat Hastings had ~een recreated in 1966 ~s a l arge warg ... and I knew he had t. be ~alking about your activities at the tiee.

Doug1as E. Vin~er of Illinois.

---00000---

"I haTe really get the 1/72 la:nd warg"e bug - at least lie buyillg up appropria~ ~odels at a great rate and when I get in frpa college at 9.20 p.a. aost eTenings, I ~ake up an A.F.V. ~s a pl.asant f.ra of thetapy.

1'_ finding I .. getting a pleasure lo~g denied the navai wargaaer - tbe antici­pation of waitipg for 80_e new it •• - an Airtix tank, a Bellona dioraaa, new Alaark ~ecals. With the demise of Eagle, Minic ~ Dinky we naval wargaaers are l eft vith ~ro's four offerings or expeneiTe GeraaJl ap.d Aaerican aOdols.:

I first aade an A1rfu tank: ho yeare Ilgo - but hated tho kit (the "Churchill") put sa new quite happy vith the L4e, the h~tt-tracks, the Pan~Qer and sO on. I find taarlea Grant's "Meccano Magazine" articles' helpful on aray arganisatien and I alse sed, $l~q"ihJa~,~l9IIIlOritr4tinsJac Weller's ""eap ••• and Tactioe" when I was in tbe riti.h Museua Reading Rooa working the et~r day. I also fo~lew Chris Ellis' tips

tor conversions in the Airfix Kagazine. t1

Barry Carter 01 Epae ••

12

BATTLE REPORT OF THE MONTH

J\ COMBIN.f<.:D PARAT:d(;OP AND COr-1M ANDO RAID

by

Go r don Dickinson

The Harlow Wargame Group recently had a combined paratroop landing/commando raid. a new experience for us and proved to be very interesting and enjoyable. It also gave us an excuse to blow the cobwebs off our Airfix paratroops and landing craft.

A map was drawn up to a scale of 1" :: 600yds. one inch on the map representing 10" on the wargame table. The main features of the map included a coastline to the south with a beach and cliffs guarded by a pillbox and naval gun facing seawards. A road and river ran East/\~est , the river being cros6~d by a secondary road running due north past a factory and oil ins tallation which was to be the objective. A road: bridge over the river was guarded by a pi llbox and a single track railway served the f actory , crossing the river over a viaduct. Garrison H.Q., ~hich was supposed to guard the factory was just off the wargame table to the west. The beach was at one end of the table, the f actory at the other end near the east side , our table being 7ft x :?ft .

To enable an infantr1Qan to blow up t he factory and get to the beach, each game­move represented six ~inutes , Phil Barker's rules were used with slight modifications to cover the change in scale ~d time constant plus some additions for sentries.

It was assumed that a paratrooper could l and in a specific drop a rea, any equip­ment baving to dice to see if it drifted with the wind, one complete move was needed to regroup.

The intruders could be discovered by one of 5 ways:

1. Sentries being appr oached from the front (field of view 90°). 2 . Pillboxes being approached from any direction. 3. By a general ala:Q. 4. If the sentries vere due to be changed and found dead. 5 . .1hen any shot vas !ired.

The first three needed a cice throw of 12 (two dice) if the attacker was infan­try, 11 for wheeled vehicles a::Id 10 for tracked vehicles, the dice being thro\~n when each intruder was 180yds a.ay . If a s entry did not obs erve the approach he was eliminated. During the de~e~ders turn he thre~ for each attacking party to sound a general alarm.

A week before the varsa:e, ea ch p~rticipant was given a map and instructions by myself who wa s going to try and referee ! Stan Colby elected to be the attacker a nd Bob Barton to defend.

Stan ' s instructions took the form of an in telligenc e report with some slightly incorrect information a nd omitting the fact that a Panzer division had just moved in­to a town 8 mi les to the north. This Panzer division could be mobilised and on the scene within 24 minutes (i . e . 5 _ g~e-moves ) . He a lso had to sive a timetable stating the timing of the attack , the times the factory and other objectives were to be bl own up and a lso how Ions the l anding cra ~t would wait fo r the paratroops . Stan had the help of John Burgess who took co=~and of the paratroops, no liaison between paratroops and commando's being a llowed once the same started until the balloon went up.

Bob , (helped by hi s brother Dave ) was given the strength of his garrison and de ­fensive pos itions, he of course knew of the Panzer division. Sentries were to be posted and once in position did not move , t he time s of t he sentry changes vere given to me.

•

,13

The paratroop and commando landings were undetected, any sentries being eli.inat-

Id quietly. When the factory was blown it taa possible to wi~e out the pillboxes and aTal gun at the same time with flame throw'rs. However, the raiders in the factory argot about sentries of! duty and were wiped out. Garrison H.Q. tried to cut off he retreat by rapidly moving 3 a rmoured cars, 4 motor cycle qombinations and 2 tanks own to the beach where they were held off by the commandos long enough for f of the aratroopa to be picked up by Buffalo's and D.U.K.W's. The commando's lost about 30 en, the paratroops about 20.

As it happened there were still aOIBe paratroops at the road bridge when the- van-

fim ~£-t·h-e Paft2:e!"!!1 arrived ' fl"&a the &&rtll., tftey vere- tllerefere a'ble te dell:l.olieh the

ridge and halt the tanks in the ir tracks . Because of the extra time t aken they issed the boat and became heroes!

It was generally agreed afterwards tha t the raid was a success, the attackers

tosses being reasonable considering the a rmour and equipment against him. If they bad een discovered earli er it may have been a different story. One thing our exercise id s how vas that by ca reful planning, a caaUious approach and rapid retreat it was ossible for in fantry to succeed against a f a irly heaTily armoured and mobile force. Plus a bit of luck).

---ooQoo--­

pINT OF THE MONTH - Continued from Page 2.

~ell for sticking plastiC, lead and alaost any other substance and doesn't have any ar.ful effects whatsoever. I haTe also used it for tacking terrain featur.es into

, lace - such as setting Bellona plaatic rivers on the table or fixing trees, etc.

Don Houghton.

--oopoo--­.LOOKING ABOUN~ - Continued fro. ?!oe 2}. , tISTORY TODAY - December 1969. (Bracken Hoqe ...... 1..Q _C.@.tul&ELauAd ... ...London..-E .. CU._ . onthly £2 .16s.-d. per annu. ( $9 . 00» .

I This issue contains a nu.ber o~ iteas likely to be of value to wargamers and ~ilitary historians. Of specific UI.":.e r est are the well illustrated a rticles on tiThe /iiege of La Rochelle" and "The o=:t }i.a..rtial of Sir Robert Calder, 1805" by Oliver Jriarner. Giving a fine i nsight i!:to their periods are the articles "Bougainville and Jahiti"; trCount ,Julius AndraeSl' . 102}-go" (Austria and Europe in the 19th Century) tmd lIPenang: Britain 's First Set t.lel:e!lt in Ma laya ".

