Tuesday, May 12th

In this newsletter

Hambone!

A quick one from the editor.

From the start, the Analog Union Newsletter had a clear vision and dedicated purpose: to uplift creators and turn our readers on to cool things in the TTRPG hobbysphere.

So today, I am proud to announce a new bi-weekly column, Friends of the Union. Every other week, we are excited to introduce you, dear reader, to some amazing creators from diverse backgrounds. We figure the best way to spotlight them is to offer a platform to give you the 411 in their own words. And who knows, you might just find your new favorite creator.

-JHM

Arcane Sword Press

Magazine Madness continues with The General from Avalon Hill!

This is a hard one to write and to fairly give a review, for a few reasons:

1. The Quantity: The General was a biweekly magazine published from 1964 to 1998! 34 years! And the problem with me even attempting to give it a justified look at it’s legacy its already a logistical problem due to the scope and my lack of familiarity with the publication 

2. The Content: Avalon Hill was (is still; see below) a wargaming company. They were known for their chit-and-hex wargames, packaged in a nice, neat box that sat on a bookshelf. And within this framework, they covered everything from real-world military campaigns and specific battles to contemporary conflicts, and later dabbled in science fiction and fantasy games, both original concepts and licensed IPs.

3. A lack of experience:  My experience is RPGs with limited tabletop wargaming experience, and no chit-and-hex experience at all. In fact, I have zero experience with the limited RPG releases Avalon Hill did release during the 1980s. So, can I even give The General any fair opinion since I’m truly an outside observer? Well, let’s find out!

With all of my reviews for hobby magazines of yesteryear, I at least have some sort of method to attack it, usually the “first year” (Dungeon Magazine) or Classic Era (Dragon Magazine) or even on one side of a publisher’s shift (Pre-40k White Dwarf), to attempt to narrow down a focus. I honestly don’t even know how to do that after 34 years as a staple of wargaming publishing. So I’m going to jump in at the mid-point from an issue I own- the DUNE issue from March-April 1980.

I got this issue because I was extremely pulled into the legendary Dune board game by Avalon Hill, released in 1979, which I have yet to get six players together to commit to playing a game based on a book. This game is extremely compelling and ahead of its time for 1979. This issue of The general refers to it as a “role-playing game” within its wargaming framework. Which it’s not, or not by even 1979 standards, but I get what they mean in a way, since Dune allows you to negotiate and roleplay as the major factions to get the upper hand in the asymmetrical gameplay of the board game. 

Regardless, I think this issue encapsulates this era of The General. The magazine not only served as a promotional arm for their games (which nearly all the magazines I cover did), but also continued to release scenarios and support their back catalog in later issues. So, for example, in this particular issue, there are full-color overviews and insights into each playable faction, each with a page dedicated to it, along with reproductions of the game’s graphic elements (which are fantastic) to help pull new players in. Avalon Hill does a fantastic job at explaining what their games are through The General to help pull in new players. 

Remember when I said they provide support for their back catalog? Well, Dune had variations and new factions added to it over the years in The General, with the final example of this being in the 1997 Starship Troopers film game issue, released in the final year of the magazine! 17 years later, they were still alternative rules being officially released for a game from 1979, with tokens and cards with the same graphic design and everything. Crazy!

Another notable game released by Avalon Hill was Squad Leader in 1977. Squad Leader is a landmark game that seemed to change the chit-and-hex scene and inspire endless imitators and derivatives. Squad leader has a dedicated player base to this day, and that is thanks to Avalon Hill releasing new scenarios in seemingly every other issue until its closure.

To my fellow dungeoncrawlers, Avalon Hill had a significant impact on D&D due to its publishing of Outdoor Survival in 1972, the wilderness exploration and survival game that served as the main board used as a world map in the development of Blackmoor and later OD&D. We have hexcrawling because of Avalon Hill. And in true Avalon Hill fashion, they released expanded rules in later issues of The General, including the landmark Dune issue!

Even without mentioning the sheer content and support Avalon Hill put into its magazine, the graphic design is fantastic. Truly from another time, but it’s all extremely attractive. Full color maps and illustration, sometimes being in a high-contrast photorealistic style (as seen on the cover of games like Squad Leader) are peppered throughout each issue. But while this style didn’t entirely change as they reached their twilight years in the 1990s, the retro charm of much of their spot art aged far better than the digital gradients and layers found in contemporary hobby magazines of the era.

Later issues contained strategies for PC games as the RTS genre was taking off.

In 1998, Avalon Hill was sold to Hasbro, who immediately laid off the entire staff. After a few years in limbo, the brand was acquired by Wizards of the Coast, during which some games were released under the Avalon Hill imprint. Most recently, Avalon Hill has now shifted back to Hasbro Gaming and is now applied to the current editions of Talisman, HeroQuest, Fury of Dracula, and other classics. So it’s good to see that the name is still in use, but now being applied to games that weren’t even released by them originally, and not even wargames. 

