The contents are as follows:

• Forward Observer: Neil Shuck visits UK Games Expo in Birmingham, celebrates the reprinting of “Operation Warboard” by Gavin Lyall, ponders the ever-increasing popularity of steampunk, gets excited about the groundswell of gaming the Crusades and the ranges of miniatures available, examines MDF/HDF sci-fi scenery, mourns the demise of “Uncharted Seas”, finds himself tempted to retry a set of Lardy rules with a forthcoming release from Baccus, and is enthused by a new range of new spray paints. What a busy boy he’s been!

• Fort Kebab! Our wargames widow Diane Sutherland has been barbecue bonkers, collecting all the wooden sticks she can find to assemble a log fort. Crafty as always, Diane has created an impressive result that will suit games set in many periods.

• Fantasy facts: I did mention that the non-historical proof would be in the pudding, and here it is – veteran gamer John Treadaway picks up the column last seen in “Practical Wargamer”, tasked with keeping a close eye on developments in non-historical gaming. In this first outing, he takes a close look at some new offerings from Antenoceti, a range of vehicles inspired by the movie “Aliens”.

• No Messines about: Daniel Johnson makes a reappearance, not with another Crusades game, but with one of the most dramatic assaults of the First World War, which literally altered the geography of the region. Full details are given for restaging the 1917 attack on the Messines ridge, together with a game report, and Dan’s rules used for the game will be available for download on publication day.

• Command challenge: Mark Latham – yes, he of White Dwarf and Warhammer Historical fame – presents a cracking little Wild West scenario, “Reap the whirlwind”, in which Billy the Kid and the Regulators take on the Murphy-Dolan Faction. An exciting little game based on real-life events, this teaser will have you reaching for your miniature gunslingers!

• Send three and fourpence: Conrad Kinch, himself a blogger with a large following, offers a handful of useful tips for running your own blog and maintaining your own, as well as your visitors’, enthusiasm.

• Whispering death: Dillon Browne describes how he set about creating an exciting, fast-play WWII convoy attack ruleset for the Oxford club’s Round Robin tournament. You also find out how to create your own hex mat and , as if that wasn’t enough, you get a full set of rules for the game too!

• From Vietnam to Nieuw Friesland: when I started talking to John Treadaway about coming aboard the magazine, I had to confess that although I knew of “Hammer’s Slammers”, I hadn’t the faintest idea what it involved, nor what it was based on. John therefore obliged with this background article and the facts are fascinating, revealing that the sci-fi classics by Dave Drake are firmly rooted in the author’s real-life experiences.

• Take that, you varlet! Medievalist Dan Mersey strikes again, this time with a cracking little game for two or more players based on a medieval foot tourney. With full rules provided, there’s fast and furious fun to be had by wargamers seeking bragging rights at the club!

• Muster mayhem: we can rely on Arthur Harman to present ideas that are firmly left of field, and this one’s a classic – let’s play a wargame of a _re-enactment_ of a fictitious battle! The tabletop game itself is but part of the overall fun, with players taking the roles of the various locals involved in organising and presenting the event, with all the petty politics often rife in re-enactment societies. Not to be taken remotely seriously, this makes for a fun get-together for a group of friends or a club.

• Sprange attack: Conrad Kinch has been scratching at the editorial door for more work, so we let him loose on Mongoose Publishing’s Matthew Sprange, who reveals the inside story on their latest “Rogue Trooper” and “victory at Sea” projects, including the exciting new 3D-printing ships.

• Thoughts from an armchair: after a bit of medical leave, Mike Siggins returns with one of his occasional columns, discussing the merits of entry-level historical gaming, including Byron Collins’ “Frontline General” and “Sergeants Miniatures Game”, and finishing with a recommendation for armour enthusiasts.

• Recce: stuffed to the gunnels again, we have reviews of a wide range of stuff, from Ospreys to model kits and wargames rules to miniatures. We’ve even thrown in an airbrush and compressor for good measure.

• To round up, we of course have our Combat Stress appeal, messages from your favourite companies, a secret surprise page and a competition to win a signed copy of my book “The Wargaming Compendium”.

That’ll do – I’m straight on to issue 364 already!

Huge apologies about this, but there’s noone more disappointed than me.

I’ll keep you posted, but you’d best direct all enquiries to Pen & Sword.