IECCANO MAGAZINE - December 1969. ( ~orlel and Al lied Publioations Ltd., 13-35 Bridge treet, Hemel Hempstead , Hertfor~~e. 3s . per copy, 70 cents).

Contains a number of illustra":.e~ artic les - those of intere8~to wargamers con­sist of Part XX of Charles Grant.'s "3attle" together with his "Militaria - a review of the latest military itemsll.

MILIHISTRIOT - Autumn 1969. (Bob 3ard , 30x 1463, Baltimore, Md. 21203, U.S.A. Quarterly $ 5 . 00 per annual .

Contains illustr ated articles 0.0. "t::nifor.s and Insignia of the French Army , 195&1; "Tlie Royal Foot Carabinier s of the !!.ingdoll of Sardinia, 1814"; lI Un iforms of the 17th Lancers - 1854"; "The British in Korth AQer ica ll ..

(Hon.Secretary, THE BULLETIN of the Military nistorical soc iety - November 1969. J.W.F.Gaylor, 7 East Woodside, 3e%1e1 . Kent. Annual subscription £1 per annum, $3.00]

Conta ins a rticles on lIEi ghteenth-Century Artillery Buttons"; IIMaori Military Formations"; "The Ulster Volunteer ?orc e"; "Militar7 Establisqments Maintained by Great Britain in Jersey, 181 5"; plus correspondence, records ~d book reviews.

MODEL BOATS - December 1~9. · (13-35 Bri dge street, Hemel Hem~stead, Herh. Ho!\thl,. · 4 'ls. per annum, $5 .00).

Contains illustrated article on t he batt leship U.S.S. Ne~ Jersey; an article wit~ & plan of a ship of the Dutch Fleet at Gibr.ltar in the 17th C~ntury.

CONTINUED ON PAG~ 21.

,. YOU WRITE

TO US al l y the weather is more

At Sea in th~ Gulf of Tonkin.

"The Gull! is in her monsoon season and the temper­atures are iri the low 7~ (Fahrenheit) in the day. Nat­urally we ha~e been having 80me precipitation but gene~

pleasant than the rest of the year usually is.

Have not seen the enemy directly but we see hi. on our radar eo_etimes. Despite Pueblo be is not eager to engage the strength of the U.S. Seventh Fleet • .,

Victor Fv Boone.

- --00000---

"I must wrna· and 1$&1 how lIuch I enjored your speech at the Convention at Worth-, ing, the idea of universal rules set out by a committee would bring stagnation to tbe wargame.

How .uch has been brought into our own rules by all the contacts we have bad witn others, and a ll the argu.ents that ha~ resulted in refine.ents we had not thought of oureelv~e.

I think half the trouble today is the ~rowing feeling in business, poli~ios etc., that SOMe mysterious overlord would &OlYe ~l our troubles without thinking or work on our own part, and sOlie of this feeling rubs off on all sorts of activities, such as Fi reworks, censorship, bouse building etp., a sort of impe~ding 1984, when we a ll do as we are told.

Anyway Hurrah for free o. and up with Wargamers Newsletter for debunking the too serious . Full lIlarks for that aagnificent series of articles, "At the Colonels Table."

John Nicholls, Purley, Surrey.

---00000---

"I have just bought a copy of ,.our "Handbook for Model Soldier Collector's". Congratulations! It makes a llice cbacge from 80me of the waffle Fublished recently. One small point though. 'the price of .. ade l'"igures went ' up to £5 foot and £10 JIIounted Bome time ago . Perhaps ,.ou could aake an alteration in futUre issues. we are also the World's largest dealers i.e ol.d t o: soldiers - importing and exporting to and from every continent except Ant~ctiea .

Together with Hr. Ricb8--da. j .. producing a monumental work on toy soldiers but heavens knoW's when it will see the light of day.1I

Shamus O.D.Wade of Dublin.

---00000---

III was interested to s ee dO'!lbts e.xpresped in the last issue as to tbe morality of wargaminq:. I all a conscielltioua ebjecter,' and an extreme one. and I bave given much thought to this proble.. I ~eel that there is definitely no wrong in the hobb: as Buch, and indeed it s ay well serTe as an outlet for our aggressive instincts that would otherwise find Bome aore anti-aocial outlet.

But like any human activit:, our att itude to it can make it evil. obviously by delighting in the slaughter of our s odel araies, and, les8 obviously, by the passions aroused by disputes.

I remember a reference ill an earlier Newsletter to the wargamer's love of con­verting a manufacturer's proudest productio~s into something else. I have just given an example of this by seizing on t he long- awaited Cuirassi ers ani promptly turning thea into ROllian beavy legionary cavalr:!"

Andrew Barton, London S.W. 11.

---0000 0 ---

nOne thing I can say it will be advantageous out in Australia is that there will ~ no back-biting as there are so few wargaJler s . And personally I don't mind I •. iasing put on next Years' Convention. Some wargame rs clubs have crossed swords with others and by the looks of things in t he last Conventi on I don ' t think tha t most of t he games

r' ere played with enough Sportsmanship. In fact the only game I rea lly enjoyed watch­, ng was that between Charles Grant and Bob O' Brien.

Alister Sharman, Putney, London.

15 NEWLY PUBLISHED BOOKS OF INT!REST TO WARGAKERS (Continued)

IOct.

iept • ct. ept.

Publishers

Eyre & Spottiewoode. Blandford·· Blandford Blandford Bats ford Bateford Bodley Head Putman

Put.an

b c t. 27. COllins Cape

j{OY .

Hodder Hutchinson

H.Evelyn

Heinemann Heinemann

Jackdaws

-1W:D=al.d MacDonald MacDonald

MacDonald MacDonald

Purnell

MurraI

Hurray O •. U.P.

Weidenfeld and Nicholson.

Weidenfeld Weidenfeld

MacIntyre The Han-of-War Wilkinson-La~am. Infantry Uniforms in Colour. Hunson Fighters 1939-45 HlU1aon Bomb·ere 1939-45 Easaae The Battle for Germany (1944-45). Strav80n The Battle for North Africa Grant U-Boat Intelligence 1914-1918. Francillon Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific

Penrose British Aviation: The Grea~aw!r and Armistice.

HOvar"lll Braddon

Pak.n.ha.. Lewin

Holbrook

Shirer Potter

:::.:':CS""!RJ..'l'ED

ctid..i...D YIlt •• Svi..c.ao!!. Zie1ke Jukes SMV BI'JlII!ID80D

Ma.son

Brock:aa.n

Ransford Marder

Trafa"lgar: "The ""Netson Touch. The Siege (deals with the siege of

Kut in 1915). The Year of Liberty (Ireland 1798) Free~lDls Battle Yol.3 (The War on Land 1939-1945).

Warships of the Royal Navy 2nd Series - Steam.

