Operations was Multi-Man Publishing's house organ for articles and discussion about its wargaming products, published from 1991 to 2010. [1] The stated aim of Multi-Man Publishing was to have Operations be to their line of games what The General was to Avalon Hill's line of products. It was published from 1991 to 2010, when it was replaced by a new magazine called Special Ops . [2]
The first issue of Operations was published in the summer of 1991 by The Gamers and was printed regularly, until The Gamers were taken over by MMP. The magazine was produced quarterly, until Issue 42, when production slowed to semi-regular status with only one issue being produced in 2003, and two issues a year in 2004 and 2005. Bruce Monnin, founder of The Boardgamer magazine, became editor of Operations beginning with the Fall 2004 edition (issue 46). The Boardgamer was founded in 1995 to support the old Avalon Hill games and was published from 1996 to 2004. [3] The last issue of Operations was #53 in the Fall of 2008, but there were also three Special Operations issues published yearly in 2008-2010 that had additional content such as full games, maps and counters. In Summer 2011 MMP published the first issue of its new "house organ" called Special Ops.
The magazine published quarterly beginning in 1991. By 2001, the printing schedule became extremely irregular, and output fell from four issues a year, to as little as one. The final issue, number 53, was published in 2010. Three "special editions" were published as summer issues in consecutive years in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Operations was nominated in the "Best Professional Wargame Magazine" category of the Charles S. Roberts Award (CSR) nine years in a row from 1992 to 2000, and again in 2005, but never won. [4] [5] It did win other CSR awards for best articles and games. [6] The game "Iwo Jima: Rage Against the Marines", published in Special Operations, won the Charles S. Roberts Award in 2008. [6]
Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company's "Hasbro Gaming" division.
Midway is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1964 that simulates the Battle of Midway during World War II.
Strategy & Tactics (S&T) is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue.
Multi-Man Publishing, LLC ("MMP"), founded in 1994, is a Maryland based game company that publishes many wargame titles, including Advanced Squad Leader and Operational Combat Series.
Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an enormous number of games and introduced innovative practices, changing the course of the wargaming hobby in its bid to take control of the hobby away from then-dominant Avalon Hill. SPI ran out of cash in early 1982 when TSR called in a loan secured by SPI's assets. TSR began selling SPI's inventory in 1982, but later acquired the company's trademarks and copyrights in 1983 and continued a form of the operation until 1987.
Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) is a tactical-level board wargame, originally marketed by Avalon Hill Games, that simulates actions of squad sized units in World War II. It is a detailed game system for two or more players. Components include the ASL Rulebook and various games called modules. ASL modules provide the standard equipment for playing ASL, including geomorphic mapboards and counters. The mapboards are divided into hexagons to regulate fire and movement, and depict generic terrain that can represent different historical locations. The counters are cardboard pieces that depict squads of soldiers, crews, individual leaders, support weapons, heavy weapons, and vehicles.
Charles Swann Roberts was a wargame designer, railroad historian, and businessman. He is renowned as "The Father of Board Wargaming", having created the first commercially successful modern wargame in 1952 (Tactics), the first wargaming company in 1954, and designed the first board wargame based upon an actual historical battle (Gettysburg). He is also the author of a series of books on railroad history, published by the small publishing firm, Barnard, Roberts, and Company, Inc.
The Charles S. Roberts Awards is an annual award for excellence in manual, tabletop games, with a focus on "conflict simulations", which includes simulations of non-military as well as military conflicts, as well as simulations of related historical topics. From its founding in 1975 through 2021, the award was almost exclusively focused on historical wargaming, changing to a broader "conflict simulations" in award year 2022.
Kingmaker is a board game published in the UK by PhilMar Ltd. in 1974 that simulates the political struggles to place a king on the throne of England during the Wars of the Roses. The game was popular, and other editions, including a computerized version, were produced by Avalon Hill, TM Games, and Gibsons Games. The game won a Charles S. Roberts Award in 1976.
The General (1964–1998) was a bi-monthly periodical devoted to supporting Avalon Hill's line of wargames, with articles on game tactics, history, and industry news. It was the first professionally produced wargaming magazine for the nascent cardboard and hex-map wargaming hobby. Over the years the magazine was variously called The Avalon Hill General, Avalon Hill's General, The General Magazine, or simply General. It was headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. With the sale of Avalon Hill to Hasbro in 1998 the magazine ceased. Its unofficial heir was Operations Magazine published by Multi-Man Publishing to support the line of Avalon Hill games that remained in print, but that too went out of print in 2010, replaced by Special Ops magazine in 2011.
Fire & Movement: The Forum of Conflict Simulation was a magazine devoted to wargames, both traditional board wargames and computer wargames. It was founded by Rodger MacGowan in 1975, and began publication the following year.
Richard Harvey Berg was a prolific American wargame designer. He was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 1987.
Gettysburg is a board wargame produced by Avalon Hill in 1958 that re-enacts the American Civil War battle of Gettysburg. The game rules were groundbreaking in several respects, and the game, revised several times, was a bestseller for Avalon Hill for several decades.
A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby developed in 1954 following the publication and commercial success of Tactics. The board wargaming hobby continues to enjoy a sizeable following, with a number of game publishers and gaming conventions dedicated to the hobby both in the English-speaking world and further afield.
Command Ops: Battle from the Bulge is a strategic command level computer wargame developed and by Panther Games in Australia and published by Matrix Games in 2010. The game is set around the historical WWII Western Front German offensive and Allied counter-offensive of 1944-45 launched through the Ardennes mountain region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg.
Mark Simonitch is an American wargame designer and graphic artist. His game designs include Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage and Ardennes '44, and he has made maps for Wilderness War and Empire of the Sun among others. He has worked at Avalon Hill and GMT Games. He was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 2002.
Kevin S. Zucker is an American wargame designer, historian, author, and musician.
John Frederick Prados was an American author, historian, and wargame designer who specialized in the history of World War II, the Vietnam War, and current international relations.
JagdPanther is a game magazine that was published from 1973 to 1976.
Rodger B. MacGowan is an artist, game developer, art director and magazine publisher who has been active in the board wargame industry since the 1970s. MacGowan is a prolific artist of cover art for wargames, and the wargaming magazine he founded, Fire & Movement, won the Charles S. Roberts Award several times while under his editorial control.