Anyway, this is to let you know that I am also building a little site to accompany the book, where you’ll be able to download some freebies and bits and pieces, such as playsheets for the rules included in the book, an FAQ and so on. This site will be officially launched on Thursday 13th June, the same as the book.

No rest for the wicked – back to MWBG 363 which goes to press this Friday!

Issue 362 is humming away on the presses and due to be published on Friday, 24th May. What can you expect?

• Briefing: the Editor reflects on an extremely busy couple of months!
• Dates for your Diary: UK wargaming events in June.
• Forward observer: regular columnist Neil Shuck casts his eye over the current wargaming scene, including the forthcoming Chain of Command rules from the Lardies, a new company producing plastic ancients, fantasy additions to Scarab’s War & Conquest, APCs for sci-fi, the explosion in MDF scenery, Victorian sci-fi, Mantic’s latest Kickstarter venture, X-Wing and the rumoured death of Games Workshop’s Specialist Games division.
• Fields of value: wargames widow Diane Sutherland sets about some miniature market gardening, creating fields of brassica for your wargames at peppercorn cost. You’ll be minding your miniature peas and cucumbers.
• The Great Armada part 2: Jim Webster imagines the situation of a potential Spanish landing in the north of England and provides simple rules for a mini-campaign.
• Whose history? answered: a classic philosophical piece in the Battlegames mould is the first of two heavyweight pieces in this issue. Here, American gamer and simulation designer William Haggart responds to an article by Ross Macfarlane published in Battlegames 34, pointing out that we are probably asking the wrong questions of the wrong people!
• Swamp pursuit: Arthur Harman has us playing fugitives running for our lives, pursued by all manner of nasty things – and we’d better be careful where we put our feet, too! Great for translating to any period or genre, with suggested rules mechanisms provided for a fun and unusual gaming session.
• Send three and fourpence: Conrad Kinch recalls the game that changed his life and the lessons it taught him about how to attract newcomers into the hobby.
• 1644: Paul Johnston provides some rules and outlines some clever ideas for creating an alternative English Civil War campaign that can be played via mail or email, with plenty of ‘fog of war’ to keep players on their toes!
• Camerone 1863: we like to keep Jim Webster busy, and here he celebrates the 150th anniversary of the famous last stand of the French Foreign Legion, including a set of rules for refighting the battle. Thanks also to Ged Cronin of Gringo 40s for allowing the Editor to invade his home for a last-minute photo shoot!
• Command challenge: Save Lady Jane from McSiggins! The Editor asks whether you can successfully command a squad of Royal Marines to get ashore on a Caribbean island, kill or capture Peg Leg McSiggins and his scurvy crew, and rescue the fragrant Lady Jane Fitz-Lovely, the Commodore’s wife. There’s treasure to be found too!
• Competition: thanks to the generosity of Osprey, we have no less than three sets of three Myths and Legends books to give away!
• Painting perfect pikemen: 15mm gamer and blogger Tamsin Piper recently set about painting no less than 256 Swiss pikemen in a matter of just three weeks! Here she reveals the techniques that made it possible to achieve this remarkable goal.
• Salute 2013: rather than having just a dull walk-through, we asked veteran gamer Dillon Browne to describe the show from the perspective of someone involved in putting on a demonstration game with his pals from the Oxford Wargames Society, as well as trying to get round the traders and see the other games. He had a busy day!
• Think tank: in our second ‘thinking wargamer’ piece this issue, Tim Beresford assesses the problems with bottom-up wargaming and why this can lead to the shipwreck of many a project and the growth of the lead pile. Tim makes comparisons with model railways and the examples of masters of the wargaming art like Bruce Weigle. Inspiring stuff!
• Recce: a host of new products, rules and books reviewed by our team, including In Her Majesty’s Name steampunk rules, Lifecolor paints, Battlegroup Overlord from Iron Fist/PSC, Bolt Action books for the US and British armies, Sicily 1943 from Osprey, Dead Man’s Hand Wild West rules, a couple of intriguing French language WWII battlefield books from Casemate and the exciting new Austro-Prussian War book from Ken Trotman. In addition, the Editor surveys samples in metal and plastic from the Perrys, Gripping Beast, Minairons, Plastic Soldier, Pendraken and Clockwork Goblin Miniatures. Phew!
• The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal: with a flurry of auctions and donations, the Appeal is moving steadily towards our target. Here, the Editor delivers a full update and explains what’s coming next.

And as if that wasn’t enough, we have a selection of classified ads and messages from your favourite companies!

