Eastern Pennsylvania Gaming Society Newsletter
June/July 2000
www.epgs.org
Meeting Dates:  June 17, July 15, August 19
Time:  9 AM to 11 PM
Place:  Best Western Inn at Fort Washington, PA.  From the PA Turnpike Exit
26 (Fort Washington), ignore the Route 309 exits and go straight to the
first traffic light.  Turn right onto Commerce Drive and follow for 1/2 mile
to the Best Western.  Use the Palace of Asia restaurant entrance and go
upstairs to the New Hope Room.
Dues:  $5 per meeting.

Club Officers:
President Steve Cameron stevegamer@snip.net (NEW!!!)
Publicity Tsar Bob Stribula stribula@erols.net
Treasurer Bob Hranek robert.j.hranek@lmco.com
Webmaster Chris Moffa chrism@snip.net
Newsletter Editor Brian Miller briancmiller@prodigy.net



Coming Conventions

Historicon '00  July 20-23
Lancaster Host Resort
Lancaster, PA
home.earthlink.net/~hmgs1/index.htm
A historical miniatures gaming bonanza.  Here is a list of some events to be
run by the Rogues (for more details/updates visit
www.angelfire.com/pa/therogues ).
* ACW Ironclads; 15mm ACW
* Napoleonics; 15mm Napoleonics
* North Sea Dreadnoughts; 1/300 scale
* THUD; 5mm Sci-Fi
* Zulus!; 15mm Colonial
* Punic Wars; 15mm Punic Wars
* Midnight Massacre; 15mm ACW
Also, at the moment Albert Parker has committed to putting on a Fleets Under
Sail scenario at this convention, using a friend's 1:2000 miniatures.
Questions about FUS?  Contact Albert at acep@sprintmail.com

World Boardgaming Championships
August 1st - 6th
Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn
Hunt Valley, MD
www.boardgamers.org
Six days of the best boardgaming on the planet featuring the 100 tournaments
of the Boardgame Players Associations's Century group and including World
DipCon X.  World DipCon 'X' is shaping up as quite a gathering of diplomats.
Allan B. Calhamer, the inventor of Diplomacy and thus the creator of the
Diplomacy hobby will be making a rare appearance to both play and talk to
the hobby. If you consider yourself a diplomat and there is only one
convention that you can attend this summer, then this is the one.

If you need a registration form, contact me now (briancmiller@prodigy.net or
215-638-1240) and one will be provided to you at the June EPGS meeting.


May 6th FUS Play-Test
Contributed by Albert Parker

    There was a special EPGS session at the Oxford Valley Mall on May 6th to
play-test Fleets Under Sail, re-enacting the Battle of the Chesapeake, the
action on September 5th, 1781 which ensured American independence.  Four
EPGSians joined guest game designer Albert Parker.  Mike Fisher commanded
the British fleet as Admiral Graves, with Carl Copeland as Admirals Hood and
Drake. Albert led the French fleet as Admiral de Grasse, assisted by Paul
Hakken as Admirals Monteil and Bougainville*. Paul was relieved later in the
day by Steve Cameron.
    The scenario began at 2 p.m., with only part of the French fleet out of
the Bay. The British began in some confusion but eventually sorted
themselves out and bore down to attack in three columns by squadron as the
French proceeded slowly or hove to so that the rest of their ships could
catch up.  Two of the attacking columns were broken by French ships. The
rules, still under development, have always had a place for a rule about
what happens when a formation is "disrupted by the enemy," waiting for
play-test experience before being written. The game ended with a lengthy
discussion of what the options should be in such a situation, and thus
provided valuable input for the game designer.

*If this name sounds familiar to those familiar with the Southwest Pacific,
as a more junior officer Louis Antoine, Comte de Bougainville, commanded a
French exploratory mission in that area and an island and two straits bear
his name, as well as a popular tropical flower, the Bougainvillea.


May 20th Duplomacy
Contributed by Tom Swider

    The Duplomacy tournament was not conducted because we did not have a
minimum of eight players (two boards of four) who could play for the entire
duration. People came without reading the requirements. However, we did have
seven for a game of regular Diplomacy.  Various people played countries at
different times due to some having to leave early.
    The game went until 1909 when a five-way draw was declared excluding
Austria and Italy.  It is likely that it could have been reduced to a
four-way draw excluding France or a two way (between two of England, Turkey
and Russia), but it would have taken too much additional time.
    There was some discussion of attempting the Duplomacy tournament again,
either on the Internet (problem being players not submitting orders) or at a
future meeting. One player came up from the Baltimore area for the event (a
representative of the Potomac Tea & Knife Society). He suggested that we try
a location in Delaware midway between the two clubs, and would report the
possibility of holding a regional gaming tournament.
Duplomacy Homepage:  www.voicenet.com/~tswider/duplo.htm


