ISSUE 18 IS COMING!

Summer's here, and you'll be wanting somthing to read whilst you're sipping Pimms and topping up your tan. What's that? Oh, yes, you're a wargamer, so your sun-shy skin is tucked up indoors as usual, protected from those harmful rays by a healthy and variegated layer of acrylic paint.
    Anyhow, wherever you choose to spend the milder months, here's what's in store with this issue, due to be published in the second week of July:

• Diane Sutherland gives us "Good for sci-fi", an exploration of the potty possibilities offered by bits of polystyrene that her husband Jon has hoarded in the shed for all this time. She even offers her own bottle tops and bits and bobs to adorn her loved one's work.
• Siggo's Forward Observer is more fulsome this time round, with plenty to say about GW's War of the Ring, Partizan, paint pots and washes, current progress with his collection and almost nothing about plastics.
• I, on the other hand, having been dropped in it by Siggo last issue, have made good on my promise with Plastic? Don't panic!, a photo-feature showing how simple it can be to assemble and clean up a box of Perry plastic ACW cavalry ready for painting. So, no excuses for not at least giving them a try! Maybe next issue I'll even paint them, too.
• Wargamer and historian Chris Scott continues his series, "Talking wargaming", with "Dicey situations", a consideration of how dice can bring unexpected realism to our games.
• Our regular Canadian contributor Bob Barnetson decides to cash in on the latest Star Trek movie this issue, and what we get is a simple, fast and fun set of rules for pitching Star Fleet against the Klingons in "Red alert! Shields up!" Great fun! You'll also be able to find extra files for this here on the site next week.
• Our favourite Brigadier, Charles S Grant, is a bit of a Thin Lizzy fan on the (not so) quiet — yes, seriously! — and his Table Top Teaser this month is catchingly entitled Breakout, or "Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak". Expect rampant prisoners of war and a whole lotta fun.
• As if we weren't confused enough by Diane, Siggo and Bob talking fantasy and sci-fi, this issue's melange is completed by Roger in his "To boldly go" column picking up the historical baton. Well, sort of. He's become intrigued by that blurry "is it history or is it fantasy" region, better known as Alternative History. And all because he took a short holiday on Jersey!
• Prepare to be stunned by new contributor Clarence Harrison, well-known for his Quindia Studios website and contributions to the recent rules output of Barry Hilton. Here, he gives us an exclusive step-by-step lesson in how to build the stunning Spanish abbey on a hilltop that graces our front cover. The Abbey of Santo Diago is set to become a scenery building classic.
• Recce is absolutely heaving with stuff, including books, miniatures, computer games and rules. We've got some new top-notch reviewers on the team, too.
• The calendar of events supplied by Tricks of the Newark Irregulars covers events in July and August worldwide.
• An update for our Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal, with details of how you can get involved with the fund-raising yourself just like Rich of TooFatLardies has.
• Our competition this month is to win a copy of the lavish Osprey commemorative tome, Men-at-Arms: A Celebration. This stunning collectors' book is worth £50, and we've got one to give away.
• And to round things off, we've even got new advertisers!

Issue 18 has been added to the shop and will be dispatched to anyone ordering as soon as it arrives back from the printers. Don't forget that we still have the current and back issues available.

NEW DIGITAL DEAL WITH WARGAME VAULT!
I'm delighted to announce that, following recent emails from Steve Smith of Wargame Vault, digital versions of early editions of your favourite wargaming magazine will also be available from that site, priced at a very competitive US$2.75. Wargame Vault has the superb facility to allow a small Flash 'preview' of the magazine, together with a PDF sample download of a few pages, allowing you to browse some of the content.
    Issue 1 has already been uploaded and is available; issues 2-5 will be uploaded over the coming few days.
    Wargame Vault is home to a huge range of digital publications and other products, including other magazines, boardgames, software and even miniatures that you can print and cut out to play games on a budget. The quality of many of them has to be seen to be believed.
    Even if Battlegames wasn't being stocked by him, I would thoroughly recommend a look around Wargame Vault at some of the fascinating and great value products on offer. And I'm happy because I just found some digital dice-rolling software for my Mac!
    I'm looking forward to a long association between Battlegames and Wargame Vault. You can check back here for future updates.
    
You can place your order for the Table Top Teaser Special here.
NB A number of our regular distributors have expressed an interest, so you can also expect to see the book in shops and at shows both in the UK and overseas in due course, but with the Pound at a record low against the Dollar and the Euro, ordering direct may be the best value!

COMBAT STRESS
You can now help us to make a real difference by donating to The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal. Please give whatever you can afford: every penny counts and is hugely appreciated. More details will be published in issue 14 as you can see above!
    Battlegames is carrying the regular Combat Stress advertisement without charge, as a small contribution towards the work that this UK charity is doing for our Service men and women who have experienced unimaginable horrors and stresses on the front line in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere.
    If you are, or know of, an ex-Service man or woman who is suffering from the effects of combat stress, or would just like more information, then you can visit the Combat Stress website at www.combatstress.org.uk or email contactus@combatstress.org.uk or call 01372 841680.

Roll 'em high!

BATTLEGAMES LTD
17 GRANVILLE ROAD, HOVE BN3 1TG, EAST SUSSEX, UK

TEL: 01273 323320
EMAIL US

Company number: 05616568
Registered address: 23 Old Steine, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1EL