Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Wargaming is a big hobby with many diverse factions and perspectives: striking a balance that pleases everyone can be truly challenging! We like to think what sets Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy apart from other historical wargaming magazines is its focus on having fun, no matter what kind of wargamer you are or what your background is. WS&S is a light-hearted publication, that pays particular attention to games themselves and how to play them: it doesn’t get bogged down in lengthy historical expositions or recycle content you can read yourself in any history book. While popular periods like WWII, the Napoleonic era, and the ancient world get frequent coverage, we also try to feature the unexpected, with articles on spies, monsters and gangsters to name but a few.

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Editorial

MINIATURE REVIEWS • A look at some of the newest miniatures, terrain pieces, and more from across the wargaming world.

DEFEAT INTO VICTORY • Having devoted so many column inches to flying the flag for the joys of wargame campaigns, I was recently pleased to hear from a friend that he was researching his own pint-size campaign set in the eastern Netherlands in late 1944. What were, he asked, the ingredients for a good wargame campaign? I was flattered to think he thought I possessed the recipe, but in truth I had to think hard before responding. Any campaign was, surely, really a collection of scenarios. Some, or all, of these may be pre-prepared, while some may result from choices made by players, but ultimately it was these that defined the campaign and whether it worked. But then, having had time to reflect, I began to wonder if that was actually the case.

THE BATTLE OF THE SPURS • In 1511, Pope Julius II declared a Holy League against France in order to reduce its presence in Italy. This league included the Papal States, Venice, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Swiss Confederacy. Seeing an opportunity to enlarge the English possessions in France, a young Henry VIII joined this alliance.

CELTIC FURY • With the death of Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, the Roman procurator Catus Decianus saw an opportunity for profit. As described by Tacitus, Boudicca was cruelly treated, along with her daughters, and they and the Iceni nobles were stripped of their estates and wealth. Furious, Boudicca raised the Iceni in revolt and, with a neighbouring tribe, the Trinobantes, they marched on the nearest Roman town, Camulodunum (on the site of modern-day Colchester), to seek revenge.

FOR KING & KINGDOM • n their fifteen-month existence from the Battle of Marston Moor to October 1645, the Northern Horse developed an unrivalled reputation both for notorious behaviour off the battlefield and for their bravery and elan in the face of the enemy. One of their most famous exploits was their march on Pontefract Castle in early 1645, the success of which briefly reawakened hopes of a Royalist revival in northern England.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT • One of the most enduringly popular games at the local club is Warlord Games’ Bolt Action – the WWII ruleset with a core mechanic that is easy to learn and convenient to get into: wargaming historicals with what some might call a ‘small h'; sometimes termed a ‘beer and pretzels’ game.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN • In December of 1941, the Japanese Empire launched an attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour. Within hours they had invaded the British colonies of Hong Kong, Malaya, and Borneo as well as the US-held Philippines and Pacific territories of Guam and Wake Island. Soon the Far Eastern territories of the Netherlands were also enveloped by this tsunami of Japanese expansionism, covering a vast area of the Pacific Ocean and the Far East.

WATER TOWER HILL • As the Japanese advanced towards Singapore City in early 1942, a torrent of spent British, Australian,...