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.

UP FRONT THE IMPERFECT COMPROMISE • A good set of rules should only be six pages long. Or is it four? Or eight? Well, whatever the precise number, we know it is true because lots of people sing out this mantra on lots of forums on a daily basis. And do you know what? — they ain’t wrong. Their best set of rules is exactly that. They probably created them, and they undoubtedly run loads of great games for their mates with it that are super fun and packed with drama, action and historical plausibility. However, what is probably also the case is that this perfect set of rules is not really a set of rules as we might find on the shelves of our local wargame store. It’s a more dynamic document than that.

BAD BLOOD IS SPILLED DURING THE BARONS’ WAR THE BROKEN PACT • The war of the Barons against King John and then against Prince Louis of France is an interesting period to wargame, as it is full of small engagements, raids and minor actions around sieges. It is also full of betrayal, backstabbing and skullduggery.

USING OTHER SYSTEMS AND OTHER PERIODS

THE STORMING OF ALTON ON 13 DECEMBER, 1643 ‘A GREAT VICTORY…’ • Throughout the winter of 1643, Alton was a frontier town. Central to the Wey Valley, it controlled communication to London, Southampton and the Sussex iron foundries — essential for gun-founding - as well as access to the Royalist Arundel Castle.

THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM — REFIGHTING THE START RETAKING ADERKLAA • In 1809, France was tied down in a protracted war in the Spanish Peninsula against Spain, Portugal and Britian. As the French Empire withdrew troops from the Confederation of the Rhine, the Austrian forces under Archduke Charles saw an opportunity to attack and regain some of the territories it had lost in the 1803–1806 War of the Third Coalition.

ORDER OF BATTLE FOR SOLDIERS OF NAPOLEON

THE EGYPTIAN ARMY AT THE 1889 BATTLE OF TOSKI SUDAN AN DEATH • I’m a big fan of the underdog. It may be a natural sympathy for the little guy, or the slightly hubristic wargaming trait of knowing that you can probably do better with your toy soldiers. I also do enjoy a man in a white uniform (but then who doesn’t?), so I have a very soft spot for the Victorian-period Egyptian army.

THE EASTERN FRONT — SPRING AND SUMMER 1944 THE GATHERING STORM • After the failed Kursk offensive of Summer 1943, Nazi Germany found itself increasingly on the defensive, as the armed forces of the Soviet Union (the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, or RKKA) gained in experience and strength.

PLAYING CHAIN OF COMMAND 2 ON THE EAST FRONT A DELAYING ACTION AT UMANn • In March 1944, Marshal Ivan Konev’s 2nd Ukrainian Front launched the Uman–Botosani Offensive, triggering a fast-moving, deeppenetration campaign that would come to be seen as one of the most dynamic and strategically significant operations of the Eastern Front. Its objectives were ambitious and clear: destroy the German...