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30 Jun 2016

Ancient History magazine 5, 30 June 2016

Ancient History magazine 5, 30 June 2016

Competing for the Gods

The museum piece: Jona Lendering, "The Lacoon group - Agony"

The Laocoon Group in the Vatican Museums is one of the most famous pieces of sculpture from the ancient world. As a cultural icon, it is only comparable to the golden mask of Tutanchamun, the Venus of Milo, and the Dying Gaul. However, in spite of the statue’s fame, there are still unsolved riddles.

Special: Andrei Pogăciaş, "Ovid in exile - Between arrows and ice"

One of the most famous Latin poets of Antiquity is Publius Ovidius Naso, or Ovid, for short. Although he was the author of many works, he is best known for the masterpieces written in the final, most bitter years at the end his life, spent in exile at the edge of the Roman world, in Tomis, a port on the Black Sea.

Theme: Murray Dahm, "The Four Crown Games - Competing for the Gods"

Thinking of the Olympic Games, we think of the world’s top athletes vying with one another for gold. These ideas, however, have little to do with the original games. The sheer variety of competitions in ancient games reveals that something different was at play in these festivals.

Athtletes had to ritually purify themselves before taking part in the Pythian Games. The place was called Castalia, and here we see the men washing their hair.Theme: Sidney E. Dean, "The origins of the Pythian Games - Victory Laps"

The Pythian Games were held at Delphi in the middle between two Olympic Games. They were formally introduced in 586 or 582 BC. While the Olympic Games honored the Greek pantheon in general and Zeus in particular, the Pythian competition was dedicated to Apollo, patron deity of Delphi and its oracle. The games themselves commemorated Apollo’s victory over the dragon Python and the god’s conquest of Delphi.

Theme: Gareth Williams, "Pindar's victory odes - Second to none?"

The lyric poet Pindar of Thebes (c.518-c.438) was renowned for his epinicia, complex poetic compositions celebrating the triumphs of various athletes who had contested at the major Panhellenic Crown Games. It is alleged that Pindar attended the Pythian Games at Delphi in 490. What can we learn about those competitions from Pindar’s victory odes and other ancient writers?

Theme: Jordan Henderson, "Theagenes of Thasos and Kleitomachos of Thebes - Isthmian Brawlers"

Although each of the great Panhellenic games was dedicated to a different god, it has been said that the gods who were truly honored were the athletes themselves. As the popularity of the games grew, so did the esteem in which their athletes were held. Though they remain long forgotten by most people today, in their own time, they were heroes, lauded for their strength, endurance, unbelievable feats, and of course their physique, immortalized in the construction of statues in their honor.

The author wearing the crested helmet during the first official hoplitodromos reconstruction at the ancient stadium of Nemea in August 2008.Theme: Stefanos Skarmintzos, "Reconstructing the armed race of Nemea - The hoplite race"

The hoplite race was an exhausting and spectacular event during the ancient Greek athletic festivals. In 2006-2010, archaeologists and re-enactors have rediscovered how and why.

Theme: Manolis Peponas, "An inscription from Rhodes - A look at local competitions"

Our literary sources focus on the world of the elite, but inscriptions help us understand the lives of other people. A text from Rhodes documents a local family’s pride in two victories in the local games.

Theme: Nicola Bergamo, "The Olympian Games of Antioch"

The Greek passion for athletics did not end after the Hellenistic Age. On the contrary, having accepted Roman contestants, the Crown Games survived for some four centuries, while other contests were still organized in Byzantine Antioch, for example, the proud capital of Syria and the Roman Near East.

Special: Boed Marres, "The first fruits of DNA-research - A new window on antiquity"

For centuries, our knowledge of Antiquity was based on three types of evidence: ancient texts, studied by philologists; ancient artifacts, which are the archaeologists’ domain; and comparison with other preindustrial societies, studied by anthropologists. Over the past thirty years, a fourth approach has come into being: the study of DNA.

At the end of the fourth millennium BC, Yamnaya people migrated to the Danube basin, taking with them their custom of erecting steles, probably to commemorate their ancestors. These steles can be found all over southern Europe and along the Atlantic shores. This one was found near Nevsha in northeastern Bulgaria and can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Varna.Special: Marc G. DeSantis, "Puzzling over the Indo-European enigma"

For some two centuries, linguists and archaeologists have been trying to establish the homeland of the first speakers of Indo-European, the common ancestor of Indian, Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic, and Germanic languages. On the basis of vocabulary and archaeology, several candidates for the homeland were put forward. The analysis of ancient DNA now appears to finally solve the problem.

