Wargames illustrated 316

A  couple of different things from the WI team this time, one meh and one very interesting.
The theme this month instead of being one war or campaign is assaults from the sea. OK sort of a theme but given the different periods apart from water being involved not really connected.You  could say any battle anywhere ever is linked to any other because people fought each other using weapons , so it didn't really work never mind on to the good news SOMETHING NON HISTORICAL! WI have all ways resisted having anything sci-fi or fantasy in it so this is a major departure for them, we are talking dust here, an alternate WW2 involving alien tech. Its a 28mm minis game, I've liked the look of this for some time. bit like AT-43 which i liked alot but set in WW2 even better. It didn't seem to be catching on much but its relaunching and its made the mainstream wargamming press, hang on a minute though hasn't battlefront taken over dust? ah ha that's why its in WI (hello GW anyone?)oh well if the game is good and i really like the look of the German walkers it can't hurt, all it needs now is a proper British army to use in it.as for the rest of the mag you get a feature on battlefronts other releases this month - desperate measures for flames of war . I've been thinking of starting FOW and this mights just tip me over the edge because the German player can have anything he wants(pziv/70's backed by jagdpanthers with assault rifle inf nice) some pirates, some zulus, some boxers and the obligatory ACW but no vikings just saxons assaulting from the sea, they also show you how to make some of hobarts funnies in case you want to show the Americans how to assault a beach without risking tom hanks.
Fair mag it rolls 3 sixes on 5 d6
(Boooo i'm not in any of the pics of warfare in reading)

Wargames soldiers & strategy No70

First up is the figure review section 4 pages of pics of unpainted figures, i know you could see this on the Internet but you'd have to know where to look. This little spot might show up some ranges you didn't know of before and i do like seeing figures unpainted really shows you what you would have to work with.rick Priestley's column talks about terrain and then there is an interview with the 4ground people(2 pages) followed by a 2 page France vs Spain 16th century battle and a slightly longer piece on Pegasus bridge. next up is a piece by  teacher on how he  uses wargames to teach history, wish my teacher had done this, would have beaten writing essay's on what it felt like to be a 16th century peasant(crap i expect). A new faction for 'in her Majesty's name' comes next then its on to this months theme which is the successors of Alexander. 27 pages all told including rules for a campaign in Syria ,using dux bellorum for the period, stealing elephants and a pontic vs Rome scenario. The figure round up at the end again shows 6mm as well as the larger scales which pleases me, all though poor old heroics & ros let alone irregular don't get a look in.4 painting articles and couple of columns and with the reviews top the mag off, me thinks the painting stuff was a bit more than usual maybe drop a couple for some more history of the successors, but it seems that most wargames mags are shying away from the background history these days. i know you can just look it up on wiki or buy a book that covers it much better but still  i'm sure just  a little wouldn't hurt we aren't reading nuts or zoo here. I'm sure the readers can handle it without getting bored. overall a bit of a slip for WSS this month. in my new ranking system this mag rolls only 3 sixes out five dice

Miniature wargames 369

Reading, reading,reading. Seems like all I'm doing lately is reading gaming mags, had quite a few to catch up on from before Christmas maybe I should just stop buying them but what else do you do sat on the loo or in the bath?
After the last MW I brought I didn't think I would buy another one but a glanced at this one in smiths and saw that the sci-fi was back so I gave it a go.
Now MW is the only wargames mag in the UK that doesn't have a theme each month so the chance of it having something of interest is high but then if the theme is your period then you've scored big. I'm not sure which still I prefer. Anyway on with the mag, first few pages covers news which unfortunately in this techno gizmo age isn't news any more, then we get a 3 page article on making huts from cardboard tube, I like these build your own terrain articles, haven't done any yet but one day.
Then YES!!! 4 pages of sci-fi releases. This is what I used to buy MW for I I'm glad it's back, their are so many small sci-fi figure makers out there to many to keep track of, so it's much better that some guy does it for me. You can google historical  because you know what to put but if I've never heard of it how can I find it? This section in my eyes has always been MW selling point and with the line between historical and fantasy gaming getting more blurred all the time MW needs to keep it up. I wouldn't be surprised if WSS and WI start to follow suit as well. Next a 3 page piece on a 7th century British battle with a nice pre battle add on game to enhance the coming battle clever .
then you get a Christmas themed skirmish game oddly  enough set in Napoleonic Spain or warhammer 40k , i don't think I've seen a wh40k article outside of white dwarf for 30 years. Then you get one of those get the author to explain his thinking about his rules' articles that all the wargames seem to love right now but at 8 pages i think this one was a bit to heavy.5pages of Boer war follow some history and a scenario, and same again but featuring mongols in the Caucasus,the Caucasus is one of my favourite areas for wargaming history, Khazar's, Georgians, mongols!, army group south etc. shame its only 3 pages but its part of a series so i'll keep an eye on this. 4 page interview with mr ground zero games(second bit of sci-fi, sweet!) is up next and then a filler in on the royal mails crazy outlook on paint this is really stupid on their part, i want some plastic soldier company spray but ill have to pay to have it couriered which is almost as much as the paint itself this must be hurting online games shops and doesn't really make much sense, i don't know how many paints leak in the post but i bet it isn't many. sort of interesting piece on varnish i probably like a lot of others thought gloss varnish was stronger than matt butt apparently not go figure. The rest of the magazine is made up of reviews. one thing that you cant say about MW is that they can be brought if they think something is bad they say so that's what you need from a review.
well i have to say after the disappointment of last time this edition is much improved more like the MW of old and not like battlegames, maybe they listened to me last time although a doubt it but still ill take the credit in my own head and if in case they are listen the contents page ? since you can see the contents page on MW's website i think it would be a good idea if it actually said what each article was about not just the title and author that means nothing to me what period is it, what kind of article is it  i think that is what a contents page should tell you. 
ps google's spell check doesn't know the word google someone at corporate needs to get on that.

