Well, I'm fortunate enough to have an early edition of the May issue of MW courtesy of Mr Henry Hyde and the folk at Atlantic Publishing. Thank you. But don't think that I can be bought by "the man"!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: This is one of the best looking cover MW has done in recent months. Saxon Garde du Corps (one of my favourite units) charging right into Russian artillery in a recreation of Liepzig. It really looks terrific (and makes me want to hurry up and finish my Saxon cavalry).
BRIEFING: Henry talks about health and our hobby's sometimes negative impact on it: Too much sitting down, snacking and drinking to be really good for us. As our waistlines expand, does it do so in proportion to our lead pile? Fortunately, Conrad Kinch might have the answer later on…
WORLD WIDE WARGAMING: A look at Caliver's very extensive website, especially it's ECW range, and shout outs for the Baron's Blog and Lard Island News.
FORWARD OBSERVER: Neil Shuck muses on revised editions of games; whether they represent improvements, streamlining or cynical marketing exercises? He lays his thoughts out very well on this and in other news he casts his eyes over the latest offerings from Warbases and Tiger Terrain as well as showing us that he's a dab hand at using coffee stirrers for terrain. Top tip, get a My Waitrose card, get a free coffee and plenty of stirrers.
BOTTLE BRUSH: The Widow uses those little skinny bottle brushes for trees. A bit old school and been there, done that? Well, it's nice to get a refresher course in how to do it and with a technique that isn't too difficult.
FANTASY FACTS: You'd think JT would be putting his feet up after another epic Salute but he's here to show us the new not-UNIT/British Army figures from Crooked Dice and a big review of the new fantasy WW2 range "Panzerfauste". Basically it's Flintloque but in WW2. And why are the British always Orcs in these games? Surely they're Hobbits, plucky folk with endless reserves of courage when things go bad. Anyway, I digress, there's some nifty not-UFO moonbase modules in either 10mm or 6mm size…the article doesn't specify and 10mm ACVs from Ainsty.
SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE: Conrad Kinch has picked up from Henry's editorial and given us a Napoleonic campaign variant where the speed of armies on the march can be linked to the amount of steps a player takes in a day. So a healthy person would take 10,000 steps in a day and our chunky, bearded and largely sedentary wargamer (who may be called Dave) will have to do likewise otherwise his army might fall behind that of his target. Nifty, but hard on the feet.
THE RED EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: The ever reliable Andrew Rolph gives us yet another campaign scenario set on the Eastern Front of WW2 but still manages to find new ideas and new spins on the format. This promises to be a series where the front is fought one battle at a time. Sounds daunting? Well, he's broken it down into manageable concepts and easy to follow steps but there's plenty to pour over and try. It's 1941 and there's still a long way to go…
COLONIAL WARS BY PROXY: This is a quirky article which exists somewhere between real history and imagi-nations territory. The idea is to fight a campaign between great powers via proxy nations and forces. The great powers are represented mainly through resources and "advisors" to the smaller, proxy nation. For reasons best known to the author and editor, the Isle of Wight is the chosen battleground for two settings (the article says three, but it's really two) but with ancient Mediterranean armies or Indian Maharatta forces for 18th century. Anyway, there's enough here to be getting on with.
THE FEATHERSTONE TRIBUTE: A report on the second (is it the 2nd of these events? I might be wrong) of these special events commemorating the man and his works. A stunning game of the Battle of Liepzig is featured and there's some great photos of the event. As Henry quipped to me "who says Miniature Wargames can't do eye candy?" There's not much more I can add to this, it's a nice diversion from the meaty articles.
A FUNNY LITTLE CIVIL WAR: A bit of a curate's egg this one. It's about the Swiss Civil War of 1847 which is quite obscure and gets a deserving airing in a wargames magazine, even though it wasn't a particularly bloody or protracted war. What this article has is ideas on how to go about wargaming it; from what figures in your collection you may have to represent the different sides to a brief description of the terrain but what it doesn't have, and what takes the edge off for me, is a bit about the history of this war: It's obscure enough to warrant at least a section of what it was about, who were the protagonists and what was the outcome. I just felt another page would have made this a good article and it's a shame it just peters out and stops just when the questions in my mind were forming.
PAINTING TINY CHAPS: Mick Sayce talks about how to paint 6mm figures and not to fret about details. A decent, practical article that will be of use if you're intending to make the switch from big scales down to 6mm or 1/300. Lots of diagrams and photos to help as well.
HUZZAH, HUZZARH FOR TEXAS! A scenario, non-rules specific, for a battle that existed in between the Alamo and the Mexican-American war of 1846. Nicely done with history, OOBs and maps all covered.
HEX ENCOUNTER: Brad Harmer-Barnes talks about how computers can be used to enhance the AI features of some boardgames including a suggestion to have an app for your tablet or smartphone that controls the Germans in a revamped game of "Escape From Colditz".
HAMMERHEAD/BEACHHEAD/CAVALIER 2016: I've grouped these three articles together because they're all show reports. So you get a brief write up of what went on, what worked well and the like but also some really nice photos of the games themselves.
RECCE: A lot of products get the Award for Excellence this month. The book of the Swiss Civil War is one, the new version of Fistful of Lead, Zombiecide, a book on Malborough in Spain and the new sci-fi rules Horizon Wars (which I'm tempted to get after getting into conversation with the designer on a train after Salute had ended). But that's not all by any means; this is one of the longest Recce columns I've seen and there's plenty of good things to blow your money on hitting the shelves any day now.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I read this in 2 days, which is a record for me and shows how entertaining and readable this issue is. There's a good balance between practical articles and opinion pieces and I think only the Swiss Civil War article fell short, but only just. As always, the contributors are clearly an innovative bunch.
