The top three Miniature Wargames Magazines in the World. Not one is American Karwansaray Publishing (L), Wargames Illustrated (M) and Miniature Wargames ®
Apologies for the soapbox, but this is something that’s been on my mind for a while and I’ve been mulling it over. I feel it needs to be said, and it’s time someone said it.
There was a time when American miniature wargaming had its own periodical voice. It was a professional magazine that appeared in hobby shops throughout the country, giving American gamers a chance to talk about the events in the hobby. But with the demise of the Courier and the MWAN, those days are no more.
The Late, Lamented Courier and MWAN magazines | The Miniatures Page
We need such a magazine again. I think all three of the magazines above - Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier, Wargames Illustrated, and Miniature Wargames - are fine publications. I’ve written pieces for two of them and know they have a very British point of view. Most of the convention coverage is British, with Historicon being the only American convention mentioned. Most, if not all of the interviews or product reviews are of UK-based companies. That’s not a knock on any of the editorial decisions, though. They’re in the UK, and the beating heart of the historical miniatures hobby is the UK.
But, we still have a sizeable contingent of gamers in this country who deserve their own professionally printed voice. They deserve it because I would argue the American end of the hobby is, in some ways, profoundly different from the British one. We don’t often have organized clubs. We don’t have conventions where 90% of the games are shows being put on by clubs (not a knock, just different), and, I would argue, we need a magazine to reflect this.
We once had several magazines in this country covering such things. But as time went on, the ranks of the American miniatures gaming magazines dwindled and then died out. But we now have the advent of desktop publishing, and with it, a professional-quality magazine can be printed and distributed cheaper than ever before. If a subscriber chooses the electronic version of the magazine - which, of course, there would be an electronic version - he or she wouldn’t have to wait for the paper copy to show up at their doorstep.
Right now, the American end of the hobby is being served by a bewildering number of fanzines and blogs, all of which are labors of love by literal one-man bands (I should know, I run one of those blogs). I also know there’s Little Wars TV on YouTube, and don’t get me started on all the podcasts out there! But, imagine what one American-based magazine with a proper editorial staff and paying competitive rates for submissions would yield?
We are a different but equal end of the hobby, and we deserve our own representation. We need such a magazine to cover the other cons that don’t get coverage in the British glossies. I know there are tons of smaller to medium-sized conventions that could use the coverage and get some acknowledgments in the pages of a magazine across the country.
We also write rules. Differently, British rules are written in a more conversational style and assume the reader is “in on the conversation,” so to speak. American wargaming rules are written in a more legalistic style and assume the reader is made crystal clear of the author’s intentions. We need a magazine that isn’t bewildered by such rules writing but actually understands the stylistic differences.
We need a magazine that can be a recognized name in American wargaming circles as an American endeavor. One that brings the disparate ends of the hobby closer together to solve the issues facing the hobby, be it the “aging” of wargaming or just how to encourage a new generation of American rules designers to write and publish more. These magazines are “farm clubs” for our rules designers to cut their teeth. We need an American magazine to be our “farm club.”
And finally, we need to encourage hobbyists to write more. I know, there’s Facebook and blogs and so much more. But we need a magazine to be a synergistic whole of professional journalism in the hobby from a uniquely American perspective. As much as I love reading our British cousins and their wargaming endeavors, we need a place for our own countrymen in the hobby to spread their wings.
We need an American historical miniature gaming magazine again.
As always, good gaming, everyone.
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(This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)