The Coll.apse of the 3rd Republic. Fiasco (I think t~is is probably

about the "Channtl Dash" 1942). The Rise of Napoleon ) The Peninsular Wat' ) 1812; The Retreat j from Moscow. ) Garibaldi. ) ..IlAJ.I:di..n.g. end ±be ..BaUl.a of Sr..it.al.A ... Marshal Zhukov 's $reatest Battles. The Roundhead General (William

Waller) • Aircraft Carriers The Mighty Eighth (U.S. 8th Air

Force). BtSTORY OF THE SECOnD WORLD WAR 8/6

The He 109 Siege of Leningra4 The Desert Raiders Battle of Berlin Battle of Kursk Tarawa Invasion of Sicily The Breakout frOID Normandy

The Two Sieges of Rhodes, 1480 and 1522

The Battle of Spion Kop From the "Dreadbought" to Scapa

147/-30/-18/-18/-45/-45/-50/-

105/-

105/-45/-

38/-63/-

50/-

84/-84/-

35/-

12/­each.

.o.w-50/-

50/-168/-

75/-each

42/-30/-

Longford Flow Vol. IV - 1917.. 63/­

Wellington: The Years of the Sword. 50/-

Kellp Bruce

History of the Roya~ Navy 63/-Six Battles for In·dia (The Sikh

Wars of the 1840's).. 45/-

---ooOpo---

S~~tlJ . ~~ailab~, through ~ARGAKER'S ~~WSLETTER will be a vonderful nev photo­l:!lSp"1ed ecH.Hon· of" 'Ir.n . Wells's immor tal clashc 'LITTLE wARS'. Also a ·copiously lliustrated reference book for collectors or Britain 's 54mm figures - 'OLD BRITISH kODEL SOLDIERS 1893-1918 1 by L.W . Richards . Both of these books will cost in the tegion cf 32s.6d. (_4.00) including postage and packing. Orders in t he New Year!

• THE AMERICAN SCENE

by

Lieut. Hike Arnovitz (U . S .ArmY)

Right now I a m an adviaor to a Vietnamese Regional Force Group at a town called Chanh LUll, about 12km vest of the big U.S . 1st Infantry Div. Base at Lai Khe. An R. F.Group i8 about the equivalent of a light infan t r y battalion, with 3 r ifle companys, plua attached intelli­gence squads and very limited heavy weapons support.

Right nov we are engaged in providing security to three vi llages. with a total population of around 12-15, 000 people. This gives us quite a big job, since two

o f the vill.see are contentea and one is V.C. controlled (up till the time we moved in!). Most of our actions are small unit a~fair6 (we get more V.C_ with our night ambushes than with anything elae - over 213 of our unit is en~aged in NI GHT ambushes every night) but we run co.pan~ size sweeps into V. C. areas at least once a week. We have aleo managed to pick up a couple of big weapons caches, including one V.C. local ~orce company's only mortar, the day after they used it again*t our base camp! (Right ~ow we use it against their base camp areBs" turn about being fair play . )

Our R. F.Group makes rather a colourful sight, even for modern varfare. Each company has its own colours, which they wear above their left breast pocket and on a peck scarf. Thus for my Group 10u have:

224 Co: Violet scar! and violet rectan~le above pocket. 264 Co: Red Bcar! with Tiolet trim , re~ and violet recta4g1e above pocket. 775 Co: Red Bcarf, red a=d yellow rect~gl., yellow ehouider cords.

62d Group HQ: insignia of parent unit 1nd b l Ue triangle on pocket below rect­angJ.e.

, On the field the troops tie the scarf on their left a rm or on their rifles. All ~f our people are in the .edi~ green fati~ue8 , bush (Jungle) kite or camoufl aged helmets, except for our intelligence equad which is in green and black "tiger suitt! camouflaged fatigues; and soae irregulars who a re in "black pajamas ll • We have to be fareful of the l atter, wbo soaetiaes carry AK- 47's, the V.C. weapons, since they are easily mistaken for tbe ene.,. 3nt they haYe the best record for finding V.C. tunnels in the Group.

Well I have to go now, ve haTe an operation planned that I have to go on. Two of our companies are going to s~ound the V.C. hamlet tonight and at dawn we are going in with the Third comp4nr to search it. Hope all is well and you are wargaming on a8 ever.

---00000---

FOR SALE: Hinton Hunt 2~ Napoleonics. Rand painted 28 .-d., unpainted 16.-d. Send for list. J.Elliot, 7 Jindsor Road , Bexleyheath, Kent .

---00000---

"THE DESERT CAMPAIGN" The latest Armor in Action portfolio covering the W.W.II due l between Bin Army ;;d~frLka Korps. Realistic scenes of me n and m~chines i n combat, including Rommel, his panzers, FLAKLB-" aritisl;! light ' armor and Crusader, etc. A~d the, atmo­sphere of combat to your war-room. Four high qual1ty pr1nts on textured pape r, ready for framing . ALSO AVAILABLE: "The Eastern Campaig n," and "france '44," four prints, each, of combat on the Eastern and Western ,Fronts. Each portfolio only 21s.-Third Class (+20% extra-F1rst Class) Order from: lAMO-lEM B~TLE PRI"tS -0- p.6. BOI 44SoOeI Mar, t ali/. '2014 <> U.S, A.

-~

, . 17

Handbook for Model Soldier Collectors DONALD FEATHERSTONE

Subscribers are reminded that there ia a epecial edition of this just published book available to them at a special price of 16s. 6d. including poetage and packing. In the shops tbe

hardback edition is selling at 30s.-d. Eadh cop~ will be personally inscribed and autographed by the author.

Three of the contributors to this Handbook have made the following comments: -

liThe set-out in _y opinion ie quite superior. lindeed to collect the great deal of information it :soldierB' Whitaker's AI.anack.

You must have worked very hard contains. It is a veritable model

Surely it vill appeal to a public outside those interested in model soldiers vho lvill vant it aa a .atter of course".

L ..... Richarda. (Of the Britieh Hodel Soldier Society. Author of "Old British Model Soldiers 18133-1918" - Aras and Araour Press).

III think it is a very useful addition to the armamentari~n of collectore and vargamere, and has been greeted locally vith much interest and approval. The hobby has expanded 80 much r ecently that an up to date book of this type will be invalu­able".

Dr. Alastair Bantock.

"You certainly give a lot of i.nfor>:lation for collectors, of the practical type 'that should be ueeful to theil, " ucb 88 a ctual addressee of supplierS". etc. I can refer purchase of your book to a naabe r of the more vague queries ve get fro. be­ginners, for these facts lOU proTide .

I muat ad.it that the pre"ent large scale commercial e%p~oitation of interest ~ather appalls us, most or which panders to a v ery superficial attitude t o history ~hich is too often mistaken for ~rtise, in what to us ia a high complicated pro-Ifessional field of "acadeaic resea..-ch. - -

I think one of the thiugs that beco •• s ' more apparent eTery day, i8 that bistori­Fal integrity can only be alli~d to coaaercial explOitation 0t un-informed interest, ~1th the greatest difficulty.

Your "'t.ry full coverage of "'serTices for collectors" ahows just hov far ve have poae fro_ the days of the aaateur ai1itarl historians, vho made their valuable con­~ribut1on8 to the subject through their own efforts, to a time vhen anybody can "tak. ~p the bobby" siaply by accepti~ vithout question vha t his pocket will allow.

