On Monday, 18th June, it will be the 20th anniversary of the original Battlegames site.
I wanted to commemorate this event with a look back at how it all began, add some thoughts about the journey along the way, consider the challenges of running a printed magazine compared to a website, and question the pros and cons of the different media. I also talk about the options for the modern creative compared to 20 years ago and how, perhaps surprisingly, certain values have endured.
I hope you enjoy the read, which obviously includes a touch of nostalgia but is unashamedly optimistic about the future.
This post will be for patrons only until Monday morning—I do want to celebrate the anniversary in public on the auspicious anniversary of a certain battle, too…
Head over to http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk/twenty-years-of-battlegames/
The password for you to access the post over the next 36 hours or so is
“anniversary” (without the quotation marks).
Henry
20 years! Who’d’ve thunk?! This post stirs so many emotions in me I don’t know where to start.
1) There were 6 or 7 years of Battlegaming brilliance before the magazine?! Why did no one tell me? I missed all of it.
2) What was I doing in 1998 anyway – it’s ages ago? Ah I remember I was about to start on a particularly disappointing part of my career.
3) The interweb in 98? You were a bit of a pioneer. I’m not sure I knew it existed then.
4) The first 12-15 editions of Battlegames were excellent – really shook things up. I remember the stir they created at the time. Wargaming bods I knew we’re actually talking (positively) about a magazine again rather than cancelling subscriptions or complaining.
5) Your own writing in there wasn’t too shabby either. Still want to see Salamanca! Come get on with it – you must have some spare time now☺ – your public awaits (or is it just me?)
6) My genuine distress when you said it had to fold (regardless of the fact that I thought it wasn’t quite as good as at the start – it was, nevertheless better than anything else)
7) Nooooo…don’t pulp the magazines…!
Lots of very fond memories. Suddenly you’ve become a VIW (very important wargamer) having started simply by thinking a new magazine would be a good thing – see where 20 years will take you.
So, in summary, thanks for the most uplifting, positive nostalgic post I’ve read in a while but mainly for simply deciding to make a contribution to the hobby…and then making it big!
Cheers
Andrew
Thanks for that effusive and overwhelming response, Andrew! VIW – I think I might steal that… 😉 As for pioneer, I built my first website in 1996. My business partner at the time said “Nah, it’ll never catch on…” I kid you not!
Hi Henry
20 years, I can not believe it its been that long. It was a great day when I picked up the first copy and saw that at last a magazine to fill the gap left by the end of Practical. I have every copy from number 1 to the end. Glad I have no gaps seeing that all the back numbers were pulped.
Thanks for stopping by, Timothy and yes, you’re lucky to have a complete set.
A proper wander down memory lane! That anecdote about having to pulp back issues of the magazine is just horrifying! But after all the ups and downs you’re still here and the Battlegames ‘brand’ is still going strong. Long may it continue.
Thanks Lee. Much appreciated.
Henry,
I’m not sure if congratulations or commiserations are due; you continue to do a magnificent job helping wargaming to flourish and prosper, and I doubt if many people who have not tried to edit a magazine have any idea of the stress it can generate. My own modest efforts have involved editing THE NUGGET at various times over the the last thirty-eight years … and I’ve known that feeling of having a publication deadline looming and not a lot to put into the next edition!
I do hope that you continue to prosper and enjoy what you are doing, and communicating that to others inside the hobby.
All the best,
Bob
Thank you, Bob. As they say, it takes one to know one! I really appreciate your comments, Bob, and for my part, I’m delighted to see your own entures into print in recent years. More power to your elbow!
Thank you Henry for the continuing voyage, as it were, with Patreon. I have enjoyed and been totally satisfied voyaging with you since before BG#1, etc. Best wishes for success and satisfactions a plenty in the future.
Gratefully,
Bill Protz
Thank you, Bill, and it has been grand to have you aboard.
I loved Battlegames and my few hard copies are prized possessions! Thank you for making our hobby a much better place, Henry!
Thank you Thaddeus, that’s very kind.
Sadly missed. The only mag that came close was “Practical Wargamer”, though I did like Donald Featherstone’s Newsletters. (whoops, showing my age)
Thanks for the compliment—and indeed, Practical Wargamer was the magazine I saw as my predecessor.
I hadn’t realized that you had a Battlegames web site prior to the creation of the magazine in 2006. I miss that little red magazine and its successor, briefly, when it merged with MW. Publishing a magazine and being its editor is one of the hardest jobs that I ever did and I tip my hat to you for staying with it as long as you did and for always turning out a product, every month, that was fun to read and well worth the cover price.
I don’t think that I have bought a single magazine after you retired from the editorial reins of MW, so I was very happy when you announced that you were jumping back into the mix with the current Patreon venture.
Here’s to another 10-20 years of Battlegames!
Jim
Thanks for your support, Jim, and of course for your contributions to the magazine as well. It meant a lot to me that you were one of the leading US gamers to back the venture. Even 2006 seems like a long time ago, let alone 1998!
Well done, Henry and thank you! Your magazines (and web content) continue to bring me great joy and help keep things moving forward during those darker periods when there dosn’t seem to be enough free time for carefree hobby pursuits. I first stumbled onto your website in the early 2000s, and it was only in early 2006, just before the first issue of the magazine hit the stands, that I made the connection. The light went on as they say, and I returned to the hobby with renewed vigor after a dozen of so years away. Long live Battlegames (in whatever form that might be)!
Best Regards,
Stokes
Thanks Stokes – and of course, thanks for your contributions and support too.
Much as it saddens me I think that the golden age of the print magazine is certainly over and that we will slowly see a decreasing number of periodicals on the shelves of newsagents from now on.
I still have every Battlegames bound, preserved and retained and I do occasionally flick through and re read (mainly the Faltenian) articles but Patreon and similar sites where you subscribe and get your fix of your particular niche product (all for less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee) are, I suspect, the future.
The thing that touched me was the destruction of the old magazines. I can understand why that was asked for (cost of storage etc) but it must have been particularly difficult for you. The temptation to ‘rescue’ some additional copies would have been very hard to resist.
All the best for the future Henry
Thanks Nigel. Who knows what the future holds? Maybe our hobby fix will be beamed straight into our brains one day by the latest version of Amazon’s Alexa…!
As for pulping the magazines, yes, it was agonising. But I couldn’t afford to store them, there was no room at home to hide more of them and besides, at that point I was pretty depressed. Seeing the early issues now change hands at more than double the original cover price, well… c’est la vie!
Dear Henry,
A very concise and not at all self indulgent recap of a 20 year period that has had significant impact not only in your life but on those of other people. If it hadn’t been for Battlegames I would never have discovered Spencer Smiths and Imaginations. I was scared of being looked down on by ‘proper wargamers’ for my poor painting and magpie nature, as well as for my ‘it’s a game’ attitude. Through reading Battlegames, I realised that I was not alone, and this led me to attend the Featherstone weekend, which has now become my annual dose of fun gaming. You always talk about the impact The War Game had on you and I think it’s not gilding the lily to say that Battlegames had a similar impact on me. I miss my monthly dose of your writing, which always was like a big brother or favourite uncle taking time to explain things to the ‘not so young cub’. Many thanks for the last 20 years and here’s to another 20. Who knows, the third book might be out by then.
Thank you Mel, that’s very kind of you. I’m genuinely touched that my little, red magazine should have had such a positive effect. It’s about time our Spencer Smiths went head to head!
Great stuff, Henry. That “Battlegames” magazine sounds interesting.
Thanks for stopping by, Steve. Yes, it does, doesn’t it! There were actually some things there that we never quite got around to doing, which is a shame but also an opportunity to do so now.