Philosophy: Kees Alders, "A competition on soberness - The philosophy of Zeno"

The conquests of Alexander the Great profoundly changed the Greek world. The old dichotomy between the independent Greek city-states and the eastern world empires ceased to be relevant. People were citizens of a common world. The world view changed, and hence philosophy, as we see in our series on Hellenistic philosophy. In this issue: Zeno the Stoic.

How do they know?: Christian Koepfer, "How do we know - How to date ancient wood?"

One of the most famous, accurate, and important archaeological methods is dendrochronology: dating ancient pieces of wood by counting tree rings. The principle is simple, but there are some complications.

Ancient History Magazine

New SYW Figures from Old Glory

We have just finished three new codes in our Magnificent Little Soldier Company 10mm Seven Years War range. We hope you enjoy these new figures.

SYW 112 – Prussian Freikorps (50 figures) – $10.50 USD

SYW 112 – Prussian Freikorps (50 figures)

SYW 113 – Prussian Jaegers (50 figures) – $10.50 USD

SYW 113 – Prussian Jaegers (50 figures)

SYW 207 – Austrian Grenz (50 figures) – $10.50 USD

SYW 207 – Austrian Grenz (50 figures)

We have more releases coming in other categories, so keep watching for more announcements. You can get these great new releases on the Old Glory Corp manufacturers-direct website. For our Old Glory Army members, your discount applies to these figures. You can also follow us on Facebook.

Old Glory Miniatures

28 Jun 2016

Atomic Tank by Hydra Miniatures

Hydra Miniatures: Upcoming Atomic Tank - 10mm Retroverse Ground Assault Miniature Game

Hydra Miniatures: New 10mm Galacteer tanks for Atomic Tank, our upcoming ground assault game in the Hydra Miniatures "Retroverse."

Atomic Tank by Hydra Miniatures

Atomic Tank--Planetary Invasions in the Atomic Age.  This is our third in a series of games taking place in Hydra's Retroverse, a gaming universe based on the Golden Age of Sci-fi (1930s, 40s, and 50s). All of our games share the same races and background. Our first game War Rocket--Space Battles in the Atomic Age featured 6mm rockets and introduced players to the forces of the Retroverse. Retro Raygun--Action Adventure in the Atomic Age expanded the Retroverse with a 30mm battle game that introduced us to the heroes and the villains of the Retroverse.  Atomic Tank features the same forces in massive battles raging for control over planetary landscapes. At Hydra, we like our games to be fast-paced and simplified so the game only uses a couple of charts, minimal stats, and no record keeping.  The Atomic Tank game engine is based on the War Rocket rules and players can use their rockets for air support in the game.

Initially we conceived the game as 6mm, but switched to 10mm to showcase the highly detailed digital sculpts.  The game will feature five forces: Galacteers (human space patrol), Robot Legion, Valkeeri (space amazons), Imperials (despotic space tyrants) and Zenithians (Saucermen from the 7th Dimension). 

The game is currently in development and no official release date has been set. However, Hydra game designer John Douma will be hosting a preview games  in a few weeks at Gen Con 2016. The game will feature Galacteers attacking a Robot Legion factory world.  You can stay up to date on Atomic Tank and other exciting developments by joining the Hydra Miniatures Facebook Group



Hydra Miniatures

21 Jun 2016

Miniature Wargames 399, July 2016

Miniature Wargames 399, July 2016

With the days officially getting shorter from now on, that surely means that there’s going to be more time for your hobby – so let’s get started!

In Down by the sea, the third installment of The red empire strikes back – fighting the Great Patriotic War one battle at a time, Andrew Rolph continues his series of Ostfront scenarios with a challenging situation of a scratch force suddenly assailed from land, sea and air!

Paul Robinson describes how the Grimsby Wargames Society came to stage one of the stand-out games at the recent Partizan show in Newark, a huge Wars of the Spanish Succession extravaganza with thousands of miniatures. The Editor has also added a short section with a suggestion for getting started with Marlburians.

In Express Delivery, Chris Birch of Modiphius provides us with an exclusive and exciting WWII scenario for the recently launched Airfix Battles. Can you get the supplies through to the front line?

New contributor Nick Hughes, well known for his no-holds-barred magazine reviews online, takes his chances on the other side of the fence with Demonstrate THIS. Hot on the heels of one of the most highly respected shows in the land, famed for the quality of its demo games, he asks whether they are really needed and, if so, how can they be invigorated?