I find what you have put down all very interesting , and in its own way this is

~ontribution to the history of the subject, as it shows very clearly how military istory, as I understand it, has become lIore and more separate from the "militaria obby" - vhich is a great pit,.

I hope my commenta on prints which you quote do not clash with, or refer too bbviously to, soae of the sources ot aaterial and information you vere bound to men­fion in auch a "useful guide t o all such sources!!"

W".A.Thorburn . Keeper Scottish United Services Museum.

"Kaye and Ward Lillited sent lie a copy of your latest book to review in "Battle Fleet". It has only just arrived and I bave not had to read it thoroughly, but I must say I vas v ery impressed with it as it seems to contain all tije "little snippets of int ~or.ationt which one usually has t o hunt around for, between two covers, and as such fills a large gap in wargaming literature. As it arrived too late to be included in the latest copy of the magazine a review of it will appear in the Dece.ber copy and may go a long vay to cOllplete that long list of Christmas presents which ve all see. to 18ae s l eep eVer at this tille of lear ."

K.French. --II

" the clea r, crisp bang of rifles ':in the open air. by a pleasan t nudge which hint& of huge pow~rt and a clean. burnt explosive •••• "

A nice sound, accompanie1 kden ant iseptic smell of

18

Book ReViews THE COSSACKS by Philip

(Constable, 638. 8i " x 5i". ~5 photographs. E maps ) .

LQDgworth 409 gage,

Rarely does one hear of Cossacks playing a valiant part on the wargames tabl e. This is seemingl y a strang e plD'iesion because there is a glamour and ~ash about these famed Russian cava lry "hat makes them idea l "pet" t a ble-top formations. Lack of informa t i on can no longer be the excuse for the a bsence of Coassacks from our wa r games a r mi es be­paus e this book r elates their h i story in the greatest detail. The i r role dur ing the Napoleonic Wars is well known but they do not seemed t o h a v e playe d any particularly significa n t part i n the Cr ime an war. It is a l so in t erest i ng to note that i n the 16th and 1 7 t h centuries the Cossacks were more fe a r e d a s sailors an i piratea t han they w ere as soldiers . The *u t hor draws a fascinat ing parallel betwe e n the early Cossack fronti e r and the Ameri­c an West of popula r my t hology, with the COSia ck repre senting the Americ a n pioneer, the Tatar t he Red Indian and vith t he Russi n Army pl a ying the part of the U.S.Caval ry &n d with Cossack cattle r ustle r s, Cossac k r nch owners feudi ng ~ith Cossack f a rmers ' an d Cos s ack pos ses cha sing Coss ack b a d men. Recommended as an interesting, informa­tive and unusual book.

DRESS REGULATIONS 1900 ( Anls and Armour Press , 60s. 11i" x 8i". 118 pa ges plys 7 9 pages of ill~s\~4ti~)r-

I foun d th i s a var~ing nostalgi c s ort tf book which transported me back to an era when Br i t a in had a fine large army and ~hen dress uniforms vere rea lly magnificen~ This is the first i n the Araa and Armour Press progra mme of r1printing in fine facsi ­mi le edi t ions the offi cial vol uzes by the Wir Office which governed the Bri tish Army dr ess. It s hows every aspec t o ~ the dress, h e ad-dress, accou i rements a nd ancillary equipment of the Br it i sh Ar-y in 1900 . It las an informative land interesting intro­(uction b y tha t n o t ed a u t bority on mi litary costume , W. Y. Carman , Deputy Director of the Na tional Army Museum . If you a re a collector of model soldiers a nd you vant .pcura cy then thi s b ook ~U5t be on y our shelves, if you are a wargamer looking for affect en ma see then it ."i l1 still be a lmost indisp.ensable.

BADGES OF THE BRITISH AaHI 1820 - 1960 - a n illustrated reterence guide for collec+ t ors by LlhlkJ.nson. (Arms and Ar.our Presifl, 2 1s. at" x 5i" . 416 photographs of ' badges. Soft cover . )

Anothe r of the r a pidly i n creasing rangf of valua ble books being p ublished by Arm s and Ar mour Press , th i s l i t tle Tolume i a fine and inexpensive reference source tor the collector. Admittedl y, only the fi est painters amon4st us are able to put distinctive badges on to our s mall vargames fig ures but it i s interesting to know ."ha. badge they should be wearing. As it says i, the i ntroduction to this book - " The c ol l ecting of Bri t ish Army b a dge s is one o f the ver y few hobb~es left open to the c olle ctor of limi ted means. Most c ost only a few shillings •••• "

THE BATTLE OF HAJUBA HILL b y Olive r Raisford (John Murra~1 308. Bt" x .5t" . 154 pages, 10 illustrations, 3 maps ) .

This is a story of p r obably the mos t hf:iliating defeat in British milit a r y istory when a hast ily assembled army of Bo r f a rmers stormed an appa rently impreg n­ble ~"~hipD: ~9- i~!l:i,v-M.~ Il~eavy c asualti e on the regular British troops with little amage to themselve s . One of the l as t occa i on s on which British so l diers v ore red oats in action, thi s is a c olourful a nd sa~ly neglected phase of Bri t ish Colonial a r s so far as the table - t op g eneral is conferned . It holds great interest for the argamer who l ikes Colonial campaigns and i addition it holds the me rit of a llowing very rea sonable sea ling down of forces. s oppos e d to the current pr a ctice of call-

ng about 50 men a division, with on l y ahou 700 o r 6.0 British troops on Ma juba Hill

19

and a smaller numbbr of BoeTs attacking th~m, it is ratio or perhaps two men in real life equalling one the text book for a small campaign, this baok would

possibl e to even have a 1 for on the table-top battlefield. be hard to better.

THE BATTLE OF SHaN KOP by Oliver Ransford (John Murray, 306 . Bi" x 51-" . 150 pages, 13 plates . )

As

This book is almost v~tally inter-connected with the one just mentioned if only because it reveals al l too tragically that the British military mind had l earned little between 1881 Bnd 1899. Bach battle bears a strange resemblance to the other , both in reality and in the mental reflections and summing up that will inevitably follow the reading of one or both of these excellent books. The war gamer who is in­terested in the British Army during the latter par t of the 19th century will find a great deal of valUe t o him in these pages. Similarly, he will b e a ided in collecting detail s , facts and figures of that tough enemy, the Boer . Personally , I found both of these books difficult to put down and r ecommend them as a solid evenings reading until the last page i s reached.

ARHOHED VEHICLES from their conception to ford a nd H. L. Doyle (a Bellona publication , 8s . appr oximately 30 illustrational .

the present times compi l ed by G. Brad-11" x 5" . 24 pages each containing

This is a r evised edition of the previous booklet of the same name put out in 1964 . It is a quick and handy chronological reference of armcured vehicles, paDt and present of a ll countries and this revia ed edition includes the vehicles produced be­tween 1964 and the start of the 70 ·s . It is an admirab l e , ' reliable and ridiculously inexpensive source of r efe r ence fOr tne wargamer who is interested in armour.

