Let's read ... Practical Wargamer #4 (Summer 1988)

We have arrived in the Summer of 1988 with the 4th issue of Practical Wargamer. I remember that this was the summer when I bought the Warhammer Fantasy Battles 3rd edition hardback book, and got my first actual wargaming miniatures, but I was still blissfully ignorant about historicals. But anyway, on with the issue!

I must say I do not like this cover at all. Not because of the topic or artistic merits, but because it doesn't show miniatures or a wargame in action. I strongly feel that a miniature wargaming magazine must have miniatures on the cover. On the other hand, the cover ties in to one of the articles, so at least it's not completely random ... 

Stuart's editiorial mentions several things: the positive responses; the binders which are forthcoming; no, PW will not go (bi-)monthly; and please subscribe to the magazine. The last paragraph says the cover is specially commissioned for this issue. So perhaps I should be more gentle than what I said about the cover before. But still ... I want to see miniatures on my magazine covers! :-)

Points to Ponder is a new regular feature. As the editor says "... to offer ides and suggestions to the wargamer which should be of some interest, irrespective of any period or army preference." Sounds good! SO what do we get this issue? A small discussion about colours (as in flags, not paints) and banners, and the suggestion that we should use rules that make it possible to capture or lose banners after a melee. ALthough we can always fold such effects into a bigger morale rule, I'm always in favour of making events such as the loss of colours explicit, since these provide noce details to the narrative of the game.

Cockpit by John Bennet describes a solo campaign system, with 6 countries arranged in a hexagonal map. The article describes how one can randomly generate diplomatic and economic events for each country, and how to run military campaigns. It's a good article with some good ideas, but focuses (to my taste) too much on detailed rule mechanics regarding movement and recruiting rather than on how to run (what we would now call) imaginations.

 

One Day Stand at Mons (Peter Clowes) is mostly a historical article describing the battle(s) around Mons during August 1914 between the British and the German army. I have a special interest in the military actions in Belgium during the early stages of WW1, so I (re)read this article with great interest. The "wargaming portion" of the article is rather short, and mostly describes figure ranges and saying "woodland and railway lines are quite important". So no ready-to-play scenario, although the accompanying map does provide some inspiration.

Fontenoy 1745 (again an action in current-day Belgium!) by Paul Stevenson gives a complete overview of this well-known 18th century battle. In this article, I do like the wargaming paragraph near the end, giving considerations for the wargamer who wants to play Fontenoy on his table. I like such an approach, since one can translate such considerations to one's own favourite ruleset.

The Armada Battles (Graham Dixey) provides the reader with a good historical overview of the various Armada battles against the English fleet in July 1588, with some nice photographs of Skytrex 1/600 ships.

The Indian Mutiny (Don Fosten) and The Wind of Change (Keith Benson) both cover the Indian Mutiny. The fist article focuses on the uniforms of both British troops and Mutineers, while the second zooms in on the history and some of the actions being fought. The second article starts with "The Indian Mutiny seems to have caught the imagination of wargamers", as if it's a new period that deserves attention. To me, it always seemed as if the Indian Mutiny was one of the "classic" periods in (colonial) wargaming, but perhaps I'm wrong and it truly was a new kid on the block in 1988. The article has quite a lot of useful wargaming information, with several game suggestions ranging from the full campaign to small skirmishes. And of course, no article about the Indian Mutiny can do without a photograph of the siege of Lucknow ...

In between both articles there's a two-page spread showing fantasy figures painted by Frazer Gray. I even recognize some of the Citadel figures which much later were present in my own fantasy armies!

Egypt 1801 (Arthur Harman) describes the various battles in Egypt between the British and the French. The article is mostly an historical account, and has relatively little wargaming information.

Redcoats and Rebels (Peter Helm) describes a replay of the battle of Eutaw Springs in 1781, one of the later battles in the AWI. Various maps give a nice evolution of the game. 

