by Strap in for this week’s #TuesdayNewsday, where the world of wargaming comes to life. We’re bringing you the latest updates from tabletop games, digital wargaming, and the defense industry, all in one action-packed roundup.
As we get ready for Origins, the 50th Anniversary project that they’ve done in conjunction with Temple University is now live, and features a bunch of history & timelines, as well as interviews with key players over the years (oh, and Brant, too). The gallery of program covers and old site books is pretty neat, too.
You’ve no doubt seen our downtime issues over the past week or so. We’re working on it, but it’s become a significant hassle that the firewall installation was supposed to solve. It’s been 2 weeks and it’s no closer to being solved, so we’re looking into a couple of options, including moving to a new host altogether, and setting up a mirror for our articles with a different host
So apparently this current outage with the host is impacting about 120k or so sites globally, and not just us.But they STILL can't tell us anything about resolution timeline and we're about to start billing them for the time we're stuck on the phone with them
— Armchair Dragoons (@armchairdragoons.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T17:43:36.000Z
GAMA took a delegation to Washington DC this week to meet with lawmakers. This was GAMA President Nicole Brady’s post on Facebook
I’m currently en route to DC to join other professionals in advocating for the tabletop game industry. If you’ve ever played a game, you’ve been impacted by this industry and the people in it. You might not realize who that includes so I’m here to share a very rough overview of the many faces that bring joy to tables everywhere.
Creators: (Not to be confused with content creators) They are the ones who come up with the idea and hone it to what you see on the store shelves whether it be a board game, a card game, dice game, role playing game, toy, accessory, book, digital product or, well, pretty much anything else. That includes designers, artists, illustrators, rule writers, editors and a whole host of others.
Publishers: They are the company perceived as the owner of the game or product. Sometimes they are while other times they license the work from the designer, similar to how authors sign books. From product development (often hiring creators to hone the product) to marketing the final product, publishers are tasked with doing or coordinating everything needed to get it onto those store shelves.
Manufacturers: Factories that make the physical product. They source the raw materials and transform the design into what you see on store shelves. Products in the tabletop game industry are diverse. Some are cards in a box or blister pack. Some have dice. They may have tokens, small metal, resin or wooden pieces, cardboard tiles and sometimes a board. These are an extremely small sampling of the variety of possible components. Far from the days of rules being printed in the box lid, games now have color rulebooks, some bound like a book and others folded. The variety of what is inside the package requires unique tooling machines and expertise. There are options for some of that in the US but the size and scope of this industry is massive. That means products are made at manufacturers across the globe who have the ability and right resources to do the job.
Distributors: These are the logistical folks who take the handoff from the manufacturers and get them to the shelves. It may be a mass merchandiser, a local game store, a specialty shop, a virtual storefront or any other place you would purchase a product.
Retailers: Unless you are purchasing direct from a publisher, these are the places you buy the products. Whether it’s a brick and mortar of any size or a digital storefront, these are the folks who sell the products.
Media & Events: Content creators, journalists, marketers, event managers and many more make up this group who help promote the products. If you have attended a convention, watched, heard or seen ads, reviews, overviews, walk-thrus, interviews or even just conversations on social media, you’ve interacted with this segment of the industry.
Production: All the support to achieve the various steps including accounting, HR, signage and an assortment of other things you didn’t think about.
The quantity of people involved in the tabletop game industry is much larger than people realize. Some are sole proprietors, or any size of business with staff. Some do this full time while others part time or as gig work. There are clubs, meetup groups and charities focused around this healthy form of engaging entertainment.
So much of that is currently in jeopardy due to the current environment surrounding tariffs. There are a lot of misconceptions about tariffs and they often revolve around the desire to bring manufacturing stateside. Even if that were possible (it’s a much bigger conversation that I don’t care to elaborate on here), that isn’t the biggest issue. There are very thin margins… Publishers could pass the tariffs on to the consumer in the form of price adjustments. That also isn’t the biggest problem. It’s the uncertainty of what those tariffs will be. Like some high-intensity amusement park ride, the tariffs have been constantly in flux. Even with the announcement of a rate, publishers haven’t been able to plan their MSRP around that because the tariffs have changed multiple times. I know publishers who received tariff (tax) bills on shipments they thought were within a window that had a lower (or no) tariffs. These inconsistencies and unexpected costs have caused some publishers to close down, lay off staff or simply pause operations. This isn’t a case of one or two companies… it’s MANY.
How does this impact you? Aside from the economical fallout in your local communities caused by layoffs and closings, retailers won’t have products to sell. The current course of events has disrupted the timeline of production for products designed for holiday shopping. In other words, start your Christmas shopping now. Or at least have plans so you can easily pivot when – not if – the store shelves are empty during the holidays.
