It's June's From the Vault; we look back at past issues of Wargames Illustrated and suggest interesting, odd, and visually appealing articles that are worth a second look. Wargames Illustrated 356 – June 2017 Five years ago Wargames Illustrated focused on Death in the Dark Continent (DitDC) - a game that explores the varied people and tribes of Africa whilst, somewhat unfortunately, bearing a title that harkens back to less comfortable colonial times and views. Try not to be put off by the name, it belies the diversity and knowledge within this excellent rulebook; regular contributor James Morris shares why he enjoys the gameplay options it offers in the issue's first theme article. Our Africa focus was tied to DitDC's re-release; since then we offered a condensed version of the rules for free with Wi400 and you can check that out in the Vault too - search for 'death' and you'll find the 'Lite' version of the rules. Continuing the Africa theme there are new scenarios for Congo, DitDC author Chris Peers talks African terrain, Nick Buxey builds a tembe, and three gamers put together forces for DitDC that highlight the game's aforementioned diversity with armies for the Ila, the Ruga-Ruga, and the Boers. Non-theme articles include David Bickley playing perennial favourite A Very British Civil War around his home ground of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire; Daleks (and more) take on the Doctor in Warlord's new (at the time) game; there's more David Bickley with a Samurai campaign; and all sorts of other intriguing bits. This issue rates nine out of ten on the Wi scale according to Project Manager James' totally unscientific Excel sheet formulae! Wargames Illustrated 236 – June 2007 It's no wonder conspiracy theorists see patterns everywhere... because there are patterns everywhere! Having mentioned Daleks as a feature of our June 2017 issue we move back a decade and see that they graced the cover of Wargames Illustrated then. Put on your tinfoil hats people! Why a Dalek on the cover? It was a Salute thing and years ahead of it becoming common on YouTube we featured the 'clickbait' text "Godfather of wargaming Donald Featherstone meets the Daleks! It must be Salute." Legend has it that Mr Featherstone, who was still going strong at 90 years old, was somewhat unimpressed by his show visit. Oh, dear! Well, they don't make 'em like they used to, and proving that are the glorious old adverts at the front of this issue. Yes, the quality of figure ranges has dramatically increased over the years, and we're generally happy about that, but there's a special charm to many of the old figures and companies featured in this issue. Salute gets a
