"American Wargame Magazine." Topic

This has been talked of before, but it's good to resurrect it now and then. What prompted this little bit of resurrection was a pile of notes I took from one of the first membership meetings (not THE first) from the society and one of the goals was to sponsor an American Magazine. At that time we had the Courier, and shortly thereafter we had "Historical Gamer." Somehow the society never got around to doing anything or sponsoring the two we had, which went out of business.

The HMGS USED to publish its own newsletter, small, fanzine-ish, but it was nice. Now nothing. I know they allege they do it electronically. I just looked at it, and sadly after one piece of non-information from Kevin Kelley on stuff we already know there's nothing but pictures from the con, and the descriptions of games from the Pre-event listing.

Sad.

Bob and Cleo do as good a job they can, and I understand they are the editors of the thing. I know Bob and Cleo used to do a lot of writing for this and that's the problem. They USED to do the writing. They have confessed to me, that they rarely get anything from anybody to put into it.

I've known Bob and Cleo for decades, and they are tireless workers, and have an almost inexhaustible reserve of excitement, energy and dedication. Note I said almost inexhaustible. They are getting older and have had health problems, and that is perhaps an excuse and a justifiable one.

But what I find inconceivable is that in all of the HMGS, in all of America there are not a few people who can toss some stuff their way? if this is the case then there is a good and sufficient reason why we don't have an American War Game Magazine. It is astounding to me that the American war game world is mute. I recall that Dick Bryant and Jim Purky were always starving for content.

Always been that way, Otto. Waaaay back, I used to
edit the 'Kommandeur,' the newsletter of the AHIKS.

Never had enough material to flesh out a complete
edition and soliciting for material didn't help.

This was back in the very early 70's, best I can
recall.

When you say HMGS, I imagine you are referring to what some of us still refer to as HMGS East. I suspect a lot of gamers aren't aware of them, and, of those who are, it is too geographically removed from where we are at, nor do we want to deal with their politics and drama. The regional chapters put out some nice newsletters. When I do pen something, why would I send it East? I'll send it to my regional chapter.

HMGS' submission format was too complicated for me to put the effort into it. If you want submissions, don't put roadblocks in the way.

I'd get behind someone who wants to revive MWAN. Long live Hal!

I think part of the issue has to be that we are too fragmented, too spread out, and more concerned about our region than the ideal of a "national" magazine. I would also like to see an American magazine, but I also understand why no one wants to tackle a project like that.

Agree completely.

I think part of the issue has to be that we are too fragmented, too spread out, and more concerned about our region than the ideal of a "national" magazine.

I'm not so sure this is really a problem. Sure some games are more popular in the midwest than in the east and vise versa. At the end of the day, we are all playing games, building terrain, painting models and writing rules/supplements/scenarios. I, for one, am always happy to see what others are doing in the hobby. I enjoy the UK magazines (3 that I can name and not 1 in the US!) and would love to see some more representation in North America.

I think technically that is 2 British and one Dutch (or British/Dutch maybe)

Strange that you can't walk into a U.S.newsagents and buy a wargames magazine- a nightmare really, its a sign of civilisation IMHO.

I think that quite a few Americans are regular contributors to the British-based wargame magazines.

I don't think that it matters where the magazine is published as the hobby and its magazine content are universal rather than regional. I could travel to a growing number of countries and find gamers who I could get together with and play in a game. Just off the top of my head, from gamers who I personally know, I could game in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

With the internet (and wargame forums such as TMP, Lead Adventures Forum, WD3 and many others)I'm not so sure that we even need a paper magazine anymore. Information comes so fast and is so instant that a magazine probably can not keep up with the latest news from the hobby.

If you want a more America-focused magazine content then you know what the easiest solution is: write your own articles and submit them to the three major magazines. I am sure that any of the editors would be grateful for your contribution.

