"WS&S 47: Blooper of the Month" Topic

I was hoping to get though this issue without finding any bloopers, but, alas…

The German attack [starting the Battle of the Bulge] had taken the American troops completley [sic] by surprise and oddly enough, it had occurred in exactly the same place (the Maginot line) where the French defense had also been humiliated several years before.

Ah, yes, who can forget 1940 France, when the Germans launched their successful assault on the Maginot Line!

Runner Up Blooper-of-the-Month

Notice at the end of the Reviews column:

Most of the reviews we receive at WSS tend to be 28mm, but we do like to review a wide variety of scales (not the 15mm and 6mm reviews this month).

That's right, don't send them any more 15mm or 6mm figures for review!

What's a typo among friends?

I gave up on them for this sort of nonsense.
Some articles were hardly readable…

What it is more shocking is that the translators are British and/or American with English as first language, not Spanish with English as second language…

The translating was become worse in the past few issues. And some of the inset charts/maps aren't translated at all.

Can't say how many instances where the word "rules" is translated as "regulations."

I wonder if the translating policy has changed. I know that they had some financial issues, and maybe they are now hiring non-native English speaking translators. Otherwise I can't understand how those mistakes are even possible.

Sometimes they use photos of minis from the wrong historical period to accompany the articles. I recall an article about the Anglo Saxons in Dark Ages Britain that used picture of Romans and some AWI photos for the War of 1812.

Ah, that reminds me of the halcyon days of Miniature Wargames, where an article on the War of 1812 would be accompanied by a photo of some Napoleonic Portuguese, with an ACW Union command element plonked in the middle of it… shudder…

What's WS & S?
--
Tim

Wargames Soldiers and Strategy
A Spanish publication.

Oh, Editor:
Thy tongue doth have cruel barbs!
Rod Robertson

The translations are funny sometimes and strange but it hardly spoils the essence of the articles. It is largely a good mag, especially when it covers the Hispanic aspects of gaming and history. More articles about Waterloo, the ACW and British and US in WW2 we can do without. Carlist wars, Spanish colonials and the Dutch 80 years war…yes please.

I look at it another way, I can recall when a few pages of Military Modelling was the only wargaming publications in the high street, we live in a great time for our hobby- long may it continue.

Better translations would be rather nice though, all the same.

"What it is more shocking is that the translators are British and/or American with English as first language, not Spanish with English as second language…"

That should not be shocking to anyone familiar with English-language wargames fora, including TMP.

Allen

I have to admit that I have given up with WS&S beacuse the quality of the articles has sadly decreased, their issue with the vietnam special was a real del destroyer for me pretty much non-sense with few gaming idea and wrong order of battle.

And the blooper our editor has found is actually very poor history not typo.

Arrigo

I am not a fan of the mag, mainly for the format, I want a wargame mag, not a history mag with pictures of miniatures – but that aside, I think most here are too harsh on the translation bit.

Our non UK / US wargaming friends have much more to put up with as they have to tackle loads of systems / rules / boardgames etc that are written only in english and not translated to any degree – I think it's pretty remarkable that a Spanish mag on a minority subject is actually available in English at all ….. and especially that it is on the shelves in a UK high street store.

We seem to live ina world in which we have little tolerance for anything that is not perfect.

For all the full colour of mags etc that we enjoy today, some of my most memorable reads were the old wargamers newsletter that Don Featherstone put together … a very amateur product but one that was read cover to cover, over and over, perhaps just nostalgia but sometime the perfection that comes with commercialism actually takes something away from the character of things.

"We seem to live ina world in which we have little tolerance for anything that is not perfect".

When a mag costs top dollar I expect perfect.

Hi at all, and sorry for my english. I am the spanish manager of the magazine, and I would like write some words about the posts.

From issue 47 we are improve our translation sistem and now, our team is

- 2 translators. (FROM UK)
- 2 Proof readers (FROM UK)

I know than had mistakes in the issue 47, was the first issue for the team, and probably in the issue 48 will have few mistakes, but in the issue 49 he translation is fully correct.

Very best regards and sorry for this, we make all the best to solve this questions

Very best regards!

D.

I think the piece was supposed to say 'note' – not 'not! A simple typo.

Yes WSS has had its challenges in the past but that's about to change, big time! Watch this space…

Guy

We have been.

Late night television comedians don't have writers this good. Or is it unintentional?

And oh by the way:

"…some of my most memorable reads were the old wargamers newsletter that Don Featherstone put together … a very amateur product but one that was read cover to cover…"

…and one that was very well written, as have been many "amateur" products from authors who had been schooled to be proficient in the use of language.

"…perhaps just nostalgia but sometime the perfection that comes with commercialism actually takes something away from the character of things."

The experience of the last few years with the "glossies" and with high-production-value rulesets has not led to any expectation of perfection as a result of commercialism, but rather the opposite. There has been a great deal of incredibly shoddy work done in this hobby, for which the slick packaging has somehow "justified" high prices.

Unfortunately, the collapse of basic literacy in most of the English-speaking world has meant that the younger generation of gamers who are customers expect nothing better, and the younger generation of writers obliviously continue to produce shoddy work.

Allen

Late night television comedians don't have writers this good. Or is it unintentional?

Sadly you would have missed Question Time last night on the BBC… :-)

I didn't renew my subscription this time.Exspensive,thin, and if you aren't interested in the main dossier for the month there isn't much else.But the translation never bothered me much.

Well for a few year WSS was the best Wargames mag out there and did up the bar which now mean WI is ALOT better and MW is a bit better…If Guy says WSS is now going to get even better than those other mags then fantastic….. If not then mmmmmm…

Hmm… WSS has been the only wargaming magazine that I have been buying consistently for last couple of years. Yes, the english translation has been lacking in quality, however I do think that things started to improve around issue 30. Also, for those saying that they want a wargaming magazine and not history magazine – consider that there is a lot of people, especially "new blood", that perhaps aren't all that familiar with different periods. If 'simple' articles are the right way to introduce new players into Napoleonics, Ancients or 7YW, then so be it. Also, some 'old hands' have been into this hobby for what, 20-30 years… That's a lot of magazine issues and how many wargaming articles with new, exciting content can be written about Waterloo or Gettysburg?

I can live with a few translation errors, it's usually pretty obvious what is meant.

I seldom buy wargame mags but yesterday I bought the new issue of WSS devoted to the Spanish Civil War which is a period I intend to start playing in the new year. Great! It told me all I need to know with a potted history of the war and it's a lot more fun than slogging my way through Osprey's Campaign book on the Ebro which seems to assume the reader knows where the relevant places are, but doesn't put them on the map. The accomanying pictures will be great painting guides for my troops too. There was even an article on Pyrrhus of Epirus, even better!!!

If I had to buy just one mag, this would be it, I'll definitely buy it next time round. We are lucky to have 3 wargame publications so readily available in the mainstream outlets. (Four if you count White Dwarf). It's easy to criticise but I remember the dark old days when all we had was a small section of Military Modelling to call our own.

I beg your pardon for my english.

Well, the osprey about the Ebro is not one of the best ospreys, of course (Verdejas tank in the nationalist orbat like a "modern" Renault FT17…).

The article about the spanish civil war could have fails of course, but the bibliography that we have managed is better than most of the books in the present.