Modern Fighter Combat by Chris Peers outlines some approaches on how to approach modern air warfare. The setup described in Mike Spick's Air Battles in Miniature is mentioned, in which the table doesn;t show the horizontal, but rather the vertical plane to better model air combat. I have never tried this approach, but it has been on my to-do list for a long time ...

Dawn of the Dark Age (Simon MacDowall) gives a nice overview of the barbaric invasions of the 4th century Lots of facts and historical context, rather little wargaming information. "I believe that the best solution is to attempt to write your own rules ... " Ok!

Platoon Commander, written by Andy Grainger, provides an overview of (British) platoon tactics in WW2, with an example of how a platoon attack could unfold, and which could serve as the core idea for a good scenario. 

Rivers, Boats and Things by Charles Grant zooms in on how to use water features and craft in scenarios. A ready-to-play scenario is not included, bu there are some one-line scenario ideas.

Shire Battles (Michael Nursey) gives us two scenarios for fantasy games set in Middle Earth. I was sort of hoping of finding a reference to contemporary fantasy rulesets, but interestingly, a quick and easy (Although very generic) ruleset is part of the article. 

 

The magazine also has a questionnaire to poll the readers about their preferences. Quite useful, although these days this would be of course an internet survey.  But what strikes me is the number of questions. 64 questions, of which only 30 questions are abut wargaming. Who would have time for this today? Also, some of the 34 "surplus" questions probably wouldn't be permissable today under GDPR rules, such as asking for type of bankcards, type of cars in the household, annual income, what type of beers someone drinks, etc. Whatever any of these have to do with wargaming beats me, but probably these were sort of standard in consumer questionnaires 40 years ago. Let's hope we see some interesting results of this survey in the next issues!

 

As for my selection of an advert, here's one by Wargames Foundry, in which they announce their new Indian Mutiny range. Perhaps the Indian Mutiny was a "new period" in 1988 after all ...

Let's read ... Practical Wargamer #3 (Spring 1988)

I am encouraged to continue this series by the comments given by the readers of this blog. Somehow, looking at the magazines of yesteryear brings back fond memories for many of you, or simply taps into our desire for nostalgia.

Anyway, let's take a look at the Spring 1988 issue.

I really like the cover, but that's perhaps because there's always room for more medieval knights with nice heraldry. Those always stir my interest. The figures do look somewhat crudely painted by today's standards, and have been given a coat of gloss varnish, but they have a certain charm. I wouldn't say "no" if I could get them (for free :-) ) as part of my collection. 

The editorial discusses whether a "general" magazine should focus on one specific period in a single issue, discussions that probably are still valid today. Also, Stuart Asquith says the reactions to Practical Wargamer so far were positive. I tried to look up whether I could find something in the issues of Miniature Wargames or Wargames Illustrated from late 87, early 88, but couldn't immediately find a review or comment. I will delve into my archives some more.

The Campaign of 1141 is a historical article and describes complex twists and turns of 12th century in England and the rebellion against King Stephen in efforts to dislodge him from the throne. The article contains some wargaming suggestions, but these are very general, more a description of what you could do to wargame the period rather than ready-to-play scenario as we might expect these days.

The Old Wild West zooms in on the conflicts in 19th century America between the US Forces and Indians. The article is very general in nature, describing some characteristics of the period and the organizations and weapons of both sides. A little attention is given to the "cowhands", although no big mention of possible gunfights as wargaming scenarios. Figure recommendations list Britains Deetail figures, some of which I actually do have in my 54mm figure collection.

Leaders & Generals is a very interesting article and provides some rules mechanisms on how we can realistically portray leaders and commanders in combat. Not by simply giving them a "+1" on some die roll, but actually define victory conditions for different types of leaders, and to give them actions that the real leaders would do. E.g. for medieval battles, warriors would start out as a mob, but it was up to the leaders to form them into battlelines, and at the same time raise their aggressiveness before sending them into combat. It certainly gave me some ideas about how specific actions can be defined in the rules such that leader figures can do "leaderly things" rather than simply providing a dry "+1". 

