Battlegames issue 27

So, to my considerable delight, as I was pondering what to do with the afternoon, an email dropped into my inbox from the new publishers of Battlegames Magazine with a link to my first subscription issue. [And, quite surprisingly, the previous half-dozen, which I wasn't expecting, and did cause me to double check when my subscription expired!]

Now, I've downloaded and devoured most of the freebies available on the site before, so I'm pretty familiar with the house style - having an entire afternoon's worth of reading after a week of madness at work was just what the doctor ordered, even if I probably should have been getting stuck in to the figure painting I have queued up.

Unlike previous issues of Battlegames, which were, I gather, available as PDFs, the new publisher makes them available via a web app or a similar iPad app. Being the happy owner of one of the late Mr. Jobs little babies (which, unsurprisingly, has a number of Battlegames' free PDFs on it!) I went for the latter approach. The app's OK - it did fall over on me a few times, but didn't lose my place on restart, which was nice - basically it's yet another digital document viewer. Pages are at print quality, zoomable in, with clickable links, which is definitely a plus - this includes contents page links, which is even better.

Content-wise? It's Battlegames - by now, I know what I'd be getting: nice production quality, nice photos, articles written by gamers with their heads screwed on right. High spots for issue 27 for me were the continuing narrative of the Grenoussian Intermezzo campaign (so itching to have been a part of this), and Neil Shuck's taking over of the Forward Observer column. Neil's Meeples and Miniatures podcast (see top right links section!) as well as his and Henry Hyde's View From The Verandah kept me sane during my long commutes to London (which thank goodness I don't do any more!), and I love his style. The I Ain't Been Shot Mum scenario intrigued me, and I was very impressed by Mike Stewart's "Wargaming Blind" piece - there but for the grace of God go I. The review of Saga has done nothing to dissuade me from buying it, either!

All in all? My kind of wargames magazine. And I really must get my thoughts about wargames campaigns vs leader-board "campaigns" down in an article for this blog sometime. So, in a nutshell - if you are into more than points-based tournament battles? get your credit card out and subscribe. Now!