"Review of Wargames Illustrated #311" Topic

I realise that, as I type this, issue 312 might be hitting the shelves so this review might be redundant. Anyway, if you are considering popping down to a newsagent to get a copy and 312 isn't there, I hope this is of some use. Anyway, there are always back-issues.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: WI is a hefty magazine. The kind you can use to ward off muggers. No spider has ever survived a thwacking from it. Pleasant AWI painting on the front, best selling games get to put their own logo on the front (this time, it's SAGA) and in true WI style, why say it in words when you can have pictures. And there's the Steppe Lords battleboard for SAGA on the back.

EDITIORIAL: Dan Faulconbridge, the UK editor, is still on leave so for the second time in a row we have the US editorial team in charge. It's a bit tame, just describing what's inside really. Unlike Guy Bowers and Henry Hyde, the WI editorials play it safe and there's little of the personality of the editor on show. I hope you like American history, there's going to be a lot of it.

WARGAMING NEWS: The Fokker CX for Flames of War is now available, lots of new releases by Osprey (WI and Osprey often seem joined at the hip), nice summary of what's on the WI/Battlefront website and a chance to design your own rules for Osprey…right, time to dust of my "Pubfighter" rules. The calendar is global in scale. One week, it's Colours in Newbury, next week it's a show in Des Moines.

WINNING HEARTS & MINDS: The first of the AWI themed articles is a good summary of the early part of the war, where the Continental army was coming into being and Howe looked like winning. The article shows the differences in the abilities of Howe and Washington; the former a good battlefield general but lacking in strategic nous, the latter the opposite. I learned a lot from this (AWI not my thing).

ROADBLOCK: I'm a Flames of War player and I'll say it loud and proud. I like 3rd edition but the game itself is sometimes torn between those who like historical based games (that would be me) and those who like tournament style ones. Since 3rd came out, the latter has been in the ascendant and lots of nice gaming and campaign bits from 2nd edition got left out. This article puts back in the Roadblock scenario, refitted for 3rd and thank goodness for that. Two scenario summaries follow, complete with nice pictures, of low point value small battles. It shows that the game isn't just a treadhead's .

BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE: One other criticism levelled at WI (other than it's a Battlefront house mag pushing FoW) is that it's too corporate by featuring only popular rules and figures. This article is a two edged sword then: On the one hand it does the history and the scenario set up well with OOBs and how to depict it on the tabletop. On the other hand the game is being fought by Rick Priestley and Dan Faulconbridge, doyens of British wargaming, using Black Powder rules, on a bespoke table with figures by Perry and champagne by Bollinger. You don't get a map here, you get an isometric photo of the actual table they used. Actually, as an aid to setting up a wargames table of your own, it works really well. Yes, you can criticise this scenario and article being beyond the means of mere mortal gamers but it does look good and if it inspires us to bigger and better things, that's a good thing.

OK, I'm going to have to do this in 2 parts…back later.

Part two…

WELCOME TO HELL: A few wargamers won't play any conflict from living memory and this one, about Russia's invasion of Chechnya, isn't going to please them. It's been nearly 20 years since the conflict began and yet so much of the tactics and news coverage seems as relevant today as it did then. Hats off to the authors of the article for presenting a good historical account of the war and an analysis of the weapons and tactics. However, I was hoping for more on how to turn the ideas presented into a game than was provided. Force on Force is mentioned, but nothing on OOBs, laid out scenarios and special rules for FoF cards and the article finishes all too abruptly.

HAVE AT THE BLOODHOUNDS! The second AWI scenario piece is a 10 page photographic extravaganza of a multi-player Germantown game. Too much emphasis on the photos, in my opinion, which go on and on without much in the way of supporting text. A couple of nice sidebars are there which talk about the defence of Chew House by the 40th foot but this is more about the illustrated and less about the wargame (a 22ft long table with bespoke terrain). However, a fellow gamer at my club said he really wanted to see that kind of article to inspire his planned Germantown game and wasn't worried about the text so, it'll please some.

A CROWNING MERCY: As I mentioned before, WI is seen as a Battlefront house magazine devoted the big and glossy rules and figures from the better known companies which makes this article a surprise: ECW themed and by a long standing gamer who has written his own set of rules: Unpretentious, not backed by a major gaming company and with no line of miniatures made to support the system. They're quirky with alliterative terminology being used and a simple scenario is at the end of the article with a nice photo of the game board like in the Brandywine article.

HOW TO BUILD WOODEN FENCES: I'm sure I've read an article on how to build American style zig-zag fencing in WI before. Or was it MW? Or WSS? And not that long ago either. Anyway, here it is again and I have to say the beauty of the article this time around is that the method seems so simple even a scratch building numpty like me can do it.

OUTFITTING UNION INFANTRY: Still in North America (maybe the influence of the US editors is at work here), this article describes the basic uniform and equipment of Federals. Nice photos, pictures cribbed from the Osprey book on the subject and descriptive text make this ACW 101. What's good is that the article then goes onto telling you how to replicate the kit when painting figures. This is billed as the first in a series…I hope you like ACW over the next few months!

MIND OVER MATTER: Finnish anti-tank tactics in WW2 for FoW (but not exclusively) with an emphasis on the Winter War. In a nutshell, be bold and storm the tanks in assault and don't rely on putting your two captured KV-1s in every army list you make.

SAGA, STEPPE TRIBE FACTION: The successors to the Huns for the popular skirmish game. The featured hero, Delyan of the Bulgars, comes with lots of special rules and if you play SAGA then you'll find this lot a challenge: Great on mobility and missile combat, lousy at hand to hand.

WHEN IS A TANK NOT A TANK: An interesting article on other types of AFV such as tank destroyers and assault guns. I learnt a bit from this and a good article for your WW2 novice. For a Battlefront house magazine, all the photos are of Warlord 1/56th scale vehicles.

INTRODUCING LONGSTREET: Still in North America, the ACW and noted US game designer Sam Mustafa talks the reader through his new ACW rules, following on from his Maurice and Lasalle books. This is the second time a designer has talked us through their work in this issue and as a plus, there are reproductions of the rulebook pages and cards used in the game to show you what it's like. What really caught my attention was the campaign game rules: You can take a commander right through the course of the war with character improvements or influence. That makes Longstreet really tempting to buy.

A WARGAMER'S JOURNEY: Of late, WI has surprised me by putting in more opinion pieces and covering lesser known eras and rules when popular opinion has it that the magazine has sold out to "the man" but articles like this, about how a dedicated SF and Fantasy gamer found joy in historical gaming, pop up and show that it's not that simple and an often wrong assessment. A really nice piece to end the magazine on and gives us hope that you CAN make the step from Sci-Fant to historical.

OVERALL: It's big, it's glossy, it's packed with gorgeous photos. It's Wargames ILLUSTRATED! It's not very opinionated, it's not controversial and it's aimed more at the novice than the seasoned crusty old pros but, you know, you get a lot of content in it. By the time you finish it, you'll be ready for 312 with what we've all been waiting for: Flames of War, Six Day War!

Hmmm, I gave up on WI after a bad subscription experience a few years ago, but I'll look for the issue in the shops – the ECW article sounds interesting, and there's enough elsewhere in the issue that it seems worthwhile.

WI takes some wading through if you don't have much reading time on your hands I find. I've only managed to get through the first 2 AWI articles and the next issue is about to appear already. This is about par for me though, I flick through looking at the eye candy and glossy pictures of stunning games, pick an article that I think might be interesting, and then just about manage to finish reading it when the next mag hits the newsagents. I can honestly say I haven't read WI cover to cover in years, certainly not since Battlefront took over and increased the page numbers.