While I have my own personal story, as President of the The Game Manufacturers Association – GAMA Board of Directors, I’m on my way to DC because all the folks in these various segments are being impacted by the current legislation. Not just with the scheduling hiccups, but their livelihoods. As publishers are forced to put projects on hold, all the others mentioned above who make a living in the industry – including their own companies – are being harmed. Manufacturing, distribution, marketing aren’t needed if there isn’t a product to in the pipeline to sell. Designers who licensed their products may not get paid or are being paid late because the companies are short on funds or closed entirely. And as I said before, retailers won’t have products to sell. There are so many layers and this is just the tip of it. If you are impacted in any way, please share your story. Spread the word. Talk to your legislators. The only way we can fix this is to make our voices heard and create a space where uncertainty surrounding tariffs isn’t a factor.
And that’s what the coalition of GAMA members I’ll be joining in DC are hoping to do. Wish us luck
- Genius Games are raising prices as a result of the tariffs
- An attempt to track current tariff rates
- Cephalofair has laid off one person and put most of the rest on 50% furloughs, including the COO
- Wargames Altantic has moved all of their manufacturing for any non-US market out of the US
Hitting the shelves (and webstores) near you now!
- Battles in the East #3: Battle for Pomerania and Drive to the Sea was spotted in the wild, so can we say that it’s shipping?
- Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #30 – Mediterranean Campaign 1940–1941 is now shipping
- Star Trek Adventures 2nd Ed Technical Manual is now available from Modiphius
- Steve Jackson Games’ started shipping the Munchkin Big Box with a crapton of cards, maps, meeples, and more
- The Angola 1988 DLC for Wars Across The World from Avalon Digital is now available
- Rapid Fire! released a PDF of their old ’96 book on Russian unit org’s from 1941-1945
- New Stuff from Warlord Games
- From Avalanche Press’ newsletter / store, it looks like both of these packages are shipping?
They’re so vague on “order it now and we’ll ship it when it gets here some time before football season” vs “we will walk into the warehouse and drop this actual thing that we have in our building into the mail to your within the next 20 minutes” so it can be hard to tell for sure- Spring Launch Party with Jutland: Baltic Sea, Far Side of the World, Atlantic Breakout, and South Seas Mandate
- Pineapple Empire with Remember the Maine and Russo-Japanese War, which have the pieces needed to play the included Kingdom of Hawaii campaign study, but you still need the operational map from Midway
- Demo of the digital adaptation of Mr President from GMT is on Steam
- The latest releases for The Pacific 1942-1943 for Flames of War
Time to get those orders in now and then either (a) complain that it’s 2 years late, and/or (b) be surprised when it gets here sooner than you thought
- This week’s newsletter from On Military Matters includes pre-orders for By Fire & Sword II minis and some Jon Sutherland books, among plenty of others
- The new Drop Zone: Chef Du Pont HASL module is now on pre-order, and launched back on D-Day
- Paging Hethwill! Ahoy – an new first-person age of sail game – is now on Kickstarter
- Pre-order for Against the Iron Ring – The fate of the Sixth Army in Stalingrad is up now over at VUCA Sims
- Big set of neoprene maps from Columbia Games is on Kickstarter and you can pick & choose which maps you want (incl Harn!)
- Border Base is a digital colony-builder style game along a fortified frontier, now on Kickstarter
- Phantom Division is a new 3d tabletop game from the SEAL Team Flix guys
- Lone Wolf: U-Boar Command is a solo wargame on Kickstarter as a print-&-play project
- Goodman Games has relaunched City State of the Invincible Overlord and appear to be trying to walk a fine line between varying groups of fans determined to be upset no matter what course of action they take with it
- S.55 Wings over the Atlantic is a new game about transatlantic flight in the 1920s & 30s
- One Page Naval Battles looks like Battleship on steroids, and it might be, but it’s also pretty cheap on Gamefound
Looking for a deal? Getting more bang for your buck?
- WDS “Game of the week” is Campaign Marengo for $29.95
- You can save 10% with coupon code SURF on the new Shape Water dice from Dice Envy
- With the Devil Pigs folding up shop, you can get all the Heroes of Normandie expansions and extras dirt cheap over at Miniature Market right now
We were a little short this week thanks to some unplanned downtime!
- Saturday Night Fights ~ “Bloody Omaha” for “I Ain’t Been Shot Mum”
- Tactical AmRev: Series Overview of GMT’s Battles of the American Revolution
- Origins 2025 Countdown – All The Wargaming Events
- AARs
- Gameplay this week
The Best Thing We Saw On Another Site This Week Was
An interview with Jason Carl, the new brand manager for the relaunched White Wolf
Vampire is the obvious example. Vampire is about the consequences of being this terrible thing that you probably didn’t ask to be and maybe don’t like being. Knowing that your humanity’s been left behind. Knowing that there’s this beast inside you that wants you to do terrible, terrible things and you’re probably going to do them — dealing with the consequences of that. And at the same time trying to interact with a world that is full of personal and political horror.
