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Editorial Contents find that I must resort to Editorial 3 metaphor to convey what I’m Henry Hyde, UK feeling right now. How is it, I Seven Years’ War 250th Anniversary 4 Ihave asked myself many times, that a Bill Protz, USA woman can go through the agonies of Wargaming: how it all began 6 childbirth, the living hell that being Don Featherstone, UK the mother of a screaming newborn Marathon 490BC 10 is, enduring the sleepless nights, the Harry Pearson, UK snatched meals, the obliteration of Quick play Greeks v Persians rules 12 their social life for months, nay years Harry Pearson, UK at a time, only to put themselves A beginner’s guide to blogging 16 through it all again after what often Greg Horne, Australia seems like a cruelly short interval? Table Top Teaser: Pontoon 17 Don’t they remember what it was like? How can their brains suppress Brigadier(Ret’d) C S Grant, UK the memory of so much pain so quickly? The Wars of the Faltenian Succession 20 Well, let’s put it this way. Tomorrow morning, I’m having a baby. Henry Hyde, UK This first edition of Battlegames goes to press, where it will be Everything old is new again 22 introduced to the world via the midwife that is my favourite local Ross Macfarlane, Canada printers. It will emerge, blinking, in about ten days’ time, and then it Message in a battle 24 must make its own way. Phil Olley, UK Just like a new mother, I’ve not had much sleep lately! But it’s my Competition 26 own fault for having had this dream a long, long time ago. It was as Win yourself a JU52 if everything I’ve been doing up until now has led me to this point. The battle of Maldon AD991 27 And now there’s no turning back. Here it is. My baby. Battlegames. Dan Mersey, UK But, I have to tell you, it’s all been worth it. I’ve just put the To boldly go 31 finishing touches to my own Wars of the Faltenian Succession article, Guy Hancock, UK and for the first time, have been able to look up, take a breath, and Liebenau 1757 32 take in the view. Wow! I mean, if someone had told me six months Jim Purky (Der Alte Fritz), USA ago (because that’s all it was) that I would be putting the finishing Fog of War 34 touches to a magazine containing articles by Don Featherstone, CS Bob Barnetson, UK Grant, Mike Siggins, Stuart Asquith, Bill Protz, Jim Purky, Phil Olley, Brisk lads and by no means gummy: 37 Greg Horne, Ross Macfarlane, Al Birch, Guy Hancock, Dan Mersey, Alistair Birch, UK Bob Barnetson, Lee Hyde, Harry Pearson and me... Well,Sample the reply The file Charter Subscribers 40 would have been monosyllabic, wouldn’t it? A special ‘thank you’ from the Editor I hope you like my new baby. Like all babies, he’s learning to walk Forward Observer 41 and needs your help. He’s precocious, a bit cheeky, has a terrific Mike Siggins, UK sense of fun, doesn’t take himself too seriously, has quite a lot to say Recce 42 and a great spirit. The spirit of wargaming. Mike Siggins, Lee Hyde, Henry Hyde (all UK) Meanwhile, the hobby appears to be in rude health. We have more magazines than you can wave a stick at, with several of the best of them coming from mainland Europe; a plethora of figure scales and manufacturers from whom to purchase our wares; and the renaissance of simple, fun, ‘old school’ rules, bounce sticks, cannister Cover: Guy Hancock, normally to be found at the helm of pestilential hordes of cones and all. And now, here we are, the kind of wargaming magazine GW Skaven, sends roundshot ricocheting through the proud ranks of the Editor’s you never thought you’d see again, but always hoped you would. advancing army of Spencer-Smiths during a recent C18th encounter. Buikldings Finally, huge thanks to Steve, Guy, Mike, Stuart, Phil, Dave, scratch-built by the Editor. All of us at can be found ‘crossing the divide’ between Patrick, Bill and the guys at OSW for all your continuing support. historical, fantasy, fictitious, computer and board games at regular intervals, so And to my darling Annie for letting me be this mad. far without any ill effects! Photo by the Editor. Battlegames magazine is a bi-monthly publication of Design, layout and typesetting by Henry Hyde in Adobe Fantasy & Sci-Fi Editor at 7 North Court, Hassocks, West Battlegames Ltd, 17 Granville Road, Hove BN3 1TG, East InDesign and Adobe Photoshop on Apple Mac G5 and G4. Sussex. Company No. 5616568. Set in Adobe Warnock Pro and Helvetica Neue. Sussex BN6 8JS Subscription enquiries should be addressed to the Editor or All content © Battlegames and its contributors. Strictly Photography by Henry Hyde using Fuji S7000 except where you can subscribe online. Current rates (as at October 2007) no reproduction without prior written consent. All rights otherwise credited. are £22.50 per annum post-free in the UK; EU £27.50; reserved. