Fire & Movement

"Fire & Movement: The Forum of Conflict Simulation" began publication in 1976 and was founded by Rodger MacGowan. As of 2005 the magazine is still in print. The magazine has been devoted to covering games from a variety of manufacturers, specializing in wargames, both traditional board wargames and also computer wargames.

World Wide Wargames (also known as 3W) acquired Diverse Talents Inc. (DTI), publisher of "Fire & Movement" as well as "Battleplan" and "Space Gamer", in 1988, leading to a complete merger of the two companies. 3W then continued on to publish four gaming magazines simultaneously. John Vanore was the only "outsider" appointed to editorial duties, taking the reins of "F&M".

"F&M" is currently published by Decision Games. Editing and Layout duties are currently being outsourced in order to preserve independence of the magazine content. The magazine is currently edited by Jon Compton.

"F&M" was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design's Hall of Fame in 1999.

Beginnings

Rodger B. MacGowan started wargaming when he was in high school in the late 1960s; after a hiatus (caused by the Vietnam War, and, in his words, "girls also had a major impact" ), he returned to the hobby in the 1970s with his old playing partners, who had now moved to different cities. They started to correspond to each other about gaming, and MacGowan started to detail the games in a format he referred to as "Battle Report". He included maps and analyses of his games, and his reports proved to be so popular with his friends that he expanded his concept to create his first magazine, entitled "Arquebus". Many of the concepts that F&M would later make famous were included, such as game reviews, game reports, hobby news, and feedback analysis from readers. As he became more involved in the writing of "Arquebus", a friend suggested "going professional". Using his background as a professional graphic designer in both advertising and magazine production, he approached Baron Publishing Company, who expressed interest in printing the magazine, as long as MacGowan did the work.

MacGowan contacted Mark Saha next, who wrote for "The General Magazine" and "Moves" magazine, and since he was playtesting the next big release from Avalon Hill - Tobruk - he was able to provide an "inside scoop" for the first issue of "F&M". Another concept was born with the first edition, when a copy of the review for Tobruk was sent to the actual developer of the game for fact checking - and it was decided to publish his reply word for word; the technique of having developers respond in print to reviews, in the same issue, would be repeated many times over the years.

The title "Fire & Movement" comes from a standard military expression, and MacGowan noticed it as a chapter heading in a military manual and decided it would be more appropriate and recognizable than "Arquebus".ref_num|NumberedRef|1

First issue's contents

The first issue featured the following articles:

FEATURE:
* Tobruk (AH)

ARTICLES:

Battle Report: Von Manstein (Rand)
* Review of Rand's WWII Eastfont simulation
* History of the Game's DevelopmentBattle Report: Chaco (GDW)
* Review of GDW's South American Conflict simulation, circa 1932
* Chaco RevisitedMechWar '77 (SPI): The Zeuzleben Affair
* Scenario and historical backgroundRommel's Desert Tactics
* Employing Rommels' principles of desert warfare in Tobruk (AH)Close-Up: Tobruk (AH)
* In-depth report on AH's WWII tank-to-tank desert warfare game
* Tobruk Designer's NotesThe Firefights
* Game reports on two firefights from Tobruk (AH)
* Some Critical Comments on the Firefight Scenarios in TobrukTobruk Defended
* A possible set-up of forces and defensive positions for
* Tobruk (AH), Scenario 9, "Tobruk Falls"

Notes

1 Note|NumberedRef "F&M's First Decade", by Rodger B. MacGowan and Friedrich G. Helfferich as told to Stephen M. Newberg. Fire & Movement 10th Anniversary Issue, Number 49 (July/Aug 1986)

External links

* [http://www.decisiongames.com/mags/fm.htm Decision Games]