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Tuesday 22 December 2015

Miniature Wargames with Battlegames Issue 393

The January issue of MINIATURE WARGAMES WITH BATTLEGAMES magazine arrived in this morning's post, and so far I have managed to have a quick read through some of the articles.


The articles included in this issue are:
  • Briefing (i.e. the editorial) by Henry Hyde
  • World Wide Wargaming by Henry Hyde
  • Forward observer by Neil Shuck
  • Mock Tudor: The continuing tales of a wargames widow by Diane Sutherland
  • Fantasy Facts by John Treadaway
  • The return of von Bludengutz: John Sandars' 1970s WWII desert wargaming by Richard Marsh
  • The Featherstone Annual Tribute
  • Send three and fourpence by Conrad Kinch
  • Adapting To the Strongest: Wargaming, kitchen table style by Daniel Mersey
  • Hex encounter by Brad Harmer
  • A chat with Simon Miller: Meeting the man behind To The Strongest by Henry Hyde
  • Paint your wagon: 10 steps for building a pontoon and supply train by Stokes Schwartz
  • One ridge, two bridges: A three-period scenario for wargamers by Steve Jones
  • Just what the world needs ... Another set of World War II rules by Jim Bambra
  • Crisis 2015 by Wim Van den Berghe
  • Recce
  • The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal report by Henry Hyde
The standout article as far as I am concerned is Richard March's The return of von Bludengutz. I was a great fan of John Sandars, and enjoyed reading his battle reports and his book AN INTRODUCTION TO WARGAMING. I also tried (none too well) to copy his modelling skills, and it is because of him that I built quite a few dodgy-looking World War II-era vehicles based on various ROCO Minitanks and Airfix kits, none of which would stand too much scrutiny as to their accuracy nowadays.

6 comments:

  1. Looking forward to it. Maybe I can dig out my OHW matched desert armies.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob,

    The latest issue of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy has a WWII Desert theme, too. I do hope that the magazines don't begin 'Theme wars'...

    I remember buying the Sandars book on wargaming and being extremely disappointed that it was so focussed on the Desert War to the exclusion of almost every other period. Needless to say. it is not one of my prized 'classic' wargame books!

    A Happy Christmas to you and Sue!
    Arthur

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stephen Briddon,

    The article brought back lots of memories for me, especially regarding my dodgy-looking model vehicles.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  4. Arthur1815 (Arthur),

    I have not yet seen a copy of the latest issue of WWS, and I hope that this commonality of theme is just a coincidence and not a foretaste of things to come.

    I also bought a copy of John Sandar's' book when it was first published, and as I was very interested in the War in the Desert at the time, I was not disappointed. That said, the title could be misconstrued as being a general introduction to wargaming ... which it certainly isn't.

    I hope that you and your family have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would really like to see more of John Sandars's games. I read his book (it was available in the local library in Wellington when I lived there; I've never seen it on sale anywhere), and I have seen a couple of magazine articles of his since. I liked his ideas, but was never quite able at the time to adopt them for my own games. I thought very highly of his Airfix Book on the Eighth Army, too.

    It was his modelling skill that eventually inspired me to try my hand, in order to fill certain gaps in my own armies. The Russians have tended to get most of these, mostly artillery, but a couple of vehicles as well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Archduke Piccolo,

    I may have a few articles written by John Sandars in my clippings file, but not much more. Of his ideas (of which there were many) the one I used most was the numbered counter system. Players were given as many numbered counters as they had units, and allocated one to each unit. The units were then activated in number order. This was a great way to make players think about the order in which they wanted things to happen on the tabletop.

    I have none of my Sandars-inspired model vehicles left ... but I still hanker after doing some more one day.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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