 

Wargames soldiers & strategy No69

Ahh WSS it's no secret that this is my favourite but does this month's offering measure up? Well let's see.
This months theme is the Cold War (not bad, my first historical wargamming was 1/300th modern tank battles back in the early nineties when Russia was still the enemy)  plenty of articles covering 21 pages which is not as heavy as WI is with its themes which depending on if you like the theme is a good/bad thing, even covers the rules available and admits that 1/300 exists in the figures ranges overview which WI does not(very often) the rest of the magazine had a medieval Scots vs English battle,2 pages. A piece on the long range desert group,3 pages. Some Napoleonic,5 pages. An ACW battle,3 pages plus 3 modelling articles and a bunch of columns and reviews . All in all a good magazine up to the usual standard my only complaints would be I don't know why they still review board games and they needed to have bunged in something for the ancients player

Wargames illustrated 314

Thought I had a reason I wanted to buy this so got it without looking inside whoops!
The main theme is Spanish war of succession, if you like horse and musket or London fashion week then you'll love this, me I like camo or chainmail so the 34 pages in 4 articles on this was a bit of a bust and to finish you off they throw in 6 more pages of ACW officer uniforms( doesn't that belong in an osprey?) .Still we get an introduction to fow latest desperate measures 4 pages just an extended advert really shame. They give you the rules to skyraiders in tour of duty( give me a b52 strike danger close , game over) 6 pages on Gettysburg (again) to keep the yanks happy, then you get an article on 18th century Belgium robbers ( actually a bit interesting) and a piece on the start to Jutland, World War One navel. There are also 3 articles just kind of like columns or blog posts sort of about wargames but not about actual games of war if you see what I mean. So all in all about a usual effort from WI. Outside of the main theme not much background history or fluff as the sci-if gamers call it and you  couldn't really say it had something for everyone . 

wargames illustrated 307

just like the other mags this month WI has got a lot of Gettysburg content, including a 10 page battle report (too long!!!!)and then a 12 page battle report considering neither is of the whole battle this is overload, battle reports are good but this is too much detail for a magazine. the space could have been better used for some coverage of other periods, also featuring heavily is FOW Vietnam not surprisingly since its battlefronts latest release. now I've seen many a comment about how battlefront is trying to ram tanks where they don't belong and pretend they were there all along which i kind of agree but they do take a bit of what if to it so if they sold it as recreating the war that America wanted rather than what happened  that would make sense but nonetheless you get 3 articles on FOW tour of duty (interestingly the advert for FOW box sets shows more tanks than infantry even though they date the rules 1965-71 before any of the actual large tank battles) rest of the magazine has a look at tanks in the first world war and a brief overview of vikings couple a looks at demo games and a play through of some gunfight rules. so good if you like ACW if not avoid