AMERICAN ARMOURED CARS 1 1 5 by Chris Ellie a nd Peter Chamberlain (an Almark Publication ( ',o/eapone Series) 12s . 6d. ~"x 7 1/S". 41 pictures, 5 pages of scaled drawings) .

I never f ail to be impreas e d by the remarkab l e presentation of tbe varied books on modern a rms and a rmour. 1his o~e is ~o exception , being of the highest quality in its illustrations and descriptions . I can give no h i gner praise than to say that , although I have no particular inte~est ~ =odern wargaming, I read it trom cover to cover a n d was almost tempted to star~ .&king armoured cars and having aome am all Bcale engagements!

THE BATTLE FOR NORTH AllHC.#. b,. J o!:..c Strawson (B.T.Batsford, 455. Si" x 5i1l • 226 pag es , 28 pl ates , 12 mapa).

A very nicely balanced and readable referenc e book covering the stirr ing events in Libya and Tunisia from 1940 to 1 } . ~Tery page indicates the suitability of this ea mpaign for r e-creat ion on the var&aaes table yet so few wargame r s attempt it ! Ar~ed with this well-mapped volume the~e is ~o loag er any excuse for such omissions - i n f act , I found it so stimulating th4C a1~ead1 I have taken s t e ps to formulate rules and ¢ond i tions for war gaming with ~r~our cnde~ desert conditions , using thi s voiume as the text book ..

--- 00000- - -

W. T . Thurbon writes:-

"Have you read " Destroyer Leade~" b,. Pe cer Smith, the stor y of H.M . S . Faulknor -quite interesting , also ~-Boat Inte lligence'by ~ .M . Grat - an account of the Admiralty success in tracking U- Boats in 1914- 18 bI wireless interception .

I recently found a shockingly bsttered copy of BUrnhams "Scouting in Two Conti ­nents" . It might b e a useful exerc ise to tryout some Zulu Hatabele wargames - Rorke4 Drift , Wilson ' s Shangani Patrol and the dea t h of the Prince Imperial and some of the skirmishes. I once had another battereJ. copy of Sel ous ' s "Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia" which also rela ted to the Matabe l e Campaign . I rem~mber reading , once in an old "Wide World" maga zine a nd again in '''I'he Scout" of how Judson and Inspector Nesb i t relieved the small garrison a t the Alma Mine, at Ma joe, near Bulawayo , durin~ the Mashona r ebellion .

Colonial warfare can be - very interestipg:'~specially before the days of the Maxi; Gun.

InCidentally also , Rupert Furneaux has~written a n entertaining book a bou t the Great War Correspondents: "News of War"."

20

MUST LIST WHAT NOT TO MISS

,Last month's mention' of t wenty sided dice from Japan aroused a speedy letter from Mike Blake of 102 Cotham. Bro .... Bristol, Bs6 GAP . Mike's letter says:-

" \o/e h a ve the British patent on these fi e ndish devi!=es, and. have now started pro­ducing them in plastic from a metal master accurate to some 1000ths of an inch!

Orig ina lly they we r e designed to go with our Advanced Modern Rules, but we now hope to sell them independently. Bere comes the really good bit - they will sell at 10s.-d . a pa ir! Thi s compares very fav ourably with the Jap dice at 156. -d . each. The moul d is in t he process of being made a nd by the t"ime the orders come in we will be producing dic e .

Th e Advanced Modern Rules will sell at 108. a set, plus 7s.6d. for the dice (2), total 17 s .6d. Fo r anyone wiahing to buy the dice separa tely, they a re 10s. a pair . Addit ional singl e dice cost 5s . - d. each . Over the next few months we hope to pro­duc e rule s in a l l the main periods at much the same prices, ba sed on percenta ge cha r g es.

The dice themselves are a ble , in pairs, to throw numbers from 1 to 100 with an exa c t ly equal c han c e on every n~ber . I f three dice a re used the rang e becomes "1-1000, but st i l l the chances o!! anyone n umger are exactly equaL There are 64, 000,000 way s in which 6 of these dice can land ( 20 ), offering 64 Nays of throwing a one and 64 ways of throwing a million . This t hen is their prime property; that, unlike ordinary dic e , on which odds alter and c e rtain numbers become unobtainable a s soon as two or more come i n to play, t he, r eta i n , no matter how many dice , are used, their c apacity o f g i ving an e%ac~11 equal chance to every number in the series chosen, be that series 1 to 10 or ( in aathematical theory at least) 1 to infinity~

We feel s ure , as you seeDed to when writing on the Jap dice, that these dice have great use in Warg~es, solving as they do most of the problems inherent in ordin­ary dice - nay , I dar e say all of the problems. tI

I am told that 'lioolvorths are sellin g some Empire Made plastic cars at 1s.6d. each. They consist of three types of 1914-1918 vintage which include a 4-seater open saloon, a 2 -seater open saloon and a 2 -sea ter roofed saloon. As they stand, except for thei r lurid colours , they viII take Ai rfix fi gures very well and would fit in with & 1914-1 918 wargames set up. ~ey are also excellent models for conversion to a rmour­ed cars o f the early type.

Francis S . DUrocher of New York bas s el1t me a gaily coloured advert for "MatteI's Injector lt fe a turing the We stern ooiorld. Appa.rently this is an apparatus for making your own pla stiC figures.. According to the pictures, they seem to come out of the ~ould in sections which snap togethe r in a n ingenious f a shion. In the advert, they are all painted but naturally viII requi re painting after casting. There s eems to be ~3 different moulds avail a ble and so fa r only cowboys and Indians can be ma de - a

'special Western town'is includ e d . I am told that this costs $10. 00 in Americ a so it would probably sell for £4 or £5 i n Gr eat Britain. My son collects mini a ture cars cade by MatteI ' s and I have seen the name ia many toyshops so it is not unre a sonable to expect that these ki.ts may s oon be ove r here if they are not alr.eady in t he shops.

, I have received a very interest i ng catalogue of gram,mphone records fr om S . E. R.P.

f,· isque$t 6 ~ue de Beaune. Paris 7 , Fr a n ce . Amon gst many of the records of interest

ere is a ' set of Marches and Song s o f the french Army - an anthology of French ilitary Music taken from an officia l c ollec t ion in the Musee de l'Arme e. The discs

.over the period lor the Monarchy; t he Rev ol.tion and the Empire; the 19t h century a nd the Colonial epoch and the 20th century an d t he two World W~rs. Each record costs J5 French franc s or the four cost 140 franc$ ( 11 . 4 francs to the £ ). This firm also 1ists a number of other records of a pp a ren t interest including one "Napoleon and the

,21 laperial -Guard." on which Lachouque (author of !lAnatomy of Gloryll) relates the history of the I.perial Guard together with marches and Bongs.

Kany readers viII already be familiar ~itb Jackdaws - a series of folders con­taining copies of authentic doenaenta and pnctures of the even t in question. Many of "them are of the great est interest to wargedare and include most of the battles and wars of English history. They sell at 128. eacb and can be purchased f rom most book shops.

