With the news that WI is going to be owned by Dan Faulconbridge here's a look at the current issue still under Battlefront ownership.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Dogs of War, a mercenary themed issue. A very crowded battle scene with Landsknechts thrusting pikes into each others' throats "graces" the front cover.
EDITORIAL: Dan expands on this month's theme; mercenaries throughout the ages.
WARGAMING NEWS: Big announcements here is the opening of the South Wales Gaming Centre which promises to be a huge venue. A brief report on the WI Lion Rampant gaming day is the other thing of note.
TOY SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE: An introduction to mercenaries and their uses throughout history which packs in plenty of history and tactics, interesting little sidebars on more notable companies and personalities but with an added bonus of including some rules and gaming suggestions for using them in your games. The application part is very welcome in an introductory article like this.
UP COUNTRY: A look at the new brown water navy forces for Tour of Duty. Some very nice models and well done Battlefront for producing something for Vietnam war gaming that isn't usually covered.
I'M A HOPLITE, GET ME OUT OF HERE: Greek mercenaries under Xenophon try to get out of Persia when their contract goes belly up. Lots of history followed by a mini-campaign, geared for Hail Caesar but adaptable for other rules. No maps or detailed OOBs but the scenario ideas for the campaign make a good starting point.
THE LIMPO RIVER CAMPAIGN 1915: Following on from the historical article about this campaign, this gives you the scenarios, maps and OOBs that you need to play. Very good presentation and it's all there if you've got the forces but there's a caveat: The stats are all for Warhammer Great War, an out of print set of rules. I find this a bit problematic because it raises the scarcity factor for rules. It may be that WGW is the best set to use for this campaign but I feel things would have been served better if it had also included stats for a set that is currently in print and available more easily.
TAKE ME TO THE ACTION: A mainly historical article about the use of mercenaries in the late 15th century. What gives this a wargaming edge is that it's geared towards listing a variety of wars and battles where mercenaries were heavily employed.
NO SENATOR'S SON: Following on from the earlier article on the brown water navy, this takes a more historical and less game oriented slant at the topic. I feel this could have been combined with the earlier one rather than being spread out into two parts.
SIGN HERE: Lion Rampant is WI's current favourite game, it seems from recent issues, and here is an article about using Condotta forces for the game. If you play Lion Rampant, this is a must for you.
HOW TO BUILD A LYCHGATE: Modelling time and this 28mm gate will add to your European church models. It looks great, slightly fiddly to my eyes but not impossible for the casual scratchbuilder.
PAINTING LANSKNECHTS: The thought of painting units of these fills me with trepidation but this article gives you some tips alongside contemporary drawings of the elaborate costumes they wore including a very helpful complementary stripe colour chart. I'm not joking.
DESIGNER'S NOTES, FIGHTING SAIL: The new Osprey set of rules isn't just your standard fighting sail wargames rules. These focus more on fleet actions so, in the words of the designer, they zoom out from the minutiae and concentrate on manoeuvring groups of ships rather than micromanaging a single ship.
THE WILD GEESE: So after Ancient Greece and European renaissance wars our journey through the history of mercenary actions finishes with Africa in the 1960s and 70s. This is a mini campaign based wholly on the movie The Wild Geese. Each set piece battle from the movie is represented here but thankfully they don't include a transcript of Kenneth Griffith's final tirade. Useable with any number of rules but I would have liked a list of potential sources for figures and models.
THE ZULU CIVIL WAR OF 1883-84: Off the beaten path of colonial era gaming, this gives you lots of the history of this war along with some fantastic photos so you can use your Zulu and Boer collections for something other than going against redcoats. More a collection of gaming ideas and it's lacking more hard wargaming information.
RAILWAY FLAK: Bit of a promotion piece for Flames of War's new flak railway miniatures, but there's a bit of historical background as well.
PROJECT SHOWCASE: Gunter Heim shares his 28mm Napoleonic Saxon army project here and how it came about. I have a Saxon army in 15mm and it's one of my favourite forces so I really enjoyed reading this. Gunter talks about the problems of researching the history of the Saxon army and the amount of conflicting information out there (don't I know it!) and there's a bit from Steve Barber on how he produces his models.
RULES SHOWCASE, VALHALLA: A look at the other set of Dark Age skirmish rules and with a focus on the online support and warrior creator aspect of the game.
BUENOS AIRES 1806-07: A mainly historical piece about the ill-fated expedition, there's some nice photos of the Spanish forces used in South America and some sidebars on their composition and uniforms but I feel this is let down by the lack of wargaming information to turn it into a ready to play game.
HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR HISTORY SERVED SIR? How much storytelling do you like in your history books? Barry Hilton talks about the balance between accuracy and entertainment in such books and how instead of relying on elaborated heroic actions retelling where everyone is almost elite, just concentrate on telling a gripping narrative of ordinary soldiers getting on with it.
SUMMARY: Another strong issue, and it's been so all this year so far.
Permit me to get on a soapbox here for a moment. People often bash WI for being a Battlefront puff piece rag packed with wall to wall tank articles and those attitudes persist despite the fact that over the last 12 months the magazine has really raised its game (pardon the pun) and delivered solid reading covering a wide range of topics and eras. If WI has struggled in the recent past, it's been with articles that have read more like vanity projects rather than useful ones; the so-called "Games With My Mates" pieces. But that hasn't been so evident recently and I think credit must go to Dan Faulconbridge and his team for the improvements of late.
Yes, the magazine still features the latest rules, the latest figures and often follows the latest gaming trends but that's not a bad thing. If Miniature Wargames with Battlegames has an old-school feel to it, and Wargames Soldiers and Strategy has a something old, something new feel to it then the field is clear for WI to focus on the bling games. Thus we have 3 publications who don't tread on each others' toes so much.
So I think now is the time to retire the more tired clichés about WI and focus on what it's doing now.
worries about not losing his rules stuff.