In Action

A list of most of the games played at the April and May meetings:

Acquire
Advanced Squad Leader
Air Baron
Axis & Allies
Axis & Allies Europe
Battle Cry
Battle of the Pyramids
Brandywine
Coin Flip Dungeon (just ask Steve)
Diplomacy
1856
Eurorails
Filthy Rich
The Fursten Von Florentz
Globetrotters & Hit Men (Tom Parauda)
Guillotine
Hockey One On One
Illuminati
Lunar Rails (Bob Stribula)
The Merchants of Amsterdam
Miniatures: Ancients
Miniatures: Battle Fleet Gothic
Miniatures: Napoleonic Skirmish
NHL Playoff Hockey
Ra
Raab (GMT)
Richochet Robot
Settlers Von Cataan
Short Lines (Bob Stribula)
Stephenson's Rocket
Tales of the Arabian Nights: Campaign
Tales of the Arabian Nights: Standard
Taj Mahal
Triumph & Glory (GMT)
Vinci
War Galley
Web of Power

Club News

Revised Closing Time
    Until further notice the game ending time is 11 PM.  Apparently in April
there were some complaints about noise in the Midnight to 1 AM time frame
which has been attributed to us.  Everyone is reminded to be courteous and
QUIET when leaving the meeting/hotel late at night.

Domain Name Extension
    Network Solutions has confirmed the extension of the club's domain name
(www.epgs.org) until 24 January 2010.  This year's fee is $35; the cost is
$29.75 for each of the following nine years.  The sum total of $302.75 has
been accounted for in the May Financial Report.  No further Internet
expenses are anticipated for the remainder of this decade.

Financial Report
    Forty-three paid members attended the April meeting.  Pre-paid dues
declined slightly to $500.  Rent was discounted to $145.80 due to the
frequent users' plan.  The April/May newsletter cost $27.12 to produce and
post; another $5.29 was spent for publicity flyers.  The 10th Anniversary
sheet cakes at the March meeting cost $102.  The month's raffle raised $40
for the Treasury, and someone donated $5.  For the month the Treasury
declined $30.21 to end at $725.61.
    The May meeting was attended by forty-five paying members (if one
attends but does not play a game, he is a "visitor" and is not charged
dues).  Pre-paid dues increased substantially to $544.  Rent for the month
cost the usual $162.  This decade's Internet expenses cost $302.75.  The
raffle boosted the Treasury by $66.  The special Oxford Valley meeting added
$14 as well.  In addition, Steve donated a game that sold for $5.  The
Treasury ended the month with $595.86 in the bank.

50/50 Winners
    Congratulations to Tom Swider and Jim Vroom, the most recent raffle
winners.  Tom won $46 at the April meeting; Jim won $72 at the May meeting.
The holder of the winning ticket receives half of the raffle ticket money;
the other half goes into the club Treasury.  Raffle tickets may be purchased
from the Treasurer when he collects your dues.  One ticket may be purchased
for $2, three tickets for $4 or five tickets for $6 (the best bang for your
buck!).

Miniatures Schedule
      June 17th - Napoleonics (Shako, 15mm).
      July 15th - To Be Determined.

Club Elections
    Officer elections will be conducted at the July meeting.  Every office
will be voted upon.  Notify the current President if you are interested in
being a candidate for an office (you may nominate yourself).  Nominations
will be accepted right up until ballots are cast.  Competition is strongly
encouraged.  As of June 7th, the current contenders for the different
offices are:

* President - Steve Cameron (I)
* Publicity Tsar - Bob Stribula (I)
* Treasurer - Bob Hranek (I)
* Webmaster - Chris Moffa (I)
* Editor - Dave Bohnenberger
Note:  (I) denotes Incumbent.

An overview of officers' responsibilities:
President:  Ensures everything that needs to be accomplished is
accomplished; makes the tough decisions when required; embodies the club to
the outside world (maybe we should have a morals clause?).

Publicity Tsar: (external communications); actively publicizes club events
to media outlets; responds to inquiries from potential members.

Treasurer:  Collects dues; runs the raffle; collects and maintains
membership data; distributes membership data to the other officers.

Webmaster:  creates/maintains/regularly updates the club website in order to
establish our identity in the minds of as many people as possible.

Editor: (internal communications); regularly informs the membership of club
activities through a newsletter; solicits article contributions; when
needed, causes trouble to generate "news" in lieu of game articles.


