Customer Reviews

Armchair General

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Archair General Magazine features articles on military history but with a twist. There are tactical studies which introduce the reader to the agonies of command decisions and illustrate possible outcomes of various courses of action. Most of these are written by John Antal, Col. USA (retired) author of many fine books including "Proud Legions".

Also, each issue to date has included a download link to a complete wargame in Adobe .PDF format on their website. The latest of these, "Brothers By My Side" by Mark H. Walker, is an outstanding recreation of the Battle of LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam made famous in the book and movie "We Were Soldiers". Companion articles tell the story of General Hal Moore's lifelong study of the art of command, the making of the movie with Mel Gibson, and a look at the battle itself.

This is sort of a blend of military history and wargaming interest magazine, and very well worthwhile.

If you have ever read the "choose your own adventure" books you will truly enjoy this magazine. It not only talks about military history in a colorful way (with drawings, pictures and maps) but there are several scenarios included where you need to pick the outcome. Based on your decision, you turn to a different page and it tells you if you made the right or wrong decision.

Very original and enjoyable format. I'm actually surprised no one else has thought of doing this style of magazine before.

I have always subscribed to Military History and Military Heritage Magazine, so between the two bi-monthlies I have a magazine a month to read. I was looking to supplement them with another and tried MHQ as well as Armchair General. Armchair General makes the most effort to be unique among all of the magazines. The articles are not as in depth as the other magazines and are made for sort attention spans. They cover a wide array of topics from warriors, to weapons, as well as battles. They also have an interactive section that challenges you to come up with your own strategy for victory in a historic scenario. I do like my regular magazines more, but for quick fun reads I like to pick this up as well. This is also much more approachable for the military history novice.

This magazine seems to be intended more for entertainment not objective insight into historic military events and iconic figures. The editors are quite biased in favor of American heroism rather than making an effort to represent events with facts. You find a lot of value-judgment statements attempting to designate the "good guys" versus the "bad guys" in the story. The articles are short and don't provide much more than the average History student at your local college can tell you. They feature excellent subjects but if you like in-depth stories with substance and a bit more academic in style, I don't recommend this magazine.

I want to start out by stating, quite simply, this magazine is a very fun read! I usually finish it the very same day that I get it in the mail! It includes a wide variety of subjects that appeal to those of us that are like General Lee, who think war is fun if there wasn't all the death.

My personal favorite is the smaller section in the back where you get to make tactical decisions of your own and see how well you fare. It's like "choose your own adventure" for grownups! They also have a competition to see who can come up with the best reasoning for a tactical decision (that they deem is correct). Again, great fun and it is a free shot at a prize if you think you're good enough. I admit though, it seems that an awful lot of retired military men make the top rankings...

The articles are also very informative and well written. I greatly enjoy the story telling that goes into the historical accounts. This is not a dry recounting of facts, but a weaving together of little factors into an even that puts your right into the middle of it. It helps you understand why certain decisions were made the way that they were, and how you could avoid them (since, of course, armchair generals don't make mistakes)!

The one downside? This only comes out once every TWO MONTHS. It is an excruciating wait when the product is so good, but I guess you can't rush quality. It also means that if you enter the contest in the back, you have to wait 4 months to know if you've even earned yourself an honorable mention! So the price is a bit high for the number of issues, but this is a magazine you won't regret getting!

I tried a subscription for a year.

Some of the articles are enjoyable. There are a lot of "short-attention-span-theatre" pieces that only provide a paragraph or a snippet of information.

This mag was not for me. The articles that are more in-depth are usually on topics that most amateur historians are well familiar with. In addition, the interactive strategy pieces seem very basic and easy to figure out.

This magazine has a place and many will enjoy it (my dad loves it). It's the kind of mag you can read while in the john, but as long as you didn't eat a bunch of cheese and peanuts the night before. You may find yourself looking for something else to read (i.e. the back of the shampoo bottle) if you breeze through ACG like I do.

I tend to enjoy diverse articles about topics that I am not so familiar with. I also like a mag that I can read for a few pickups, instead of whipping through it quickly like this one. I didn't find I got a lot of time spent with each issue for my buck.