"Issue 406 of Miniature Wargames" Topic

Issue 406 of Miniature Wargames is out very soon – it's off to the printers as I type. What treasures does it hold?

FORWARD OBSERVER
A sit-rep for (mostly) historical wargaming. This month features releases by Warlord, Deepcut Studios and Victrix along with news about upcoming shows.

SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE
Who will rid me of this turbulent priest? Conrad Kinch offers us an introduction piece with a scenario set in The Very British Civil War (and the 1938 March on Canterbury!) using some Memoir '44 mechanics. One scenario is included with the concluding scenarios next month…

WARGAMING MY WAY
Jason Weiser tells us about the hobby as he sees it in this occasional column looking at what motivates us as hobbyists.

DARK SIDE
Take a journey to the dark side with George Anderson as he presents some new Dark Age raiding scenarios for Dux Britanniarum. Photography Kevin Dallimore

FIREFIGHT
The first of a two-part article with rules for small unit actions in the modern era. Stephen Jones covers infantry actions leaving vehicles to part two in next months issue.

PROBLEMS AT THE POT BANK
In a revisit of an article penned three decades ago, based around a real life WWII engagement, Robin Miles runs us through a scenario transported from Italy to the Eastern front using Rapid Fire rules.

DARKER HORIZONS
This month has the following pieces:

Fantasy Facts with the monthly round up of what's new in non-historical gaming; News and reviews from Wargames Terrain Workshop; Mierce Miniatures, Brigade Models; Warlord; Crooked Dice; Modiphius and Pigeon Guard Games.

Battletech: Alpha Strike. Joe McCullough tells us what he likes about Battletech and why we should love it! Pictures by Ashley Pollard.

Copying the Copycats. Jamie Gordon gives a guide to how and why we should be and take inspiration from TV and Hollywood

Painting Toy Tanks Redux: The Editor paints some more SF tanks (Brigade Models and Darkest Star) using stencils by Anarchy and spray cans.

CHICAGO WAY
Brian Cameron gives us a Tongs and Gambinos ruck: a game with mafia and Chinese gangs as they fight it out in Chicago in a scenario for this popular rule system.

RECCE
What to read and why for wargamers. This month covers: The First British Army; Guns Of The Elite Forces; Congo!; Much Embarrassed – Civil War Intelligence And The Gettysburg Campaign; The Iran-Iraq War, Volume One; The Battle Of The Bulge Vol1: The Failure Of The Final Blitzkrieg; The Battle Of Montgomery, 1644; and Deborah, And The War Of The Tanks, 1917.

STAR ARCHITECTURE
Niall Barr builds a Vauban Fort in foamcore and card and offers advice about how you can do the same.

WARGAMES WIDOW
Making the most of what one has with a little terrain renewal. Diane Sutherland takes us on a journey fixing up and ‘re-purposing' older terrain boards from The Wargamer's basement.

CLUB SPOTLIGHT
The Sheffield Wargames Society introduce us all to their history and why – if you live in the area – you might want to join this vibrant club.

CLUB DIRECTORY
Find a club in your vicinity and add your club for free!

John Treadaway
Editor of Miniature Wargames

John,

So, how do we arrange a subscription for Miniature Wargames to be delivered to an address in the USA? Do you have an agent in the US, or should we deal directly with the publisher, or are there other options? Is there an online/downloadable .pdf version available?

Dave

I'm not sure of the ins and outs of subscriptions. Let me check.

John T

shouldn't this be a news item? looks an interesting issue though.

It should be. Still trying to arrange an advertising account with Bill (and now Gwen).

Hopefully next month it'll be sorted.

John T

Wow, that's a packed issue! Noice!

And some of your stuff painted as I conducted my evil stencil experiment. Bwahahaha etc

John T

Dave (and all)

The cheapest and quickest way for overseas subscribers, is to subscribe to our digital edition. The digital edition is accessible across all devices through Pocketmags: pocketmags.com/how-it-works. There is currently a sale available to customers who purchase via the Pocketmags site, until 15th Jan link – customers can save 37% on the full price for the year – that's 12 issues for just £33.99 GBP. We also have a 99p single copy sale running until the end of the month should the customer wish to "try before they buy" – this is available on back issues only.

We do offer print overseas subscriptions – but it's quite a step up in price due to the postal fees. link £76.00 GBP per annum for US customers

John T

Thank you John. One electronic subscription coming up!

