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Arty's Foreward:
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Crossfire Review
Tactical
Advice
Identifying Units
Tips for the
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Death of Walter Simon aka Wally of the Basement 1934-2005 By Pat
Condray
Wally was best known for his role in organizing the Historical Miniatures Support Group, which became the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society at a series of meetings in his basement in November of 1981. He had long been the prime mover in Potomac Wargamers, and editor of the lively PW Review. In the former role he presided over the 3rd Friday game fests at the Church of the Pilgrim in Wheaton MD until his poor health shut down the club, which is being resurrected in his memory. In the latter capacity he brought a puckish sense of humor to the criticism of rules, inflated personalities, and other targets of opportunity. Qualified as both an engineer (with a mathematical flair and reverence for Dupuy's History, Numbers and War) and a lawyer, he could be the ultimate rules lawyer, and was clearly more fascinated with the mechanics of games than the figures themselves. Long president of HMGS, Unca
Wally, feeling the corporation well launched, resigned in 1989 to free
up time for gaming, and became what Socrates called the "Gadfly of the
State" pricking the pretenses of his former colleagues. So enraged did
the new president become that he cancelled his subscription to PW
Review. Being as convinced as Wally that we needed criticism, I
bought him a gift subscription.
A final comment from Arty:"Wally's narrative style
in his own informal rule sets was powerfully engaging to me as a young
man in the 80's (some were described in Gene McCoy's 'Wargamer's
Digest'). Wally's game mechanics were off-beat, his articles so
clever and flat-out fun, that obscure periods and venues could be made
attractive to otherwise indifferent gamers. And with Wally as
editorial critic, it was so entertaining being in his literary
cross-hairs that it was worth any abuse he'd inflict! I miss him..." |
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The CROSSFIRE Website is edited and maintained by John Moher. Additional contributions were made by John Kovalic, Luca Fazio, and William Scarvie III. CROSSFIRE is © 1996 Arty Conliffe. The contents of these pages are © 1996-2009 John Moher, Arty Conliffe, Rob Wolsky, Bill Rutherford, and/or the appropriate Authors and Contributors.
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On the
30th of May this year Walter Simon Passed away in his new home,
sitting in his armchair watching television. He had been in poor
health for a number of years, and had recently moved from his last
house with a basement to a retirement home—taking with him the minimum
essential conflict simulation artifacts (toy soldiers and props). For
some years he had been in poor health beginning with cancer and
debilitating therapy in the late 90s. We were all worried when he
attended COLD WARS but went home early due to exhaustion. To say that
he is greatly missed by wargamers who knew him personally is an
understatement.