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the Rest of the World £34.50. individual authors concerned. Copy editing by Henry Hyde and Steve Gill All submissions and articles should initially be sent to the Editor: Henry Hyde, email [email protected], Printed originally by Litho Direct, Brighton. Editor and must be accompanied by an SAE if posted. We tel. 01273 323320 This PDF version is identical in all respects. recommend submission of articles via email. Battlegames takes no responsibility for unsolicited articles. Please apply Sub Editor: Steve Gill, email [email protected], Advertisers, contributors and businesses wishing to send for submission guidelines. We like to discuss your proposal tel. 01285 658483 samples for photography and review should contact the so that we can ensure your piece is suitable for inclusion. Editor. TRADE PLEASE NOTE: Battlegames does NOT ask Submission guidelines and technical specifications are also Fantasy & Sci-Fi Editor: Guy Hancock, its reviewers to contact companies direct unless by previous given on our website. [email protected], 01273 845164 arrangement authorised by the Editor in writing. Copyright for this PDF version © October 2007 Web: www.battlegames.co.uk All items relating to fantasy or sci-fi should be sent to our No resale or redistribution by any means. Battlegames 3 Seven Years’ War 250th anniversary What shall we do to commemorate it? frontage. By contrast, three ranks of twenty four Prussians stretch by Bill Protz out (at eight per rank) to 8” (200mm). This ⅓ extra for the bluecoats is a significant difference. Ought we not to simulate this? Other considerations involve a negative fire adjustment for the o you not know what time it is Sirs? You do not? Well then, it Austrians, because four-rank fire was more cumbersome than for is the 250th Anniversary of the Seven Years’ War. You know, three. On the other hand, a fourth rank might be an advantage in Frederick The Great, tricornered hats, linear battles, the age mêlée and in filling gaps in the first three ranks due to casualties. It Dof reason and all that. Though the SYW unofficially began in №rth might also receive greater fire losses. How can we simulate three and America in 1755, the official start was in August of the following four ranks lines? Here are three ways. year when Prussia invaded Saxony. Quickly escalating into a world 1. If you have BIG battalions of 32-60 individually-based war, the conflict ended seven years later. If we add 250 years to 1756- miniatures, form them into three ranks for the Prussians and four 1763, we arrive at our own time of 2006-2013. Let us therefore now for the Austrians. Easy. commemorate the era and prepare for new dynamics and products 2. If you have battalions in smaller numbers based in two ranks, to energize our hobby. There is not a minute to lose. simply merge two white-coated battalions as one battalion in Anniversaries are remembrances and opportunities to four ranks for the Austrians. For the Prussians, more creativity is contemplate and commemorate significant bygone events. In needed. Leaving them in two ranks claiming two equals three with our case for the SYW we might also consider adding changes an appropriate frontage extension is one possibility. Another is to and improvements in our war-games. If we go back three to four add a third rank from some single-rank units you may have, perhaps decades, we discover an initial impulse to immerse the hobby in the from any army of the era. A final option is to paint up additional SYW. At that time Brigadier Peter Young’s and Lieutenant Colonel miniatures basing them in one rank, perhaps temporarily posting James Lawford’s Charge! or How To Play War Games awakened us them to the third rank. to a charming and visually appealing means to conduct battlegames 3. If you have units based in single ranks, merge several units of the mid-late 18th century. Charles Grant, Sr. further reinforced together so a three and four rank deep line will look right. Converged this offensive by means of his classic The War Game with additional battalions of this type might look their best if there are twenty-four appealing systems. Thanks to their groundbreaking, thought- to thirty-six miniatures in them. provoking and charming prose, supplemented by inspiring visual Returning to the question of frontage, we might benefit from images and entertaining personalities, generations since continue the following deeper analytical comparison.