Two Mags

I BOUGHT the Mar/Apr edition of Wargames - Soldiers & Strategy and the Feb/Mar edition of Ancient Warfare at about the same time.

Two ancient-themed magazines

The former concentrates on the decline of the (western) Roman Empire, while Ancient Warfare is mainly concerned with Sparta's triumph in the Peloponnesian War.
I want to like WSS, but the absence of battle reports tells against it. This will probably be the last issue I will buy for some time.
Ancient Warfare, on the other hand, continues to impress - I find every issue has so much to savour.

Toy Soldier Collector - issue 80

THE February/March edition of Toy Solider Collector arrived last week.


Toy Soldier Collector...glossy and good

My favourite article is Gary Haines' on the release of Little Wars Revisited, a range of 54mm toy soldiers designed for recreating Battle of Hook's Farm-type clashes a la HG Wells.

Medieval Warfare - Dec/Jan

THE turn-of-the-year issue of the sister publication to Ancient Warfare is themed around the Spanish warrior El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ).
My knowledge of this 11th century hero was more-or-less limited to the 1961 Charlton Heston film, which comes in for something of a panning from contributors to the magazine.

El Cid...lived by the sword, died by the arrow (according to the film, anyway)

I read all the themed articles from start to finish, as I did with all the issue's non-themed articles (excepting the reproduction of a rather tedious, boastful letter by Leonardo da Vinci).
My only criticisms of the El Cid material are that there is some repetition (caused, I believe, by the format of the Editor announcing a theme and then awaiting contributions, rather than commissioning specific articles) and that not one battle is covered in anything like the detail required for reproducing it on the tabletop.
Still, these are minor matters when compared with the magazine's overall informative readability.

Wargames - Soldiers & Strategy Jan/Feb 2018

ISSUE 94 has a WW2 tank theme, with a suitably relevant cover.

Washed-out cover...but striking in its own way

As is the norm for today's glossy wargaming mags, there is not a single battle report.
Frankly, unless a future theme really grabs my attention, I am very unlikely to remain a customer.

Slingshot - November/December 2017

ISSUE 315 of the Society of Ancients' Slingshot contains a fascinating in-depth discussion by Alastair McBeath of the original David v Goliath match-up.

Pyrrhus adorns the cover of Slingshot 315

Other really interesting articles include Patrick Waterson's rebuttal of McBeath's previous piece on the nature of Goliath's kidon and Perikilis Deligiannis's feature on the 280BC Battle of Heraclea.
I have renewed my subscription.

Ancient Warfare - Dec/Jan

MOUNTED war is the theme of the latest issue of Ancient Warfare, and once again it is an issue that really appealed to me.

Ancient Warfare...full of interest, and good value at £5.99

The only article I skipped was on Roman horse doctors (ie, Roman doctors who treated horses, not Roman horses who became doctors) - too specialist even for me.

Double Delivery

GOT home from Spain yesterday to find two magazines waiting for me - the January edition of Miniature Wargames and the December/January edition of Toy Soldier Collector;

Miniature Wargames issue 417 and Toy Soldier Collector issue 79

The former majors on reports from shows and has lots of sci-fi/fantasy coverage.
TSC has its usual emphasis on metal figures, but also finds room for plastics - including an article by me on a pack of Army Men I found earlier this year in the Channel Islands.

My article ... with four of the pix I sent in, and it even has my headline!

Miniature Wargames - December 2017

ISSUE 416 of Miniature Wargames arrived shortly before I flew to Malta for a chess tournament.


Usual well-designed cover ... but, just as usual, not one wargaming battle report inside

The most interesting article to me is Conrad Kinch's review of wargame/history-related instructional YouTube sites, including a favourite of mine: Military History Visualized (although he, or the magazine, manages to misspell the site's name).

Slingshot - September-October 2017

ISSUE 314 of Slingshot arrived sometime last week while I was in Exmouth, Devon.
You could say the best part of it is the cover, which features a striking photo of part of a refight of the 217BC Battle of Raphia, with what I guess to be 28mm figures.

Slingshot 314...great cover

But saying that would be unfair to the contributors of what is inside the mag, particularly David Karunanithy's description of Alexander the Great's Paionian cavalry, Nick Harbud's analysis of the hitting power of medieval firearms and bows, Mike Haran's look at China's Great Wall(s), and some interesting book reviews.

Wargames - Soldiers & Strategy Nov/Dec 2017

ISSUE 93 has an 80 Years War theme, with a nicely understated cover.

84 pages...not enough, apparently, to include an actual wargame

Themed articles include three scenarios, but not one battle report. I know I harp on about this, but I also play tournament chess and it would be inconceivable for British Chess Magazine or Chess to come out without a single game report.