That’s all for this time, I’m already working on 363!

]]> http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/?feed=rss2&p=1375 0 http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/?p=1343 http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/?p=1343#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:30:55 +0000 henryhyde http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/?p=1343 [...]]]>

Contents

Briefing: the Editor introduces himself and the new, merged magazine.

Forward observer: columnist Neil Shuck of Meeples & Miniatures podcast fame surveys the latest trends catching his eye, including the startling growth of steampunk, Gripping Beast’s latest Dark Age plastics, All Quiet on the Martian Front, Mutton Chop Miniatures for A Very British Civil War, The Bear Marches West on Kindle, cardstock cityscapes for Dropzone Commander, forthcoming samurai and ninja gaming opportunities, and Battlefront’s Tour of Duty Vietnam supplement. He ends with a bit of a rant – just a little one!

Lofty ambitions: our ‘tales of a wargames widow’ continue with the magic hands of Diane Sutherland revealing the secrets to successfully tackling the new glut of laser-cut and prepared MDF buildings on the market, using 4Ground’s ‘Settlers’ Lofted Log Cabin’ as an example. Mmmm, I love the smell of laser-cut MDF in the morning, it smells like victory…

Little Wars for little money in little space: here’s that clever man Arthur Harman, always on the lookout for ways to play exciting games on a tight budget, and here he tackles none other than H G Wells, whose Little Wars celebrates its centenary this year. Your Editor got really excited about this, plotting out grid squares and raiding his RISK set. You’ll see!

Send three and fourpence: Conrad Kinch has some useful advice for beginners – and, indeed, the rest of us – to help you stop procrastinating and get gaming!

The Great Armada, Part 1 – the makings of a wargame: veteran gamer Jim Webster demonstrates that a much-neglected piece of history for wargamers can, indeed, be turned into a simple and exciting campaign. Accompanied by some stunning photographs, this piece is bound to have you looking at this Renaissance era afresh.

Opening Hell’s Highway – Wargaming Operation Market Garden: well-known gamer Jon Sutherland presents two scenarios representing the colossal struggle by XXX Corps to reach the beleaguered paras at Arnhem. You’ll be drooling over the eye-candy of his WWII collection and logging on to LoveFilm to watch those Market Garden classics again.

Digital photography for wargamers: I get asked lots of questions about taking pictures of wargames and miniatures. People also send me lots of photos to accompany article submissions, some of which could be, ummm, improved! Therefore, here’s an introduction to the basic principles of digital photography, from choosing the right camera, through basic principles of lighting, focus, depth of field and composition to choosing the correct format for your final images, according to whether they are intended for print or just the Web.

Command challenge – an uncivil Roman war scenario: that talented chap Steve Jones of the Newark Irregulars takes on Partizan organiser Laurence Baldwin for an almighty clash in northern Gaul, as an occupying army heading home from England gets more of a reception than they bargained for. A cracking game, played using Dan Mersey’s Dux Bellorum rules, accompanied by Steve’s superlative photos of his beautiful collection.

Dux Britanniarum – how one man fell in love with the Dark Ages: American gamer Chris stoesen and his chums have fallen for the other Dux, and here he explains what he and his chums find fascinating, not just about the battle rules, but also the integral campaign system. Together with Steve Jones’ piece, we’ve got the Dark Ages covered and you can compare and contrast the style of the different rulesets.

A Saladin for UNIT: nothing to do with the Crusades! Instead, this is superlative modelmaker Tony Harwood demonstrating how he took an unloved toy and transformed it into a shiny, spick-and-span armoured car for his Doctor Who games. Clever stuff, and useful for all AFV fans whether historical or non-historical.

Zinnkrieg! The allure of two-dimensional gaming: you want old school? I give you old school! Guardian footie columnist and much-loved Achtung Schweinehund! author Harry Pearson reveals his passion for German flats and the search for the ultimate set of old school rules to use them. Marevellous stuff as you’d expect, and guilty of arousing a strange hankering in this Editor…

Competition: picking up from where we left off in Battlegames, a new competition to win a goodie-bag of Normandy stuff including a book, a ruleset, a tank and a box of figures to get you started. In all, worth £70 to the winner!

Thoughts from an armchair: Mike Siggins snuggles into his favourite leather upholstery in the snug bar and considers how and why he is still searching for his ultimate ruleset in almost every period – except one. And the answer revealed there may surprise you!

