UK boardgaming magazines

I’ve recently started to read some gaming magazines and while looking for more options I realised that there aren’t that many produced in the UK. In fact, excluding ones like White Dwarf that are tied to a particular company’s products, I only knew of four and couldn’t seem to find any others. There are often digital editions available for magazines produced elsewhere, of course, but there’s still something about holding a physical magazine in your hands or reading a magazine that caters to the boardgame community in your own country.

So, without further ado, let’s get to the magazines.

Tabletop Gaming / Miniature Wargames

Tabletop Gaming and Miniature Wargames have been around for the longest of the ones mentioned here, being on issue 43 and 447 respectively. Unsurprisingly Tabletop Gaming focuses on boardgames, card games, and tabletop RPGs, while Miniature Wargames focuses on… wargames involving miniatures. They are both published by Warners Group Publications and share a website and Twitter account. Oddly, to me at least, the focus of both is on Tabletop Gaming despite Miniature Wargames being around for much longer, running for almost 30 years. Of the magazines mentioned here, these two are the one closest to what you would expect when you think of a hobby magazine. Tabletop Gaming, the magazine of the two that I’ve read, has a mix of content types, including the expected reviews, interviews, and lists, along with dives into specific game themes or mechanics, games from history, and painting guides. The magazines have a format that wouldn’t look out of place in WHSmith. Which is appropriate because you can actually go and pick them up in WHSmith.

Tabletop Gaming

From the Warners Group website:

Tabletop Gaming is the world’s leading magazine dedicated to every type of analogue gaming, from board games and RPGs to miniatures and wargames, with everything in-between. Whether you’re a D&D diehard, Magic newcomer, Eurogame enthusiast, Warhammer addict, Pandemic fanatic, X-Wing expert or Exploding Kittens obsessive, we’ve got exactly what you’re looking for.

Every month we feature exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at the biggest upcoming releases of the year, in-depth interviews with top designers, tips on how to get the most out of your hobby with painting guides and advice on roleplaying, and definitive reviews of the latest and greatest games you should be playing — plus much, much more.

From top ten lists and beginners’ introductions to help you jump straight into the best games you might have missed to reports from the UK’s most exciting events and friendliest local stores, there’s no corner of the hobby we leave untouched, from the games and their creators to the dedicated communities and players that enjoy them.

Miniature Wargames

From the Warners Group website:

The focus is on high-quality writing, excellent photography and superb maps of battles and campaigns. Articles include scenarios, coverage of the latest hobby developments, interviews with leading names in the hobby, reviews and analysis of popular rulesets, ‘how to’ articles about terrain building, how to transfer famous battles to the tabletop, advice about collecting and painting miniatures, opinion pieces and even free rulesets! A recent issue included a free directory of wargame clubs in the UK and its highly respected Recce section is renowned for its honest reviews or books, rulesets, miniatures and wargaming accessories, with only the very best being awarded the coveted “Battlegames Award for Excellence”.

Senet

Senet is a physical-only magazine, releasing only three issues per year. It is the newest of the ones I talk about here, only being on the second issue at the time of writing. Nevertheless it is presented well, with the slightly-larger-than-A5 format and minimalistic non-glossy cover and pages evoking the feel of a zine. Don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s light on content though as it comes in at a beefy 64 pages on 110gsm paper. The only drawback to this is that the format and paper thickness mean it’s always trying to spring closed rather than lay open like larger format magazines on slightly thinner paper. The layout and feel of the magazine is somewhere at the intersection of zine and gaming magazine, and it’s not afraid to dedicate a lot of page space to showcasing artwork from the games. While it inherits a lot of the structure and style from a more traditional magazine format, it also avoids being rigid and formulaic. The content includes items such as the expected reviews and interviews along with dives into specific game mechanics, themes, and the game design process. Each issue also has a readers’ letters section, a puzzle, and a section where they challenge a member of the boardgames community to play a game that has sat on their Shelf of Shame for too long.

From the Senet website:

Senet is an all-new independent print magazine about the craft, creativity and community of board gaming. It’s for people who love board games, from those who are new to the hobby and just discovering it via gateway games, to veteran players and board-game designers. The magazine promotes board gaming as an art form. Each issue includes previews of the most exciting and intriguing upcoming games, features which explore the tabletop experience and the creative processes behind it, and reviews of the latest releases from both major and independent publishers.

The Spirit

The Spirit (full name: The Spirit of Games & Gamers) is different to the other magazines discussed here, being a free digital-only magazine. That doesn’t mean it’s light on content though, with issues being around 90 pages each. The content varies from issue to issue, with some leaning more heavily towards reviews, others more towards opinion pieces, and even ones more focused on spotlighting events. It’s possible this variability in content is due to the magazine being free, making it harder to commission a consistent set of features, or it could be a deliberate choice to avoid getting stuck in a rigid format. Either way, if you like things to be a little more freeform then this could be the magazine for you. They do appear to have a few consistent features though: Solo Spotlight, which reviews a solo game, Spirited Snapshots, which is a group of short game reviews, and the Forum, which shows reader letters. Some issues have also had Mini Reviews, which is similar to Spirited Snapshots.

From The Spirit’s website:

Launched in 2018 at last year’s UK Games Expo, and the spiritual successor to both Sumo and Counter magazines, here at The SPIRIT the emphasis is always on bringing its readers pages and pages of game reviews and comments/opinion on card and board games both new and old alike!

Final thoughts

Tabletop Gaming and Miniature Wargames are safe options if you’re a fan of the traditional magazine format and are looking for a monthly source of gaming news. My problem is that I wouldn’t actually read them fast enough to make a subscription sensible for me. Seriously, I’ve tried with monthly magazine subscriptions in the past and I just end up with a Pile of Shame. I buy Tabletop Gaming here and there when it has features I particularly want to see.

Senet, on the other hand, with only three issues a year, is ideal for me; I’ll probably manage to finish one before the next is out. £7 per issue is more than a standard magazine, but the low frequency keeps the overall cost of a subscription down and, for me at least, it feels worth it to support a new magazine that doesn’t have the resources of a big publisher behind it.

Finally, The Spirit is a bit of an odd one out with it being digital-only. However, combine the digital distribution with a cost of zero pounds and there’s no barrier to checking it out and seeing if it’s for you. Personally I’m not very good at finding time to read digital magazines but that’s just my own quirk and doesn’t reflect an issue with the magazine itself.

All in all these magazines present three ways to get your boardgaming news that vary quite considerably in price, frequency, and distribution. Somewhere in there should be one that suits you.

John Kemp
I am a software developer by day and dip into a range of related activities in my spare time, including working on my own software projects, writing, proof-reading, and, of course, gaming of both the digital and boardgame varieties. I am slowly starting to sink my teeth into game development.