Thoughts on Modern Skirmish Games is all about modern skirmish gaming and small unit warfare, and discusses how one should set up games for this type of game. One example: enough terrain features, such that individual figures can hid or go prone behind all sorts of obstacles. It's somewhat ironic to realize that the current trend in wargaming is almost nothing else but small warband-type games, as opposed to the "big battle" games that were prevalent during the 80s.

Plancenoit 1815 gives some useful hints on how to turn a side event during the famous battle of Waterloo into a wargame. Mostly historical facts, and some fairly high-level description on how to turn the battle into a wargame, but again, no ready-to-play scenario. It's interesting to read general design comments such as "... there ought to be a fair selection of gardens and yards enclosed by walls and hedges in order to break troop movement and to give the French something to defend", but at the same time see very detailed information such as "The game should last a maximum of 14 moves", without mentioning any particular ruleset apart from "game moves of 15 minutes each". Compared to today, the wargamer really still had a lot of work to do himself. Whether that's good or bad hing, is perhaps worthy of a good discussion. But anyway, it's always nice to look at the pictures and study the "visual style" of games from so many years ago.

Soviet BT5 is a modelling article, on how to (scratch)build and paint a Christie BT5 tank.

In Sluys 1340, the medieval theme of the issue is continued, with a look at the naval engagement between France and England. Mostly historical facts, but also some nice colour drawing of the various types of ships of the period.

Late Feudal Rules discusses the specifics of medieval warfare, and how to design rules that reflect the period. No rules as such are given, but the article lists varies points to consider. E.g., the force of charging knights is discussed, or whether or not firing into melee should be allowed.

Gunboats on the Danube looks at the military importance or rivercraft in 17th and 18th century Europe. Lots of historical context, with some wargame suggestions near the end, but which copme down to some modeling tips and "there is little point in listing firm rules for boats ... it is probably best that the wargamer designs his own." :-) As for scenario suggestions: "The best actions to recreate are probably attempted landings and attacks on bridge building." It remains interesting to see how the style and content of article has changed over the decades.

Then there's a 2-page spread showing painted figures by Kevin Dallimore. 

Your Own Wargames Campaign by Charles Grant is an interesting read, and describes mechanics such as map movement, keeping a diary, casualties, the weather, finances, etc. It reminds me very much of Tony Bath's Setting Up A Wargames Campaign (the article references this book as well). During the past years, Charles Grant has written quite a lot about his wargaming philosophy, so in 2025, this article doesn't contain much I didn't know already. But a nice touch is a small diagram of the "campaign journal", as described in many other publications by charles Grant.

Stirling Bridge 1297 by Charlie Wesencraft is an account of how a diorama involving this bridge was constructed.

Ancient Cavalry by Terry Wise (this issue seems to have articles by a lot of the then-well-known wargaming personalities) deals with the evolution of cavalry as a serpeate fighting arm. History mostly, little wargaming content.

ACW Combat focuses on the (tactical) role of cavalry and artillery during the ACW. Written by Paul Stevenson, this is always useful, and being an ACW enthusiast, I always pick up something new I might use in my own rules.

Next we have an article (Against All Odds) that deals with warfare in South-America duting the 16th century and the campaigns of Cortez vs the Aztecs. Again a lot of history, before we come to the paragraph dealing with wargaming. It is stated that no currently available rules will do, so the wargamer has to write his own! There are a few nice pictures showing Ted Naismith's Aztec figures.

Action on the Coa (written by Don Featherstone - yet another wargaming celebrity!) is an article that deals with this specific battle during the Napoleonic Peninsular theatre, with a few suggestions enar the end what to look out for when you want to transfer this battle to the wargaming table.

For the advert, I selected Prince August. These adverts do bring back memories, because I once saw casting one's own figures as the sign of a "serious" wargamer. Reminds me, I still have a bunch of fantasy Prince August homecasts lying around somewhere!

Overall, another good issue, although I would prefer to see some wargaming content. As I said earlier in this series, I understand wargaming magazines before the internet did have a lot of historical background, but when we look back on them in 2025, it's the wargaming ideas we are mostly interested in.

Issue 4 is already on my reading list!