Specialty manufacturers to organize new kind of military history event

New York, NY— On October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to the American Revolutionaries at Yorktown, VA, effectively ending the American War of Independence. To commemorate this event and celebrate America’s rich military heritage, W. Britain has teamed with Osprey Publishing and Casemate Publishing to organize the first-annual Military History Weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. It will be a two-day affair, October 17-18, at the Hospitality House in downtown Williamsburg.

“We have felt for a long time that fans of military history need an event that bridges the different segments of the hobby, notes W. Britain general manager, Richard Walker. “In the one corner you have ‘metal heads’ like me who paint and collect toy soldiers. In the other you have Ph.D. historians who chase down things like the names of General Washington’s body guard. And in between you have reenactors, wargamers, and armchair historians. There are plenty of shows that serve each of these groups separately. We hope that our event will be the kind of ‘big tent’ under which everyone can come together.”

Call for Historical Game Masters and Flea Market Sellers

The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, East presents a “Games-in-Education Day” on  Saturday, September 26, 2009, from 9 am – 10 pm at the Baltimore Convention Center, One West Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland.

HMGS members are urged to invite teachers, educators and college students to this inaugural FREE event.

http://www.bccenter.org/index.php

Camden Lobby – Camden Terrace – rooms 345-350 *** Enter through the Otterbein Lobby ***

Currently Planned:

• Over 50 HISTORICAL EVENTS! (room for more than 100)

• FLEA MARKET ($10:  one table per member; first come/ first served)

• HISTORICAL VENDORS

• OPEN GAMING

• PARKING ARRANGEMENTS: To be announced soon

• EVENT REGISTRATION ON-SITE

• FOOD CONCESSIONS 11am – 8pm

• BAR OPEN 5pm – 11pm

• EVENT INFORMATION TO BE POSTED SOON ON http://www.hmgs.org/ged.htm

To register an event or reserve a flea market table, please send an email to games.education.day@gmail.com

* FREE ADMISSION *

CHARGE! issue #24 to be mailed on-time!

Debi and I are pleased to announce that yet again, for the 24th consecutive time, we are mailing the most recent issue of the CHARGE! newsletter on time, as promised when we first started this not-for-profit endeavor. You should receive your copies within a week to 10 days. Articles include a neat old treatise on wargaming from the 19th century, a couple of scenarios for regimental-level ACW miniature wargaming, some terrain tips, a tour of a new Civil War museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and other goodies! Enjoy!

Brothers Divided on sale at Historicon and from leading retailers

Stonewall Jackson “endorses” Coca-Cola – 80 years after dying!

Thanks go out to Larry Reber of Gettysburg Miniature Soldiers for locating and scanning this old advertisement to share with CHARGE! readers.

Heritage memorial in my hometown of Zanesville, Ohio

The riverfront monument at Zanes Landing in downtown Zanesville, Ohio, the town where I was born. The impressive monument is along the Muskingum River.

We were in town for my wife’s family reunion on the 4th of July.

A hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, Charles Hazlett, was from Zanesville. He was killed while defending Little Round Top on July 2, 1863.

Coming in the May issue of CHARGE!

Debi and I present three original scenarios for the regimental-level miniature wargamer, including two Trans-Mississippi games that will require Native American troops. These are the First Battle of Newtonia (by Jerry Stefek) and the Battle of Honey Springs (Scott Mingus). Also, Jim Kopchak gives us a scenario for the 1865 Battle of Averasboro during the end of the Carolinas Campaign.

Other articles include a treatise on hidden movement by Larry Reber (useful for the Averasboro scenario!), as well as John Mayer of Round Top Miniatures detailed step-by-step guide to making interesting flexible forests and woodlands. I also include some fresh anecdotes from the Gettysburg Campaign.

CHARGE! will be mailed the first week of May, on time for the 23rd consecutive issue, something that Debi and I are quite proud of, considering we have real jobs and do this as favor for the JR gaming community as a non-profit contribution.

Coming in the August issue are a look at Dennis Morris’s basement spectacular Gettysburg diorama and how to make similarly detailed terrain of your own, Larry Reber’s look at supply wagons and support vehicles to fill out your gaming article, Jerry Stefek’s tour of a great new Civil War museum in Wisconsin, a review and pictures of John Hill’s appearance at Kubla Con, and a few scenarios of interest to regimental ACW gamers!

We are always looking for new articles and scenarios, so keep sending them in, please! We want CHARGE! to add value to the gaming community, and it’s only as good as the contributions you send in!

CHARGE! reaches 19,000 views in March!!!

Thanks to all of you CHARGE! readers who have continued to make this one of the most popular Civil War gaming and hobby blogs in cyberspace after two short years!!! Debi and I at the Johnny Reb Gaming Society appreciate your comments, readership, and support, and we of course will continue to support both this blog as well as the hard copy quarterly CHARGE! newsletter mailed to all active JRGS members.

As we begin our third year, we promise to continue to provide what we believe is an eclectic and interesting mixture of posts and topics, and we of course welcome scenarios, photographs, terrain tips, and other articles that you may wish to submit to us.

Thank you!!!

Thanks to all you readers who sent me get well wishes and comments following my surgery to reattach a detached retina! Some of you may recall that I had the same problem in the same eye five years ago and had to miss Cold Wars. Hopefully, this is the last time, but you never know!

Again, thanks for your concern and prayers, and the doctors are optimistic that I will regain the vision and can resume normal activities.

Gettysburg’s Fort Defiance Frontier Town today

Background post: My summer vacation in 1968 to Gettysburg and Fort Defiance.

Fort Defiance Museum and Frontier Town, built in 1962, was located on Taneytown Road south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. An old Fodor’s Civil War Sites stated in 1979, “Fort Defiance Museum, Rt. 134 just south of the Visitor Center, offers views of 1863 Gettysburg with the battle in progress, in miniature.”

Owned by a man named Clyde G. Culver, it ceased operation in the early 1980s. The fort soon was disassembled and moved to its present location on Emmitsburg Road south of where Boyd’s Bears is located.

The old fort once hosted thousands of starry-eyed kids, including me in the summer of 1968 during my family’s first and only vacation to Pennsylvania. It was kind of sad this afternoon to see it in such poor condition.