Part I discussed aspects of philosophy. This piece examines specific companies in today's industry and relates previous philosophic musings to those companies' inceptions.

The Line-up

The Gamers, Inc.

Dean and I feel confident that the company is now in a solid position to go on this way indefinitely. Sales are strong. Our publication schedule of 4 games per year is feasible, and the magazine remains self-supporting. So far, the relative flood of games being released through 1991 and 1992 has not affected us. Our sales have significantly increased this year. However, we harbor no illusions about grabbing the SPI ring. To do so, we would have to become a publishing empire, financing expansion through debt and putting out 'rushed' games. Instead, we look for modest growth marked by more units of each game sold, rather than additional titles per year. WC will also increase our print runs from 2500 to 5000 per game this year, reducing the need for costly reprints.

The series concept has rewarded us well. Rules reading is the bane of wargamers everywhere. "I've got too many unplayed games now. I'd better not buy another one." is a common refrain. To forestall that problem, a publisher has two choices. He can make nothing but simple games that are easy to learn in under an hour or link individually more complex games through a common set of rules. Simple games can be fun. They are not the main reason we got into this business. Hence, Dean elected to pursue the series concept from the start.

FGA

Not long ago, FGA declared war on the distribution chain. They elected instead to take direct sales only. They would get more cash per unit, hold down game costs (no boxes) and survive at a much lower threshold than an outfit oriented to retail. In theory, this works if you have enough loyal customers who will routinely place mail orders. Dean once examined a plan similar to this although without the prejudice attached. We simply wanted to produce less expensive games. We found that we needed at least 1000 sales per game to stay alive. FGA's execution so far has been flawed because their uneven quality has alienated so many of the hard core gamers they need.

Their case is a classic example of what can go wrong with a Big Splash attempt. They split from GMT amid much fanfare and quickly attempted to anoint themselves with the SPI image. When the games failed to live up to the promises, the backlash was strong. In addition, they have met criticism with outright hostility while laying blame for their failures on ex-employees and volunteer playtesters.

As a final twist to the story, FGA's two owners sold out to one of their remaining distributors, C & M Hobbies of Oregon, at the end of Sep 92. The new owner, Mr. Gene Moyers, has not yet indicated what future plans he has for FGA. However, he has cancelled the existing projects. Given the degree of animosity with which many gamers regard FGA, any rebuilding efforts are sure to be both difficult and costly. My personal hope is that FGA's new boss will avoid new games for a while in an attempt to turn The Boardgame Journal into a credible independent publication.

Rhino Games

Mark Simonitch released his second game at Origins 92. It was a boxed game called Campaign to Stalingrad. The game is good. Its physical standards are professional and it looks quite interesting overall. Mark has a big advantage in the small game racket. He handles his own graphics. This gives him control over the appearance of the product as well as a familiarity with the printing process. His graphics work routinely appears in both Command and S & T, as well as in GMT products. Mark's approach is definitely Little Splash and shows all the signs of building a successful base.

GMT

Another Big Splash entree into the hobby, I first heard of them as a serious effort at Origins 90. That fall, they came out with three decent games. However, the management fragmented over business differences shortly thereafter. When I heard that "M" and "I" had split off to form a new company (FGA), I thought that "G" Billingsley would not survive as a business. We know how much work a small game company is even without a day job. I felt the load would overwhelm Gene. Yet, GMT has survived so far. The Hornet Leader series has been a solid hit in my local gaming circles.

A more interesting note is that Gene maintained at least a measure of his Big Splash momentum. With the departure of two thirds of the original partnership, I am sure GMT had a deficit of publishable games. Gene had to search for acceptable prospects. Not only did he quickly line up new titles to fill the void, but he tapped into the SPI mystique without the self-aggrandizement. By recruiting Richard Berg and Mark Herman, GMT was certain of quality games from veteran designers who also had SPI and Victory Games' backgrounds. For the near future it looks as if GMT will continue to use outside designers while Gene acts primarily in the role of development and production supervisor.

My guess is that GMT can hang in there as long as Gene's commitment level remains high. So for he has done a fine job in managing the business despite daunting problems and in maintaining the quality level of his games. To his credit as well is the restraint with which he has conducted himself in the face of a less adult attitude from his former partners. Let's hope that Gene finds some way to balance the day job, the game job, and his home life into a manageable whole before insanity sets in.

