Alarums and Excursions (Lee Gold, 3965 Alla Road, Los Angeles CA 90066)$2.50 plus postage per issue. A&E is the substantially monthly APA of Lee Gold, published since the early 1970s in Los Angeles. The topic of coverage is rolegaming of all types. Circulation and size have wandered over the time, but in my readings there are many fine contributors with interesting material, accounts of campaign events, rules variations, and discussions with other readers. Flamewars are fortunately absent.
Counter ($25/year in North America to David Kuznik, 41 Lewis Avenue, Arlington MA 02474) 84 pages, paperback size, publishes vast number of full (and a few half) page reviews of all sorts of European-style non-military board games. If you are interested in 'German' or 'European' games and want information on new releases, Counter is a must-read item.
Dragon (Paizo Publishing 3245 146th Place SE Suite 110, Bellevue WA 98007, monthly 108 pages, 8.5x11", glossy with massive amounts of full color graphics) is probably the most lavishly produced gaming magazine in the world. Its subscription rates ($99 for three years, say my notes) in the US are entirely justified by the huge amount of material and beautiful press quality that Dragon supplies. Dragon was first published many years ago as Domesday Book, the Journal of the IFW Castle and Crusade Society, continued under another name, and finally became Dragon, owned initially by Tactical Studies Rules, a Lake Geneva, WI firm. Since then, there have been a long series of changes in editor and owner, but any prior publisher should be proud to see what has become of their publication. There are rules supple-ments, scenarios, advertisements, comic strips, and product discussions.
Dungeon (Paizo Publishing 3245 146th Place SE Suite 110, Bellevue WA 98007, monthly 118 pages, 8.5x11", glossy with massive amounts of full color graphics, $45 per year) publishes scenarios, background information and campaign development material on Dungeons and Dragons and other roleplaying games. Included within is the once-independent newsletter Polyhedron.
Europa (GRD Games, 10832 Metcalf Road, Emmett, MI 48022) 52 pages of material on Europa series and other GRD Games, reports on game plays, variants, historical data. This 8.5x11" magazine costs $50/year (less to renewing subscribers). The format is extremely efficient, with little space wasted on non-content material. The magazine may be viewed as a must-read for Europa players.
Fire and Movement (F&M, POB 21598. Bakersfield CA 93390) is published quarterly, the subscription rate being $22 per year for a 64 page 8.5x11" magazine. Fire and Movement is one of the oldest magazines still published in the hobby; it goes back a quarter-century. F&M does extensive game reviews, with detailed descriptions of rules and excellent graphics of game components. Most reviews, within the limit of being reviews rather than articles on tactics, are quite good.
Heliograph ($18 per year to Richard Brooks, 207 Ivory KetRoad, Saluda SC 29138) is a 22 page monthly zine covering the European Colonial period, including miniatures reviews, books, rules, scenarios, Victorian period illustrations and photographs, and other like material. A nearly complete set of back issues is available; Heliograph is carried by MagWeb.com.
HMGS East (POB 22, Bonnots Mill MO 65016) is the Newsletter of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society Eastern section. It comes to 32 pages (5.5x8.5") with game reports, lists of clubs and dealers, an event schedule, reports on how the HMGS is doing things, and other positive news. The HMGS is apparently the largest boardgaming club in the history of the world; its various sections reportedly have between them two and a half thousand members. Without exception, the HMGS newsletters read the way boardgaming newsletters read once upon a time, namely much positive news about activities and actions of members.
Kommandeur (Omar DeWitt, 1580 Bridger Road NE, Rio Rancho NM 87144, bimonthly, $12 per year, 12 pages) is the magazine of AHIKS, which once upon a time was the Avalon Hill Intercontinental Kriegspiel Society. AHIKS is changing its dues structure, to be very cheap for electronic-subscription memberships (perhaps $6/year) and more expensive for print memberships (perhaps $12 per year). Also included in Kommandeur are news on new games, discussions on game rules, opponents wanted columns, and addresses of the Society's many officers and volunteers.
Line of Departure (Jim Werbaneth, POB 508, Gibsonia, PA 15044) $20 per year, quarterly, 8.5x11 photocopied 24 pages newsletter. Game reviews, including computer games, magazine games, and board games. The reviews are extremely long, and not the rules regurgitations that one sees in some other magazines; these are serious, high-quality reviews.
Lone Warrior (Solo Wargamers Association, 1707 Ridge Road, Leavenworth KS) 54 pages, 8.5x11, $25 per year, quarterly magazine of the SWA. The SWA lists a substantial number of officers, and covers all sorts of miniatures play, solitaire, including reviews, wargame scenarios, and rules sets (in the most recent issue Daimyo covering Japanese warfare ca. 1600). It appears that historical and fantasy members coexist peacefully.
The Skirmisher (Multiman Publishing, 403 Headquarters Drive, Suite 7, Millersville MD 21108) is a 56-page multi-chrome magazine dedicated to the game series Great Campaigns of the American Civil War. The web site multiman-publishing. com treats product availability. The current issue (#2) includes fractional maps and die-cut unit counters for a game variant Rebels in the White House referring to the 1864 Confederate effort to capture Washington D.C. There are also among other articles historical notes, game replays, and scenarios for published games.
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© Copyright 2004 by George Phillies.
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