Recce: absolutely packed this month with reviews of books, rules, miniatures and paints. I’ve also introduced a new rating system indicating how in-depth a rules review is. See the new Contributors’ Guidelines elsewhere here on my blog, but in brief they are:

• Readthrough – you’ve only had time to give the rules a thorough read, but haven’t had the time or opportunity to do more. This category should not be dismissed out of hand, since an intelligent reviewer who has read and tried many rulesets may be very good at distilling the essence of the rules to help the reader make an informed decision.
• Dabbled – not only have you managed to give the rules a thorough read, but you’ve also managed to try out some of the rules mechanisms, perhaps solo, to see how (or, indeed, if) they work in practice. It’s the kind of thing most of us would do given a couple of hours and a handful of dice and a few figures and constitutes a perfectly acceptable level of review.
• Playthrough – you’ve managed to find the time to play a complete game with the rules, perhaps solo, or with a friend, or down the club. It’s unlikely to be a large game, but it’s been sufficient to give you a real flavour of the rules, with most mechanisms receiving repeated attention, such as command and control, movement, terrain effects, firing and morale. Anyone should be more than happy with this level of review.
• Multi-play – you, with or without companions, have found the rules sufficiently intriguing/exciting/exasperating that you’ve made the time to play two, three or several games, giving the rules the most complete workout possible. For a rules review, this is the luxury end of the scale, and neither the editor nor, indeed, the person who wrote the rules, has any right to expect this, but it’s nice when it happens. Sometimes, such a review might be ‘promoted’ to become an editorial feature (especially if there are nice photos alongside it) and the contributor would be paid accordingly.

The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal: with our total now approaching an impressive £12,000, there’s plenty of activity to report, including news of some forthcoming eBay auctions of items kindly donated to the cause.

Together with our classified ads and messages from an impressively wide range of your favourite traders, there’s plenty in this issue to keep you busy until next time – and I’m already working on issue 362!

Finally, a note that I will be at Salute, wearing a white T-shirt this time instead of a red one. Atlantic Publishing have a trade stand at the show (TE11), and also some pretty girls selling copies of this very issue to slack-jawed wargamers.   However, you’re most likely to catch me wandering about, camera in hand, pressing the flesh and feeling the pulse. Do come and say “hello” if you see me.

Publication date: 19th April

Whilst I’ve attempted to give as much guidance as possible within a mere four pages, there are bound to be things I’ve missed, so if you have any queries, do ask for clarification using the comments. In particular, photography is a huge subject, so you might like to refer to my article in the forthcoming issue 361, the first of the new, combined Miniature Wargames with Battlegames.

Arun District Council has been raising money for Combat Stress and I have been asked to attend a civic reception on April 11th as the charity’s representative to receive a cheque from Councillor Ann Smee and make a short speech.

Naturally, I have accepted and I shall be proud to attend on behalf of all those Battlegames and Miniature Wargames readers who have given their time and money so selflessly towards our own Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal. This is an indication of how grateful the charity is for what we are doing and the real difference it is making to veterans’ lives.

So from me to all of you, thank you.

Meanwhile, our latest Combat Stress Commemorative Miniature auction is proceeding well on eBay, with 5 days to go, and of course our JustGiving page is here.

Packed with content as usual, the final farewell issue will give you plenty to think about as I plunge into creating my first ever issue of Miniature Wargames!

• See you on the other side: I explain what is happening to Battlegames and its merger with Miniature Wargames with a simple FAQ so you know exactly what to expect.

• Back to the grindstone: Diane Sutherland continues her ‘Tales of a wargames widow’ series with a spot of construction for fans of polyunsaturated fats – that’s olive oil to you and me. Her wonderful olive press will no doubt be seen gracing many an ancient battlefield.

• Forward observer: Neil Shuck has a bumper outing, extolling the virtues of digital tablets in the age of e-rules, commenting on the shock failure of Gates of Antares to reach its Kickstarter goals, celebrating the emergence of a certain king from a car park, getting excited about steampunk and finally raising his fist in the air to proudly proclaim “I am a space marine!”

• Command challenge: the last issue of Battlegames is graced by the pen that gave us that famous scenario in the first – Brigadier Charles Grant returns with a terrific teaser called “An attack from two sides or ‘caught napping’. Can you extricate your force from the trap?

