The Dispatches 2027 Annual - Pre Order

The Dispatches Annual 2027: a year of living history, all in one book.

Pre-order now and your copy ships on 1st December, in plenty of time to land under the tree.

Our first annual brings together some of the hobby’s best writers, historians and re-enactors in 100 pages covering everything from the Napoleonic Wars to the Cold War. Janet Mist writes from the Director’s Desk about her first full season in the hobby, and Team Dispatches looks back on a record-breaking 2026, including our sit-down with Sir Tony Robinson at Chalke and the birth of the Dispatches Comedy Corps.

BIG NEWS, and you’ll read it here first. We’ve been keeping something close to our chest since the magazine launched, and the Annual is where we finally lift the lid. We can’t say more yet, but it’s the biggest thing we’ve ever done.

Inside you’ll find:

• William Donaldson digs into two years of data from the Great Re-enactment Survey, comparing the 2025 and 2026 results to show where the hobby is heading, what it loves and what it argues about
• David Willey on the allure of camouflage, from the green jackets of the eighteenth century to the patterns of the Second World War
• Joe Croney uncovers the real wartime figures behind James Bond, Q and Miss Moneypenny
• Anthony Tucker-Jones asks whether Operation Dragoon was a waste of time and lives
• Anne Yuill compares her own campaigns with the soldiers’ wives who followed the drum in the Peninsula
• Tim Rose on four decades of friendship and reconciliation between British redcoats and the Zulu nation
• Tim Saunders on how re-enactment helped him as an author, and how groups can build lasting links with today’s Armed Forces
• Harry East follows General Gordon to Khartoum
• Aaron Hunt tells the story of the night seven US destroyers ran aground at Point Honda
• Andrew May reports from the Capel Military Show
• Neil Bond takes a Morgan 4/4 on a 1930s-style battlefield pilgrimage to Flanders

Plus loads of articles from and about re-enactment groups across the periods, a photographer’s project capturing the faces behind the kit, and our new Letters to the Editor page, where readers have their say on the hobby.

Whether you’re a seasoned re-enactor, a collector or simply love a good story from the past, it’s the perfect read for the long winter evenings before the new season. It also makes a brilliant Christmas present for the history lover in your life.

Pre-order now. Ships 1st December 2026. UK, Europe and international delivery calculated at checkout.