But for Werewolf, it’s different, right? The key concept of Werewolf is that you failed. You blew it. You had one job, Mr. Garou, and it was to protect the earth. And you didn’t.You spent too much time fighting with each other, arguing about the best way to do it. And now, is it too late? Maybe. Your rage may be useless. Maybe it has no place to go.
For Mages, it’s the temptation of absolute power. You tell yourself you’re going to be a good person. You tell yourself you’re going to use this power for the benefit of the world, for the benefit of others. But when the chips are down, when you’re confronted with that choice, when the temptation is right in front of you, will you do that? Or will you do what so many human beings do and make a mistake or even fail, make the wrong choice.
This week’s best written coverage from the wargaming world
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The best videos this week from our wargaming friends
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Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream talked about Mark Simonitch’s games
Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world
- ICv2 reports that Asmodee are trying to rebrand as a more consumer-friendly brand
- BoardGameWire reports that Asmodee has snapped up the Zombicide franchise from CMON
- BoardGameWire also has a nice article about Panda (the giant Chinese manufacturer) moving some production out of China
- As discussed on Ardy’s counter-slipping show, there’s from Carl Fung, posted to BGG
- A whole lot of staffing changes over at Chaosium
- AI models playing Diplomacy together? And it’s not a scene from Altered Carbon?
- WDS updates on their Sword & Siege series
An interesting thread here about ship design in Ad Astra’s games
Unpacking this further, because Upper Management coughed up a hairball and I am wide awake at 2:30 AM.
Don’t forget to check our consolidated event & convention calendar for more!
You can also submit your own events for our calendar here.
- Wargame Days at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC ~ 6 July and 3 August
- Next confirmed live event is Origins Game Fair, 18-22 June 2025
- Next planned virtual event is the ACDC1, 16-18 January, 2026
Other Conventions & Events
- 18-23 Jun ORIGINS (Columbus OH)
- 20-23 Jun LibertyCon (Chattanooga TN)
- 20-23 Jun Southern Fried Gaming Expo (Atlanta GA)
- 11-20 Jul Consim World Expo (Tempe AZ)
- 11-14 Jul Human Wave (Washington DC)
- 11-14 Jul Twister Lords (Midwest City / OKC)
- 16-21 Jul Historicon (Lancaster PA) which includes Historicon yet again running off with our ideas2 and their SPI’s Alive Fest
- 26-4 Aug World Boardgaming Championships (Seven Springs PA)
- 31-4 Aug GenCon (Indianapolis IN)
- The Origins 2025 site book is here
- This week, we listed the wargame events for the entire show – and there’s over 700 of them, so there’s plenty for wargamers to do
- As mentioned above, the Origins 50th Anniversary project is now live, too
Origins 2025 Coverage
Wargame HQ Events ~ War College Previews ~ Wargame HQ Previews ~ Exhibitor Spotlight ~ All The Wargaming Events ~ The Final Countdown ~ Setup & First Games ~ The Charles S Roberts Awards ~ The View From Above ~ WHQ Gameplay ~ AAR for A&A Arnhem ~ Random Tidbits ~ The AAR ~ Exhibit Hall
Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about our dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals!
- Video: Designing Games for PME – Commander’s Intent with Philip Buckingham
- A card game to teach about prescribing antibodies?
- Dr Yuna Wong is running a series on how to run professional wargames, starting in early July, and you can sign up here
- The DATE scenario being used by allies in the Pacific for training on large-scale ops there
- NATO exercises in Estonia
- Some cool new digital map tables for wargming in the Czech Republic
- Some different wargaming initiatives at the National Defense University
- Several international allies sat in on Taiwan’s recent tabletop exercises
- How can you use wargaming to harvest data, or shape perceptions? Kevin’s got thoughts — thoughts!
- Wargaming Weekly asks why security clearances are such a stumbling block to aspiring professional wargamers
- This week, Mick Ryan talks about the goings-on in the Pacific
- The next GUWS webinar is Playing the Past to Understand the Present (tonight!) and An Historian’s View of Contemporary Wargame Design on 17 June
- PaxSims has an interesting3 article about an exercise where the Chinese locked down Taiwan, and the Europeans ‘froze’
We had a final student game prototype day yesterday at ISM University of Management and Economics. Some guests from the game development industry and the faculty joined, which was a great opportunity for students to show what they did. What was that more specifically?
— Pijus Krūminas (@pijusk.bsky.social) 2025-06-10T14:59:39.339Z
Something neat from outside the wargaming world we thought was worth sharing
That’s all for this week!
Be sure to drop by our forums and join the fun, and next Tuesday we’ll drop some more news on you.
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