Wargames Illustrated WI453 September 2025 Edition

OBSERVATION POST

This month’s reviews cover new books, and resin and plastic minis.

RELEASE RADAR

Dom Sore’s monthly look at the latest wargaming releases is back!

QUICK FIRE

Short, quick-read posts from WI readers about their hobby projects, notes, news, and observations.

THEME: RETREAT, REGROUP, REARGUARD!

Pete Brown introduces this month’s theme with a broad look at the three Rs, providing plenty of historical and gaming examples.

PROJECT 1066 (AND ALL THAT)

Regular contributor David Bickley returns with another tale of collecting a wargames army, this time driven by a family connection to one of the best figure sculptors in the business.

THEME: THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA, 1863

Gary Salisbury of the Essex Gamesters explains how they recreated one of the American Civil War’s most bloody battles.

DOES SIZE MATTER?

Rubén Torregrosa paints the same uniform, camouflage, and kit on figures at two different scales, changing his techniques to suit the different sizes.

THEME: REFIGHTING THE RETREAT FROM KABUL

Colin Ball designs some scenarios based on the retreat from Kabul.

THE BATTLE OF BOARS HILL

We talk to Dave Andrews about the twisted history, the terrain, and the miniatures on the Bodkins’ clever ‘What if?’ game from Partizan 2025.

THEME: NE PLUS ULTRA

Barry Hilton provides historical background, a scenario with rules, and a battle report on a bruising encounter between the English and Dutch fleets in the North Sea.

MONS GRAUPIUS REFIGHT

Four gamers, one scribe, hundreds of figures, one big wargames table, and the fate of Roman Britain: welcome to Mons Graupius!

GREAT WAR, NO GOBLINS!

James Morris revisits the 1916 Battle of Verdun with Storm of Steel’s Alex Sotheran. We hear how the players got into WWI gaming, and James documents the battles played.

DESIGNER’S NOTES: DRAGON RAMPANT SECOND EDITON

Daniel Mersey spills the beans about his big fantasy skirmish follow-up.

THE BATTLE OF ALIWAL, 1846 PART ONE

Ian Cluskey of the Boondock Sayntes gives expert insight into the build-up, combat, and tabletop execution of the Battle of Aliwal.

CLUB FOCUS: GROUP NORTH

Michael Allan presents an overview of the long-running club of which he is a member in our semi-regular peep at wargaming clubs around the world.