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A Piper at the Gates

On one summer’s day in 2016, I had the great pleasure of spending the day playing a Slammers game with Henry Hyde. At the time, of course, he was my editor at Miniature Wargames and - as he was the open minded chap he was (and is) - I invited him to a bash in the studio I have in the garden. I wrote a piece for MW which Henry published in issue 401 which had pictures and maps and so forth and I will include here a PDF of the original article - I spoke to the current editor and he said that was okay... Although the scenario I wrote for the game was particular to the genre,under the skin, an all-too- familiar modern 'asymmetrical warfare' type of encounter. This is a scenario is based around Drake’s books - specifically the story Paying the Piper. Although the rules are often seen as primarily an AFV based gaming environment, careful reading of Drake's work and scanning of the rules options demonstrate the flexibility in terms of combat: there are many stories where infantry actions are important. A Piper at the Gates recreates that sort of game. The "sub Fallujah" elements (IEDs and suicide bombs, Molotovs and satchel charges) of the scenario were quite unusual for Henry and not something he said he’d had to face before but they are as relevant today as they have always been and, undoubtedly, will continue to be in the future. We all know the Chinese curse about living in interesting times. Thanks Henry! John Treadaway

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