Wargames Illustrated 265

Wargames Illustrated 264, last month’s issue.

Since the relaunch I’ve been reading Wargames Illustrated magazine. I buy it at the local game store to support the store and also make sure they continue to stock it. Eventually I’ll get a subscription to take advantage of the free Victrix box, probably when I’m done my WWII project and re-start my 1812 project. I’ve been enjoying the magazine and although the previous issue was a little Flames of War heavy issue 265 has been a good mix of a number of different periods.

The theme of the issue is the American War of Independence. I like the idea of themed episodes. If you despise the theme you can avoid it, if you like the theme, you’ll get a good bang for your buck. If you normally buy a magazine for a single article on your period, common with wargame magazines, you can still do that. However, if you are like me and enjoy reading about every period and read most magazines cover-to-cover the episode themes are a boon.

I did not grow up a history buff. I was strictly fiction only. When I started playing WWII Online I became interested in the history of WWII and the Canadian Black Watch in particular. From there I’ve been slowly expanding my historical knowledge. Part of this process is learning to read history books. A note for students: everything that is hard is a skill. Practice will develop skill and make things easier. Now that I’m getting proficient in the skills of absorbing history I’ve been accelerating my accumulation of knowledge, much to my pleasure.

There are still massive gaps in my historical knowledge that you can drive a continent through. Wargames Illustrated’s practice of themed issues means I get a broader look at a new period than simply a quick scenario or battle report would normally provide. Which makes the scenarios and battle reports included in the issues more enjoyable.

I especially liked the article “The Battle of Guilford Courthouse: 15 March, 1781″ which included a discussion of planning a convention game from scenario to terrain in addition to a description of the historical event and OOB. Strangely it doesn’t include the scenario which I didn’t notice because most are boring unless you plan to use them. Still, a style of article I enjoy.

Not that this was the only article worth reading. I enjoyed the majority of the issue and those articles I didn’t particularly enjoy were written competently enough that they were not a chore to read. Worth mentioning was the interview with Rick Priestly about the new Black Powder horse and musket rules and excerpt from same. I’ve pre-ordered the rules so the articles weren’t helpful to me in that way, but since I’m still awaiting delivery I eagerly devoured them.

Tyler