Wargamer's Newsletter #1 (1962)

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Title: Wargamer's Newsletter
Item Code: No. 1/April 1962
Type: Fanzine
Copyright: n/a
Editor(s): Donald Featherstone
Artwork: n/a
Cartography: n/a
Place of Publication: Southampton, England
Printer: n/a
Format: 12 page unpaginated softcover (including front cover), stapled, unusual foldover from cover onto back page (see back cover scan)
ISBN: n/a
Cover Price: n/a
Mass: ?
Dimensions: length 34cm[sic!], width 21cm, thickness .1cm

Content:

Editorial
“Retasol” by Carl Reavley
“War-Gamer’s Convention 1962” by Featherstone
“Who is the Champion Wargamer?” (uncredited)
“Whats Cooking?” by Newell Chamberlin III
“An Accessory to Map Campaigns” by Tony Bath
“Battles to Remember!” by Bill Gunson
“The American Civil War in Huddersfield” by Bill Mell
“What’s News” (uncredited)
“Been Visiting Lately?” (uncredited)
“This is the Way Others Do It!”, with contributions by Bill Gunson, Bill Mell, Charles Grant, Warwick Hale, Calvin Hurd
“Correspondence Column” (back cover) with correspondence by Carl Reavley, Calvin Hurd, Bill Mell, Charles Grant
“Help Wanted” blurb by Don Featherstone

Rear Cover:


Inky’s inklings: Reputedly had only 24 initial subscribers. Featherstone’s lead editorial tells his side of the famous schism with Scruby over the War Game Digest. Overlong construction (longer than an 11” flatbed scanner, so the scans here are truncated) with crafty foldover of the cover onto the back page, creating an odd sort of binding but obscuring some text, persists into 1963. Counting the foldover portion, the front cover sheet is probably closer to 23cm wide. The irregular angle of the back page scan reflects the actual orientation of the issue. Issues were folded in three for mailing, sometimes without envelope (some early issues have visible postmarks on their covers).

[harami]

research query aside: If that was the original subscriber, do you know whether they started in Canada or if they moved there?
(Decided to bail on those, alas, even if only $75 for #1. Not enough $ to cover all bases... :/ 'Grats. ^^)

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I don't have detailed biographical information about the original owner, but as far as I can tell he lived in Canada while he was active in wargaming circles. His name was Art Mikel, and he was actually a pretty frequent contributor to the original War Game Digest (which probably deserves its own research forum here). Most notably, Mr. Mikel masterminded the "International War Game", an interesting project that created some links between a number of isolated war gamers and clubs.

I was more than a little surprised to stumble across the lot, but once I determined its breadth, I did my damnedest to make sure it didn't get scattered to the four winds. As far as I can tell I was pretty successful in that regard.

[harami]