With the threat of rain looming, I got down to finishing the gardening that I started yesterday as early as was reasonable this morning … after all, it is a Bank Holiday!
Having finished, my wife decided that we needed to do some shopping at the local garden centre. Unfortunately they did not have what we needed – a new cat flap for the kitchen door – and so we had to go to one of the smaller out-of-town retail parks nearby. Luckily there is a Hobbycraft store almost next door to the pet store, and I managed to sneak in and buy a couple of AIRFIX Bren Gun Carrier sets. I have a sneaky feeling they might well end up being ‘converted’ into self-propelled anti-tank guns as part of my current wargaming nostalgia trip but you never know …
We also went to the local shopping mall, and again I managed to get some time to myself, which I used to visit WH Smith to buy the latest copy of MINIATURE WARGAMES (No.314). Since WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED and MINIATURE WARGAMES changed ownership both have gone through a bit of a metamorphosis. The layout of the magazines has improved, and they seem to have regained a bit of lost vitality. I suspect that this is due to the new owners wanting to ‘make their mark’ and because they have some ground to make up on WARGAMES SOLDIERS & STRATEGY. Time will tell as to which of the three will end up as ‘top dog’, but in the meantime I shall continue to buy all three.
Having finished, my wife decided that we needed to do some shopping at the local garden centre. Unfortunately they did not have what we needed – a new cat flap for the kitchen door – and so we had to go to one of the smaller out-of-town retail parks nearby. Luckily there is a Hobbycraft store almost next door to the pet store, and I managed to sneak in and buy a couple of AIRFIX Bren Gun Carrier sets. I have a sneaky feeling they might well end up being ‘converted’ into self-propelled anti-tank guns as part of my current wargaming nostalgia trip but you never know …
We also went to the local shopping mall, and again I managed to get some time to myself, which I used to visit WH Smith to buy the latest copy of MINIATURE WARGAMES (No.314). Since WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED and MINIATURE WARGAMES changed ownership both have gone through a bit of a metamorphosis. The layout of the magazines has improved, and they seem to have regained a bit of lost vitality. I suspect that this is due to the new owners wanting to ‘make their mark’ and because they have some ground to make up on WARGAMES SOLDIERS & STRATEGY. Time will tell as to which of the three will end up as ‘top dog’, but in the meantime I shall continue to buy all three.
And what about BATTLEGAMES Magazine? It is the only one that I subscribe to?
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteIt is one that I tend to buy when I see it, which is generally at a show … and from what I can remember it is usually from Caliver Books.
It is a good magazine, but restricted storage space means that I have to be quite brutal when it comes to subscribing to magazines. Therefore I tend to buy what I can look at first; hence I have returned to buying WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED and MINIATURE WARGAMES for the time being because I can scan through them in WH Smith’s and then make a decision as to whether or not to buy a particular issue. The revived versions of these magazines are – in my opinion – worth supporting as long as they are covering things that I find interesting.
The only magazines that I subscribe to are THE NUGGET (not surprisingly as I am the membership secretary and treasurer of Wargame Developments) and SOLDIERS OF THE QUEEN.
All the best,
Bob
The problem is buying a magazine when the it is covered in film. I bought the latest WSS even though it was covered in film (with a free 15mm figure) as I thought their dossier approach for Blenheim would be useful. It was useless, and put me off buying another copy unseen,
ReplyDeleteFire at Will,
ReplyDeleteIt is a major problem when a magazine gives away a 'freebie' and has to be 'shrink-wrapped' as a result. MW, WI, and WSS have all done this recently, and it does make it difficult to browse before buying. However, the branch of WH Smith that I usually use often has an unwrapped copy on the stand (usually as a result of someone wanting to see what is inside before buying!) and this has meant that I have been able to peruse the contents before making my decision whether to buy or not to buy. That said, like you I did have to buy the Blenheim issue of WSS unseen … and was also somewhat disappointed.
Bob