I’m completely biased of course, but I wouldn’t say our medieval rulebook Never Mind the Billhooks is ‘style over substance’. As a publication, it looks pretty, but it’s much more about the substance of the rules. Our Napoleonic rules: Valour & Fortitude, could even be accused of lacking in style,
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TM Terrain is a one-man band model-making maestro from Loughborough, Leicestershire named David Marshall. David is a lovely fella who has been making terrain boards, buildings and dioramas for individuals and companies within the hobby for over 25 years. He recently contacted me to say he was thinking of putting together
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A good umpire can make or break a game. I’ve played loads of multiplayer wargames that meandered along at such a tediously slow pace half of them had to be wrapped up early with a guess at what would have happened if we had another three hours. Other times players
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It’s always a pleasure; never a chore visiting Gripping Beast down in Evesham. I had several boxes of what they warmly refer to as “Dark Age Haries” to return to them - painted figures Wargames Illustrated had borrowed for a recent photo session. What made this trip particularly interesting was that
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The June issue of Wargames Illustrated comes with a free ruleset: Never Mind the Boathooks. It’s the nautical neighbour of our successful medieval small battle rules Never Mind the Billhooks, but Boathooks is a stand-alone set of rules, supported by downloadable cards and tokens. Players take to the high seas in a
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I must be slacking. I clocked up 20,000 steps/eight miles walking around the Salute hall at ExCel last Saturday. Looking back in my diary I did nearly nine miles in 2021. Mind you, eight miles felt enough by the time I got home on Saturday night! Not only did Team Wi
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Looking back in my diary at March 2020 was an interesting experience. It’s largely a collection of entries about different daily Lockdown rules and restrictions announced by the UK government, but just a few days before the big 'everyone in stay inside' announcement there was Hammerhead 2020. The Newark (participation game
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It's a bit of a cliché that Medieval naval battles were just like land battles at sea, but what if you take a successful set of medieval land battle rules and set them afloat, does it work? That’s what rules writer Andy Callan did with Never Mind the Billhooks. If you
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In my office here at Wi Mansions I have a glass display cabinet which houses my favouritest painted miniatures. Suffice to say, none of them have been painted by me; the work which features more than anyone else is by Brushman Matt Parkes. I’ve known Matt since about 2008 when we
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With postal strikes meaning we couldn’t get any orders out of the door, and rail strikes meaning we couldn’t get any stock in the door, coupled with a fire alarm service meaning the lights in the office were out of action, we could cry, moan, and hope Netflix would give
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Editor Dan gets behind the wheel with friends Nick North Star and Alan and Michael Perry. What sights did they behold on their 1.5k mile road trip? “How about turning Tactica 2022 into a Road Trip?” said I to friends and Tactica regulars Alan and Michael Perry. Having later recruited our
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Editor Dan ponders how the GW generation of game designers resonates with the Wi audience. I’ve never actually played War Games by Donald Feather (first published 1962), or any rules by George Gush, Tony Bath, Charles Grant et al. I have got, and read, several books by those authors, but have
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“Why don’t you publish more articles about 6mm gaming?” was the predictable first question I was asked in my capacity as one of the panel at the Joy of Six event which took place in Sheffield, England, in early July. It was a fair question and one I knew was coming
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I do like an umpired game and I’m particularly keen when I'm unfamiliar with the rules but the umpire is a walking, talking, 3D version of the rulebook. That meant I was already keen when friend of the magazine Pete Brown offered to umpire a game based on a battle
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It was quite flattering to discover that one of our readers had been to nine different stores in the Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Birmingham areas of England to try and get hold of a copy of the April issue of Wargames Illustrated magazine. On the flip-side it wasn’t so good was
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Somebody once said “It’s not what you know it’s who you know” and when that somebody you know is a very good and pro-active Game Designer they are certainly worth knowing! Andy Callan has been writing wargames rules since I was in short trousers. His 'Loose Files and American Scramble' rules
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“I thought this would be sacrilege!” said Andy Callan. He was referring to the fact we were about to play a wargame using unpainted figures, and feature them in the pages of Wargames Illustrated. He had a fair point because I can’t remember the last time we did such a
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Over the last few weeks, we have been forced to make major changes in regard to Wargames Illustrated subscriptions for overseas subscribers. Some of these changes will bring welcome improvements to the service we are able to offer our subscribers, particularly within the USA, where subs are now being offered by
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It’s that time of the year again when we ask Wargames Illustrated readers to get their thinking caps on and cast a vote for their favourite Miniature Manufacturer, New Rules, Wargames Article, and more in the ‘Wargames Illustrated 2021 Awards’. Here Editor Dan talks a bit about the awards process. Compiling
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“Oh good, great. I didn’t think you were here, or I thought I’d missed you. Quick, come over here. Come and look at this!” That was the unexpectedly enthusiastic greeting I was met with when I bumped into Paul Sully at the recent Partizan Wargames Show in Newark. Paul, the proprietor
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In this Editor's Exploits, Dan pulls back the curtain on the trials and tribulations of getting a monthly magazine printed exactly how we want it (or in Wi406's case, exactly how we didn't want it)! Dan: The conversation a few months ago went something like this: Printer rep: I’m afraid the cost
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Whilst packing away, after leading my miniature warriors to an inglorious defeat on the tabletop last Wednesday evening, it occurred to me that the two wargames I have recently played have probably been as contrasting as they can be. The former was a ten-player Black Powder game, taking place on a
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Sometimes you don’t choose a wargaming period; it chooses you. Via a small contribution to the latest issue of the Wargames Illustrated magazine (Wi405) I wrote about my appreciation of the author Thomas Hardy and how his book The Trumpet-Major provided some interesting background material for wargames based around Napoleon’s
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Editor Dan talks about sorting his way through boxes of fine figures and fond memories in this Editor’s Exploits. Dan: When we lost my good friend, mentor and Wargames Illustrated founder Duncan Macfarlane earlier this year, I inherited his personal collection of Wargames figures. Duncan’s miniature mountain is made up of
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Games Designer Daniel Mersey has at least six Osprey Games titles under his belt, including several in the very popular ‘… Rampant’ series. But, like many a well know author, Dan cut his teeth writing for Wargames Illustrated, years before he made a career out of it; check out the
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Campaign: D-Day: US Sector is the third and final book in the Bolt Action Second Edition D-Day Trilogy, following on the heels of the Overlord and British and Canadian Sectors. https://youtu.be/v4d0IYLG7xU The text below is a video transcript for those who prefer to read rather than watch. The first passage of text in
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Dan: Since my last Editor's Exploits, the Wargames Illustrated team have suffered a terrible loss in the form of the sudden but peaceful death of Duncan Macfarlane. Duncan was the founder of both the Miniature Wargames and (four years later) Wargames Illustrated magazines. Yesterday was his funeral and (within government restrictions)
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It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Duncan Macfarlane. Duncan was the original owner and editor of Wargames Illustrated, creating and publishing the magazine for the first time in August 1987, after having previously been the editor of Miniature Wargames. Duncan passed away suddenly but peacefully
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Editor Dan embarks on a brave new journey of discovery, involving cardboard and clips. Dan: If you’re a 50+ wargamer like myself, you can possibly remember your first model house building project. Perhaps it was something constructed in the 1970s using balsa wood and a toxic (now banned) glue, or maybe
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Wi Editor Dan is starting up a new feature for WiPrime members, giving a taste of life at the helm of Wargames Illustrated. In this episode he offers a behind the scenes look at some of the figures he’s been shipping and snapping for upcoming articles. Dan: Caesarian Romans delivered to
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