Once again I was perusing Wargamer's Newsletter and noticed a couple of Gary Gygax's articles/letters in issue 114, September 1971. As I find them I post them although, once again, they are reproduced here purely for imformative purposes. Old magazines are a wonderful source of these titbits, often lost to general knowledge unfortunately.
THE AMERICAN SCENE
By Gary Gygax
A couple of short
comments on George Phillies and his "The Difference Between English and
American Wargaming": The Avalon Hill GENERAL has not, I am certain, always
printed 17,000 copies. In talking with Thomas Shaw, Marketing Director of that
firm, he informed me that roughly one-third of a print went to subscribers,
another third was used for advertising and sales promotion, and the remainder
were sold as back issues. Board games certainly do not dominate the American
scene, but they currently hold a more exposed position, simply because most
wargamers here are introduced to the hobby through them and through the pages
of the GENERAL, an organ designed to sell boardgames. Unlike the U.K., we do
not have a publication aimed at miniaturists only, so communications between
the advocates of the latter form of wargaming are almost non-existant. Only the
conventions and gradual shift to more miniatures cover age in the club 'zines
here has brought a channel for any communication at all, speaking for the bulk
of miniaturists here. Most gatherings feature miniatures events, so to say that
boardgames dominate is not true.
Mr. Phillies comments
regarding the painting of vehicles being anethma among the members of his group
are interesting. Could it be that they fear being accused of "playing with
toy soldiers"? From my observations it is the young wargamer, trying hard
to be regarded as a mature adult, that fears being classed as a child because
of indulging in miniature warfare. A boardgame can be cloaked with the dignity
of chess, but miniature figures are more difficult to explain.
George, by the way,
is a most respected boardgamer, and certainly one of the most knowledgable
writers and players, in my opinion. STALINGRAD happens to be one of my
favourite boardgames, one that I play well, but I fear that I would meet with
speedy defeat as either the Russian or the German commander against him.
Finally, there can be
no doubt that there are far more boardgame players here than there are
miniaturists. However, many are merely occassional wargamers, and most have no
idea of the existence of wargaming as an organised hobby. When the two aspects
of the hobby are considered, we must then consider only those who are actually active
enthusiasts.
YOU WRITE TO US
"I read George A. Lord's letter with interest - George
is a very interesting fellow! I met him some four years ago, when he came down
from the Canadian hinterland where he resides to attend the Lake Geneva
Convention. He isn't going to be able to make it this year, due to family
commitments, but he plans to stop in here for a day just for a
"visit" (and I'll wager that we end up having a battle on the sand
table). Anyway, George recently had an adventure more exciting than most. He is
an ardent canoer, voyaging far back into the wilderness. Evidently, bad weather
caught his party of three this Spring, and they were lost in raging blizzards
and trackless forest for a number of days. I do know that he was in a pretty
bad condition when they finally managed to get in. I do wish he would recount
the experience, for it is like what one sees in the movies - at least like what
one used to see in the movies - but believes never happens to people one knows.
Many thanks to W.T.Thurbon for his comments on bow ranges. We
finally settled on 15" for wooden bows (short), 18" for light
crossbows and composite horse bows, 21" for both the Longbow and the
Turkish bow (although I suspect that 24" vould have been more realistic),
and 24" for the heavy crossbow. I also read about Mahmoud Sffendi loosing
an arrow for a distance of 482 yards, and the supposed shots of better than 700
yards, but I discount the latter as legend (at best), while the former was
accom plished with a short, light flight arrow and groove, with the wind, as Mr.Thurbon
mentioned. The really unfortunate part about this is that there is no for
certain just what the capabilities of these weapons were, for no originals
exist, and the method of making the Turk bow is lost.
Another interesting question pertains to the bow used by the
Japanese Samurai, and it was indeed a long bow! From what I have been able to
determine, the average length was from 7'-8', and arrows from 36"-45"
were used. The warrior rested one end on the ground when shooting. There have
been witnesses to these bows shooting over 120 yards without arching the arrow
over 16’, for the shots were made down a corridor. Now, from that one must work
out range .... At least I won't have to
worry about it for some time, as I am much too busy otherwise to start
converting figures for Samurai. Then again, when I do I suppose that a rule for
the Chinese repeting crossbow, with poisoned arrows, will have to be worked up.
George Gush's comments about using sheet lead on the base of
Airfix figures sounds very helpful to those who do not employ a sand table - I
have to carefully cut the blasted base off for more "realism". (They
also fit in foxholes and trenches better then)."
Gary Gygax (of Lake Geneva, U.S.A.).
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