Having semi –reluctantly decided I would dispose of my huge pile of Wargames Magazines I thought it might be an idea to subscribe in the new year to one of the Wargames Magazines to keep up with the hobby.
I really wanted a paper copy as I do not poses an I-pad or Smartphone. I could use Mrs Orcs i-Pad but would have to surgically remove it from her unless she was asleep, and anyway I find the I-pad screen too small to read properly. A Smart phone would be even worse.
So I looked up the relevant subscriptions
Wargames Illustrated wanted $100 or £62 for 14 issues. That's £4.42 an issue
Digital Subscription £39.99 or £2.85 an issue
Miniature Wargames wanted £46.75 for 12 issues. That's a more reasonable £3.89 an issue
Digital subscription £29.50 or £2.45 an issue]
Wargames,Soldiers and Strategy wanted 23.56 for 6 Bi monthly issues. That's a similar cost to Miniature Wargames.
Digital subscription £11.79 or £1.96 an issue
While I appreciate that the people who write the articles have to be paid and the printing costs money I started to wonder if subscription for a paper copy was worthwhile, particularly as in any issue there would probably be several articles in which I had no interest. Also for the cost of a paper subscription I could purchase a number of books from Amazon whose entire contents would be of interest to me and would take me far longer to read than the 12 magazines.
So I reconsidered my options on the digital versions - I could read it on the Laptop or my Desktop PC but neither of these are suitable for use in the smallest room – my usual pace to read magazines, and there was my dislike of reading things on a screen,
So after much thought I have rejected the paper copies of all of the magazines and decided I will take out a digital subscription to WSS as it offers the best value. I will see how I get on with a digital copy.
So after all this waffle I what do you lot think : –
1: Are wargames magazines good value ?
2: How many do you buy each month?
3: Do you buy digital or paper copies?
4: Do you prefer paper or digital versions?
5: Do you buy books instead?
iPad - small i, big P no dash. Sorry. On to the question...
I get Minature Wargames as a paper subscription, and WSS as PDF
WSS is so cheap it seems churlish not to get it electronically. I do have an iPad, and tend to read it more on the iPad, but also on the computer. I had thought having them as PDFs would mean I could go back to them more readily, but I don't. But I don't go back to the paper MW either, and now need to think about storing them.
I also like it when MW drops through the letter box each month. This is s better trigger to read it, than the email from WSS
I think magazines do a different job to books. I like that a magazine covers lots of different things - most months there is only a single article (at most) that I skip. And I also like that these different things are put in front of me. It is the variety and mix, with a good level of quality that makes magazines useful. Ultimately you could probably find all the same content online, but it would take a lot of effort sifting through to found the good from the chaff.
For a specific interest then the Internet and books are much better, as you get more focus and depth. But you have to know that interest and focus first.
1. Not really. I find there's usually one or two articles I have no interest in at all, I get frustrated when units are described in terms of one game system and after reading the for 40 years there's really not very much new.
2. Used to subscribe to 3. Now only buy certain issues that take my fancy.
3. Never tried the digital, 'cos I don't want to subscribe.
4. See 3.
5. Much prefer books.
I'm sorry, I didn't know she was your sister - FSN
I subscribe to Miniature Wargames/Battlegames and really like paper copies and feel this magazine is very good value.
I sometimes buy WSS as that is also a good read but only buy when it has articles of interest to me.
I prefer paper copies but my attitude is starting to change, especially as storage of e copies is far easier (and the other half never see's how much I spend or how large the e-book/magazine pile is)
I always buy books, far too many books apparently!
I used to contribute regularly to WM and never got paid. I guess that was one thing that kept costs down with mags, however the world moves on and technology brings down overheads.
Good thing? Bad thing?
Not entirely sure, but what I do know is that I havent bought a mag in years and I dont bother with electronic stuff. I get my wargames fix from forums and from face to face contact with people sharing the same hobby.
Remember face to face contact????? :-[
I tend to buy wargames magazines if I'm expecting to be sitting around somewhere - train, hospital waiting room, etc.
I usually find myself more interested in the adverts than the articles these days.
