Magazines- Hmm Nice ....

It has been a while since I've mentioned magazines here. Mostly becasue I've been short of time to actually read any . What with boning up on the ECW- First Battle of Newbury  and reading a strange book called Grey Wolf about how Adolf and the lads  made it to Argentina along with a very very big sack of money each. There is a lot of strange stuff about how Bormann was siphoning off cash to Argentina as ealy as 1943 and how apparently Argentina gold reserves more than doubled during the war years Hmmm  Not sure if I'm convinced but its a fascinating idea- Mr A Hitler apparently snuffing it in 1962- well he'd had a hard life !!!

So not much time for mags but then I picked up MW 374- Not at first sight one of my favourite issues- the cover put me off. but you can't have everything so I pressed on  and yes Gentle Reader there was stuff in it !  Hidden in an article on Chotusitz- a Frederician battle- was a set of amendments for Black powder- now regular readers will know that I'm in 2 minds about this over produced set  but had thoght of a few ways I'd fiddle with the "system"  to give it more historical versimilliture. I'm not the only one- these amendments were very much along the lines I was thinking about- but they've gone further and seem to make better sense- Well done those Grimsby dudes !
 There was also a strange- well strange to me- article on Competition gaming - not my thing but worth reading as it exposed the mindset of at least some of the competition crowd- man, these chaps are obcessed 2 - 3 games in a day "learning the rules" ( never have never will )   nary a pint in sight  long rows of tables like a Bangladeshi   sweat shop for wargamers- albeit a friendly one. This lot are games players par excellence- not my thing but nevertheless an interesting if somewhat dry look into a part of wargaming I've avoided since the early 1980s
More on the Mongols- again interesting and the first of a two- parter on develping campaign rules- worth a closer look this when I get the time
 so another good issue- after all if there are 2 or 3 readable articles in any given issue then it can't be bad.
 Now no 375- the latest
 More on the Mongols- this time the Polish Campaign and part two of the Campaign rules article continued from 374 - both worth a read. An intrestin one off  well game really  on Ponsonby at Waterloo- a nice idea for  a simple one off post prandial game perhaps but to play it more than a couple of times  well not really  but it did hide what might be  with a bit of fiddling a nice set of Cavalry skirmishing rules for out posts and such... maybe.
The article on the use- or indeed missuse of Dragoons in late 17th century armies hit a chord. I've thought about the use of Dragoons in the ECW for some time  and given that this article is for around 30-40 years later it still has some relevance
 Ther was also a nice piece from an Austrian group about what I can only call  growing table wargaming- if you have the facilities this is excelelnt. I've done similar in the past but not to this extent and again its nice to see how chaps in other parts of the world do stuff. .
 Now next up I have to be a bit careful  since I was the perpetrator of the article- though the title in the mag was Henrys not mine likewise the Introductory paragraph . Together these change the thrust of the article just a smidgin For the record the origonal title was "Upon the Building of Wargames Armies" and  was not meant as merely an attack on Idiot books - though they deserve all the kickings they can get !
No major beef mind just thought I'd mention it .
  So all in all 2 more good 'uns in a row