Are you all sitting twosquare comftybold on the botty? Then I'll begin…
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The front cover is black. Starless and bible black. The words "COUNTDOWN TO DOOMSDAY" are writ large with a picture of Soviet spetznaz forces in action. The theme is hypothetical WW3. I'm having a flashback moment of '80s nuclear paranoia, wimmin chaining themselves to Greenham Common fences, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and dodgy 80s nuclear war TV miniseries.
EDITORIAL: Guy raids his Sun Tzu quotation book for an appropriate saying about beating your enemy without having to go into battle; an apt summary of the Cold War and this editorial is quite sobering about the war we didn't fight.
REVIEWS: Mainly 28mm, with a lovely looking Peter Pig Viking Longship and 6mm buildings an exception but the figures under review aren't your usual suspects but some interesting AWI highlanders, a figure inspired by Sean Connery from The Wind and the Lion and some True Grit inspired ones to name but a few.
THIS GAMING LIFE: Rick Priestly talks about the hobby and The Hobby (tm). Is GW and Battlefront's corporate approach by marketing The Hobby (tm) really evil or misguided or a rational approach to luring capital and being more professional? And should we get all bent out of shape about it? Rick argues for vive le difference.
MARCHING TO THE FIFE & DRUM: An interview with Jim Purky, owner of Fife & Drum miniatures and his approach to designing and marketing his realistically proportioned 28mm figures.
BITESISE BATTLES, ALBA TRIUMPHANT: A mediaeval English v Scots battle designed for Warhammer Ancient Battles. It can be adapted for other rules but I wish the author hadn't chosen an out of print rules set in the first place.
SABRE IN HAND, SWEARING LIKE A PAGAN: A look at Hussars in the Napoleonic Wars with an emphasis on the writings of Antoine De Brack, a cavalryman himself who wrote the definitive light cavalry manual. Interesting stuff about tactics which isn't national specific or straight history. As a bonus, there's a skirmish scenario as well which would suit Sharp Practice.
A SEA OF SAND: A scenario for Long Range Desert Group or SAS missions in North Africa. Not tied to any specific rules set but it does list a number of scenario templates.
WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE COLD WAR, DADDY? Into this issue's theme, this is an overview of the military situation in Europe in the 1980s and the backdrop for a potential WW3. There's a bit on the literature of that era which depicted hypothetical wars (General Sir John Hackett's Third World War remains the definitive work) and some pop culture references as well. -1 victory point for mentioning Nena's 99 Luftballoons though. I still drink to forget that song.
FULDA GAP, NOVEMBER 1983: An interesting article about how a NATO exercise called Able Archer '83 almost led the Soviets to panic and launch a real attack. The author is a US army veteran from that time who gives a nice personal history touch to the article. So you get the background info and a scenario. Finally, there's a bit on what happens in the scenario if the Americans use a tac nuke in desperation. "Game Over, nul pointes all round" is the answer.
KENNEDY V KHRUSCHEV: I must admit if I was going to do any hypothetical WW3 game, I would set it not in the 80s but in the 60s and this is a megagame scenario set in that time. It's a wonderfully simple system that allows each player to do anything, imagination the only limit but with the proviso that you have to come up with an action, the result you want and 3 reasons why it is possible to carry out this action. The umpire then sets a target number to be achieved on a roll of 2D6 based on how feasible and difficult the action is.
RED STAR RISING: Our US army veteran returns with a look at Soviet forces and just how good or bad they were. Along the way he dispels some myths (a mindless hoarde with rubbish equipment as if they're merely an extension of 1942 era Soviets). If I have a quibble, and this applies to the other articles in this theme, is that it's very interesting when talking about conventional warfare but at some point the articles "go nuclear" and once that's discussed, the articles end. Now, that might be how a potential WW3 might have ended up but in wargaming terms it doesn't offer much. Once a nuke is used in a game, it's all over. So translating the cold war gone hot into a game, the emphasis must be on the conventional and I feel some of these articles don't cover enough of that before talking about nuclear weapons.
WARGAMES & WMDs: Case in point. A nice review of Post-War rules suitable for WW3 games (most out of print) but with the emphasis on whether they cover nuclear weapons or not. I'm not sure that's what we should be looking for: Once you use one in a tabletop game, you may as well pour petrol on your table and set fire to it, as some wag put it.
GAMING THE COLD WAR: A look at some of the figures and vehicles available for gaming the cold war. A good range in a variety of scales (yes! Thank you Guy!) from 28mm, 20mm, 15mm and 6mm courtesy of Heroics & Ros. A question for you manufacturers out there: Where are the non-Jungle uniform US infantry from 1960-1985? Pre-Fritz helmet and with early M16s? Especially in 28mm, this is a gap in the market.
NO ONE BUT US: How the author made the Spetsnaz diorama on the front cover. There's a nice bit about how to paint Soviet camouflage.
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE: Mark "Not Mark Lamarr" Latham poses the question, is gaming bad? Or is merely collecting and painting bad? Which one are you? Does it matter? Like Rick Priestly's earlier article, this thoughtful piece challenges some of those divides that seem to cause arguments in the hobby (not The Hobby (tm)).
THE PHILOSOPHER'S PORTABLE BATTLEFIELD: How to make your own nice looking terrain mats using a lot of DIY material, artist canvass and modelling bits. Very nice results, but I think I'll stick to buying TSS terrain boards. The work and fumes involved put me off trying to make my own.
I DID IT ONE PIECE AT A TIME: How the author makes armies for Impetus by buying pre-painted armies on ebay or at bring and buy stands and re-basing them. Nicely written and full of detail but, like the previous article, it all seems like too much work.
LET'S PLAY LONGSTREET: Following on from Sam Mustafa's own piece on his game in Wargames Illustrated here is a play test of the rules. Goes into the card driven mechanics, how a game plays out and it all seems like fun although the author does warn that the rules aren't very well laid out. What's missing is a look at the wonderful campaign rules for Longstreet but the author does mention he hasn't tried them yet.
GAME REVIEWS: Gods and Mortals (Osprey) and Hail Caesar Britannia are covered here.
UP FRONT: Richard Clarke talks about technology and wargaming, how rules PDFs, tablets and online magazines can be a boon but computer moderated games and dice rolling apps are perhaps a development too far.
BOARDGAMES REVIEWS: Covers Five Points (a game about the Gangs of New York, but without violent punch ups which makes it akin to a standard political Eurogame) and an addition to the Spartacus game.
BOOK REVIEWS: Features the Wargaming Compendium and that "niche" subject; German Imperial Colonial Overseas Troops 1885-1918 which I mentioned in the review of the last Miniature Wargames (with Battlegames) and got into trouble for saying it was niche.
OVERVIEW: Very readable and with the emphasis on history in the articles rather than straight up wargaming scenarios. I mean, the scenarios are there but this time the historical background info is more prominent. The theme was interesting, the DIY modelling was a bit complicated for my tastes but then I say that of every DIY piece in all the magazines. If you have the time, patience and tolerant family who don't mind having their home smell of solvents, then give them a try. I think WSS is strongest in terms of opinion pieces and in playtesting and reviewing games, with Let's Play… being an excellent series. I think the thematic approach is done very well.