Miniature Figurines have made ~ great capture in securing the modelling services

!f Major Bob Rowe (whose mo de l soldier di8~a1 a t Woburn Abbey has impressed every­ne). Well known as a top-c lass fi gure maker and anima tor. Bob ROwe ba s designed a roup of 54 •• figures for Miniature Fi gurines which should b~ an important addit ion o the collector's range. Another Miniature Figurines innovation is their new range f cava lry.en .ade separately from the ir horses so that the same steeds ca n be used or other riders when reqUired.

---ooj)oo- - ­

~OOKIHG AROUND - Continued from Page 13 .

~CALE MODELS - December 1969 . (13- 35 Brid~ Street, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. Monthly! 1s. per annua, ~5.00).

Of in·teree:t ~to wargamers a r e articlee Dn the KesserechmiJ;t Sf 109; World War I

lachine Gun ~it8j· Camouflage patterns of World War Ii plans ahd drawings of a Viking hip 900 A.D. and· a Roman Galley 50 A.D; Part Three of Military Insigni a; Part three

, f Military Min'iature Modifica tions - heads and f acial featur~8; ~nd article on how o obtain realism and authentic colour de tall when modelling a rmour ( t anks) plus many ther features dealing with the latest .odea kits and it ems. This issue also con­ains the full catalogue of Riko Hodel Kits and gives many pictures of tanks and ilitary vehicles.

LINGSHOT - Official Journal o! ~be SOC iety of 9 Brentford Road, Kings Heath, BirIinghaa 14.

Ancients - November 1969. (Phil Barker Membership 258 per annum including

If you wargame in the Anc ien t period t~is aagazine is e ssential reading. Con-

tains a rticles on Ancient arcies (Persia) ; ~irfix conversionsj the Horse; the Roman ireme; the Ro.an Gases; Aesrria - The Warr~or Nation and manf other features of in­erest to the Anc i ent enthuai4St.

OLDIER MAGAZINE - No~.ber 1969 . (433 Hol~oway Road, London N. 7 . Monthly 1s.6d . er copy •

Outstanding value for the price and fu~l of fine photogr,phs of modern armies

~d the i r equipment. This pa.!"ticul.ar issue includes a big feature on Arnhem plus

any other /articles including an i1lustrate~ feature on milit~ry models. Al so orrespondence , book r eviews, latest items . etc.

RADITION - The Journal of the ~~ernational Society of Military Collectors - No.37. 1 Piccadilly , London W.1 . Honthly 17s .66. per copy).

Ye t another wonderful cover br Charles Stadden depicting an inc i dent at Hougou-

!ont~ 1815. Full of beautifullJ illustrated articles, this i,sue has as highlights rticles on cavalry in Mar lborough's DaY i Crimean ~ar Medal s ; The Lanc e i South f:hcan Freikorps 1914; The Japanese Army or 1904-5; Came l Artillery of the Persian rmy. 1853 ; Part 20 of Charles Grant's artiele on The War Gam4 plus SIX full page

. oloured plates .of Prussian Arm"] uniforlllS i l l 1843 . And even if you are not interest­d in any of that (and who would not be?) t hen you can a lways impress your friends by

~eaving the magazine lying around!

---000 00---

"My last wa rgam e was to t ryout the Schlieffen pla n against the French Plan 16 pf el\w.:'f"a18~~ d~t.! O~ ~e. AV,.lon Hill 1914 board. I have always felt that Schlieffen ~ an op t1mist and th~s was how the game tprned out. The Fr,nch took a bad knock, ~ut ow~ng to the slow German advance , they ~ere never in real peril of annihilation ; I mus t try it against Plan 17, this will prbbably be a different story."

John Risdon.

22

BVS nOM EBE CLUBS

.al~ V •• l,ar ,I t.e Vorthiag Wars .... Club vrit •• :-

"R •• ardi_, 70ar r •• ar~ ia this aoath'. X ••• letter cODcerning aD .... ~ent t. ~k. rul •• b.e •••• altho". DUad ••• e. the Cb .. pionahip on paiata the7 did net proyide! ~ indlyid_al vianer - .a 0 •• • t ta. organ~.r. I do not regard that in it •• lf a. a Ibad tatag. It •• ant a wider dietribation .r the prise.. HeweTer, ia the light at .xperienc., ' it .ight haT. be •• an 1d •• to award pointa for Tiotoriee en &n incre.aing ~cal. ot •• rit - 1 in ' the first round, 2 i~ the quarter tinal, 3 in the ••• 1-fina1, and ~ .in the ti •• l. It ie inter •• tiag t. apt. what the firat six placiaga would hay. ~ •• n on this b.ai.:-

1.t Rowad Quarter Final. ~.dli-Final. Final. fetal. Tetal Point. Wiu r- 3 6 6 4 19 9

riatol A 3 6 3 4 16 8 eicester 4 .. 3 4 15 8 orth London 3 .. 3 4 1~ 7 undee 5 " 3 12 8 ristol B 2 2 3 4 11 5

Teaas with points f9r winning a final ~ould provide the individual chaapion in

taCh section, of cOurse, but tbe over-all i~dividual champion would still. be decided y the total points he scoree. However, th~t is all water under th. bridge, and undes won on merit on the scoring system ip operation."

---oopoo---

Here is some infor.atioD on what 's goi~g on in Bir.ingh~ nowadals. We now hold fortnightly meetings at t he Old 20yal pub i~ Church Street (ott Colaore Row), usually .ttended by about 25-30 people. We noraallr aia to hold . ~ or 5 battles at each of lhese mee .tinge and hope so:aetiae in the near futUre to introd.u.ce occasional apeakere' to the mee tings. We a180 pl&A to hold .ont~ly painting or cODversion co.petitions, ~tart ing in the New Year . Aa John Haldon sFill receives a considerable aaount .f the ~1\l816 oOPP8sp •• lia •• e ~ ..,..... e.l ~ ,... ~ k -lte:e-~. e.ee. seclc_at; -f"fW ~ the last 18 months we would be .ost grateful if you could pos4iblI t!Ad rooa to pub­~isb the fact that I aa new the secretary ~d as auch at the above inforaation aa fossible and that any new aeabere would be .ost welcoae. Further details it necessart ~ay be ob tained fro. ao.

Miss Vivienne Crabb, Karie.ont, C.B .C.E., . We~tbourne Roa4, Edgbaston, Birmiaghaa

---oo~oo--_ 15.

In issue 88 Wargamer's Sev61etter Offered it. serV1ces ~~ set up trades ot Club lulletins Or newsletters betve*A varga.es cubs.

The New Engla.li.d ~arg .. es .Ls.sociation w.uld like to take ~d ... antage ot the otter ;'nd are moat willing to trade our Newslette r ·with any group (ejee "Notice fJoard ll ). We fre particularly interested in the Cheltenham Club organ, "The Grenadier" after read­ing your high praise. Thank 10U for .entio_ing our Newslette~.

