Dispatches
About Dispatches
Dispatches is a magazine for people who take the past seriously — and still enjoy it.
We write for re-enactors, living history enthusiasts and anyone who would rather read a proper account than a headline. All periods, one magazine. Second World War, Vietnam, the origins of the gun, and whatever the hobby throws at us next.
What we publish
Every issue carries writing from established historians alongside people who actually stand in the field at four in the morning waiting for a stand-to. Contributors have included Anthony Tucker-Jones and Craig Moore, among others.
Recent issues have covered the women who served, worked and held the line; re-enactment across every era rather than just the 1940s; and a limited edition A4 booklet on Operation Overlord, published in partnership with the Overlord Show.
What it costs, and why
An issue is £3.00 online, or £2.50 if you buy it from us at a show. The difference covers packing — posting a magazine flat in a board-backed envelope so it arrives in one piece costs real money, and we would rather build that into the price than pretend otherwise.
Either way it stays deliberately cheap. The hobby is expensive enough: kit costs money, events cost money, and fuel to get to them costs more every year. A magazine shouldn't be the thing that tips the budget.
Come and find our stand if you want the show price — and a chat about what you'd like to see in the next issue.
The shop
Alongside the magazine we produce apparel, stationery and gifts — some of it earnest, some of it distinctly not. The Network Fundraiser range funds the build of a website for re-enactors of every period.
Where we ship
Worldwide. UK, Europe, the United States, Australia and everywhere else, at magazine postage rates rather than parcel rates. Postage is charged at cost and calculated at checkout — the more you order, the less each item costs to send.
Running an event?
Dispatches is published by DM MEDIA GROUP LTD, who also handle event marketing, print and programme design for shows and societies across the UK. If that's useful to you, have a look at dmmediagroup.co.uk.
Get in touch
Email us at hello@dispatchesmagazine.co.uk. We read everything, and we're always looking for contributors — if you have a story from your period, tell us about it.
Dispatches is published by DM MEDIA GROUP LTD.
Common questions
Living history, re-enactment and getting started
Living history is the practice of researching, recreating and demonstrating how people in a given period actually lived — the clothing, the tools, the cooking, the crafts and the daily routine. It leans towards interpretation and public demonstration rather than battle, and a good deal of it is civilian rather than military.
The terms overlap and plenty of people use them interchangeably. Broadly, re-enactment tends to mean staging a specific event or engagement, often a battle, while living history focuses on portraying everyday life in a period. Most groups do a bit of both, and most re-enactors will tell you the distinction matters less than getting the details right.
Go to an event first and talk to people. Almost every group is happy to explain what they do, and most would far rather you turned up and asked questions than bought a pile of kit and got it wrong. Pick a period you actually find interesting, find a group that portrays it, and borrow before you buy — most groups keep loan kit for newcomers precisely because starting out is expensive.
Dispatches carries kit and impression guides in most issues, written by people who have made the mistakes already.
No. Dispatches started with a WW2 lean and broadened from Issue 03 onwards. We now cover ancient, medieval, Viking, Tudor, English Civil War, Napoleonic and Victorian through to WW1, WW2 and the Cold War, plus military vehicles, museums, traders and multi-period events. That is what ‘All periods. One magazine.’ means.
No. We publish the magazine and sell branded Dispatches clothing, stationery and gifts. For reproduction kit, uniform and equipment, the traders and makers we cover in the magazine are the people to go to.
Issues are £3.00 online, or £2.50 if you buy from our stand at a show. The difference covers packing and postage. Bundles and limited edition booklets are priced separately.
We post worldwide — UK, Europe, the United States, Australia and elsewhere — at magazine postage rates rather than parcel rates. UK delivery is free on orders of £20 or more. Bundles are posted at cost and are not included in that. Delivery is calculated at checkout.
Yes, and we would like you to. If you have a story from your period, an event report, a restoration worth documenting or a group worth writing up, email hello@dispatchesmagazine.co.uk. No formal pitch needed.