Miniature Wargames no 399

 I've had this issue for a couple of weeks or so and frankly was- at first a bit puzzled by it. Now I know that Henry- quite rightly IMHO does not go in for themes but if I was to be a bit harsh this issue has a theme and that is "In Jokes"
 Let me explain.
Star feature is the Editors own piece on Fictional Wars and Fictional countries and yes it is very well done with some lovely maps outlining the basis for his own Fictional world and the recent gaming weekend in Yorkshire(another fictional place???)  Now  if that is your thing then you have a splendid bit of reading but unless you understand the"world" then the whole thing is going to leave you a bit flat- you won't get the jokes- why does this unit have a beetroot on its colours pray tell?. For aficionados of this kind of thing this is a cracker - but for the rest of us? Fictional world and coutries are only really meaningful to those involved.
 Next in the InJokes league is a scenario for the new Airfix WW2 game by Modiphius.. Now if you have the game and  know how to play this would be a useful  few pages but if you don't it is a waste of space I'm afraid - simply because it is all written in In game jargon. So you won't get the "jokes" here either Niether can you really convert the scenario to another system as not enough info is on offer. . Since I have no intention of buying into this "game" as I have at least 3 or 4 sets of WW2 rules already it was largely superfluous. Nice advert for the game though.
 Other articles include the continuing series on the Great Patriotic War- thats WW2 eastern front to the rest of us again good stuff if that's your thing- its not mine but it IS beginning to pique my interest.
 Making palm tree- never an easy thing to do -  but I have mine now  but this is still useful stuff . A pleasant article on Marlburians by  Paul Robinson- now I wouldn't call it the PERFECT period but there is no doubt that these lads certainly make it look dammed fine ! The mass effect of the game at Partizan looked good too. Nice one boys! -My personal favourites were the Savoyards - but then they were OG so I'm biased- but then I could re-start my own small Blue Moon collection... Maybe.
Mike Hobbs  Forwardv observer column cause me to laugh out loud- regarding the  "argument"  of what is fantasy and what is not- now my own line in the sand here is simple fictional coutries wherin the armies are also fictional along with uniforms and organisation are yes Fantasy. There is a huge difference between "could have happened" as in an Historical re-fight taking a different turn and  "Never could have happened" as in Imperial Romans taking on Aztec or Samurai or whatever.
 To simply dismiss it all as "just playing games" is, once again to infantilise what we do. To trivialise all the years of work and research that plenty of blokes have put in over the year. This is not to say that ALL that we do should be deadly serious but niether should it be trivialised either.