All hail the 2021 Wargames Illustrated award winners! Whether you voted for them or not, I am sure you will be interested to read about the winners and runners-up in the eight categories that made up our annual awards, as voted for by Wargames Illustrated magazine readers and social media followers. Turn to page 52 to check out all the podium finishers.
In tandem with your bagged freebie frame*, our magazine theme for this month sees us return to the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. In Frame Focus on page 58 we present a guide to painting your newly acquired Waterloo Campaign Epic British or French Infantry – the frames have been bagged randomly – only Lady Luck (or you rooting around on the shelves) can decide which frame you will get with your magazine. We also provide you with a guide to making bases for the figures on page 78. Don’t feel obliged to paint your figures, you can have great fun gaming with them au naturel, as proved by our Epic scale newbies on page 32.
We will be providing you with freebie gifts again throughout this year, and whilst I’m not going to spoil the surprise by telling you what lies ahead (partly because I don’t know some of them yet!), stick around and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
Happy reading and gaming.
Dan Faulconbridge
Owner and Editor
QUICK FIRE!
Our monthly look at what your fellow hobbyists have been up to recently.
OBSERVATION POST
News and reviews of the latest miniature and rulebook releases.
RELEASE RADAR
Dom Sore scans the web with his Release Radar to find exciting new wargaming stuff.
FULL PAPER JACKET
Neil Smith flips through new military history books and lets you know his recommendations.
THEME:
GOING EPIC
We pitted two Black Powder veterans against each other in their first Epic scale game. Editor Dan found out what they thought.
HISTORICON 2021:
A PHOENIX RISES
Colonel (Retired) Bill Gray reports on the return of Historicon to North America after an almost two-year hiatus.
THEME:
REFIGHTING NAPOLEON’S BIG BATTLES
A Bill Gray double this month and in his second article, he offers some practical advice for umpires and players looking to refight Napoleonic big battles on a modest tabletop.
THE WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED 2021 AWARDS
Trumpets, please! It’s time to announce the winners of our prestigious annual gaming awards.
THEME:
PAINTING YOUR FREE EPIC INFANTRY
Warlord Games’ in-house painters share how to paint the awesome new French and British Epic Infantry frames.
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN IN A COMIC BOOK STYLE
Sébastien Clément shows how he achieves a comic book style on his Bolt Action figures.
THEME:
PLUS ÇA CHANGE
Rules writer Keith Flint discusses changes in tactics from the Seven Years’ War to the Napoleonic Wars.
A TIGER ON THE HUNT
Gee Walsh brings Whittmann’s wild ride to the tabletop in this solo play Bolt Action scenario.
THEME:
BASING YOUR NAPOLEONIC INFANTRY
Bases for this month’s free figures are available to buy from Warlord Games, or you can knock up your own in next to no time.
THE SILVER BAYONET SOCIETY PART FOUR
Our players take some Covid-enforced downtime as a chance to get down to some Silver Bayonet hobby activity!
ZHENG HE IN MEXICO
Freddie Silburn – Slater takes us wargaming with Ming Chinese in 15th Century Mexico, using SAGA rules.
WHY I LOVE … DIXON MINIATURES’ ACW RANGE
David Bickley contributes to our irregular series and shares his passion for a well-established range that is not to everyone’s taste.
PLAYING THE NEW ZEALAND WARS
Roly Hermans and Mark Piper are back after describing five centuries of warfare in New Zealand last issue; this time they modify Muskeys and Tomahawkys to play the New Zealand Wars.