:)

John T

Wow ive not picked up a copy of Miniature Wargaming in over twenty years, the last one i actually bought was because it had a Hammers Slammers feature as the center fold. (sexy) 😀
I might have to break down and treat myself to this copy for the Alpha Strike artical and just to see Ashleys Pink Panther mercenaries in action.

John,

Am I able to download the digital copy? I want to know before I go ahead with a digital sub I don't want to lose all of the back issues I paid for. This is exactly what happened when the magazine changed ownership. 3 years of back issues lost. I thought I would never buy another copy of MW but you are doing a great job on the content.

Thanks

Just an observation: I HATE two part articles.

Vdal1812

That's a good question. I've looked at the pocketmags setup and I can certainly download stuff (it says) to the library on my kindle. So download, yes. And, of course, kindle readers are available for pc's and laptops but, I'll confess, I haven't tried that yet

2 part articles? I do know what you mean. On one hand there's the inconvenience of having it spread over two magazines but – the flip side of that – is how do I deal with a situation when I've got an excellent article that is just too long for just one mag?

If I put it into one issue it dominates the magazine and then it turns the mag into a "one topic issue" which turns off folks who don't have any interest in that one period.

The definition of the magazine format is, I think, getting enough variety into each issue that every reader always finds at least a couple (and hopefully many more) articles they are interested in.

That's a balancing act, I accept.

John T

Multi-part articles are just like a TV serial or mini-series. Magazines have regular columns too. I don't understand the problem. By their very nature, magazines are episodic. Back in the day, Charles Grant based several of his books on series that had originally been published in Meccano magazine, Military Modelling or Battle for Wargamers. Or how about Tony Bath's Hyboria, or Ron Miles' Siege of Dendermonde, to name just a few. Enjoyable multi-part series give us something to look forward to in the next issue.

Well done with the juggling so far, John.

Henry

I did, indeed, get a subscription, along with some back issues (a good deal right now, at 99˘ per issue).

Regarding downloads, at least as it seems to apply to my iPad, they do download to my device, but as far as I can tell, you can only read them using the Pocketmags app. There seems no way to download it as a stand-alone .pdf file. At the moment, though, I don't see any problems with that.

Subscribed!

I'll have to try one on a Kindle, Dave: I haven't had a chance yet, to be honest.

My Kindle 'library' for my books is certainly held on the actual device with shuffling it on and off (if they were to ever be big enough to fill up it's puny memory) to whatever my 'cloud storage' is…

So I'm assuming it follows a similar model, but that is an assumption.

I'm also assuming (it's not a conversation I've had but it seems only logical) that stand alone PDFs are so difficult to manage (for the publisher) that, business model wise, it's tricky to ensure (how can I put this) 'continuity of ownership'.

And ta Henry: I don't see any other way to do it unless we all want 'themed issues' where one gets the "Flames of War?* Not interested/won't buy it this month…" feedback. Which I assume no one wants…

John T

* FoW picked entirely at random: all rule sets and periods can apply.

Pretty chuffed to see my pictures in the magazine.

BTW John: you're doing a better job of promoting the magazine than the publisher whose FB page says nothing about the new issue going to print (as of 11.01.17 at 21.39 GMT)

Thank you!

As you know, I always try and put my back into stuff!

John T

On Military Matters carries MW in the US.
Web: onmilitarymatters.com
Phone: 609-466-2329
E-mail: militarymatters@att.net

I've added the links above to my blog post John.

Can't say I'm not doing my part for the Federtaion.

Like to know more?

link

I think Barnes and Nobles also carries them in the magazine racks – I've glanced over a few issues and considered buying.

TomT

I have a standing order at the local hobby shop (Games Plus in beautiful Mt. Prospect). I have always liked the mag in its various incarnations and most especially now with the addition of a major science fiction presence.
Thanks John.
Pat

I think Barnes and Nobles also carries them in the magazine racks…

I was thinking the same, though a price that rivals if not outdoes the stipend to Royal Mail. Still, like it in the hand, and will definitely check for it.

Multi-part articles are just like a TV serial or mini-series.

No, those are worse; if our PBS didn't allow online watching, I wouldn't have seen the last two Sherlocks due to really bad reception.

Not the concern of the publisher, but the place where multi-part is most frustrating is when you come across a single old issue, of course.

Doug

Anyone happen to know what model the triangular sci-fi tank (ship?) is?

Ah, found it on Darkest Star link

Those are the very chaps.

And nice they are too.

John T