Miniature wargames

Managed to get into a smiths last week and get a copy of the revamped MW.
now MW and battlegames have been merged together starting with this issue, i would have to say that despite the title this is battlegames they just kept the MW title because its better known. The editor states that they will keep sci-fi and fantasy in the mag but apart some reviews of models and making a Saladin for U.N.I.T (a real vehicle not really sci-fi) its all gone only time will tell if non historical comes back i for one I'm going to miss darker horizons. I liked having all the news from the smaller manufactures gathered up in one place because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to search around the Internet for it (and anyway there's nowhere to plug my PC into in the bathroom and the wife says having an extension cable in the bath is dangerous). i understand the decision to merge the two mags it is silly for one publisher to print two wargames magazines but even though the new MW is a fine mag, nice range of articles the old MW was the only mag left that dealt with sci-fi, fantasy of a non gw variety( i suppose that should tell me that sci-fi doesn't sell) i wish the ancible still did print.
As for the mag itself its new look is good bright clean, you've got a couple of battle reports (dark ages again!) one of which does drag on a bit but i suppose since its for the new game dux bellorum it would help would be purchasers. a basic photography article (read it all before, should start listening) quite a long construction article on building a house , some rules for using toy (and i mean TOY)soldiers in a wargame, a mini campaign for the armada, some scenarios for hells highway using blitzkrieg commander(yeah!) even with the long report on dux bellorum you get dux a second time this time of the dux britanniarum variety (you can have any wargame you like as long as its the dark ages!). a piece on using 2d figures for wargaming ( this really is a Battlegames article) usual reviews with quite abit of opinion especially  against FOW (mind i like opinions good or bad) with ANOTHER dark age rule set and a book about Arthur, and i used to like the dark ages arrgh! still if you liked battlegames you'll like this mag if you where more of a MW fan you might be left a bit sad for what once was.

Wargames soldiers & strategy 66

just a quick review of the latest WSS, bit of coincidence that the main theme is Gettysburg like wargames illustrated.both trying to get in on the interest with the 150Th anniversary in July but if you haven't got any interest in the ACW it means its a slow month on the wargames reading scene. rest of the mag has a look at the vikings game by peter pig ( dark ages in Vogue at the moment) bit of biblical and another of the lets play articles on skirmish sangin. plus usual reviews of new figures games and books plus don't forget boardgames, and in a shock a review of some 6mm figures from rapier miniatures nice!
with the usual columns from priestley et al makes it a worth while read i recommend it

Wargames illustrated 305

WI 305

 slightly better magazine from WI this month all though the theme of 1066 was a bit of a damp squid with just 2 battle reports (OK 1 was a mini campaign) and no history but some nice articles on Turks vs Britishh in Iraq (with history!) and Egypt in 1882 with some of the usual nice pics of dioramas/battles and modelling articles and only a minimal advert article from battlefront (Vietnam), worth a purchase.

Wargames illustrated 304

I suppose it should come as no surprise that this months copy is full of articles on operation market garden since battlefront has released some new books for that campaign but they go maybe a but over the top. We have some new army list variants which you cant use unless you buy the German book a scenario but how many people are going to build dutch style raised up roads? apart from all the battlefront coverage there is game based on a real incident during the Zulu war featuring a Bonaparte which i never knew.a couple of reviews of an ACW rule set and battlegroup kursk as a nod to non battlefront/osprey stuff a game for french and Indian wars and some modelling articles make up the rest apart from the start of a series of articles over the coming months on the development of the tank which this month actually features ancient chariots but not in the form of information piece but as 3 short pieces of fiction featuring chariots in battle very strange! not sure where WI is going with this not actually any help for the wargamer at the moment. As it stands at the moment WI still trails behind Wargames soldiers and strategy, and miniature wargames in the magazine stakes.

Wargames Soliders & Strategy

Wargames soldiers & strategy No63

let me start by saying i like WSS its my favourite wargames mag since when i first found it when its was still printed in Spain, i have to say since the dutch have had it, it has only got better.
First up the reviews of figures always covers more ranges than any other mag and the height measurement is very handy when scale means about as much as women's clothe sizes(ask the missus),a couple of sort articles one on battle group kursk rules, second a Nap battle then a feature on mob rule in Republican Rome different! the main feature is the AWI with history battles figures and even a navel campaign in the Indian ocean? some painting and modelling articles or those who like that sort of thing a look at square bashing by peter pig and a quick look at some books also in the magazine are the usual colums from the guest writers (including rick priestley!) all in all even though I'm no fan of the American war of Independence or being British a rebellious province still the best mag you can get, if you can get it can be quite hard to find but you should be able to get you local newsagent or smiths to get it if you ask nicely.

Wargames illustrated 301

My thoughts on this mag

 I've been reading WI since about No. 38 its always been my fav wargames magazine, however just lately i feel like I'm reading white dwarf. Every time there is something new for FOW the mags stuffed full of it but does that make the contents bad?
First up there is a 18 page FOW battle report which i have to say i didn't like at all. The way they had it written gave me now sense of the game at all it was a mess so much so i gave up half way through shame i like late war WWII but this was a bust.
Then you have a new saga faction the Byzantines with a battle board on the back cover good if you play saga useless if you don't, followed by 3 modelling articles (making terrain, a diorama and basing) then a piece on heroes for Victorian games based in the middle of nowhere, finished off by some more articles about painting and terrain with a small scenario for Spanish vs Incas. no historical information of note i hope this isn't how the magazine is going to go now i would give it only 3/10