July is drawing to a close and after working through a UK meltdown it’s quite a relief to settle down, look back at some old issues of Wargames Illustrated, and imagine the cooler times they were written in! Wargames Illustrated 297 - July 2012 Travel back a decade through the time machine that is The Wi Vault and you’ll find reports on tabletop wargaming shows from the UK and the US. Regular ‘How To…’ contributor Paul Davies and Wi Editor Dan tour Salute 2012; there are plenty of spectacular gaming setups to enjoy with ‘Brave Little Belgium’ being a real highlight (in your From the Vault scribe’s humble opinion, that is). Later in the issue, there’s a look at Adepticon 2012 and when one considers how that show’s evolved it’s very interesting to look at it (and the games people were playing) back then. Adepticon 2012 feels like a moment trapped in time whereas the goings on at Salute seem comparatively untouched and very familiar! Outside of show coverage, this issue focuses on the time the German's WWII offensive developed an unsightly Bulge! Hitler’s last big push was the offensive that saw more US troops in action than any other during the war and it is a popular late war offensive to play out on the tabletop, probably in part because of the US presence and a lot of specialist troops. This issue has enough Battle of the Bulge gaming fodder to last you well past Christmas 1944 and Peiper’s Charge takes point. In another intriguing look at how far some things have progressed over a decade, there’s Matt Parkes’ face and skin masterclass. Matt was an undisputed master of miniature painting at the time and this guide still has plenty of useful tips... but compared to the mind-blowing results modern brush-pushing maestros are creating Matt's work looks comparatively quite basic. It’ll be fascinating to see the progression of painting techniques in another ten years. Wargames Illustrated 237 - July 2007 The advert for Britcon catches the eye first when flipping through this issue; Wargames Illustrated will be at the 2022 version of the show in a couple of weeks to report on all the goings on. Britcon has moved to a new home in Nottingham Trent University; back in 2007 Britcon was in Manchester and was, therefore, almost certainly inferior to how wonderful this year's event will be! [Not that we are location biased at all - Ed] Into the proper magazine content and there’s a great look at Scotland, England, and the Wars of Independence written by Dr Chris Brown. This is an overview of 1296 to 1342 - a period that has been spectacularly misrepresented in popular
