Magazine Madness

I buy several magazines on a semi regular basis throughout the month. But for various reasons I hadn't picked any up in a few weeks so when I went shopping the other day I bought four of them in one (plus I received my subscription WI the same day). I briefly considered doing a review of each one but quickly discarded the idea...this is a gaming/painting Blog not a magazine review site. However I decided all the issues had something of interest to BLMA readers so here's a summary of the best bits.

I've been a subscriber of Wargames Illustrated for three years now and bought it regularly before that. I've rarely been disappointed by an issue and this month is no exception. The Theme is the Peloponnesian War between the Athenians and Spartans and includes some excellent eye-candy articles, such as that on the Naval Battle of Rhium in 429BC.

Also eye catching is the article on The Battle of Kufra in 1941. I'm continually tempted by the North Africa campaign and if I hadn't already chosen to collect and play Late War NW Europe I would have opted for this theatre. But as I'm pretty much painting and collecting my FOW figures solo I think I'd better stick to just one theatre of war at a time.

Another highlight of this issue for me is the photo report on the Battlegroup South show held at the Tank Museum, Bovington. I must try to get to this show one year, combining as it does my love of miniature wargames with probably the best museum in the world.

I really ought to subscribe to the bi-monthly Wargames Soldiers and Strategy but instead rely on being able to buy a copy from the local newsagents. Unfortunately I sometimes miss an issue, but not this time. The theme of this issue is the American Civil War (possibly because this is the first issue to be released in the States) and there are no less than nine great articles to support it. The first looks at the opening moves of the war in what it describes as "a year of optimism". There's a small scenario to re-fight the Battle Bethel in 1861 and a very interesting article about the tactics employed in the conflict. The next sections look at the Battle of Bull Run and describes this aptly as "the end of optimism". The last two articles round the theme off nicely by looking at the various rules and miniatures available to those that want to wargame ACW.

I like the layout and style of this publication, its clean, crisp and uncluttered but still chock full of great articles and interesting advertisements. If your into ACW this issue is an absolute 'must buy'.

Miniature Wargames is another one of those stalwart regulars on my list of monthly purchases. The content is more varied on a month by month basis without a specific theme linking articles. This isn't a bad thing as it means every issue has a range of periods inside and should appeal to most wargamers regardless of which issue they pick up.

One of the best articles this month was the cover story, the Knights of Bushido. This looks at the Battle of Tedorigawa in 1577 between the Samurai of the Uesugi clan and the numerically superior Oda Clan.

The ACW Battle at Big Bethel also gets discussed in is issue of MW and its interesting to see how two different magazines handle the same topic.

The next two magazines are not aimed at the wargamer but I often find they contain interesting articles and photographs. Although I don't buy these every month I do try to pick up a copy when there is an interesting article that catches my eye. In this months Classic Military Vehicle there is a great article about the recent restoration of an original Panzer Kpfw IV for the Jordanian Tank Museum. This vehicle is actually the sum of parts from over 20 Panzer IV's but is now the most fully restored vehicle of its type, and the only running example in the world. It debuted at Tankfest in June and was also seen at War and Peace in August, both of which I missed! Its not been shipped to Jordan yet so maybe there will be other opportunities to see this very rare vehicle before it leaves the country.

In a similar vein Military Machines International also featured pictures of the the Panzer IV at War and Peace. However I bought this issue for its article on the Austin K5 Portee. I've seen these machines mentioned several times but never actually seen any illustrations. There's also a good photo review of this years War and Peace show which, as I've already mentioned, I missed.


I'm sure there are plenty more magazines I could buy and I usually purchase copies of magazines I've not read before just to try them out. But this lot came to over £21 for just one months worth of issues and I think that's more than enough for now.