In Grenouisse at bay part 1, The Editor describes the build-up to a weekend of early May Bank Holiday mega-games in the sleepy village of Ayton in Yorkshire, where gamers came from far and wide to pitch their imaginary armies against fearsome fictitious foes.

And finally we have show reports from Partizan 2016 by Mike Whitaker and RAGE 2016 held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds by Neil Shuck.

Of course, we have our regular spots too:

In his Briefing The Editor announces a major change in his working life and also wonders how rumours about his wargaming preferences begin; and in his World Wide Wargaming, he looks for inspiration for painting his ECW armies, meets with bloggers at Partizan, corrects a silly error in issue 398, and introduces a couple more Blogs of the Month.

Mike Hobbs steps into Neil Shuck’s shoes in Forward Observer and explores those areas of our hobby that are ‘not quite historical’ in nature.

Diane Sutherland gives us Caned palms in her Continuing tales of a wargames widow. She’s been palmed off with yet another project for husband Jonathan, but far from being bamboozled, she’s been listening to Oasis on the stereo whilst caning her mouse to find fronds amongst artificial aquatics.

In Fantasy Facts, John Treadaway has been exploring the recent output from EMP Games, examining the latest incarnation of the Thunderbirds game from Modiphius, perusing new products from Brigade in several scales, celebrating 25 years of Full Thrust from Ground Zero Games, and studying stealthy ninjas from Crooked Dice.

Boardgame specialist Brad Harmer-Barnes uses his Hex encounter column to plunge head-first into the realms of game design, making many discoveries about how difficult an exercise it really is!

In his Send three and fourpence column, Conrad Kinch tests out some ideas inspired by the latest Sharp Practice edition from TooFatLardies that owe as much to roleplay as they do to ‘standard’ campaigns.

Of course we have our Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal; our regular review slot Recce; and finally, our competition this month features the fantastic new Ancient Rome novel Fire & Sword from historian (and wargamer!) Harry Sidebottom accompanied by an exclusive miniature from Aventine.

The front cover photo, taken by the Editor, is of the ‘Best Demo Game’ winners at Partizan in Newark last month – just a tiny fraction of the nearly 200 beautiful 1/1200 ships on display in Steve Mercer and Andrew Hamilton’s “The Four Days battle 1666”.

Remember also to check out the new “Downloads” section on the new website at  for additional material for Andrew Rolph’s article.

And lastly, a note about Neil Shuck, who has sensibly decided to take a well-earned break after serving in the Forward Observer role for more than five years – enough to wear out anyone! On behalf of us all, I want to extend our warmest thanks for his service and wish him well for the future. (He’ll probably pop up from time to time with something special.) Mike Hobbs has stepped in this month, but as of issue 400 the format of the FO column will change and there will be a new regular slot that will knock at the door of wargamers far and wide and take a peek inside their world. Who knows: it could be you!

Miniature Wargames

19 Jun 2016

Slingshot 306

Slingshot 306

Slingshot 306 is currently being printed and should be out by the end of June. Contents include:

• The Vikings of Man, by Mick Hession
• It's a Long Way to Tibareni (3), by Alastair McBeath
• When Push Comes to Shove, by Richard Taylor
• Clash of Warlords, by Gordon Lawrence
• Late Roman Army & the Notitia Dignitatum (3), by Luke Ueda-Sarson
• Pharsalus Battle Day Reports, by Phil Barker, Mick Hession and Simon MacDowall
• A Note on Goliath's Kidun, by Dave Beatty

The editor is always looking for more articles, photographs and art, so feel free to contact him if you have an idea you would like to pursue.

Slingshot

Hannibal's Legions, Free Download

Hannibal's Legions, Free Download

Hannibal's Legions, the latest in the series of Slingshot classic articles available for free download at the free downloads section of the Society of Ancients' website.

Patrick Waterson argues that after Trasimere, Hannibal re-equipped and reorganized his Carthaginian spearmen to fight as Roman legionaries, enabling him to win his most spectacular victory at Cannae and nearly win at Zama.

Slingshot

16 Jun 2016

New Models by Pithead Miniatures

Pithead Miniatures, releases a number of new models.

Bv128 6lb Porte Small

Bv128  6lb Porte

The 6lb anti tank gun was first introduced into the desert in 1942 where there was a tradition of mounting anti tank guns on the beds of trucks for transportation and for firing from . Various vehicles were adapted for this purpose but this is a 30 cwt Cheverolet mounted porte and as usual the Pithead model comes supplied with a gun crew.

