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.

MID-TERM REPORT • I write this in June on what, we are reliably told by the BBC, has been the hottest day of the year. Indeed, the mercury has touched 34 degrees, which I believe is well over 90 in old money, and I’m sorry to say my lobelias have wilted something terrible. How very different from January when I penned the previous “This Gaming Life” column about my New Year’s resolution, which — as I’m sure you will recall — was to “paint more and unpaint less”, or, in other words, to stop spending time stripping old toy soldiers and instead paint some of the mounting pile of leaden stash.

CROSSING THE BEREZINA • In early 1944, the German position on the eastern front was not looking good. Both Army Group South in the Ukraine and Army Group North had been pushed back in a series of Soviet offensives. While Army Group Centre had held strong, defeating the Soviet Operation Mars offensive, it now formed a salient and risked losing contact with the two other army groups.

ADAPTING THE SCENARIO TO OTHER RULESETS

DECISION ON THE INDUS • As the wars of the Early Successors dragged on into their twentieth year, most of Alexander the Great’s old generals were long dead. However, there were plenty of contenders still game to squabble over his lost empire. Seleucus Nicator (the Victor) was one of the remaining generals left standing.

ORDER OF BATTLE FOR RECON AT TAXILA

ORDER OF BATTLE FOR ARMAGEDDON ON THE INDUS

A TOUCH OF REALISM • Many times I’ve heard people say, “I don’t like those rules, they’re just not realistic.” I’m too polite to point out that in fact, the entire concept of wargaming is an abstraction of reality. It’s understandable; that is what makes them wargames – war, but with all the frustrating, inconvenient, and tedious things left out. And yet these ‘tedious’ things create excitement through challenge.

THE LEADER OF BATTLES • Forget knights in shining armour, Round Tables, damsels in distress, giants, dragons, and the Holy Grail – that’s Arthurian legend. Arthurian history is a different matter entirely and focuses on the bloody wars of the post-Roman successors in Britain.

SUITABLE SCENARIOS

‘THE FINAL VICTORY’ • In ca. AD 445, the Saxon settlers in the east and the south of Britain started a rebellion again the Romano-British rulers of the island. The Saxons strengthened their grip on the areas they had settled in the south and east. As the Saxons pushed them back into the west and southwest, new leaders emerged among the British, gradually blunting Saxon attacks. Three of these began to work effectively together: Amalric, Ambrosius Aurelianus, and one Arturus.

ADAPTING BADON HILL TO DIFFERENT GAMES SYSTEMS

THE LAST TREASURE • The Arthurian age really begins when Rome withdrew her legions from Britannia in approximately AD 400, leaving a power vacuum which the Picts, Scotti, and Irish exploited mercilessly. In...