Paying four quid for a magazine full of articles about periods I'm not currently interested in and how to reproduce them using rules I don't much like is something I can't justify these days.
As far as the general pricing of magazines is concerned, most of the issues on W H Smith's shelves run to a minimum of £5 a copy. Some cost considerably more. The move to "higher production values" using glossy art-paper and full photographic colour has come at a price. And, of course, inflation waits for no man.
I must confess to having given up my last magazine subscription a few months ago - more as a matter of inertia (I couldn't be bothered to renew) than any particular dissatisfaction with the publication. There has, it must be said, been a move to articles linked to specific products (info-mmercials, if you like) over the last few years, which is not to everyone's taste. I always bought them in the past for the ideas they presented and the pictures that gave me a standard to aim at in my own games.
So, do I buy books instead? Well, I have always bought books, ever since I acquired enough money to purchase paperbacks sometime in the early sixties. My purchases are not governed by available cash any more, but by the rate at which I can read them. Any reading pile more than a foot high prompts a temporary moratorium on buying. And I have two categories of book; the "something to read while I'm waiting at the station for the wife" category, which gets downloaded to my Kobo, and the non-fiction, loads-of-maps-and-diagrams volumes that I buy in paper format.
Quote from: Nosher on 25 October 2014, 08:46:55 AM
Remember face to face contact????? :-[
Head butting?
I'm a solo gamer because I don't want the face to face. Can't be bothered with specific rule sets and rule lawyers and the squabbling. Scared spitless to go to a show in case I meet someone.
Downer - FSN
Quote from: fsn on 25 October 2014, 12:42:39 PM
Scared spitless to go to a show in case I meet someone.
No doubt most peeps feel the same about you.
Bought two WI's in the past couple of years - the ones FoW expansions.
Quote from: fred 12df on 25 October 2014, 07:29:50 AM
iPad - small i, big P no dash....
Thats ok Fred, I just know it as the thing that Mrs Orcs takes every where when at home. She is now at the point wher she watches more stuff on BBC Iplayer on the thing than on Iplayer on the TV. - Drives me nuts. :)
Years ago in Southend I collected all of them then when I was in Brum I worked next door to WHS so I checked through and bought the ones I fancied. That job ended so I didn't go in to the city centre anymore so the mags fell by the wayside. Now in Maidstone I check again in WHS but only buy WMBG even if I have an article in it to do my bit in keeping paper copies alive. I'm not much for digital copies of anything that I might want to keep but I can see this is the trend. Anything like a pot boiler or a bus-read go straight to the Kindle whereas most of my reference books are just that.
Having a physical copy of a magazine is nice. Once I did buy MW and WI, and later a year's worth of Battlegames from issue 1, but increasing expense and storage problems put paid to that. Even back then on the whole I found magazines have one or two articles of interest to me, but the rest is just so much waste. There's far more out there online for free these days.
Basically I might buy one once in a while If I am heading South on the plane or something like that. Biggest problem is they don't always have in what I want to read about... so I tend to avoid them. I did used to get Miniature wargames once a month. Got to about 200 and something and then they all went to the charity shop.... all except 3.
The Dambuster raid game
The Viking map game campaing thingy and one other that I cant remember.
my other option is when South see if I can find any second hand ones that look interesting....
if a mag cost me £5, then that is a bag of figures in 10mm and as Poggle says, there is so much out there on the net these days...someone's Blog is sometimes the same as a mag as they cover a lot of periods, have painting tips, make terrain and have the odd cartoon, with advertising links to manufacturers.
1: Are wargames magazines good value ?
Compared to a book off Amazon, then no, but I don't think we're comparing like-for-like.
2: How many do you buy each month?
It depends upon the content of the magazine. The forthcoming MW&B holds no interest whatsoever, whereas the WS&S one does.
3: Do you buy digital or paper copies?
Always paper ones.
4: Do you prefer paper or digital versions?
I hate reading stuff 'digitally' Give me a book or magazine that I can flick through anyday.
5: Do you buy books instead?
Book purchases are unrelated to my magazine purchasing.