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Hi guys n gals,

I'm currently in the planning stage of a hardback nonfiction book that explores the history of tabletop miniature wargames and the people who play & create them. Tabletop Miniature Wargames have been played around the world for over 100 years, starting with HG Wells' Little Wars in 1913. Today we warmongers enjoy a multitude of games across a diverse range of genres which include scifi (Warhammer 40'000; Beyond The Gates Of Antares), fantasy (Kings Of War; Warhammer Age Of Sigmar) and historical (Bolt Action; Black Powder).

There are many subgenres such as steampunk (Warmachine), sports (Guildball; DreadBall) and dungeon crawls (Dungeon Saga; Zombicide; The Undercity) as well as movie tie-in games (Star Wars Miniature Game; Batman Miniature Game; Star Wars Imperial Assault).

"#Warmongers: a history of tabletop miniatures wargames and the people who play & create them" explores this rich and diverse history taking a look at how the hobby expanded and grew from a niche hobby into a multi-million dollar industry.

The book will include interviews with leading industry personalities (gamers, commission painters and tournament diehards) to get their take on why miniature gaming is so popular as well as creators of games such as Kings Of War, Warmachine and Warhammer. With over 30 years experience in the wargames industry as a gamer as well as having worked for GW as a manager/Regional manager during the 90's and as a freelance writer for companies such as Mantic Games and currently Gangfight Studios, I have the connections to speak to industry stalwarts to explore why they create the games we love.

Anyone who has a passing interest in tabletop miniature wargaming will find #Warmongers a fascinating insight into the industry, accompanied by glorious photographs of painted toy soldiers - something every hobbyist just can't get enough of as well as a detailed look at some of the leading games and miniatures while exploring the definition of the hobby.

The book is planned for late 2016 and will be published either by traditional publishers or via Kickstarter.

This is a long term project and I'm posting now to help gain interest which can then be included in the proposal to the traditional publishers (a couple have already expressed interest and they like a project that is gaining momentum). If you have any questions I'd like to direct you to the Facebook Page I've created for the book where I'll post updates as I go along. Feel free to Like, ask any questions, post your favourite games and pics of painted models which you'd be happy to have included in the book. I'm planning on attending several clubs, events and tournaments over the coming year to talk to as many gamers as possible to discuss why they enjoy the hobby, what their favourite games are and how they were attracted to wargaming.

I think this will be a fascinating insight into the development of tabletop miniatures wargaming over the last 100 years.

Cheers
JP

I'm interested to hear a bit about yourself, and what skills you possess that make you the person to write the history of wargaming. Do you have any background in business history at all? I'd also be intrigued to hear about the methodology you plan to use to gather/analyse data, and what sources you intend to tap.

I suppose what I'm really asking, is whether or not this is going to be an actual 'history' book, or just a collection of anecdotes from various people with shiny pictures.

Hi Ketara and thanks for the comments.

This isn't going to be some earth shattering in-depth analysis of the economic growth of the wargaming industry that academics will pour over, but rather an entertaining look at toy soldiers and their popularity over the years with shiny pictures!

Thanks to my involvment over the years with various wargames companies I'm ideally placed to have some good working relationships with people such as Alessio Cavatore, Ronnie Renton and Bryan Ansell (to name drop just three of the 40 people I'd like to interview).

It will follow a timeline starting in 1913 with the release of Wells' Little Wars and run up to the end of 2015 with Age Of Sigmar/Kings Of War. Along the way I'll look at some of the big name games like Warhammer, Warmachine and Bolt Action and how they came about, evolved and grew over the years, along with the people who game those systems.

Hope that answers your query.

Cheers
JP

See, that sounds to me as if you'd be better off trying to write a more recent 'history', if you will. If you're planning on rolling back a hundred years or so, you'll be needing more to go off than half an hour with Gav Thorpe or whoever, you'd need to actually head out the HG Wells archive in Illinois and suchlike, which requires a small degree of knowledge of historical practice.

You also said that you were going to explore ' rich and diverse history taking a look at how the hobby expanded and grew from a niche hobby into a multi-million dollar industry.' That statement to me has certain implications with regards to you needing to make judgements on which companies rose and fell, and why did they did so. I'm not talking about an 'earth shattering analysis of the economic growth', but if you're going to passing even casual reference to that sort of thing, you need to be aware of basic economic/business history concepts in order to place things in context and hope to have any sort of accuracy. You also need to be aware of those things in order to gauge when people are being less than truthful to put their own spin on events, or are indeed, ignorant themselves of broader trends in the hobby.

If you're not planning on doing these things however, then I begin to have difficulty seeing how you're labelling it a 'history'. If you're not going to talk about the wargames market from a business angle, and you're going to rely purely on whatever people choose to tell you as 'the truth' and your primary/sole source of material, well......I'll be honest, you could probably copypaste a book together out of old White Dwarf interviews and a few other secondary sources, and save yourself some time.

I apologise if this comes off as overly negative, but the project as proposed just seems very underthought with regards to execution, with nothing planned beyond, 'I've met a few people in the pub socially over work and reckon I can get them to talk to me'. Unless there's more detail you haven't put down, which I would of course, be glad to hear about!

As Ketra said and pointed out, what makes YOU the person to pen this tale of dice rolling? But anyhow I will probably read it at some point as its always nice to read about the hobby I spend much time om

I think this sounds like it could be really entertaining. And important.

I think you're doing it at the right time, too. Without being too maudlin - in a generation or so we're going to start losing folk from the social circles that can tell us about how these things started out, what it was like at the start of what we know of "modern" gaming. I don't mean losing them to death - I mean just quietly disappearing.

