Here is my completely independent and in no way financed by Battlefront review of this magazine…and no, I'm not being ironic.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: WW1 on the cover and the year 1916 prominent; this is the third in the sequence of WI issues in January devoted to a single year in the Great War. After a solid end to 2015 with the Skirmish theme (I didn't get time to review that but in summary, it was a good one), let's see how they start this year.
EDITORIAL: Dan explains a little more on the subject of this month's theme; how the war has changed since it began with conscript armies, new weapons, the advent of steel helmets and industrial might of the nations all coming into their own.
WARGAMING NEWS: Snippets of news about the one day Bolt Action tournament, the announcement about Salute 2016 (Victorian sci-fi this year) and that's about it.
1916 CLASH OF THE TITANS: The introductory primer for this month's theme concentrates on the big battles of this year: The Somme, Verdun and the Brusilov Offensive. This article sets the scene quite well in showing how the familiar icons of the war (trench fighting, mud, slaughter on a frightening scale and industrialisation of the military) are set in place in this year. It doesn't go into much detail but there's a handy sidebar (well, side page really) about suitable figures to represent this era of Great War gaming.
THE PENDRAGON OF LOGRES: A campaign variant for Dragon Rampant based on Arthurian legend. The campaign covers the years of faction fighting in the wake of King Uther's death (fans of the legend and the RPG Pendragon will know all about this). It's pretty comprehensive and all ready to use, for Dragon Rampant and I suspect even Lion Rampant if you want to simulate the "gritty" Arthur of the Britons version. Thumbs up all round.
FOOD FOR FORT: Pardon the pun, this is an article about a research trip to the battlefields of Verdun with a view to putting on a realistic looking game of the battle. It's a travelogue with a wargaming aspect to it and very informative and well written it is. There are really good photos of Fort Douamont and Fort Vaux, maps and descriptive text about conditions there and how they would have been defended. This is a very good support article if you want to do your own Verdun game and I found it informative and yet moving at the same time. It's one of those articles that is good to read even if WW1 isn't your gaming era of choice.
PROJECT SHOWCASE: I ONLY NEED JUST ONE: This is an often entertaining and intermittent series in WI where a wargamer shows the readers a pet project of theirs and it's usually a non-standard one at that. This issue is from American gamer Steve Dake who has collected a WW2 Canadian army force in 28mm. I get the impression that most of his collecting started before the big surge in 1/56 scale WW2 kits because he tells of sourcing Tamiya kits, die cast models and other 1/48 scale kits from all weird and wonderful manufacturers; this is a useful article just for the names he drops. There's Ram Kangaroos, Achilles and CMPs a plenty but I'm keen on finding out where he got the Staghound III models from. Steve, if you're reading this, please tell me.
MAKING A GAME OF THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND: More a Jutland primer. It's not burdened by having to describe the whole history and re-telling of the battle and it concentrates on the kind of things you should be looking out for if you want to make a game of it. To be frank, I found it a bit sparse and could have done with more concrete tips and advice because it comes across a bit on the vague side. Potential, yes, but more please.
HONOURS OF WAR: Game designer Keith Flint speaks about how he came to design this Seven Years War game for Osprey. It very much concentrates on the design of the game mechanics, which seem to reach back to the 1970s in terms of streamlined simplicity, with a brief bit about the national characteristics of SYW armies, but from a design point of view, not an analysis.
THE END OF THE BEGINNING: The Battle of Romani in Egypt, 1916. A refreshing scenario of a lesser known battle of WW1, this is a good article which contains the history (which is good as it's not a well known battle) OOBs and a campaign map suitable for To The Last Man rules but which, I feel, can be adapted for other rules. Some special rules about sandstorms and heat hazes, which were all factors of the real battle. Pretty much ready to roll as is although you'll need to design your own tactical map for a tabletop game.
BUILDING FROSTGRAVE: How the Frostgrave team built their Salute 2015 demo table. foam, polystyrene, wire cutters and hot glue here but the nice tip was using a cooking sieve to spread snow flock around.
SLAUGHTER ON THE SOMME: This is another article which serves to give you ideas on how to wargame a battle. This is the third article by Jim Graham in this issue which takes this tack. So the pattern here is historical background followed by suggestions on how to transfer it to the table top. This is better, and meatier, than the Jutland article in so much as it does focus on some key features such as the first tanks, trench raiding parties and creeping barrages. I feel the tone and content of this is more suited for those who have never gamed post-1914 WW1 and don't know where to begin rather than for the experienced gamer.
RULES SHOWCASE, TEAM YANKEE: Sub-editor Wayne tries out the speculative WW3 game and likes it very much. He does describe well how the game plays, some of the concepts and how it differs from it's WW2 uncle….and if anyone thinks WI is in the thrall of Battlefront, Wayne calls Flames of War elegant but clumsy. If I have one reservation about all the recent enthusiasm for Team Yankee, it's that the simplified and streamlined rules seems to lead to "if you can see it, you hit it, if you hit it you kill it" which dogs other modern wargames rules and one set of WW2 rules in particular. On the one hand that might lead to improvements in players using cover and moving fast, on the other the instant carnage can lead to lumpen fighting tactics of sitting back and hoping to get the first shot in. So, a good article if you're tempted by TY.
ACES HIGH: Jim Graham, again, on a 1916 war in the air primer. This follows the pattern we've already seen: Bit of history, cursory look at equipment development and a very brief bit on the wargaming side of it. Again, well researched and the history is good but of little practical use, except for a how to build a Wings of Glory storage box out of foamcard off-cuts.
VIKING JARL: Occasionally WI will get a novelist to write about how their historical novels have been turned into wargames or how wargaming has shaped their approach to writing battle stories. This time we have Griff Hosker, who has penned the Viking Jarl books, collaborating with Megagame designer Ron Ringrose to turn a battle in his third book into a game of Ringroseian (is that a word? It is now) proportions. Entertaining and lovely photos, as always.
HOW TO CREATE CRATERS: A really simple way of making big shellholes for your games. My only question is what does "chamfer the edges" mean?
FIRST NATION FIGHTING IN THE AMERICAN WOODS: A bit of Native American v Native American skirmish action here with the history, customs and tactics used leading up to a bit about the upcoming Flint and Feather rules and the figures that are getting released for it. Can we have a scenario as well for next time?
HELLFIGHTERS AND DEVIL DOGS: Two slightly more unconventional American forces for Battlefront's Great War. One is a negro regiment, "The Harlem Hellfighters" and the other is the U.S. Marines. You get your standard FoW company charts plus special rules and the history is succinct but informative.
HOMEOPATHIC WARGAMING: Pete Brown takes a thoughtful look at the biggest problems in trying to recreate a large historical battle for wargaming. How much do you "dilute" things? Scale? Size of figures? Numbers of figures per unit? Each decision taken comes with its own advantages and disadvantages and what I liked about this article is the way it throws the questions out there for the reader to judge in their own minds rather than being just a didactic rant along the lines of "Do things MY way!"
OVERALL: I enjoyed reading it. I really liked the Verdun trip article because it was a great mash up of archaeology, history and wargaming and some of the other articles were well written, informative and showed a lot of enthusiasm for the topic. However it is a bit light on practical wargaming. The one scenario is a good one, the Dragon Rampant campaign is great but elsewhere I could have done with a little less backdrop and a little more about taking the history and applying it to a game. Now I've seen WI do this kind of thing before and getting lost in slab o' history stuff but this issue has just enough good things to make it readable and enjoyable.
