Long term supporter of our Tercio, Mark Clarke, commented recently on Face- twit, “ Wargames Foundry: reassuringly expensive!” Yes dear reader, we live in the era of the two pounds 28mm miniature. Please don’t switch off, this isn’t an article on tariffs preventing kickstarter CEO’s claiming their 6 figure salaries. Rather, can we justify paying six pounds for a monthly magazine?
Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine from the Netherlands was an absolute must this month. Bonaparte in the Second Coalition doesn’t sound like it’s going to fly off the shelves at the local store but for me it was sheer gold, concentrating on the Marengo campaign. Great photos and scenarios; I could forgive the rehash of period figures from an earlier edition.
The themed magazine obviously is a risk for the publisher. Too specific and the average gamer maybe deterred but WSS is my usual must purchase magazine.
Wargames Illustrated is a more selective purchase. It did deep dive into a Battlefront storefront but has since widened its coverage. Free Epic Scale Celts sweetened the deal but this is the magazine format that I think is in danger from the internet and YouTube. Six or seven main articles that do or do not catch up your interest. One of the biggest changes in purchase decisions is of course that such magazines are not the main source of minis info and events. Adverts do have a tendency to linger in the butterfly like imagination of the average gamer.
So in one day I bought magazines worth the price of twenty or so miniatures! This was an exceptional bank holiday; don’t judge me! I am really trying to go for quality not quantity. The magazines are still great. Their storage is also an issue as I never did make the change to digital editions.
My final purchase was Dice and Lead from Italy. This was my idea of the future magazine. Superb photos and great articles. What else would you expect from the team behind Impetvs? It does do that Wargamers’ trait of recounting history rather than providing gaming advice but I can forgive the publishers that.
So a three day break and some great reading. I really am hopeful for these magazines’ future. I won’t be buying all of them every month but if it is magazines or unpainted plastic then you could do worse.
Michael
Jefe Cardiff Dice Studz
Despertaferres 
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