Editorial

Here we are one year old and growing fast. In fact you probably noticed
that issue 5 grew by an extra 1/2" in height!! This was not because we
particularly wanted the issue to stand out on your shelves but was by
way of an experiment to see whether or not an increase in size to an
international pape size rather than the existing American quarto would
cause any particular production problems. Apart from all those people at
SPUK who have now pulled all their hair out in desperation at trying to
get the new size into the old envelopes we think that this is the way
that we will go - but after we've used up all the old-sized envelopes
from stock. We'd be interested to get your comments.

Now on to the matter in hand - issue 6 is the biggest yet (thick not
high this time!) and I think it is the best. We've got 20 pages plus the
SPUK centre page pull-out and some great articles. There's the first
part of a major piece on Montrose' Scottish Campaign; scenarios for
SPI's Musket & Pike to cover all the battles will appear in later
issues; reviews of SPl's Westwall Quad, GDW's Tsushima and Maplay's
Salamanca; new scenarios for Foxbat & Phantom and Yeoman; and some
modifications to Sniper and Patrol. There's also the first of a new
occasional series by Sam Mark's that will look briefly at a wide range
of fringe subjects ranging from weapons systems to battle tactics to
individual weapon profiles and even the fightingman.

As you read this I shall already be well into the production of the next
issue of Phoenix and it is with a degree of mixed feeling that I view
the coming year. Phoenix has undoubtedly made great strides in its first
year, eighteen months ago it was but a twinkle in Malcolm's eye, and now
it has a strong regular readership together with a very strong and
continual stream of contributors. The article bank has never been
stronger and there's some great material in the pipeline for you. But
Phoenix has also seen the the birth of another professional, commercial
journal, albeit of US origin, which must inevitably be seen as a
potential competitor for its readership and it remains to be seen
whether or not we can hold our own and provide what we set out to do - a
forum for UK boardgamers.