Ibu may not know that our "Editorial policy" allows anyone we send the Newslette~ to, such as yourself, to use aD1 article in their ovn publication. All we ask is tba~ the author and club be mentioned. There is no charge or othe~ commitment associated

lith their use . Our Club runs about 40 str~ng of which 18-20 are ~apoleonic Butfs sing Vietaeyer I 5 rules. The next larger gtoup are Naval wargamers an·d British Colon-i al wargamera. There i8 an avid interest ia AM Revolution and!. Ancients as wel l as

tome Modern, with everyone interested enoug_ to play in everyone else 's game. Our r oblea has luckily been how not to have !£t many game participants.

Recently some ot our members have devi . ed a very interesting game on the Irish *ebellion which will be demonstrated at the H.F.C.A. Wargamea Convention in Phila­.elphia, this October. Enclosed is a photo of a recent Napoleonic battle on my 13.5 , 5ft game table. (See picture-page elsewh,re in this issue). In the centre, two $tnlS (.;(I~~ v. laA""Vuaitng against a p,si tion held by French Light infantry az:.d ... Regi.ent at · Westphalian Line Infantry. ~o t e the Green Ri fles in the midd1.e for­~round and Wellington on top of the hill (e~treme right). The Reserve Cavalry seen there are the 9th Light Dragoons. In the b~ckground are a regiment of Light Dragoons IlDd a regi.ant of Light Infantry awaiting Pjinting • (I do theR! a regilllent at a tiu:" , +ne colour at a ti •• \- about 8 hra/regiment •

LOOKING AROUND

IRFIX MAGAZI NE - December 1969 . (Surridg~ sweon and Company (Productions) Limited,

136-142 New Kent Road, London S.E .1. 3~6 . ~er annum (U . S. A. ~5. 50 ) .

In addition to numerous features COD­Ferning a ircraft, ships, books, models, ~tC " this issue includes illustrated ~rticles on the Bren Carrier; War Emergency Destroyers; modelling Grant ARV 's by Chris

lEllia and Part 6 'The British Army 1914-1 8 "Staff, Service Corps an d Departmentsll.

~HE ARMCHAIR GENERAL - Volume II No . 2 • • S-'A ..

(P.O . Box 274 , Beltsville, Mary l and 20705,

Contains illustrated articles on the Polish Army in the 17th Century; Confeder-

tte Colours; Italian Army in World ~ar II ; the Roster System of Wargamingj the "Uhlans 1 Prussia 1870- 71; German troops in the AmFric~n Revoluti on ; The Macedonian Phalanx; attle Reports and reviews of books, figures etc.

ATTLEFLEET - November 1969 . (Journal of tbe Naval Wargames Society , Secretary W.E. cKenzie, 16 Hugo Road , Tufnell Park, London N.19. Annual subscription to the Society clueive of Battlefleet one guioea per annum (U. S. A., Canada $5.00).

Contajn" .a..z::ticl.e..s._1lIL.. ~s tor airatrikeai An Introduction to Anci'en~ NagaI War­~~re together with battle reports and other features .

- October 1969 . (~ilSh Fraser , 27 Ramsgate Road, Margate, K'en~. Bi­per 1lnnum ($4 . 50) .

Contains articles on the' 5' Rebelliop; World War I Signals Wagon; American War Battle; Airfix Conyersionsj Ox Wakons; American Wa r of Independence; The Refought)with two plates of French Second Empire cava lry.

I£~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Autumn 1969. (Mike Blake, 102 Cotha m Br ow, Bristol b per 4ll.Ilua ) .

This is the mOst ambitious of ~argames Club ma gazines and is alway~ well produced

fnd interesting. Contains articles on The tersian Invasion of Greece B. 'C. 479; The . axony Army in 1812 on the Wargaae ~ablej t e H.6 tank; plus an in t eresting aocount of

Western gunfight fought vargaaes style.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- October 1969 . (302 York Street, GettYsburg, Pa . 17325 , 10.00 per annum •

This is essential reading fo r the wargt_er fighting American Civil War battles.

ihiS issue __ contains illustrated articles on. the f amous battle between the Alabama and he Kearsagej General Ben Butler in New Orlta nsj Chem~6try of the Civil War; Wi th I

her.an Through the Carolinas ! and an intertsting article deal~ng w~th sold~ers kille4 ut not in action.

HE AVALON HILL GENERAL - Nove.ber-December 1969 . (The Avalon Hill Company. 4517 ar!ord Road. Balt i more, Maryland 21214, U.f .A . $4.98 per ann~, overseas $6.00).

ffi;cFH: ~~~~~i¥& ~o~a \~'nlL'ti:ts:aaer who fighfS board games. This iS8~e contains arti­on t~e o6RPa'sAme aBpec~B of .German De ence of Normandy; $ormat~ons at Jutlandj

he Strategy of Defence; The German De fenc e of Europe; Histor i!cal Realism in board argamesj an illustrated article on Wargame Conventions in America; and various con­ributions dealing with tactics required to win board wargame~.

CONTINUED ON _~~.

F

, I I

I.

24

-----------------

THE NOTICE BOARD John Terraine's first work for

television - after a long stint as a radio groducer in the B.8.C l s Overseas services - was 8S a scriptwriter in the magnificent "Great War IT series. Then came liThe Lost Peace", followed by I. T. V' B liThe Life and Tiaes of LorQ MountbattenlT I for wbich he wrote alll 12 episodes.

C.no<> G ... dt. d. v. S"~ .. rr.Jt .......... T ... ~... His next major project threatena m~6i !. 1U. to be the biggest ever - the B.B.C's

1}-part series on the British Empire, which in the aain -is t~ COTer -the 59 ye-e:rs of change -be-t;wee1:t; Queen Victoria's Jubilee and the Indian independence ceremonies of 1947.

For the last month a four-man scripting team bas Bat in almost continuous sess­ion. "It's a big story, and a difficult Ode," says Terraine. "We've been talking, talking, and talking. II A press release has given the screenihg date as early 1971; and there's co-operation between the B.B.C . and the American Time/Life Corporation, who are to produce a s i .llultaneous part-worU publication • .

---ooQoo---

"Wargamer's Newsletter " aa,. be purchased singly if a year's subscrip t ion is not desired. Send 38. -d. (4Qc ) s p.cifyiag th~ month required.

---00000---

FOR SALE: 150 30aa Flats by 'Kieler ~innflguren' infantry . French, Austrian. ~~._ -s •. -d. Send S.A . E. ~ ..1'.M.orris, 22 Milestone Drive, West Hagley, Worcesti!tr­shire.

--00000---

FOR SALE: 800 unpainted Airfix A.C. W. figures (all arms); 14 Interavia I.D.Rs. ~elyyn I.Levine, 243 Mc Donald Avenue, Broo~yn, New York 11218, Apt. 3D., U.S.A.

---00000---

Back Nuabers of ""arguer'e Newsletter" are available fro .. October 1968 to date (1 ••• o.ce.ber 1968) at }8. -d . including postage (40 cents).