• 25 years of BattleTech: sci-fi specialist Ashley Pollard reports on the success of this deceptively simple game featuring battling ‘mechas’, giant manned robots tramping across the post-apocalyptic landscape. With some nice sci-fi eye candy, Ashley gives us a thorough appraisal of this popular game.

• Send three and fourpence: our Conrad is exercised about wargaming etiquette and asks whether it’s better to be right, or to have friends who will play with you.

• An ever-evolving army: Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers Journal editor Richard Baber confesses to having an army that may never be finished – on purpose! Behold the joy of one wargamer’s Gallic obsession.

• Win more wargames: in the concluding part of the series, I turn the cannon on you, the reader – after giving you all those strategic tips, you hardly imagined that you’d get away without a final examination, did you? So, now’s your chance to recreate part of the Wars of the Faltenian Succession yourself, the invasion of neutral Martinstaad, with both sides aiming to grab the capital city. You can use the campaign rules I provided way back in issues 1-12, or use your own. Have fun with this strategic teaser! (Approximately corps level.)

• Whose history? Canadian gamer Ross Macfarlane asks whether your games are intended to be re-creational or rec-reational, exploring the common question of what we mean by ‘accuracy’. A beautifully composed and considered piece, fitting for the final issue of what many have seen as the most thought-provoking magazine in the hobby.

• Painting the Great War: puzzlingly, some people don’t like articles on painting. Well, apologies to them, because I and many other readers love them, and this one’s a corker from Mark Hargreaves, detailing how he paints 28mm figures for the Western Front of 1917-18. As usual, there’s something here for everyone to think about how they approach their own painting, with superb photos by Mark himself.

• A throw of the dice: we round off the main articles with a lovely piece of whimsy by one of those who appeared in issue 1. Well-known US gamer and blogger Bill Protz has provided a delightful report from the Academy of Dice Mechanics, and you are likely to recognise your own dicey habits here.

• Recce: a final round-up of the latest products and services before it girds its loins for a new home over in MW.

• Thoughts from the armchair: a last musing from Mr Siggins, who as always shares his thoughts as one of the ‘everymen’ of the hobby, plagued by highs and lows and the flapping of butterfly wings, and even the dreaded threat of modelrailwayitis… Fear not, you’ll be seeing Mr Siggins again!

• The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal: let me assure you that the Appeal will be transposed lock, stock and two smoking barrels across to Miniature Wargames, especially since momentum seems to be gathering again. News is included of the next Combat Stress Commemorative Miniature auction that will begin in just a couple of weeks time.

And so, that really is all, folks!

A huge thank you to all of you for your support over seven rather exciting and, err, ‘interesting’ years. New challenges await – including a new Miniature Wargames FaceBook page which I am about to start building: https://www.facebook.com/MiniatureWargames
I’m also opening a new Twitter account @MiniatureWG but of course I shall also keep the Battlegames accounts alive – there will be more to come under this name, as promised.

Oh, and I’ve got something to say to digital subscribers.

P.

D.

F.

For real. Watch this space…

GOSSIP AS OF 14/2/2013: The big buzz at the mo is the merging of ‘Miniature Wargames’ and ‘Battlegames’ under the aegis of Henry Hyde, Andrew Hubback no longer having a role at the mag. Difficult for me to comment as I know both chaps well. Official stuff best accessed via http://theminiaturespage.com/news/?id=394046638. My email correspondents (not Henry or Andrew or anyone from Atlantic) express concern the new mag will go ‘old skool’ and once again the sci-fant end will be left ‘out of print’. Mm, most gamers do both. There is, of course ‘The Ancible still in virtual print. Maybe it’s time for a ‘kickstarter’ on a new sci-fant title. Anyways, good luck to all involved in the future – and to Pope Benedick XVI is his future as well.

So, here’s my reply:

Dear Gary,

The official press release — which I helped to write — states categorically:

“Miniature Wargames will continue to be fiercely independent under Henry’s command. The publication will showcase the hobby in all its many and varied aspects, including historical, fantasy, sci-fi and ‘imagi-nations’, covering all scales from 3mm to 54mm, suiting all styles from Kriegsspiel counters to the most exquisite miniatures, from ‘old school’ to ‘new school’, and all age groups “from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty” as H G Wells famously wrote. In short, our intention is to ensure that Miniature Wargames is the flagship of the hobby, equipped to face the next 30 years.“

Also, MW is going to see a substantial increase in page count, so there will be room for me to keep the promise I’ve made above.

