Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Wargaming is a big hobby with many diverse factions and perspectives: striking a balance that pleases everyone can be truly challenging! We like to think what sets Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy apart from other historical wargaming magazines is its focus on having fun, no matter what kind of wargamer you are or what your background is. WS&S is a light-hearted publication, that pays particular attention to games themselves and how to play them: it doesn’t get bogged down in lengthy historical expositions or recycle content you can read yourself in any history book. While popular periods like WWII, the Napoleonic era, and the ancient world get frequent coverage, we also try to feature the unexpected, with articles on spies, monsters and gangsters to name but a few.

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Editorial

MINIATURE REVIEWS • A look at some of the newest miniatures, terrain pieces, and more from across the wargaming world.

THIS GAMING LIFE HAD WE BUT WORLD ENOUGH • Enthusiasts of the historical wargame will know that they may, at any moment, find themselves suddenly and inexplicably drawn to a conflict they hitherto neglected, whether that be World War II, the battles of Napoleon, the American Civil War, or any one of myriad armed struggles since the dawn of time. I confess to having acquired an unexpected interest in aerial combat during World War I. In my case I blame Jervis Johnson, who revealed he was working on a campaign-style game based on the Fokker Scourge of 1915. Such enthusiasms spread like an infection.

A LOOK AT REARGUARD ACTIONS THOSE LEFT BEHIND • An army is at its most vulnerable when it retreats. If it is pursued aggressively, it risks disintegration. Often, the winner of a battle is in no state to chase immediately after a defeated enemy, however, which gives the loser time to organise the retreat and choose a place to leave a blocking force to slow down any enemy pursuit.

MARC ANTONY'S RETREAT FROM PHRAASPA IN 36 BC GALLUS' GRAVE • By the Winter of 36BC Marc Antony’s invasion of Parthia had failed. His army had marched deep into Parthian territory to their capital Phraaspa, while the Parthians had refused to engage in open battle. Well behind the main force, the slowmoving Roman siege train was pounced upon by vastly superior numbers of Parthian horsemen who despatched the two legions guarding it. Now lacking the siege engines needed to besiege Phraaspa, and without suitable wood for making new weapons, any attempts to storm the city would be futile. Antony was instead forced to make a month-long retreat back to the relative safety of Armenia. With Winter setting in, shortages of food and an emboldened and mobile enemy biting at their heels, this would be no easy undertaking.

REFIGHTING THE BATTLE OF RONCEVAUX PASS THE SONG OF ROLAND • In 778, King Charlemagne’s army was ambushed while returning to Gascony from Navarre through the pass at Roncevaux. The heroic actions of one Frankish war leader, Roland, saved the Carolingian army. His legend elevated him posthumously to the rank of the leading paladin of Charlemagne’s court and spawned the oldest surviving work of medieval French literature, La Chanson de Roland or the Song of Roland.

'A HELPLESS KING OF HIS TROOPS IN THE WOODS' THE BATTLE OF HUBBARDTON • In the summer of 1777, the British Empire launched a bold plan to end the American Revolution by slicing the rebellious colonies in two. General John Burgoyne set out from Canada with a grand strategy and an even grander army. His force of 8,000 men — including British regulars, troops from Brunswick, Canadian militia, Loyalists, and Native American allies — would push south to join with British forces advancing from New York City and seize Albany. That would cut the rebellious Colonies in two.

THE BRIGADIER GENERAL AND THE RIFLEMAN THE STAND AT CACABELOS •...