There are companies that came and went that were key to the aesthetics and games we have now - but my generation don't know who they all are. I only know because my other half is 50.
There are folks in my town that recognise each other on the streets through a network of wargaming that came and went, it's a very unique glue.

If I can make a suggestion, which you may well have considered, try and pitch this at the UK shows like Partisan, maybe open a little booth to get folks to give you their experiences. Get the old guard gaming societies like COGS on side and see what they can tell you as well.

Good luck with it, and I really do look forward to seeing what you do.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading Harry Pearson's "Achtung Schweinehund" and the "Wargaming Compendium" by Henry Hyde, whom both tackle certain aspects of our beloved hobby in their own way.

Again thanks for your input. I recommend taking a look at the very basic FB page just created which has a bit more about the project with more being added over time.

Right now I am in the planning stage, a six week long process where I get down the skeleton of the book, and decided exactly what will become the flesh. then follows a six month research stage where I gather all the info together, including business aspects as you rightly suggest, plus all the interviews are carried out etc. THEN the writing begins which is scheduled for four months with another two for the editing process.

All I'm offering for now publicly is the idea to gain a little interest in the project.

So long story short - I agree with what you're saying

Cheers
JP


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks everyone for your comments. There is a publishing plan I intend to follow which starts with approaching traditional publishers (2 of whom have already expressed an interest in reading the book proposal in September) and then if that doesn't take off I'll look at publishing it myself.

As to shows etc which Buttery Commisar mentioned (awesome name!) I plan to visit such events during the research phase - like I said: I'm just planning everything right now.

 Trondheim wrote:
As Ketra said and pointed out, what makes YOU the person to pen this tale of dice rolling?

I think a better question is "Who is going to do it if he doesn't?"

I don't see a queue.

If someone makes an attempt at a project like this, we can support them, ignore it, or we can gak on it from a great height. Either way, someone writing a book you don't personally enjoy does not prevent anyone else trying again in future.

I thought the first war game was Kriegsspiel back in the 1800s? I heard Kriegsspiel was the first book to really nail down and get it going (You can still buy these rules today, or at least the latest version) but for a little while before then I think there was lots of ideas floating around.

If you are going to write a book on the history of wargames you should play Kriegsspiel. I hear it is very complex and was made mostly for military simulation. Then from there it grew through clubs (who in turn made their own games and so on) until it grew to what we have today.

It could be cool, but war gaming has a pretty big history which could definitely be interesting. Will likely be a big project given how much variation in this hobby there is.

I would recommend, JP, that you find a suitable wargamer who happens to be a historian, and co-author the book with them. I'd suggest specific historians, but as you yourself has said, you're not looking to write an academic history, so period specific knowledge isn't such a big deal.

You see, writing and researching even a history book aimed at general consumption requires a different skill set to that of journalistic or fictional writing. I'm concerned that you trying to master that in a year and a half whilst writing simultaneously will result in a substandard end product, or a project that stretches on far beyond that. If you co-author, you'll have someone who already has that skill set, and you can split the workload with them to boot!

I'd volunteer, but I've just agreed to co-author a piece on submarine periscopes, and my research workload is heavy enough on top of that right now without taking on any other projects.

But best of luck to you!

 Buttery Commissar wrote:

If someone makes an attempt at a project like this, we can support them, ignore it, or we can gak on it from a great height. Either way, someone writing a book you don't personally enjoy does not prevent anyone else trying again in future.

Nobody's gakking on anybody, old bean. It's called being quizzical, and constructive criticism. I'm sure the Gentleman in question is mature enough to take or leave any advice offered without being offended (indeed, as a stated freelance writer, I daresay he's had a lot of it over the years, having your work proofread is rarely fun!).

No offence taken at all Ketera and it is this sort of feedback I was hoping for, so thank you for taking the time.

I understand your concerns and to try allay your worries a little: I've had this as an idea for some time now but I kept putting it off to write screenplays or novels or background fiction for Mantic or Gangfight Studios. However several projects which promised to become big (eg: a horror script about to go into production meaning a nice sale) fell through at the last minute and I was wondering what to write, because as a writer I HAVE to write!

Anyway, I've done research projects and written thesis papers in sociological and historical areas in my distant past and I really enjoyed that process. I toyed with an idea to write a fictional non-fiction book about a murder at a wargames convention but it never stuck.

However the name did and when Age Of Sigmar hit, that got me thinking about how much the wargaming scene has changed and wouldn't it be kinda cool to take a look at that from a gamers perspective, coupled with an insiders POV from various gaming companies as well as online retailers and FLGS owners.

Throw in some of those shiny pictures of painted toy soldiers and we're off!

So again long story short; I'm used to doing research and have a feeling the material I gather here could cover several books - how about book #2: "Fluff Bunny or WAAC? The psychology of the tabletop wargamer"

 Ketara wrote:
Nobody's gakking on anybody, old bean. It's called being quizzical, and constructive criticism. I'm sure the Gentleman in question is mature enough to take or leave any advice offered without being offended (indeed, as a stated freelance writer, I daresay he's had a lot of it over the years, having your work proofread is rarely fun!).

Oh, I didn't mean that was aimed at anyone, I just spat out some general attitudes.

Whenever I work on a project I always create a "wishlist cover" be it for a novel, a screenplay or in this case a non-fiction book which I pin above my desk as a motivational totem.

Here is my WIP cover for #Warmongers