The Grand Duchy of Stollen

S ome newly cropped, brightened, and sharpened photographs taken during the recent Battle of Doltz.  Enjoy!  Now, if only my new 2" roads from Hotz Artworks would arrive. -- Stokes

  A 'macaroni' was yet another derisive term for a popinjay, a fop, or a dandy (in the extreme.  A vain, conceited man overly concerned with his attire and appearance.  Ouch!  That descri ption strikes a little close to hom e I fear. N ot a whole lot of painting recently as real life and work-related stuff have encroached into my evenings and weekends these last several weeks.  But, I have stitched together a short, simple set of very derivative rules based on the work of many wargaming "greats" both past and present, stretching from Featherstone, Wesencraft, and the Grants to Mason, Gilder, and Hezzlewood, to Purky and Protz.  The reason for the rules presented below is due to my growing dissatisfaction with Charge! as an easily recalled, playable set of rules that keeps the game moving forward at a reasonable pace.  As much as I love the book and the illustrative stories contained therein, in practice I find even the basic rules slow going....

A special thanks to all of you who have gotten in touch with either Greg or myself so far.  We are excited about The Wargamer's Notebook , which will be e-mailed quarterly as a PDF to subscribers and contributors around the world.  Greg and I spent quite a bit of time discussing and planning it, and we hope it will take off.  I have it on extremely good authority, by the way, that the PDF will be high quality, so those who might prefer to do so can print out a copy, and it will look mighty good. Whether you are interested in subscribing, or possibly also contributing an article, get in touch with us forthwith via this email: wargamersnotebook@gmail.com. Meanwhile, I've got to set up and fight the next battle, solo this time, in my ongoing campaign.  The table has been ready to go for a couple of weeks, but real life (i.e. work) has kept me pretty busy since then.  It's also time to make the push and finish the final remaining steps on the six Prussian lim...

W ay back in 2010, Phil Olley put out an excellent magazine called The Classic Wargaming Journal .  Doubtless, some of you remember it, and some of you probably also subscribed like we did. Each issue of Phil’s CWJ contained things like battle reports, how-to articles, scenarios, and even a regular column.  The whole tenor and style of articles captivated us, and we were bereft when the CWJ came to a premature halt after only five glorious issues. So, we pose this question to all of you - Can lightning strike twice? Now, we know already that there are many others around the globe who enjoy games of toy soldiers in various forms.  We also know many of you replay the great battles of history on your tables, across your floors, and even your lawns while others take a fictitious approach.  We know that you thrill at the spectacle of brightly painted miniature hussars, hoplites, and helicopters advancing to do battle too.  Old school.  New schoo...