The advent of Warlord Games’ Hail Caesar Epic Battles has sent us into Ancients adulation here at Wi Towers. Naturally, we were very keen to get the new Epic scale (that’s roughly 15mm to me and you) models to you as Freebie Frames as soon as possible, and we are particularly pleased at having bagged (literally) five different Epic options for you. The budget/bags can’t stretch to including all five different frames with every magazine (that would be madness!) but if you search through the shelves of your newsagent or hobby store you should find a healthy mix of Carthaginians, Republican Roman, Allied Troops, War Elephants, and Celt Warriors. I suggest that if you don’t get the ‘right’ frame bagged with your first purchase of the magazine, you simply buy two or three more copies until you do!
All five fabulous frames are discussed in detail in our Frame Focus article on page 26. It’s there that you will learn all about the different troop types on your sprue, plus the others that are out there, luring you in from their place on the shelves.
Our Ancients adulation has led us to include a total of six articles about all things classical, biblical, and generally BCE in this month’s magazine. You will find articles looking at Ancient gaming and modelling, big battles, Ancient figure collections, and more besides. When you have had your fill of all things Ancient, you will find lots more in the magazine to inspire your hobby, including our in-depth look at the UK’s best wargames show for demo games (judge for yourself) – Partizan.
I hope you like your new Epic Hail Caesar frame, and that you find plenty more to enjoy in the pages of this Ancients-themed issue.
Happy reading and rolling.
Dan Faulconbridge
Editor
OBSERVATION POST
This month’s review section includes modern military miniatures, brick-building, amazing painting, and enticing animals.
RELEASE RADAR
Dom Sore’s back after a two-month break; he’s found some great new and upcoming releases to tempt you!
QUICK FIRE
Short, quick-read posts from Wi readers about their hobby projects, notes, news, and observations.
THEME:
COVER MOUNT FOCUS – EPIC HAIL CAESAR
Carthaginians, Republican Romans, Allied Troops, War Elephants, or Celt Warriors – we talk through the free frames that are randomly bagged with this issue.
KNIGHT FEVER
We check out Victrix’s new Medieval range, along with some superb prototype decals to decorate them.
THEME:
SMALL… FAR AWAY
Thoughts on Warlord’s Hail Caesar Epic Battles and small-scale wargames, by Rick Priestley.
RECREATING EL CID
Paul McKay builds and paints his own reimagining of the El Cid legend with inspiration from history and Hollywood.
THEME:
WHY I LOVE – WARGAMING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
This month, Pete Brown returns with the first ‘Why I Love…’ article we’ve featured for quite a while, and this time, it’s Biblical!
A WAR TRANSFORMED
We had a chat with A War Transformed author Freddie Silburn-Slater at Salute 51 to see how things were going after the release of his weird WWI game.
THEME:
BIG ANCIENT BATTLES
Simon MacDowall presents his way of conquering the tabletop challenges presented by the big set-piece battles of the Ancient World.
PARTIZAN MAY 2024
Team Wi had a great time at the Lead Belt’s premiere wargaming event, held at Newark Showground. We show off some of the brilliant gaming in this report.
THEME:
AN ABUNDANCE OF ANCIENTS
Take a tour of Nick Gilmore’s collection of 25 marvellous-looking Ancient armies.
WHAT A CARTEL!
John Savage discusses the game he ran at Partizan 2024, which showed off the versatility of his What a Cowboy! rules by transplanting them to drug-busting battles of the 1980s.
THEME:
EDGE OF EMPIRE
A wargame inspired by the novel Warrior of Rome – Fire in the East.
SALUTE 51 PAINTING COMPETITION WINNERS
The quality of entries in the Salute painting competition gets increasingly spectacular, as the winners here show!
“I KNOW HOW TO DEFEND MY OWN KEEP!”
Mark Clayton poured his love of The Lord of the Rings into this impressive Helm’s Deep model.