 Gv 170 Flak 37 Halftrack


Gv 170 Flak 37 Halftrack

Sd.Kfz. 6/2 , 5 ton halftrack was armed with a 3.7 cm FlaK 36 anti-aircraft gun . The sides of the vehicle were folded down when firing to allow enough space for the crew to operate the gun.

Gaz HQ Bus


Gaz HQ Bus

The Gaz Autobus was a civilian vehicle utilised by the military as an office space for Soviet commanders . The vehicle design was based on the Ford AA truck chassis and was locally produced .

Gv 192 Eight Wheel Funk Armoured Car


Gv 192 Eight Wheel Funk Armoured Car

The Sd.Kfz. 263 was an 8 wheeled radio vehicle Funkspähwagen equipped with extra long-range radio equipment and an additional radio operator. To house the radio equipment the turret was removed from a 231 chassis and the superstructure was extended upwards . The vehicle was fitted with a bedstead aerial and an additional upright extendable mast for long distance transmissions . The defensive armament consisted of a single ball-mounted machine gun mounted on the forward hull.

Sdkfz 251C Radio


Sdkfz 251C Radio

SdKfz 251/3 - mittlere Kommandopanzerwagen (Funkpanzerwagen). Command and Communications vehicle was fitted with FuG8 and FuG5 radio equipment for both ground and air support communication. This is model is the Ausfarung C version of the 251 halftrack which was fitted with a bedstead aerial.

Gv 175 Flak 37 Armoured Halftrack


Gv 175 Flak 37 Armoured Halftrack

Sd.Kfz. 7/2 , 8 ton halftrack was armed with a 3.7 cm FlaK 36 anti-aircraft gun. The vehicle was used in the anti aircraft role and for engaging ground targets with its 37mm long barrelled cannon. This model is the armoured body version of the vehicle and comes supplied with a complement of crew figures . About 1000 vehicles were produced by the end of January 1945 .

Pithead Miniatures

15 Jun 2016

Konev's Golgotha. Operation Typhoon Strikes the Soviet Western Front, October 1941.

Konev's Golgotha. Operation Typhoon Strikes the Soviet Western Front, October 1941.

This book is a historical study of the events of October 1941 in the Viaz'ma pocket, based on documents found in the Russian Federation's Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense, the German Bundesarchiv, and the U.S. National Archives. Mikhail Filippenkov describes the events that took place through the simultaneous, comparative analysis of Soviet and German combat reports according to time, and in the manner of reporting from the places of those events as they happened. The author writes about these events with chronological accuracy, not on the level of army headquarters and higher, but exclusively on the level of the combat units down to the division-level, and with concrete geographical reference to the combat maps of those times. Particular attention is paid to the events that took place in the vicinity of Sychevka in Smolensk Oblast', because what happened there has never been deeply researched or examined by anyone in Russia. Unfortunately, research must rely primarily on the combat reports and combat documents of the units of the Wehrmacht's Panzergruppe 3., since almost no documents on the Soviet side have been preserved. They were either destroyed together with the units and formations trapped within the Viaz'ma pocket, or destroyed at an order from above to those units and formations which managed to escape encirclement more or less intact, in order to erase any record of the disaster.

14 Jun 2016

19th Century Marching Band Released by Pendraken Miniatures

We previewed this one not too long ago and they're now available!  Sculpted primarily as Austrians, in kepi and greatcoat, these should be able to suit various other nations/armies with a little conversion work or simply a different paint job.  The pack contains 14 figures (6 pairs of musicians plus 1 'kappelmeister' and 1 bass drummer) along with a bass drum dog cart!

19th C. Misc

FPX5 - 19th C. Marching Band - £3.00

FPX5 - 19th C. Marching Band

Remodelled WWII vehicles by Pendraken Miniatures

We're continuing to remodel a lot of our older vehicles, so this month we've got the new M10's and T34's ready for purchase, along with a new Ram tank and it's replacement Kangaroo variant.

WWII Canadian

CAN1 - Ram cruiser, 2pdr gun

CAN1 - Ram cruiser, 2pdr gun

American

A7 - M10 GMC

A7 - M10 GMC

British

BR38 - M10 'Achilles' 17pdr gun

BR38 - M10 'Achilles' 17pdr gun

BR50 - M36 'Jackson' 90mm gun

BR50 - M36 'Jackson' 90mm gun

BR53 - Ram 'Kangaroo' APC

BR53 - Ram 'Kangaroo' APC

Russian

SV8 - T-34/76

SV8 - T-34/76

SV9 - T-34/85

SV9 - T-34/85

SV41 - T-34/76D, Late war hexagonal turret

SV41 - T-34/76D, Late war hexagonal turret

(all priced at £2.80 per vehicle)

Next up in the revamp schedule should be the Tigers and Panthers hopefully, so keep an eye out for those.