If you actually look at the articles published in the last 33 issues of Battlegames, the number of ‘old school’ (and that’s “school” with a “ch”) articles is actually very few – but I refuse to apologise for publishing them, as ‘old school’ has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years and is a perfectly valid aspect of the hobby. I launched Battlegames because the hobby magazines at the time were ignoring this type of gaming completely, and I’m proud to have given it a voice.

Every month, I shall be putting together the magazine that I want to read – and my tastes are very wide indeed. It’s a HUGE mistake to think I only play Grantian/Featherstonian games; I don’t, as will be shown by my book coming out later this year; and it’s also erroneous to think that 18th century = ‘old school’. Is Black Powder ‘old school’? Or Maurice? Or General de Brigade/Kriegskunst? If, by ‘old school’, you mean “fun”, then sure, I’m guilty as charged. My only criterion is quality – if an article is of the right quality, regardless of the subject matter, it goes in. Didn’t you notice that I even wrote a fantasy article myself for BG33? Or that Ashley Pollard has started reviewing sci-fi for the mag?

What I will be insisting on is that the primary focus is on the game and the hobby, in all its many and varied forms, and I shall be communicating this to contributors.

What your own comments reveal is how important perception and prejudices are. Are you and your friends going to pre-judge the new Miniature Wargames before it has even seen the light of day? Or is it like Minority Report, and I’m being accused of something I haven’t done yet?

The proof, as I seem to be saying a lot in the last 24 hours, will be in the pudding.

Dear Battlegames subscriber,

As you know, when Atlantic rescued Battlegames from an early grave, it became stablemates with the ‘grand old man’, Miniature Wargames. It soon became apparent to Atlantic that, despite being labelled by some as an ‘old school’ title, there was certainly nothing old fashioned about Battlegames. On the contrary, our much-loved, red-covered magazine was shown to be perky, cheeky, robust and brimful of ideas, reflecting, I hope, some of my own personality and the sense of fun Battlegames readers and contributors share about the hobby.

Early in the new year, Atlantic Publishers supremo Trevor Ridley asked me to submit design ideas to give Miniature Wargames a face-lift. I designed a look that I felt the flagship of the hobby should have. A flurry of emails, phone calls and a meeting ensued in which it was clear that Trevor and I shared a vision of what Miniature Wargames could be – no, should be: the best, most interesting, most entertaining magazine in the hobby, bar none.

This left Trevor with some difficult decisions to make, but at another meeting a week later, I was told that Miniature Wargames was to have a new editor/designer: i.e. yours truly…

He and I would stress this is not Miniature Wargames steamrolling our baby; on the contrary, the first-rate has been boarded by the frigate, in true Patrick O’Brian style, and I shall be master and commander of a sleek new flagship for the hobby. The ‘new’ Miniature Wargames will proudly display “With Battlegames” on the cover, and the Battlegames brand will live on for special editions etc. including my Combat Stress Appeal.

In our new guise, we shall increase the pages of Miniature Wargames and so there will be more space for the things we love, and it will be EVERY MONTH!

To ease the transition, existing Battlegames subscribers will receive the new magazine monthly for the term of their remaining bi-monthly subscription, so “two for the price of one”! For renewals, Battlegames subscribers will be offered a full year, i.e. twelve issues, of the new format at the existing Battlegames annual subscription.

The last stand-alone issue of Battlegames will be issue 34, published 12 March. The first of the new combined format will be Miniature Wargames issue 361, published 20 April at the mammoth Salute show in London.

In the meantime, the message is that everything proceeds as normal – but at twice the speed!

Any questions will hopefully be answered in my next editorial in Battlegames issue 34 – but in any event I am always contactable on Facebook etc.

And so, Mr. Marshall, hoist the mains’l and the t’gallants. Let’s take this new flagship out and see what she can do. All hands, stand to! Are you with me, ladies and gentlemen? I can’t sail this ship without you.

Henry

A similar message has been posted on the Atlantic website for Miniature Wargames readers.

I am already fielding a huge number of queries via email, telephone and online. I would ask you to bear with me while I do my best to keep up, whilst at the same time working on producing the last issue of Battlegames which goes to press on 26th February, and then immediately turning to my first issue of Miniature Wargames, which goes to press on 5th April.

Many of you have been posting very supportive and encouraging comments, for which please accept my heartfelt thanks. I’m both excitied by and nervous about my new responsibilities, as it’s clear that expectations are high. I shall do my best to live up to them.