I didn't renew my subscription for Miniature Wargames this month.
I have been subscribed to Miniature Wargames ever since Henry Hyde took over as editor (and when Battlegames was folded in Miniature Wargames), back in 2013. I also have an almost complete collection of all issues since issue 1 (see also the Wargames Magazine Index).
But during the last year, my print magazines failed to arrive every month. Granted, the helpful people at the publisher's subscription services send me a replacement copy every time I asked for one, but this situation couldn't go on. It makes no sense to pay for a magazine that doesn't end up in your mailbox.
"What about a digital subscription?" Sure, but I like having a paper magazine in my mailbox and in hand, to sit down and read it. I know from personal experience I rarely read pdf magazines - they just pile up in unread digital archives. I spend most of my working day in front of computer screens, so I don't want to spend my evenings staring at screens as well.
I don't know why the magazine doesn't arrive in my mailbox. It could be anything, perhaps my local postman is snatching them up (maybe a wargamer?). Perhaps cross-channel mail has become unreliable since Brexit (that's one of the explanations the publisher gave me)? Who knows? But the end result is I'm not getting my magazines...
If due to Brexit, it's really ravaging my hobby. My magazines don't arrive anymore, all sorts of trouble with orders from the UK (basically stopped ordering from the UK, unless there's no other option), and two major conventions I used to attend and run games for stopped operating (not only due to Brexit, but it was a contributing factor).
So I guess I'll start collecting back issues from all sorts of 2nd hand sales from now on. Luckily, there's always WSS, for which I still have a subscription :-)
Let’s blame Brexit for everything then. It’s bl**dy well blamed for everything else.
ReplyDeleteEntirely agree. I also prefer print to pdf simply for convenience. I now only read WSS regularly as it is often the only mag that treats you like an adult. I binned a large number of post 2000 mags a year or so ago as they contained almost nothing of continued interest. Magazines have become more ephemeral with far less 'hard' content. As for Brexit- well don't get me started - sending items to the EU can now be a bit variable- depending upon which country they are going to. Most still do get through though Spain especially seems very draconian, of the half dozen or so parcels returned most have been from Spain with the correct documentation and tracking requirements - but still sent back usually with no explanation. Transit times are longer by anything from a couple of days to a week- depending upon the local customs procedures but in all cases other than the above stuff still gets delivered though for us there is considerable extra faffing about with assorted documentation. Basically the UK had reverted to the late 1980s when I started in the wargames business. At least I can say I didn't vote for this small minded lunacy. Oh and I am honest enough not to be anonymous .
ReplyDeleteWargaming is of course a niche hobby, but I guess similar effects must be felt in other hobbies as well. A friend told me some while ago she was subscribed to a UK gardening magazine she really liked. Stopped arriving some time after the Brexit regulations kicked in. The publisher gave the same reason: unreliable cross-channel mail. It is a bit weird though, since everything that is send to me in a closed envelope still arrives from the UK. It's only magazines in transparant envelopes that have trouble arriving.
DeleteThe biggest fall-out on wargaming in Belgium is the folding of a major convention such as Crisis, which has stopped altogether. Covid was one reason, as was a lack of volunteers for taking over from the old guard, but apparently also Brexit, with a significant number of traders signaling that crossing over to Antwerp with a van full of wargaming stuff was not feasible anymore.
I think the influence on the wargaming hobby as a whole will become clear over the next years. Miniature wargaming was/is very UK-based, and now there's more opportunity for mainland-EU traders setting up business. in the coming years. I certainly hope so.