Wargames Soldiers & Strategy - issue 74

I recently picked up this magazine and thought some quick comments were in order.  The magazine Wargames Soldiers & Strategy is not a regular purchase of mine, mainly because of it's themes issues. However this months diorama cover and the article on building the display was enough to tempt me into buying the magazine.

This months theme (if it is not already obvious) is Operation Market Garden - the World War Two attempts by the Allies to secure bridgeheads in their advance into Germany. In truth, not a period or genre style that is one of my main modelling or gaming interests. There were however a couple of articles that I felt were well worth the cover price.

The first is Defending Hell's Highway an article on building the diorama display featured on the front cover. The three page article was just the sort of feature that I enjoy, a step-by-step tutorial on how Ruben Torregrosa planned and built the display piece. The model is built to 15mm scale, but the superb painting and attention to detail, fools the viewer into thinking it is in a larger scale. As you can tell. I enjoyed the article,

Later in the magazine is a second article on terrain building - this time by Stephen Tunmore. Another three page tutorial on how to build better terrain. Once again I found the article to be very well planned, written and I gained a lot from the hints and tips.

The articles and gaming scenarios based on Market Garden were a great read, and although I have little interest in gaming this period, I found them interesting and very well illustrated. Apart from the two terrain articles my favourite was the four page article by Richard Lloyd 'A Song of Plastic and Poly Cement' or converting miniatures to A Game of Thrones.

Production values are very good and remind me of the format and layout of older publications, this is not a criticism, more of a comment on the style of the magazine - I happen to like it.

Overall, I am pleased with this purchase, but realise that with themed issues, the content can be a little hit-and-miss. Wargames Soldiers & Strategy remains one of those gaming magazines that is/will be picked up on an add-hock basis rather than a regular purchase.

Tony