MWBG 395 Coming Next Week

The new season is already underway and this issue has plenty to get your wargaming juices flowing:

• Charles S Grant celebrates the life and work of his friend, the popular military artist, historian and genial retired policeman Bob Marrion who passed away last autumn, illustrated with some of Bob’s wonderful artwork.
• Ever fancied being ruler of your own petty kingdom, turning the downtrodden native rabble into an elite fighting force to overthrow the local tyrants and take their wealth for yourself? In The man who would be king, Jim Webster shows you how to go about it.
• Hammerhead 2016 is held at the Newark Showground in Nottinghamshire on 5^th March, and this issue includes the official show guide, including a welcome from Sally of Kallistra, who organise the show, lovely photos of some of the games that make the show so special (every game is a participation game), a complete listing of all the games and traders alongside the easy-to-read floorplan, and of course messages from some of the companies that will be trading at the show. See you there! (We’ll be on stand TD36 and I’m running a little game at table GB10.)
• In Travel tiles, Paul D Stevenson finds that there is much to recommend a wargaming surface that is both small and flat when portability is an important factor in your gaming life.
• Chris Russell opens a two-parter with Eindecker!, an account of the impact of the famous German monoplane on early aerial warfare. Next month, we’ll bring you his complete ruleset for early WWI air war gaming.
• Winter is coming! In A game effort, Gary Pready sets about turning the popular book/TV series Game of Thrones into a tabletop wargame, using mechanisms from another well-known ruleset with a vital twist of his own. All together now: “You know nothing, Jon Snow!”

Of course, we have our regular spots too:

• The Editor remembers illustrator Bob Marrion in his Briefing; in his World Wide Wargaming, he explains the transition to the new website shared with TableTop Gaming, explores the explosion of Facebook pages for wargamers and presents another ‘Blog of the Month’.
• Neil Shuck looks at the advantages of playing miniatures wargames – without the miniatures. He’s also been suffering from varnish woes and goes on to discuss basecoats, weathering and decals.
• Diane Sutherland finds more uses for coffee stirrers than Starbucks, and it’s all been getting a bit tacky – or, at least, the glue has. So set out on some secret coffee shop raids, and try to avoid getting accosted at Costa or nicked at Nero as your pockets bulge with wooden splints.
• In Fantasy Facts, John Treadaway gets excited about the latest offerings in spy-fi, gives credit where it’s due for Rick Priestley’s latest creation, and appreciates the smaller side of sci-fi.
• Boardgame specialist Brad Harmer-Barnes declares “CECI N’EST PAS UNE PIPE”. We think he’s talking about the fact that what we play are games, not war itself, thank goodness.
• In his Send three and fourpence column, Conrad Kinch offers some further observations on the always challenging art of scenario writing.
• Of course we have our Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal; our regular review slot Recce; places are still available for the third Featherstone Annual Tribute to be held at the Wargames Holiday Centre near Basingstoke, this year featuring the enormous Battle of Leipzig 1813; and finally, our competition this month features three £30 vouchers from Kallistra to spend on anything related to their extensive WWI figure and scenery ranges.

Publication date is Friday 19^th February.

The front cover features a photo taken by Jon Sutherland of a huge Indian Mutiny game staged at Wargames Holidays in Crete.

Remember also to check out the new “Downloads” section on the new website at https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/historical-games/information/downloads/!

Roll ‘em high!