What can you expect from the new WS&S?
There has been much deliberation and planning which has gone into the re-launch of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. What sort of magazine should we be? The answer was obvious, the way we had been in the past, with a few improvements. When WS&S first appeared, it was a breath of fresh air to the hobby, fresh and exciting. So much so that other magazines took notice, after all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Some of the zeal of the early magazines had faded slightly with later editions. With my term as editor, I wanted to return to the passion that I read in the earlier issues of WS&S, a true passion for the wargames hobby. However I stopped the magazine after there were issues with paying my contributors and Revistas put WS&S ‘on hold’.
The rest you know. Karwansaray have bought WS&S and we have been carefully planning issue 54 for a while. I asked my friends in the hobby what they wanted in a new magazine. One replied, “I want a wargames magazine about wargaming”. Never a truer word said.
Now we have a new team in place and it is very refreshing. Issues where I’d wait days or even a week for an answer are either responded to directly or are sorted out via Skype. Much of the original magazine will still be there in the new edition; the contributors will mostly be the same, with a few surprise additions to the team. The Dutch team at Karwansaray probably speak better English than I do, so the quaint ‘spanglish’ of past editions is now truly history. The dossier format will stay, but will never dominate the magazine as it occasionally did - there will be plenty of content which is ‘off the dossier theme’ besides. Also expect a new twist on the dossier…
Right, now off to playtest some Blackpowder ideas for a scenario for WSS 54. Bye for now!