Appendices AppendicesThe Paper Wargame Publishers
The publishers of wargames are a diverse lot. They all generally have one thing in common. The people producing the games are gamers themselves. Moreover, the management of many of the publishing companies also consist of hobbyists. This factor generates an unending stream of interesting and usually good (and always sincere) games.
As with most "industries" the wargame field is dominated by a handful of companies. At this point, Avalon Hill is by far the largest factor in manual games publishing. Avalon Hill was the original publisher of wargames and they never published that many, preferring instead to promote energetically the sales of the small number of games they had published. This was largely because they had the widest distribution system and could have developed a serious inventory control system if they had too many titles in print. Avalon Hill also republishes new editions of their old games as well as other publishers games they have bought the rights to. Victory Games, basically an imprint of Avalon Hill, publishes games in the old SPI style, for which there is still a market.
Avalon Hill, because of their origins in the earliest days of wargames publishing, is practically the only company that manufactures games with stiff, mounted map boards. They are able to maintain competitive prices, even with this, because of the enormous volume they do with each of their games. Most other games are sold in volumes equivalent to those of hardcover books (5,000 to 10,000 units per title). Avalon Hill, on the other hand, can still sell more than 10 times that many units per title. This gives them economies of scale which are passed on to the consumer. In addition to their wargames, Avalon Hill puts out an expensive line of sports and nonhistorical "adult" games. Their in-house R&D (about half a dozen people) spends most of its time working on game-related projects. In the last 20 years, Avalon Hill has published nearly a hundred games.
Below Avalon Hill, there are about a dozen other publishers who often publish fantasy and science fiction games in order to make it possible to publish the less profitable wargames. Together, these smaller companies probably account for nearly half of all wargames sold. The smaller wargames publishers are:
Australian Design Group. A small operation down under that puts out a small number of high quality games.
Clash of Arms Games. Small outfit doing highly detailed wargames.
Decision Games. Current publisher of Strategy and Tactics magazine (each issue with a game in it). Also publishes game for distribution in stores.
Fresno Gaming Association. New company dedicated to bringing out large, very detailed wargames.
The Gamers, Inc. Small outfit, that publishes only wargames (a rarity these days).
Game Designers Workshop (GDW). After Avalon Hill, the largest wargame publisher. GDW now publishes mainly fantasy and science fiction titles to pay the bills.
GMT games. A new publisher (1990) that has so far put out a number of high quality and popular wargames.
Games Research/Design (GRD). This is unique outfit. Their primary purpose is to keep in print the "Europa" series of interlocking games on World War II. The Europa series was begun by GDW in the 1970s and the rights were bought by GRD in the late 1980s. The Europa series has a devoted following of enthusiastic military historians.
Milton Bradley. Yes, this is the same major game publisher. Outfits this size have, on occasion attempted to enter the wargames field. Most soon discovered that it was much too small to be worth the effort. However, Milton Bradley has published several simple wargames that still appeal to the mainline wargamer. The games have stayed in print, and are available just about everywhere.
Nova Game Design. Noted mainly for their unique booklet based air combat games.
Omega Games. So far, have done game primarily on contemporary topics.
Palladium Books. Primarily a role playing game publisher, but they have done several titles on modern historical military topics.
Simulation Design, Inc. Small company devoted mainly to American Civil War games.
TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) originally started out as an operation to publish rules for playing wargames with miniatures, but soon developed a game called Dungeons and Dragons, which was the first of the fantasy role-playing games. This in turn developed into one of the first truly "mass appeal" wargames. By virtue of this one product catching on, TSR was catapulted into the upper ranks of game publishers. Most of their other games have been less successful, traditional type, games. The most successful product' TSR has published to date have been those that supplement and support Dungeons and Dragons. When TSR absorbed SPI in 1982, they continued to publish some of SPIs older titles, as well as some new ones.
West End Games. Originally a publisher of only wargames. Over the years its output of wargames has declined (but not disappeared). Fantasy and science fiction title production has increased considerably.
World Wide Wargames (3W). A British transplant to California. So far, only publishes wargames.
XTR. The publisher of Command magazine (with a game in each issue), they also publish a line of inexpensive games that are available in stores. XTR is one of the major proponents of "alternative history" games. Things like, "what if the Germans or Japanese had won World War II, or the Confederates had won the Civil War, and so on. They published a game on the 1991 Gulf war that gave the Iraqis an excellent chance of winning. There is a market for this sort of thing, although it's an acquired taste.
There are several other publishers, most with only one title to their credit and likely to disappear when that one title disappears. There are also several other former wargame publishers that currently do only fantasy and science fiction (Mayfair, Steve Jackson Games) but, as they are run by wargamers, may again publish some wargames.