It's the Blogs, pure and simple. Why type up something, take multiple photographs, and then send it to a magazine that may or may not publish your hard work when you can publish it yourself, whenever it's convenient to you? I think, at least in the U.S., wargaming magazines are dead. Why wait a month to see someone's AAR when you can Google a theme and click over to someone's blog? Also, the price is right, one monthly ISP fee and you're on.

Ditto to the above about the blogs, nowadays everyone can publish his own magazine in effect.

Also the best wargame magazine that there ever was practically is the TMP! Every day you can find new ideas, answers to questions, new products, links to blogs and articles on the web. Also specific game such as fanaticus for DBA, various Yahoo groups or other Fourms.

One of the killers for paper publishing magazines simply is the fact of the massive increases in printing costs…when a magazine is between 7-12 dollars per issue, well…I buy very few of them….

American model railroading has a couple awesome free digital monthly magazines to download, with hyperlinks and even videos all in a PDF. Scale modeling has one, and so does RC modeling. All advertiser supported.

Miniature gaming is woefully behind. Only thing close is Warning Order in PDF, which is excellent.

Ironically, the free digital magazines have not stopped me from buying my monthly print magazines. I still get all the US and UK model railroad magazines and scale modeling magazines.

Warning Order in PDF

It is pretty fabulous and still has that "free" price tag.

I don't think that it matters where the magazine is published as the hobby and its magazine content are universal rather than regional.

Hear hear !

Blogs are one thing, but can never fully replace a magazine. I follow many blogs and typically they are about reports of figures painted or AAR of games. That's only a slice of what you could cover in a magazine.

Magazines have the opportunity to publish longer pieces which fall outside the typical effort of a single blogpost. E.g. some more in-depth insights in the tactics or wars of a given period. Moreover, because the editor usually has good connections with the "industry" he can offer things such as interviews, pre-release announcements, some peeks behind-the-screens, etc.

But most important, a good magazine which is widely read also provides the reader the feeling of belonging to a larger community. With the balkanization of blogs and online forums, that is hard to achieve.

Phil's remarks are spot on. His comments on the brevity and inadequacy of the material on blogs and especially the balkanization argues eloquently for the necessity of a magazine.

I've toured many blogs and even the best does not provide the discursive treatment of a subject, and the worst are mere narcissism.

Otto,

Mind you, there are a few good blogs out there that delve deeper in the subject matter. But often, these are blogs from the same people that also write articles for the magazines ;-)

When I said that magazines can provide some deeper insights, I also didn't mean military history, I do mean military history and how to translate this to wargaming.

I remember the two or three issues when the HMGS-east newsletter had actual gaming content, but what's this about an electronic version? Nothing comes in the e-mail, and I can't find it on the HMGS-east site. I'm not sure stealth publishing counts.
The broader issue. Yeah. A magazine niche can't be entirely filled by blogs, and I miss--not so much the American magazines as such, but some of the things the surviving magazines do less often or not at all. When's the last time anyone found a new "back of the envelope" rules set in a magazine, or a scenario not so tied to a particular rules set that it was hard to adapt? (HINT: first you say "600 trained infantry in good morale" THEN you say "two stands of Class B." That way, in five or ten years when no one remembers the hot new rules of 2016, your article will still be useful.)I suspect advertising and ownership play a role, but I could easily be wrong.
Articles. I've published in at least three magazines, and always sent something when someone asked me for a submission--but you'd be surprised how rare that was if they were really strapped for content. Historical Miniature Gamer was frankly unwelcoming to a lot of the old MWAN crowd. Now that I'm retired, I'm looking at getting back in the game, but the greater emphasis on pictures--"all glossy! all colored!"--means that instead of having an idea, I need an idea and photographic equipment--an investment I'm not likely to recover soon.
Resuscitate MWAN--cheap and text-oriented--and ask individuals for submissions. You might be surprised

Dear Bob

Look forward to seeing you at the Weekend, first off.

I'm trying. I already publish a PRINT newsletter on war games which has a small circulation. I published a lot on Historical Gamer and the Courier, and I've sent more than a dozen articles to two of the English Glossies, but no interest.

but that's not the point.