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 USE IT OR LOSE IT • If my Amazon account is anything to go by, the age of instant gratification is definitely upon us. I ordered a cheap kitchen sieve last Sunday morning for the specific purpose of sieving sharp sand used for wargaming purposes. To my amazement, it arrived that evening. What a world we live in, where a plastic sieve is elevated to such importance that it is dispatched and delivered with the same alacrity as a body part for an urgent transplant operation! How far we have travelled since the days when every advert in the wargaming press included that ominous line: “Please allow 28 days for delivery.”

THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF BRITAIN IN AD 83 MONS GRAUPIUS • After the initial Roman invasion of AD 43, Roman rule pushed northwards and into Wales. Between AD 77 and 83, Roman armies pushed into modern-day Scotland led by governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola. The route of the Roman armies is hard to map accurately and much ink has been spilt in attempts to interpret Tacitus’ account.

GUILDFORD WARGAMES’ IMAGINATIVE CLUB PROJECT THE BATTLE OF DORKING • It all started when I remarked that I'd seen an article in a Reading newspaper of 1871 entitled “Battle of Bisley”, an eyewitness account of a military exercise that ranged across most of West Surrey that year. Before the evening was out, we had concocted a cunning plan to provide a participation game for Warfare later in 2021. In researching for Bisley, we found that one participant was Lt Col. Chesney, the author of the fictional Battle of Dorking, hence the idea for our demonstration game for Warfare 2022.

HOW THE EVENT WENT

A BRITISH WWI ACTION BASED ON THE FILM 1917 ONLY THE DEAD HAVE SEEN THE END OF WAR • The game is inspired by the movie 1917, which itself is loosely based on Operation Alberich. On 6 April 1917, aerial reconnaissance has observed that the Imperial German army, which has pulled back from a sector of the Western Front in northern France, is not in retreat but has made a strategic withdrawal to the new Hindenburg Line, where they are waiting to overwhelm the British.

AN INTRODUCTION AND SCENARIO FOR WS&S WHAT A COWBOY • One of my earliest wargaming memories goes back to the early 1980s and the first wargames show I ever attended: Sheffield Triples, held at the Victoria Hotel I think, so that gives you an idea of how long ago this was. My abiding memory was getting to play a Wild West skirmish game, run by the Halifax Club I think, in 54mm.

BRINGING THE BATTLES OF BELGIUM TO THE TABLETOP THE COCKPIT OF EUROPE • The land we now know as Belgium has been known by many names; the Romans called it Gallia Belgica. In the late Dark Ages it was the Middle Kingdom, or Lotharingia. During the middle ages, the area had been a variety of independent states such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the Duchy of Brabant, and various counties such as Flanders, Namur, Luxembourg, and Hainault, as well as...