Pendraken Miniatures
Pendraken Forum

12 Jun 2016

New M11/39 Tank by Pendraken Miniatures

The M11/39 saw service in Africa and Italy (1939–1944). The official Italian designation was Carro Armato (armoured vehicle) M11/39. The designation for the M11/39 is as follows: "M" for Medio (Italian: "medium"), followed by the weight in tonnes (11) and the year of adoption (1939), Sculpted by Martin (mart678)

New M11/39 Tank by Pendraken Miniatures picture 1

New M11/39 Tank by Pendraken Miniatures picture 2

Pendraken Miniatures
Pendraken Forum

New Bergpanther by Pendraken Miniatures

A Bergpanther not for the faint hearted it will have up to 11 separate parts, Sculpted by Martin (mart678)

New Bergpanther by Pendraken Miniatures picture 1

New Bergpanther by Pendraken Miniatures picture 2

Pendraken Miniatures
Pendraken Forum

10 Jun 2016

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 85, June 2016

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 85, June 2016

Monsters of myth and legend

Column: Rick Priestley, "This Gaming Life - Reflections upon a podcast"

On the whole, I’ve decided not to bother much with the twenty-first century. There’s the collapse of the global economy, the banking system up the spout, and everywhere you look, rationality on the retreat. Admittedly, we have got as far as 2016 without a world war; in that respect at least, things are a definite improvement on the twentieth century. (Maybe it’s a bit too soon to count that particular chicken.)

Feature: Eoghan Kelly, "Taking the Goch-Kalkar Highway, Westfalen - The Swan House"

On 8 February 1945, Operation Veritable was the first push into the German Reich proper. It was intended to be a massive pincer movement, with the northern arm made up of the Canadian 2nd Corps and British XXX Corps and the southern arm consisting of the US Ninth Army.

Feature: David Imrie, "Recreating the First Carlist Wars in Sharp Practice - Fuerte el Diablo"

Ever since Perry Miniatures released their wonderful Carlist Wars range a number of years back, I’ve been meaning to paint some of the figures for a game. However, there are so many fantastic ranges available that my attention span and ability to keep on a project to the end is almost non-existent. When my fellow club members (South East Scotland Wargames Club) were asked to playtest the new version of the Sharp Practice rules by TooFatLardies, I was able to sit in on a couple of the games.

Feature: Simon Miller, "A 'nove' approach to ancient warfare - Circesium, AD 257"

The Battle of Circesium is a fictitious engagement between a Roman army led by Marcus Clodius Ballista, hero of Harry Sidebottom’s Warrior of Rome novels, and the Sassanids. The battle is carefully described in the second book of the series, King of Kings, and perhaps represents the high water mark of Ballista’s military career.

The rebel rear-guard falls back before the British and Hessian grenadiers.Feature: Steve Jones, "A forgotten skirmish in the New Jersey wilderness - The Battle of Short Hills"

It’s a rare and wonderful thing to stumble across a previously undiscovered battle within a period that you feel you know well. Delight is compounded when the battle presents an interesting mix of troops engaged in a situation that presents challenges, both to the original participants and to the wargamer. Such is the Battle of Short Hills, a sharp action fought in the hinterland of New Jersey, of which I was completely unaware until a few months ago.

Theme: Eoghan Kelly, "Creatures of our imagination, past and present - Monster? monster? where monster?"

Humanity seems to be fascinated by the concept of monsters. And not just recently, but throughout the ages. We’ve used them to explain the world around us, to act as a juxtaposition to our spiritual or divine beliefs, to scare children into obedience, and to somehow distance ourselves from the unsavoury or the unpleasant.

Theme: Jordan Bowers, "A wolf in the fold of Frostgrave - Monster hunter"

Adventurers are a rare breed. They go seeking treasure or knowledge in dark dungeons and forgotten places, where all sorts of dangers lurk. A place like Felstad, or Frostgrave as many now call it, are one of many unsettled areas beyond the borders of man and safety. These outlands are where the barbarians, creatures, and monsters lie.

Theme: Jamie Gordon, "If it bleeds, we can kill it - Surviving the horror"

“Top Secret. Science Officer’s Eyes Only. Bring back life form. Priority One. All other considerations secondary. Crew expendable.”

