Welcome to issue #45. Well this issue has been a long time coming and has been a bit of a trial for me. It also marks our 10th anniversary and it is with great pride that we look back on the many issues and articles that have come down the pipe. All this effort has slowed us down a bit and forced the group and I to re-access what we can functionally do for the hobby.
We have decided to keep publishing CWJ but at an irregular schedule (at least once per year in the spring but maybe more often). The mag will have 80 pages with a smaller font making the content about 50% greater. In order to make this happen it will be more like our "Best ofs" and cost $9 at your favourite store. Subsciptions will be raised to $30 ($34 foreign) for 4 issues. Also present subs will be reduced 1 issue for every three owing (so if you have 6 issues left you will get 4 of the new big ones, if you have 5 left, you get 4 of the new ones [we round in your favour]). Now some of our loyal subscribers may not want to subscribe to a magazine that comes out so infrequently or have their sub reduced and we understand. We will be happy to refund any subscribers money ($4 per issue owed in the currency you paid in). Obviously if every subscriber asks for his money back we will be broke and finished in the publishing business. So I have a few alternatives and I urge one of the other options below.
First I would like to offer subscribers who want to cancel or shorten their subscription further a chance to turn each issue owed into a $10 credit on CWG merchandise. Take a look at our stock opposite and if you want to turn in some or all of your subscription why not double your investment. You can even pre-order Bruce's new book on The American Revolution, Whites of their Eyes.
The other option you have of course is to stay on with us. We have already started a number of articles that will be of interest to many of you.
Boardgames - We are continuing to work on many new games but will bring you our usual mix on the new World in Flames release along with all the coalition games.
Card Games - We have been the leader in the industry in presenting historical rules and scenarios for historical card games. We are working on Historical Gettysburg, a number of scenarios for Moments in History's Tank Commander and a campaign link between Napoleon and Eagles.
Miniatures - Lately most of Bruce's miniature output has appear in our "guide" booklets but future issues will have additional scenarios plus keeping up with the pulse of other peoples releases.
The long and the short of it is we would like to keep publishing but at a slower pace. The state of the hobby dictates that we also raise our sub rates. You have heard it all before; paper prices are up, orders from distributors are down and advertisers are being squeezed too. If you find we are not being carried in your local store, chances are we are still publishing and you might want to consider a subscription.