Yaah! Magazine Why We Aren't Avalon Hill's General
Seems like there are a lot of gaming magazines on the market today, and many potential customers have asked me why I feel that our magazine, Yaah! Magazine, is different. Here are my thoughts, originally published at Consimworld, on the subject.
I want Yaah! to differentiate itself from other board gaming magazines in five areas. Before I start, none of these points should be interpreted as a slam against another magazine. I've been there, done that, and have the blog post to prove it.
1. Beautiful. The magazine needs to look good. I want a magazine that would sit well on an airport magazine stand. Full color outside, full color inside, professional layout (laid out by the same guy that used to lay out PlayStation magazine). No sea of gray.
2. Although published by Flying Pig Games, it is not a house magazine. A year from now, when FPG has 6-8 boxed games on the market, we will still NOT focus on FPG games. There are so many games out there, and I play them all, I believe you do too. But I don't want to bullshit you. Bottom line, I feel we'll sell more magazines by being open minded in our game selection. I'm still looking for someone to design ASL scenarios for us.
3. We will NOT solely focus on historical wargames. There are about 35 dozen historical wargame magazines out there. The world doesn't need another. Tom (Yaah!'s editor) and I differ a wee bit in this respect. He's more of a historical guy, I'm more of a ARS Victor, Imperial Assault, Sentinel Tactics kind of guy. The magazine will reflect this difference in interests. Yaah! #3 is a perfect example. The headliner game is Mark Stille's Into the Pocket, a wargamer's wargame about Unternehmen Wintergewitter (The German attempt to relieve their surrounded forces in the Stalingrad Pocket.). At the same time Matt Foster's riveting article on Fantasy Flight's Imperial Assault is a cornerstone of the issue, and one of the best articles I've recently read.
4. We will not drone people to sleep with poorly written historical diatribes. We all want some background to our games, I get it, but the backgrounds will be brief, lively, and well written.
5. Different production technique. Yaah! is print on demand. Please take a minute to understand the concept. We are NOT desktop published. Our printer is as professional as Germany's Ludo Fact. Nor does our printer print each issue when you order. Using digital (as opposed to offset) printing, our printer prints in short runs (usually a couple of hundred). When we run low, we have him print more. Easy, peasy.
So that's what makes us different. Oh yeah, there is a sixth point of differentiation. When we say that we are a quarterly magazine, we mean it. I understand, so do all the other publishers. God knows, I've delivered my share of late products. But I feel we have the editor, the writers, and the production techniques to pop a new Yaah! out of the womb every three months. So far, so good. Please come along for the ride. You can order Yaah! magazine right here.
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games, the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military science fiction novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? The games? Well that's Flying Pig Games. Retribution will release in the summer of 2015.
I want Yaah! to differentiate itself from other board gaming magazines in five areas. Before I start, none of these points should be interpreted as a slam against another magazine. I've been there, done that, and have the blog post to prove it.
1. Beautiful. The magazine needs to look good. I want a magazine that would sit well on an airport magazine stand. Full color outside, full color inside, professional layout (laid out by the same guy that used to lay out PlayStation magazine). No sea of gray.
2. Although published by Flying Pig Games, it is not a house magazine. A year from now, when FPG has 6-8 boxed games on the market, we will still NOT focus on FPG games. There are so many games out there, and I play them all, I believe you do too. But I don't want to bullshit you. Bottom line, I feel we'll sell more magazines by being open minded in our game selection. I'm still looking for someone to design ASL scenarios for us.
3. We will NOT solely focus on historical wargames. There are about 35 dozen historical wargame magazines out there. The world doesn't need another. Tom (Yaah!'s editor) and I differ a wee bit in this respect. He's more of a historical guy, I'm more of a ARS Victor, Imperial Assault, Sentinel Tactics kind of guy. The magazine will reflect this difference in interests. Yaah! #3 is a perfect example. The headliner game is Mark Stille's Into the Pocket, a wargamer's wargame about Unternehmen Wintergewitter (The German attempt to relieve their surrounded forces in the Stalingrad Pocket.). At the same time Matt Foster's riveting article on Fantasy Flight's Imperial Assault is a cornerstone of the issue, and one of the best articles I've recently read.
4. We will not drone people to sleep with poorly written historical diatribes. We all want some background to our games, I get it, but the backgrounds will be brief, lively, and well written.
5. Different production technique. Yaah! is print on demand. Please take a minute to understand the concept. We are NOT desktop published. Our printer is as professional as Germany's Ludo Fact. Nor does our printer print each issue when you order. Using digital (as opposed to offset) printing, our printer prints in short runs (usually a couple of hundred). When we run low, we have him print more. Easy, peasy.
So that's what makes us different. Oh yeah, there is a sixth point of differentiation. When we say that we are a quarterly magazine, we mean it. I understand, so do all the other publishers. God knows, I've delivered my share of late products. But I feel we have the editor, the writers, and the production techniques to pop a new Yaah! out of the womb every three months. So far, so good. Please come along for the ride. You can order Yaah! magazine right here.
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games, the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military science fiction novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? The games? Well that's Flying Pig Games. Retribution will release in the summer of 2015.
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