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 CH/MiH's On-Line Newsletter |
Volume
1, No. 1 |
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For those who know the poem, "In Flanders Fields" written by John McCrae, a doctor in the First Canadian Brigade during the Second Battle of Ypres, the poppy stands out as the symbol of those who were killed or disabled by war. McCrae had written and published several poems, before "In Flanders Fields". He is said to have written this, his most famous work just twenty minutes after performing the funeral service for a friend killed by shellfire. The cause of McCrae's friend's violent end was the Second Battle of Ypres, 1915, a battle in which the Germans unleashed 5,700 cylinders of chlorine gas with devastating effect. It was the first time the new and horrible weapon had been used, leading to the dramatic result of an entire unit of French colonial troops, seen fleeing to the rear, leaving their gasping and dying comrades in the front-line trenches. A large gap opened up in the Allied lines, an opening the Germans were slow to exploit.  McCrae had set up a field hospital and helped bury the men he couldn't save. Soon after the fields were dotted with row after row of simple white crosses, corn poppies, or P. rhoeas sprang up over the graves. The ancient flower species, native to Europe, had dormant seeds exposed to sunlight by the battle's churning of the topsoil. McCrae's poem was first published in Punch on December 8, 1915. The poet/soldier did not live to see the end of the conflict. McCrae died of pneumonia in 1918, just 10 months before the Armistice. His poem lived on. To this day the American Foreign Legion uses "the Buddy Poppy", a paper flower, to raise money for disabled and needy veterans. The author's son was handed a "Buddy Poppy" at the entrance to a supermarket in the Bronx just days ago, after a donation was made to an aged veteran standing outside the store. |
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To this day the American Foreign Legion uses "the Buddy Poppy", a paper flower, to raise money for disabled and needy veterans. The author's son was handed a "Buddy Poppy" at the entrance to a supermarket in the Bronx just days ago, after a donation was made to an aged veteran standing outside the store. Click here for more on the game In Flanders Fields. The new game, "In Flanders Fields" by Moments in History brings the gamer back in time to the Second Battle of Ypres, 1915. The game includes an historical booklet contrasting the 'take' on the battle between the game designer and several contemporaries of the battle, ranging form Marshall Foch to a Canadian front-line solider. The release of the new Combat! game system at Origins '99 caused quite a stir in CH-land and the response was everything we hoped for. That combination of love, hate and attention that only wargamers seem to know how to lavish, usually on the internet, came pouring out almost immediately. Sales have been brisk for the new game and astoundingly (especially in light of the mid-summer release—the slowest period in the hobby and game business), a sell-out of Combat! Normandy is all but assured with less than two dozen units left in the warehouse at the time of this writing (September 30, 1999). Special thanks to Bob Anzuoini, Director of the 82nd Airborne Museum in Fort Bragg for his support of the game in the form of information and shelf space. The origninal of the painting that adorns the Combat! Normandy box by James Dietz, "Against All Odds", hangs in the entrance of the museum.
Click here for more on Combat! Normandy and the Combat! game system.
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One of the early critics of the system, game designer and New Yorker Bill Ramsay has stepped up and become a member of the Combat! squad. Along with Scotsman Ellis Simpson (and under the direction of developer Kurt Martin) their efforts to move the system forward have resulted in the near completion of the Combat! Normandy ver. 1.5 rulebook, which will be released with the upcoming Combat! Normandy CHEF-DU-PONT expansion module. We're holding off the release of the new magazine, COMBAT! DIARY to allow Bill, Ellis and Kurt to finish their work so we may report on it in the first issue which will be devoted to the topical matter of the 82nd Airborne in Normandy.Pre ace"No Better Place to Die" Sells Out First Print Run Bob Murphy's memoirs, "No Better Place to Die" sold out its first print run in record time. Bob enjoyed the opportunity to sit outside the bookstore at Ste. Mere Eglise during this year's D-Day reunion and sign all the copies of his book on sale there. The entire stock of 50 copies sold out there in the span of two hours. Bob Anzuoni, Director of the 82nd Airborne Museum travelled all the way up from Ft. Bragg to Bob's home outside Boston to have all 100 copies the museum purchased from CH signed by the author before they went on sale. The customers that snapped this title up included men who were there as combat soldiers, including Marcus Heim, Francis Buck and the publisher, Critical Hit, Inc. has heard from the family of Colonels Shanley and Timmes since beginning the 'All American' game and book publishing saga. The book is currently in reprint with a second print run expected to be available during late October 1999.
Three men from the midwest corn-blet of the United States had a hand in setting a new record for module releases in their chosen hobby. Randy Yeates and Darrell Andersen, both from Iowa, join Dave 'Ogre' Dally from McHenry, Illinois as designers of two Pacific Theatre and one Italian Front module from CH.
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CH
Sets Hobby Record With 3-Module Release for Fall 1999