XTR

Another Big Splash debut was that of Command. When they started up, several thousand people got a free issue in the mail. This gimmick provided tons of name recognition and probably cost a fortune. In the product line, XTR has stuck to the "game first, simulation second" approach. It is an idea that makes much sense for a magazine format. It also means their games probably get played quite a bit. Ty Bomba, former editor of S & T in the 3W era, has done a lot with the magazine though his style seems to be more 'in-your face' than most. XTR even launched a newsstand venture. They sold the magazine without its game component to compete in the larger military history magazine market. This idea (as of fall 92) does not seem to have been profitable enough and they have discontinued it. However, Command remains healthy in gaming circles.

XTR also published a line of games that are a step up from the magazine items. Most of these games have 3-400 counters and unusual topics. Ty's metier is alternative history along the lines of victorious Nazis and Japanese struggling for post-WWII world domination. This is an idea that puts off some gamers and intrigues others. Even I bought Wahoo! which is about Lee's drive on Washington after a Confederate victory at Gettysburg!

All humor aside, I respect Ty and crew for their successful publication, 21 issues to date, and for the well written, lively style of the magazine. XTR has shown a certain business acumen, evidenced by timeliness of the publication so far, that is usually lacking in our hobby. Even if the newsstand venture apparently failed, it was a sound idea. I suspect that it may return at a more opportune time.

Decision Games

When we started, 3W was trying to comer the magazine end of the hobby. As Mr. Poulter concentrated on his burgeoning empire, he sold off the lesser publications to Chris Cummins. Cummins bought The Wargamer and Fire & Movement, and went on to become the voice of the hobby, except for a few club newsletters. A couple of years later, Cummins went whole hog. He bought S & T from 3W, reintroduced Moves, (SPI's old support magazine) and discontinued the redundant Wargamer. Starting in the fall of 199 1. DG announced its first boxed game titles, and a new full-fledged game company was born.

To date, DG has produced three boxed games with others promised. DG's record with S & T is spotty, including a large number of typos and a mixed bag of games. The good news is the record is improving thanks to the unsung of the hobby. The eternal volunteer gaming force lends its time and talents to the improvement of products without much recompense. S & T games are usually more complex than the average Command game. Thus, they are harder to produce on the usual tight magazine schedule and have more errata. A steady diet of simplicity bores me after a while, so maybe DG is on the right track. On the other hand, their boxed games are definitely at an Intro game level, and follow-ups promise more of the same.

I believe that Decision Gaines has a credibility gap going, however. That they still publish Fire & Movement, a magazine devoted to reviewing games, and simultaneously aspire to the ranks of game publication themselves, creates a conflict of interest. The Origins 92 issue of F & M reviewed Four Battles of the Ancient World. Since it was one of their own games, they seem to have missed the incongruity of the situation. lf the hobby needs anything right now, it needs an independent review perspective from a major, bi-monthly publication. As I mentioned earlier, help seems to be on the way; let us hope it arrives soon.

Is DG a Big Splash candidate? I do not see how anyone running an 8 issue per year magazine-with-a-game publication, besides two other bi-monthlies, cannot be. The SPI gambit is alive and well at DG also. As the publisher of SPI's two former mainstay magazines, the parallel is not subtle. Has the Big Splash worked? Yes. At least so far, Decision Gaines is still around. However, they would have benefitted from a boot camp phase to iron out those typo and errata problems before entering full scale production. I have heard a significant share of criticism at my local game store and through the forum of GEnie. The real question for the future is can the hobby support two full-time game magazines and if not, who will win? I think Command has the edge right now, because it has better presentation, production values, and more playable games. Yet, there is something unsettling about watching S & T make its poisonous procession around the hobby. It seems to bring the Curse of SPI with it wherever it goes. I cut my gaming teeth on this magazine: I would hate to see it simply fade away.

3W

After the sale of S & T, Dean & I were discussing the current state of the hobby with other members of the industry. I put forward the idea that maybe 3W was finished as a game company. "Don't worry," laughed one of our companions, "there's another rabbit left in that hat." I stand corrected as, after a short period of calm, 3W began a furious pace of output. I have lost count of the number of games produced in 1992 alone. Probably, the pace more than doubles the output of any other single company in the historical boardgame business. The bad news is that the games are replete with developmental problems and see in half baked at best. Richard Berg called 3W the 'one stop gaming shop', where all Keith Poulter did as each game arrived From its designer was switch mailing labels and fire it back out to the printer. Despite some successful ideas, most of these games need much more work than they are getting. It will be interesting to see how long quantity can continue to outweigh quality.