The New ~thsr Clubs . p.S.A.

---ooD!oo---

England Warga.ers A.s ociation ~ould like to exchange Club magazinss with Write to Richard L. BrIant, 45 Willow street, Brockton, Hass. 02401,

---ooQoo---

When first published two ,.ears ago , tb;e book "ALL FOR A .\3HILLING A DAY" by Donald Featherstone received very favourab~ reviews. For ex~pl~1 A.P.Kaguire of the Yorkshire Poet wrote "Mr . Featherstone ~kes clear that the British soldiers, ~r the bullyings and the hardsh i ps, eaerged as gallant and respo,sive fighting .en •••• ~uch of "All for a Shilling a Da,." is taken up with notes, which are as readable as the narrative and by virtue of their scope ~nd detail are of value to th. military J1istorian." Alistair Macrae of the Glasgow Evening News wrot, - IIFound the perfect bedside book for soldiers of the nev ArMY , ~ith particular reference to the grousers jIlgainst epit-and-polish t and these sufferiDJ from l1 square-basher's blues". It is 'All for a Shilling a Day' and it is an autb.entic account of lire in one of Britain's

.oraak cavalry regi.snts about 120 years ago. 1I G. A. Hayes-McCo! of the Irish Presl! !Wrote _ "Occasionally one co •• s across a bopk that is quite odt of the ordinary run. 'All for a Shilling a Day' is such a book - unorthodox, iaagi~ative and unusually en.tertaining."

lktw alJlllG.l!It:- "'lit ·of PflihlD, it haa been ppssible to seour. a fev NEW copies of this ~ook (originally soid at 30s . -d.) for Ne ... sl~tter subscribers it 12s:-:d. including postage and packing.

Don Featherstone wilL personally insc~be and autograph 4ach copy.

Build your own army from Airfix models

M, ... " Gu~ '" T,.~'or

Complete selechon 01 armoured vehicles dat .... o fr om the Forst World War up to mode,n t 'mes. Also mOdel figures on the same scale to .'mable you 10 make up complete ba11leheld see'nes.

tr .

Ai Pick YOUI ttOOP$ from (hI widt! rangt! 01 00 I(q~ J'P. "~'~I"'.''''', WW'A",."c.,,,".' WWI9"".",,,, WWl Go,,,,." 1,,1 ww, ~'."<hlnl G.",,""'nla .... , u.s . ... "",,. ... , ... ta,~"u"" 110"-"

11o" ...... ... , Co ............. . ,,,,c-.u co._ c ..... _ ~ .. _ fo'<"II" L..,_ Au ........... _, . P .. ~,,-~ A""~.,,",'_. w . ... '''''' ....,_''

,,,.,,," (,\ •.. ,,, "" ... ,"" "''' '''''~O'" ' ",,,,,"UIC .. ,,W,,, U_n '"'.",,. "_' '''~'' C , .. 'W." ' _r , .. ,~,." • C .>! W." ... . , ... ,". uS C ... I W .. C ...... . .

WATCH OUT FOR THE NEWAOOITIONS

tm,litf JUST LIKE THE REAL THING

•

THE LITERATURE OF WARGAMING

Books by Donald Featherstone Personally inscribed and signed by the luthor.

"WARGAMES"-B.iottles with model soldiers. 2ls. 6<1. ($3.50)

" NAVAL WARGAMES"-Sea Banles with model ships. lis. 6d. ($~.7S)

"AIR WARGAMES"-Battles with model aircraft. 31s.6d. ($4.75)

"ADVANCED WARGAMES"-This follow-up book to "Wargames" introduces a hon of new ideas and brings the hobby up-co-date. "5s. Od. ($5.15)

" lIANuBOUK l''l.U j·;OJJ',L .... lLvI.;~ Ct'LLSCTO:"(.:i " . An eS8cn tial reference book g iving det~ils of the world's fi ~ure­makers, museums, prints , books , records, dioramas , etc, etc . Specia l edition for .. larga mer ' s Newsletter sub ­scriber s 16s. Gd . ($2 . ',)0) .

"THE BOWMEN OF ENGLANO"-The story of the English archer and his longbow. 3Is.6d. ($<4.75)

"ATTHEMWITH THE BAYONETI"-The 1st Sikh War 18-'15-6. 31s. 6d. (''''.75)

"ALL FOR A SHILLING A DAY"- The story of the 16th lancers In the Sikh War 18-'15-6. r, e<Irly out of nrint ! .1 i."e'·1 left a t 12c: .-J .

($1 . 50) , si~ned by the auth~r .

NOw AVAlL..:.BL3 ·.:::'HP.OUGll THi. rlE~;SL..:.·f'r.::] .

jo'acsiClile reproductions of the 1st Sd ition of H . ~ .

,Iells faoous book "LI1'TLE ;Jlt~S" 31s . Gd . (;64 . 00 ).

"uL.> :; .. I"!'I";!1 ~,0ll'::L ";lJLOl t:l~S 1893- 191 8 " an illustrat­ed reference ~uide for collectors . Th i s is a beautifully illustrated book by perhc' ps the worl~ ' s g r ea test <tuthority on Britains sold iers, L •. :. ;nCH,,_~l)':; . 31s . 6d . ($4 . 00) .

COI1 ING SHO'(!'LY ! In the process of b e ing printed , the followin f" book s by Donal d Fea t herstone \·Iill be a vailable early next ye~r .

",;AHG"ME C"Jiy,IGhS" (St<Inley Paul Li mi t ed).

IIIHLli'n..H t:t:::J:::':LLHlG·' (K<ly e and I/urd , London , \-lith 'ioseloff !lew York . )

I I B\TrL~ .. 1 Ii !>:Od.:,L .jt'LDI;~RS" (David a n d Charles) .

A series of handbooks dealing with wargaming

Rules for AnCIent Wugames <1000 B.C. to 900 A.D.) by Tony Bath.

2 Rules for Me(haeval period by Tony Bath.

Rules for 1750 period in Europe (with $upplemenury rules for opentions in America) by Tony Sath.

Rules for N~poleomc W~rg~mes by Donald fe~therstone .

5 Rules for American CIVIl W~r games by Donald futherstone .

6 Rules for late 19th Century Warg~mes (including Coloni ~1 Wars ~gaj nst Natives) by Don~ld Featherstone. .

7 Rules for 1917 period warg~me in German South-West Africa (includ ing rules for early tanks, armoured can, etc.) by Donald FeatherStone.

8 Rules for 19# Normandy-type wargame by Philip Barker.

3s. 6d. each (SOC.) or the set of 8· for I guinea (53.00) including postage.

"WARGAMES TERRA1N"-1 0s. 6d. ($1.50). how to construct realistic battlefields.

Illustrated booklet describing

See "WARGAMERS NEWSLETTER" for more handbooks now In process of production .

ALL THESE BOOKS AND BOOKLETS MAY BE ORDERED FROM

THE EDITOR, WARGAMERS NEWSLETTER

Prices Include postoge and pocking.