Editor's Notes

    I'd like to thank everyone who has submitted material for the newsletter
for the past sixteen months; every bit was used!  If even one less article
had been provided, there would likely have been a blank page in the middle
of one of those newsletters.  In fact, one publishing deadline loomed with
two blank pages.  Just before the point-of-no-return, Frank Cunliffe
e-mailed me two pages of unsolicited game reviews.
    Although this is the final newsletter that I am editing, contributors
should still send their articles to me until a new editor is elected at the
July meeting.  Everything I receive in the interim will be transferred at
the appropriate time.  In addition to articles already in progress, I'm
seeking volunteers to provide new material.  For example, there are a few
big summer conventions that could be reviewed.  And I know everyone can
write about an interesting story they've heard or read that would interest
most of our membership (I hope the one included in this issue is a
successful example).  And may you never forget:  The unexpected
contributions are the sweetest!


Story Time
Compiled by Brian Miller

    I've recently read John Gunther's Inside Africa (c. 1956) which included
a brief recounting of the amazing exploits of Oberst Paul von
Lettow-Vorbeck, the German Commander in East Africa during the Great War.
Although a hurried Internet search provided a few more details for this
article, it still relies heavily on the Gunther work.  A final note: before
his death in 1964, Lettow-Vorbeck had written his memoirs, My Reminiscences
of East Africa, which I was unable to consult in time for this piece.

       General von Lettow-Vorbeck is perhaps the most successful guerrilla
commander in military history.  Descended from a famous Prussian military
family, he saw action in the Boxer Rebellion and served in German Southwest
Africa during the Hottentot and Herero Rebellion of 1904-08.  But it is his
exploits in German East Africa during World War I for which he is
world-renowned and rightly so; for you see, he never lost a battle.
     At the outbreak of World War I Lettow, then a colonel, had two hundred
eighteen white officers and two thousand five hundred forty-two askaris
(native troops) under his command.  The first thing he did was to kidnap the
local civilian German governor, to keep him from surrendering. Then Lettow
took the initiative against the larger British force in the theater.
     Lettow had no communication whatever with his own government and no
expectation that Germany would send reinforcements or supplies.  He
determined that his mission would be to use hit and run tactics to tie down
a huge number of British troops in East Africa and thus prevent their
joining the fighting in Europe.  For more than four years he fought without
pause and covered (mostly on foot) an area larger than the eastern United
States.  130 different generals went into action against him during the
course of the war.  At times the Allied forces in the theater totaled over a
hundred thousand; Lettow never had more than twelve thousand troops at his
disposal.
    Lettow began his campaign with a series of effective raids against
British railway in Kenya.  In two years' time twenty trains were destroyed
along with miles of track.
    The Battle of Tanga, fought on the night of November 3, 1914, is the
most famous battle of the first two years.  Despite being outnumbered by
more than 8 to 1, Lettow repelled a British/Indian amphibious assault with
devastating effect:  more than four thousand casualties were inflicted on
the invader; only fifteen Germans and fifty-four askaris were killed.  In
preparation for this battle Lettow blackened his face and, disguised as an
African, reconnoitered between the lines.  The confusion was so extreme
among the British and Indians that they later said that Lettow had
"mobilized the bees" against them; it happened that swarms of bees covered
the battlefield that night!
    Although he could not summon bees, Lettow did employ several inventive
devices - like camouflaging his men with leaves, making bandages out of
bark, and manufacturing boots out of animal hide. Herds of cattle were
collected which moved with the army.  Large amounts of arms and ammunitions
were captured from the enemy to supply the troops.  Lettow salvaged the
105mm guns from the beached German cruiser, Konigsberg (which has an
interesting story of its own), and employed these as field artillery.  There
was no quinine to fend off malaria, so Lettow made a foul-tasting substitute
by brewing a kind of bark (since he did contract malaria on ten different
occasions, the medicinal value of "Lettow's schnapps" is patently
debatable).
    Lettow had great admiration for his askaris, who were fanatically loyal
to him.  He treated them with fairness and shared their hardships.  One
luxury he permitted himself was a bicycle.  He often led marches on this and
even performed his own patrols.
    One thing that distinguished the East African war was chivalry.  From
the beginning, Lettow adopted the totally unprecedented policy of freeing
any European prisoners he took, even officers, if they would give their word
of honor not to fight against Germany again during the course of the war.
This was much more sensible than having to haul prisoners along with him,
and guard and feed them.
    In early 1916, the allied command put South African General (later Field
Marshal) Jan Christiaan Smuts, the former Boer War General, in the field to
beat the indefatigable Lettow.  To defeat the Germans, Smuts tried to
surround Lettow or to force him to fight a decisive battle. Smuts brought
with him 45,000 fresh South African soldiers.  A fantastic proportion of
these soon became casualties through malaria and otherwise.  Lettow kept
winning battle after battle.
    Smuts repeatedly called on his foe to surrender; he repeatedly refused.
One day came a message from Smuts, a chivalrous foe, informing Lettow that
the German government had awarded him the Pour le merite - the supreme
German decoration for valor.  Lettow replied to Smuts with a letter of
acknowledgement saying that he was sure there had been some "mistake," since
he did not deserve such an exalted decoration.
    The last big battle of the campaign was at Mahiva in October 1917.
Again the British were badly bloodied:  they suffered more than 50%
casualties (2700 out of 4900).  Ninety-five members of Lettow's army were
killed in the encounter.  However his army had been reduced to less than a
thousand men, so he withdrew.
    The increasing weight of Allied numbers kept Lettow on the move.  In
December 1917 he launched a series of hard marches into Mozambique and
routed the Portuguese forces stationed there.  Lettow's army lived off the
land and requisitioned war supplies from the ample Portuguese supply dumps.
    In the Fall of 1918 Lettow invaded Rhodesia and on November 13th
captured the town of Kasama - one of the only occasions on which a German
Commander occupied British territory during the war.  It was then, from a
British POW, that Lettow learned of the armistice signed on November 11th
ending the war and that the armistice terms included the evacuation of East
Africa by Germany.  Lettow had good stocks of cattle and ammunition; he had
a regular influx of askaris to maintain an army; he was in no danger of
being surrounded or defeated; he could have continued the war indefinitely.
His first impulse was to fight his way from Rhodesia across the Congo and
retire into Angola, where he would be impregnable.
    He considered, however, that as a German soldier faithful to the
fatherland he must honor the armistice.  Lettow did so on November 23rd.
Technically speaking, he did not surrender, but merely disbanded his troops
and put himself at the disposal of the British commander.  Lettow ended his
campaign with 155 Europeans and even more askaris (three thousand) than he
had started the war with.  More than 300,000 troops were deployed during the
course of the war to hem in and defeat Lettow's army, yet he did not suffer
a single defeat.  The Allies suffered sixty thousand casualties including
twenty thousand British and Indian dead in East Africa during the war.
    Lettow returned to Germany in 1919 and retired in 1920.  He entered
politics and served ten years in the Reichstag, Germany's Parliament.  He
opposed the National Socialists.  When the Nazis offered him an
ambassadorial post, he refused.  After the German defeat and collapse in
World War II, he lived in poverty.  Smuts, down in Johannesburg, who always
had profound respect and admiration for him, determined to give him help.
He worked out an arrangement whereby Lettow-Vorbeck, an enemy general,
received a pension from the victors!  He continued to receive this pension
until his death on March 9th, 1964.


