Ancient Warfare - Oct/Nov 2017

IT has been some time since I bought a copy of Ancient Warfare magazine, but I could not resist the biblical theme of this issue.

Ancient Warfare...modern masterpiece

I was not disappointed. All the themed articles make great reading, for me at least. Indeed, I am keeping the magazine for future reference - something I do not normally do as I am pushed for space in my flat.

Tabletop Gaming - Oct/Nov '17

IT has been some time since I bought a copy of Tabletop Gaming.
I have always been put off by the belief that the editor/publishers do not really believe in tabletop games, which is why the cover seems to be invariably bereft of any tabletop content.
Instead we get illustrations more suitable to computer games, which is where I suspect most of the staff's expertise lies.
However, I bought issue 12 on the promise of an article on "60 Years Of Risk - Looking Back On A Strategy Icon."

Tabletop Shaming?...no tabletop contents on the cover

I was not disappointed - the article takes up four pages and made me think I'd got my money's worth (£5.25) whatever the rest of the content.
The magazine is packed with pieces about tabletop games, but not a single report of a game played.

Miniature Wargames - November 2017

ISSUE 415 of Miniature Wargames arrived while I was in Guernsey playing chess.

Miniature Wargames...eye-catching pix but a battle-free zone

Once again there are no battle reports, but I was much taken by Chris Peers' article on 19th century African kingdoms I had not previously come across.

Cowboys & Indians

I FOUND this "Western Rider Cowboy & Indian Play Set" for £2.99 in a gift shop in Paignton, Devon.

Western Rider...colourful version of the Wild West

As for most modern toy soldiers, the contents are made in China. In this case they were "imported into the EC" by HTI of Fleetwood, Lancashire.
The contents consist of a horse-drawn covered wagon, five green cowboys, four brown cowboys, six brown Indians, four green Indians, a canoe, a tepee, two pieces of fencing and a tree (some of the green figures come across as blue in the photo below, but that is a trick of the lighting).
Note that there is no driver for the wagon or paddler for the canoe.

Good variety of models

As is usual with such figures, the value for money is excellent, but I will need more than is here to put together a decent Wild West wargaming scenario.

Toy Soldier Collector - issue 78

THE October/November 2017 edition of Toy Solider Collector arrived today.

TSC78 ... Napoleonic cover

The cover features Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, but the highlight for me is a review of the gone-but-not-entirely-forgotten LeMan toy soldiers which, despite being produced in the States as recently as the 1990s, retained the looks of an earlier era that I chiefly admire.