When these immortal words were discovered on the on-board computer of the spaceship Nostromo in 1979’s immortal classic movie Alien, it set the precedent for the genre of sci-fi survival horror that it would spawn. Essentially, like their parent, most of the successors would also feature small groups of outclassed individuals trying to survive against the onslaught of unstoppable, unfeeling killers. Alien was but the first and was followed in short order by the likes of The Terminator (1984) and Predator (1987), which took a slightly different spin on a similar concept.

The leader of the Draugar has terrifying magical powers.Theme: Michael Leck, "The Viking again-walkers are coming - Draugar"

Zombies are nothing new to us here in Sweden and the Nordic countries. They have been bothering us for more than 1000 years, all the way back to the Viking era and beyond. We call them Draugar, which means ‘Again-walkers’, as this is what they really are. Some of you might also want to name them revenants, but as this article is focused on the Viking mythology, we will stick with the Norse name of Draugar. And they are plentiful, at least in the following scenarios.

Theme: Colin Phillips, "Boarding the Blue Noah - Unknown ship on my bearing"

“Unidentified ship on my bearing, one – niner – zero. Please state you name and destination, over. You are currently a danger to this shipping lane, which must be kept clear. I repeat, identify yourself and change your course immediately. You appear to be drifting into the main Gulf of Aden shipping lane. Do you need help? Please respond, over.”

Theme: Guy Bowers, "Out from the darkness - Monstres and their kynde"

The fictitious book Monstres and their Kynde will be familiar to readers of the Cthulhu mythos. Dating from the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century, a lone copy is said to survive in the British museum. Those who have glimpsed its fragile pages have said it contains descriptions of every kind of demon and monster yet known. It must rival Nick Burkhardt’s collection of Grimm books, from the television series of the same name.

Theme: Roy Duffy, "A monster of a front cover - I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and darkness"

First, an apology. Perhaps even a warning for you, poor foolish reader. When I was approached by The Stranger with this peculiar proposition, I was recklessly confident in my abilities. I assumed my years of experience would shield me from the dangers ahead. Let my foolish arrogance be an example to you of the folly of all human endeavor.

Column: Daniel Bamford, "The irregular - Reality check: defending history"

The ‘modern warfare’ theme a few issues ago did not shy away from the moral reservations that some wargamers have about depicting contemporary conflicts. Colin Phillips advised due respect and a desire for insight into real-life problems. A regular dose of reality is essential for all wargamers, no matter what their chosen theatre, to keep a healthy sense of perspective on their hobby.

Hobby: Stephen Tunmore, "A bit of vegetation for your wargames table - Seeing the wood from the trees"

The aesthetic appeal of some detailed flora and fauna lends much to the spectacle of a well-presented wargame. Many also appreciate the visual appeal of a realistic wargames table. Trees, in one form or another, are present in nearly all of our scenarios. In some battles, they form a very important part – the Battle of the Wilderness during the American Civil War, and Normandy during World War Two, to mention a couple.

The completed mausoleumHobby: Tony Harwood, "A decorative mausoleum - Building your own tomb"

Dracula and Frankenstein’s abodes are perhaps a bit ambitious, but the denizens of monster games surely have interesting homes. How about a mausoleum? Google will provide loads of examples, particularly from the Montmartre cemetary in Paris. One in particular caught my eye, but these techniques would work for any model, of course.

Hobby: Peter van Dop, "Making your own floors - Hey, there's an article in that!"

One of the perks of living in the eastern part of the Netherlands (besides the good food, friendly people, and Grolsch beer) is that it’s close to the HQ of Karwansaray Publishers. However, there is a small downside – that it’s easy for a certain Jasper O. to come round to my place for a game of Chain of Command.

Let's play: David Davies, "A fast and Fury-ous tank duel game - Let's play Tanks"

Tanks are cool, no doubt about it. The popularity of online games like World of Tanks and numerous tank sims down through the (computer) ages testifies to that fact. Arguably the tanks were the stars in the recent Brad Pitt film Fury, with the epic tank duel between War Daddy’s Sherman and the Tiger 1. Now, if only we could play out tank duels on the tabletop… Well, now we can.

Let's play: Guy Bowers, "Gaming with the walking dead - Let's play Project Z"

Zombies are all the rage at the moment (pun intended), both in popular culture and in gaming. With dozens and dozens of movies and several television series on the undead, it was inevitable that they would be headed to a tabletop near you soon.