Quartermaster Corps

The following suppliers of gaming merchandise have agreed to post our
newsletter or an advertisement for EPGS.  To show our support, we will list
the names of these outlets.

RPG Outpost
2274 Mt. Carmel Avenue
Glenside, PA  19028
(215) 887-4416
www.rpgoutpost.com
Mon.-Thu. 3:30 PM to 7:30 PM
(10 PM by request)
Fri. 3:30 PM to 10 PM
(Midnight by request)
Sat. Noon to 10 PM
(Midnight by request)
Sun. Noon to 6 PM


Jenkintown Train & Hobby
Greenwood & Leedom
Jenkintown, PA  19111


The Complete Strategist
580 Shoemaker Road
King of Prussia, PA
(610) 265-8562
Mon.-Thu. 11 AM to 6 PM
Fri. & Sat. 11 AM to 8 PM
Sun. Noon to 5 PM


Days of Knights
Main Street/P.O. Box 4577
Newark, DE 19711
(302) 366-0963
www.daysofknights.com


Legends & Heroes
12 Heritage Square
Delran, NJ  08075
(856) 461-7090
Mon.-Fri. Noon to 8 PM
Sat. 11 AM to 8 PM
Sun. Noon to 6 PM


The Gamers Realm
Princeton Arms Shopping Center
2025 Old Trenton Road
Cranbury, NJ  08012
(609) 426-9339
www.gamersrealm.com
Mon. Noon to 6 PM
 Tue.-Fri. Noon to 9 PM
Sat. 11 AM to 6 PM
Sun. 11 AM to 6 PM


Tears Toys & Treasures
Booths Corner Farmers Market
Booths Corner, PA
(610) 444-5826 (home phone)
TearsToys@email.msn.com
Fri. 10 AM to 10 PM
Sat. 10 AM to 9 PM




HEROICS June/July 2000