Wargaming board games are alive and well if you know where to look, with that whole scene seeming to push the boundaries of what a wargaming board game can be. It’s unfortunate not to see the name Avalon Hill included with this side of the hobby, but instead to see it applied as a branding to miscellaneous board game IPs Hasbro has gobbled up over the decades. Squad Leader is alive and well with fans still supporting it, even if Hasbro won’t. And I’m sure that’s because of The General.

Next time: The Duelist Magazine by Wizards of the Coast

• Bryan

Friends Of The Union

Meldar16 Games

Hi, my name is Melanie Green, and I’m the artist, writer, printer, and owner of Meldar16 Games. I’ve been illustrating comics and zines for at least 20 years, got into D&D about a decade ago, and have been publishing my own TTRPGs for the past 6 years.

Meldar16 went from my Instagram handle to a game company with the Atera Redux campaign world. After the  10th  painting and first 70 pages of notes for a home game, I was urged to release it on drivethru, and then had print copies in my hands. Glorious, wonderful print copies. 

Coming from a punk & DIY background, I wanted to be able to print my own zines going forward. I only had one of those workhorse Brother toner printers, so a series of black and white zines came next: 4 zines to flesh out the Atera Redux campaign world, and my first couple of original games with their own rules.

Disaster struck, but afterward Meldar16 kicked into high gear. The Brother printer literally exploded and caught fire. It was worked to death. Afterward, I started buying the color 4 Printers of the Apocalypse, the Bookbinders of Doom, and the Paper Guillotine of the Proletariat. This both let me fully print my own catalog and sparked new ideas since I could execute so much more.

So these days, I partner up with my husband, Sean, and we focus on our original games and on creating more adventures. We tend to keep our games like our home games with friends. Lighthearted, light on rules, and hopefully light on the wallet. I can also fully stretch my illustration muscles without the restrictions on format and color. 

The Meldar16 bibliography has 2 Atera Redux campaign books for D&D, 5 zines to expand that world, and 6 original games that run the gamut from murder mystery to sci-fi to a game about lighting farts on fire. The next release is a dungeon based on a misinterpreted song lyric that’s been sitting in my head my whole life: “Knights in White Satin.”

Stillfleet Studio

Grit System Game Jam – Now With Guest Judges & Prizes! 

If you’re curious about the system that powers Stillfleet, Blister Critters, Danse Macabre, and other new TTRPGs, check out the jam and consider joining!

Three pillars of the Grit System

1. Scores are dice – Roll 1 die, hit a 6 or better, keep it simple!

2. Burn grit to boost – Players control the action with a limited pool of energy for boosting rolls and using rad powers

3. Narrative powers – Building on Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark, powers can immediately change the story at the table (they’re “hard move”)

The result is a “medium-crunch,” extensible system that works across genres and levels of complexity. And we want you to hack it! One-page game? Cozy demake? Alt-rules take on your homebrew/in-progress next game? Just a list of cool powers? That all sounds grand—send it our way.

GameFace Con, Baltimore, MD – May 23rd & 24

Baltimore’s Annual  Tabletop Game Convention at Peabody Heights Brewery

 12 pm – 8 pm both days. 

Meet creators, shop, and play  tabletop RPGs and board games

NeonCon 3-D, Virtual Convention – May 23rd & 24

NeonCon 3-D! May 22nd-23rd over on the Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland discord!!! 

Come play Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland and all its offshoot games, as well as other indie RPGs and old out-of-print games!!!

Make sure to bring your 3D glasses! Each night we will show an old 3D movie!

ModCon 2026 Northampton, MA – May 30th

Game submissions are open now, and badges are on sale for the first-ever ModCon. 

It’s happening May 30th at the beautiful Smith College Conference Center in Northampton, MA. ModCon is a one-day convention dedicated to the modern-era genre of TTRPGs. 

That includes games like…321 RPG • Call of Cthulhu • World of Darkness • Cyberpunk • Shadowrun • Marvel Super Heroes

• Mutants & Masterminds • Delta Green • Savage Worlds • Burn 2d6 • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • WHPA and more!

It’s going to be a great day of gaming, dedicated to all kinds of settings in the 20th and 21st centuries, in worlds both like our own and very, very different. Sign up below, and we’ll see you there!

ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th

ArcaneCon is returning October 16th & 17th, 2026. Join us in a celebration of indie, old school, and old school-inspired RPGs, miniature games, board games, and more! ArcaneCon is Western Massachusetts’s premiere tabletop hobby convention! Game submissions will go live on March 1st! See more information at Tabletop Events.

Your editor this week has been Hambone of Ham & Egg Publishing. 

Keep on emailing us at hello@analogunion.com to let us know what you’d like to see more of/less of and to share ideas.

If you enjoy the Analog Union newsletter, please tell your friends to sign up at AnalogUnion.com.

Until next time!

—JHM