3W has been around so long that it was part of the first "golden age". It seems wrong to speak of Big versus Little Splash here. However, when he acquired S & T, Poulter immediately trumpeted that he was the SPI of the West. It was an obvious attempt to reinvent 3W's image. That was a wrong move. Who knows what the future will bring to 3W.

SDI In 1989. we first heard that Richard Berg was starting his own company. He planned to publish his Great Batiks of the American Civil War series. If I remember correctly, SDI lasted through four games, and then met an untimely end. Since I was always a fan of the GBACW, I was sorry to see him go especially since it appears that no one else is going to continue the series anytime soon.

SDI was definitely Big Splash material with lots of full color advertising. This time no overt SPI parallel needed to be drawn. It already existed. Richard was a former high profThe SPI staffer. Still, there were production problems. The counters to Guns of Cedar Creek were so thin one might consider them anorexic (Berg's own words). Perhaps Richard could have benefited from a boot camp phase for the production end of things.

We are fortunate that Berg games live on in freelance work. At least one GMT release, 1863, was salvaged directly from the SDI collapse. As Alexander and SPQR prove, GMT intends to do a lot of Berg and Herman work. What killed SDI? I would guess that simple economics did. The Big Splash cost more than game sales brought in.

GRD

What can you say about a company dedicated to the survival and success of a single game series? GRD once published play aids and such as companion pieces for GDW's Europa games. Now they have the whole banana after GDW's abandonment of the hobby's oldest game system. They are not Big Splash gurus but they hardly have a universal appeal system to sell. As long as Europa is popular, they have a market. GRD has used its first years of production to print four games and learn the ins and outs of production in preparation for the main event--Second Front. Nearly a decade of rumor has hinted at this game's arrival. They say it is nearing the end of the marathon. I hope so, because I have followed this game system for years. I would like to see it, at least, marginally complete. Of course, the real grail is yet to come. Grand Europa would link all the games into one integrated strategic game of the entire war.

How long can GRD survive after they 'finish' Europa? I suspect that, even after all the games have come out Grand Europa will remain unworkable as it stands. The solution is obvious. GRD will have to redesign each Europa game to render the macro concept successful. Their future will hold as long as gamer interest does so. They are already doing this on a limited scale. They have re-done several games (First to Fight and Balkan Front) to match current standards. I am not sure that GRD needs to look beyond Europa, because I do not think it will ever be finished.

Clash of Arms, a.k.a. Theater of the Mind

Can you say Martial Enterprises (and fractured French) lives on? These guys have also been around a long time. In August of 1992, as we published our 11th game, COA published their 30th. I feel a certain kinship with COA. Their games are as offbeat as ours, with twists in command control, etc. Most of their games are not for the novice but promise many rewards for those gamers who invest the time.

They have definitely used the Little Splash approach. For years, it was a part-time enterprise. Last year Ed Wimble went full time. In this business, we measure success by longevity in both time and number of games published. COA has as olid record in both areas. I expect they will be with us for some time.

New England Simulations

These guys were brand new, making their debut at Origins 92. They have one game to their credit--Napoleon on the Danube. It looks quite well done. The graphics are excellent for a first time shot.

NES is a classic example of the Little Splash. A few small ads in the press and an appearance at Origins (in COA's booth) sum up their marketing approach so far. I do not know much about their future plans but suspect they will fit the Rhino mold.

Other Little Guys

There are several smaller companies that either publish games infrequently or divide their efforts between historical and fantasy efforts. I will cover them just briefly. Columbia Games has a line of wooden block games that have received high praise from gamers. Omega, under Bill Gibbs, was a mostly modern war publisher whose main theme of NATO versus Warsaw Pact has evaporated considering recent history. There are probably others I have missed but none are likely to erupt in publishing frenzy anytime soon.

The Big Guys: Victory-AH, GDW, and even TSR

I will not say much about these companies since they are all well established. I could hardly analyze their start ups in a meaningful context given the market differences between then and now. I do feel that all of them have abdicated a significant leadership position among historical gamers. This is not a judgment since there is much more money in fantasy and science fiction. It is hard to fault anyone for tying to earn a decent living. I am just thankful that the abdication happened because it left room for all of us to fill the void.

Why has the hobby gone from its supposed death throes to this new 'Golden Age'"? The answer is simple. Companies are producing enough interesting, innovative, downright solid games to get gamers involved again. Deliver good games, and people will buy them. Deliver something less and sales will wither away.