Reviews: Ian Woolfenden, Eoghan Kelly and Chris Payne, "Game reviews"

In this edition of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy game reviews, we take a look at Flames of War - War in the Pacific, Blood Eagle, Combat Patrol: WWII and SAGA: Age of the Wolf.

Column: Richard Clarke, "Up front - Inspiration"

My day job of writing rules, or more accurately, developing sets of wargames rules, is a mixture of inspiration and perspiration in varying degrees, but selecting a new period to game or a new force to game with is almost entirely inspiration. The perspiration then comes with the painting and the paying the credit card bill without the wife noticing the spike in lead-related expenditure.

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

8 Jun 2016

New ECW sculpts! by Pendraken Miniatures

We've had many requests over the years for a few ECW additions, so with a small gap in the sculpting schedule before we move onto another larger project, we got one of the sculptors to knock up some civilians, engineers and a new general!

Civilians (including an oft-requested preacher figure):

Civilians (including an oft-requested preacher figure):

Engineers, with a barrow:
Engineers, with a barrow:


General, to replace the older EC13 sculpt:

General, to replace the older EC13 sculpt:

These won't take much moulding time, so we'll probably have them done ready for release around August time hopefully.

New KV model by Pendraken Miniatures

As part of the ongoing revamp of some of our older models, this month the new KV model arrived, giving us the KV-1, the uprated KV-1E, and the rather large target that was the KV-2.

KV-1, the uprated KV-1E and KV-2.

We're getting some more of these new models ready for release now, so keep an eye out for those!

3 Jun 2016

2016 Magazines

ACW Gamer

ACW Gamer: The Ezine Issue 13, November 2016
ACW Gamer: The Ezine Issue 12, August 2016
ACW Gamer: The Ezine Issue 4, April 2016, Bundle Deal
ACW Gamer: The Ezine Issue 11, April 2016
ACW Gamer: The Ezine Issue 6, January 2016

Ancient History Magazine

Ancient History Magazine 7, 20 November 2016
Ancient History Magazine 6, 24 August 2016
Ancient History Magazine 5, 30 June 2016
Ancient History Magazine 4, 24 April 2016
Ancient History Magazine 3, 26 February 2016
Ancient History Magazine 2, 23 January 2016
Ancient History Magazine 1, 24 November 2015

Ancient Warfare

Ancient Warfare X-5, Dec-Jan 2016-17
Ancient Warfare X-4, Nov-Dec 2016
Ancient Warfare X.3, Aug-Sep 2016
Ancient Warfare X.2, Jun-Jul 2016
Ancient Warfare X.1, Apr-May 2016
Ancient Warfare IX.6, Feb-Mar 2016
Ancient Warfare IX.5, Dec-Jan 2016

Medieval Warfare

Medieval Warfare VI-6, Dec-Jan 2016
Medieval Warfare VI-5, Oct-Nov 2016
Medieval Warfare VI-4, Aug-Sep 2016
Medieval Warfare VI-3, May-Jul 2016
Medieval Warfare VI-2, Mar-Apr 2016
Medieval Warfare VI-1, Jan-Feb 2016

 Miniature Wargames

Miniature Wargames 404, December 2016
Miniature Wargames 403, October 2016
Last Combined MWBG 402 on the Presses as Editor Departs
Miniature Wargames 401, September 2016
Miniature Wargames 400, August 2016
Miniature Wargames 399, July 2016
Miniature Wargames 398, June 2016
Miniature Wargames 397, May 2016
Miniature Wargames 396, April 2016
Miniature Wargames 395, March 2016
Miniature Wargames 394, February 2016
Miniature Wargames 393, January 2016

Slingshot

Slingshot 309
Slingshot 308
Slingshot 307
Slingshot 306
Slingshot 305
Slingshot 304
Slingshot 303

Hannibal's Legions, Free Download

SOTCW

SOTCW Journal 88 31 August 2016

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 64 Available
SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 63 Available
SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 62 Available
SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 61 Available
SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 60 Available
SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 59 Available


SOTCW Journal - Subscription 10 Released
SOTCW Journal - Subscription 15 Released

Warning Order

Warning Order 44, December 2016
Warning Order 43, August 2016
Warning Order 42, April 2016

Wargames Illustrated

Wargames Illustrated 350, December 2016
Wargames Illustrated 349, November 2016
Wargames Illustrated 348, October 2016
Wargames Illustrated 347, September 2016
Wargames Illustrated 346, August 2016
Wargames Illustrated 345, July 2016
Wargames Illustrated 344, June 2016
Wargames Illustrated Reviews 10mm Napoleonic Naval Range
Wargames Illustrated 343, May 2016
Wargames Illustrated 342, April 2016
Wargames Illustrated 341, March 2016
Wargames Illustrated 340, February 2016
Wargames Illustrated 339, January 2016

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 87, Nov-Dec 2016
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 86, July 2016
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 85, June 2016
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 84, May 2016
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 83, April 2016
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 82, March 2016
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 81, February 2016
Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, 80, January 2016

2 Jun 2016

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 64 Available

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 64 Available

SOTCW members get back issues at a significant discount – around 80% off! See the latest Journal for details.

