FIRST IMPRESSIONS: OK, the previous issue was bad. There's a very impressive picture of the Duke of Marlborough leading a cavalry charge on the cover and some other nice photos but….#313 had an impressive cover as well.
EDITORIAL: An enthusiastic introduction to this month's feature; the War of the Spanish Succession, from Dan. In fact, you can really sense that he's happy about this issue.
WARGAMING NEWS: The FoW SU-100/85's and the A-1 Skyraiders are in stock, there's a couple of Osprey books…one the first IHMN supplement, some strange looking cardboard box Napoleonic companies and information on online supporting articles for this month's issue.
WARGAMING THE WAR OF SPANISH SUCCESSION: This is a pretty detailed introduction to the period. There's the bonus of having both a timeline of major events and a political map of Europe to get your bearings as well. Once the history is covered, it moves onto collecting figures (recommending 15mm) and tips on organising forces into armies and choosing what army you might want to play. It recommends rules sets such as Beneath the Lilly Banners for the era.
So, to recap: The lead article in WI recommends 15mm miniatures, doesn't mention the Perry twins once and suggests not using Black Powder for rules. Never let it be said that this magazine can't surprise you once in a while.
OUTFITTING ACW COMMAND: I've been enjoying this series the last few months (indeed, it provided one of the few bright spots in last month's issue). This piece is on the uniforms of officers and generals with a handy rank diagram plus some revelations about the use of drummers in regiments and whether you should place them on a command stand (you shouldn't).
THE ROADS TO BLENHEIM: Like the overview article, the history here is very well presented leaving the reader well informed about the campaign in the Upper Rhine Valley. You get 3 mini scenario ideas which require the reader to flesh out in detail, but it gives the bare bones of scenario ideas. No battle maps, OOBs are contained in the text rather than a chart or list and no special rules either so it's a bit of cordial mix; you have to add the water.
NOT ONE STEP BACK: At this point we're going to say bye bye to all you non (or ex) FoW players and we'll see you one paragraph further down. OK, this is a summary of what's going to be in the new FoW book, Desperate Measures, the last defence on the Eastern Front, 1945. Talks mainly about some special rules, one striking one is the Enjoy The War, where a failed platoon morale check for German units is applied to each stand, not the entire platoon. Some of your troops might stay, some might 
.
WARGAMING BLENHEIM: Welcome back to those who tuned out for the FoW section. Oh dear. The dreaded "games with my mates" article. I approached this with some trepidation, based on the FPW stuff of last time. Now, to be fair, it doesn't stoop to being a detailed recap of a game the reader wasn't part of with lots of name checking of players and bragging about the wonderful gaming location but it is a chronicle of how the author and his friends put together a Blenheim game and from that point of view it is somewhat helpful to the reader with regards to just how complex putting on a big game like that is. So there's some instructional value to this article.
You get the now-WI standard isometric projection photo of the game set up which takes the place of a conventional drawn map which is somewhat helpful (although the game is massive and you lose a lot of detail) and lots of photos before you get the "game with my mates" section and a recap of how the game played but with little or no linking to the course of the real battle. It's a bit better done than the FPW equivalent of last month but these articles cry out for OOBs, maps, a summary of commanders and special rules and the things the reader will need to know in order to put on their own game.
AN AMERICAN WARGAMER IN ENGLAND: Well, it does what it says on the tin. It's a 2 page article so it doesn't outstay its welcome and talks about the differences between how the UK does the hobby compared with the US.
THE BATTLE OF CASSANO 1705: A much better presented WSS scenario by the same author of the Blenheim one. You get what you need: History, OOBs, map, list of commanders, a summary of what really happened in history and the comparison with how the game ran when played. You also get a couple of good sidebars on Eugene of Savoy and the Prussian army. So why couldn't the Blenheim article have been more like this?
PROPS FOREVER: A history and painting guide of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. The first 2 pages cover the history, the second two contain their stats for FoW: Tour of Duty, and the last two give you painting guides for the USAF and USN versions but not, alas, the South Vietnamese one.
WSS FIGURE ROUND UP: A review of the figures available for this era and not a Perry plastic in sight…for all you WI cynics.
THE FIRST DAY, GETTYSBURG: Games with my mates at a convention. How a club prepared for and ran a 1st day at Gettysburg game at Adepticon 2013. Lots of name checking of fellow players and manufacturers and terrain builders followed by an account of what happened when played and finished off with a handwritten letter penned by the author to his wife in the style of the soldiers' letters that get read out in Ken Burns documentaries. Without maligning the people who put this game, who clearly put in a lot of hard work, I can't see the point of this article being in a wargames magazine. There is nothing for me, the reader, to take away from it. There's not enough history, there's no OOBs, no hints and tips on how to run a game like that yourself and it feels like a blog post, to be frank. In fact, there's a link to the author's blog which is the natural home for an article like this.
HENRY VIII'S 1513 ARMY ROYAL: This, on the other hand, is a little gem of an article: The campaign fought in France leading up to the Battle of the Spurs. I knew very little about this campaign before reading and it's not one that gets done a lot in wargaming either. So credit to the author who takes you through the history, then advises on how to collect an army for it and some hints and tips on putting together a force for something like DBR. It's not comprehensive, but there's a link to a website which will fill in the missing details.
H.G. WELLS, LITTLE WARS: Talks a bit about the history of these rules and then how a game of it was put on at Partizan. A bit abrupt and left me wanting to know more (such as what makes the modern version different from the original?).
GOAT RIDERS IN THE SKY: The myth and historical background to the great Bokkenrijder scandal in 18th Century Belgium. I couldn't have understated that more. A witch hunt gone bonkers in the Low Countries then leads to a scenario for the Donnybrook set of skirmish rules, although the Witchfinder General rules or Sharp Practice might be a good match as well.
JUTLAND, THE RUN TO THE SOUTH: A naval wargame scenario focussing on the British battlecruiser squadron of Beattie instead of refighting the main battle. Nicely presented, a mix of history and battle recap, and some suggestions as to where to source miniatures and sea terrain mats.
WORSE THAN PORN: Regular columnist Barry Hinton waxes amusingly on whether wargamers are a bit ashamed to talk about their hobby. I must admit, I do slightly clench at the till of WH Smiths before buying my copies of WI, MWwBG and WSS for fear of ridicule; although that creepy bloke in the queue carrying a copy of "Leather Skateboarder" is far worse.
And on that note…
OVERALL: A much better issue than the previous one. The non-theme articles were, with a couple of exceptions, of a very high standard and not your usual 28mm/Perry/Black Powder/Osprey suspects. The theme was better done than last month's: I'd say 8/10 for the history presentation and about 6/10 for the wargaming application.
One curious omission though. Dan Faulconbridge, in his editorial, mentioned that John Churchill was so outstanding, he effectively had a military age named after him, and his presence is there in bits throughout the articles and yet no sidebar about him, not even a paragraph or two on his life and effect on the war. There's space for a Prince Eugene bio but not for Marlborough.