This is a back issue of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) Journal.

The Society was formed in 1989, and since then, members have produced this magazine where they share knowledge, research and ideas about wargaming conflicts from 1900 onwards.

SOTCW

1 Jun 2016

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 63 Available


SOTCW members get back issues at a significant discount – around 80% off! See the latest Journal for details.

This is a back issue of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) Journal.

The Society was formed in 1989, and since then, members have produced this magazine where they share knowledge, research and ideas about wargaming conflicts from 1900 onwards.

SOTCW

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 59 Available

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 59 Available

SOTCW members get back issues at a significant discount – around 80% off! See the latest Journal for details.

This is a back issue of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) Journal.

Pages 7, 28, 29, 40, 41, and 56 are scans.

The Society was formed in 1989, and since then, members have produced this magazine where they share knowledge, research and ideas about wargaming conflicts from 1900 onwards.

SOTCW

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 61 Available

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 61 Available

SOTCW members get back issues at a significant discount – around 80% off! See the latest Journal for details.

This is a back issue of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) Journal.

The Society was formed in 1989, and since then, members have produced this magazine where they share knowledge, research and ideas about wargaming conflicts from 1900 onwards.

SOTCW

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 62 Available

SOTCW Journal - Back Issue 62 Available

SOTCW members get back issues at a significant discount – around 80% off! See the latest Journal for details.

This is a back issue of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) Journal.

Pages 20 and 21 are scans.

The Society was formed in 1989, and since then, members have produced this magazine where they share knowledge, research and ideas about wargaming conflicts from 1900 onwards.

SOTCW

Wargames Illustrated 344, June 2016

This month's theme is tanks! We look at both modelling and gaming with tanks, including pitting different rulesets against each other to see which provide the best 'treadhead' experience.

We also have our regular features and a variety of non-theme articles for those of you who are not motorvated by mechanised wargaming.

Wargames Illustrated, June 2016




THEME: GREAT TANK BATTLES
We kick off our theme content with a look at some of the great and the more obscure tank battles from the pages of history.

GAMING THE EARLY FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS
Part one of a two parter on collecting armies for the early French Revolutionary War, circa the War of the First Coalition.

THEME: FOR THE LOVE OF TANKS
The Battlefront Studio introduce us to their new entry level tank combat game.

FIGURE SPOTLIGHT: CHEVAUCHEE
So you want to wargame Agincourt but you don’t want to collect an army of several thousand figures per side? Not to worry, our editor looks at using the Perry Miniatures plastic French and English Agincourt box sets to wargame some smaller actions of the Agincourt camapign.

THEME: ONE TANK BATTLE TWO GAMES
We take the same forces and use the same basic scenario to try out two different sets of rules designed to simulate big tank battles during World War Two.

RULES SHOWCASE: PROJECT Z
The designer of the new Zombie Apocalypse game from Warlord Games takes us on a road-test of the rules.

THEME: TALKING TANKS
Two treadheads sit down at a table with 16 different tank kits in front of them and wade through the lot, looking at the pros and cons of the different models.

SALUTE 2016
Our roundup of all the action from the largest wargames show in the world. Includes a look at the best games and what was new from the different manufacturers.

THEME: ALLIED ARMOUR STOWAGE SPECIAL
Captain Kitbash joins the team to provide some insights into getting better, more realistic versions of your Allied armour onto the tabletop.

DESIGNER’S NOTES: HORIZON WARS
Robey Jenkins, author of the new 6mm sci-fi rules from Osprey, tells us about the design philosophy behind the game.

POWER UP
The third in our series of articles, we have another great scenario from River Horse for Terminator Genysis: The Miniatures Game based upon events from the movie.

MODELLING TRICKS AND TIPS: RUST
Nick Buxey shows us how to apply rust effects to our models.

CLUB FOCUS: MELBOURNE
In this extended Club Focus Aramiha Harwood takes us on a tour of a collective of clubs from Melbourne, down under.

Wargames Illustrated