A New Home for Wargamers in 2022

It felt like Russian winter as I battled against the cold onslaught of procrastination for the whole year. Yet, even as I feverishly write this, I could feel the creeping urge to rush back to the sweet, warm embrace of comfort in my daily processes.

However, this is an important post, and like Napoleon, who dared the people to kill him if they did not recognize him as their rightful emperor after returning from his exile in St Elba. I dared myself to push further and harder to improve the website and provide a better experience.

The Big Update

There are plenty of changes, some big and others small, but I’ll highlight all of them here. I hope this big update will bring you as much joy as they did for me in the last few months.

New Logo & Website Overhaul

If you are reading this, you will hopefully see the new logo for the website and all its affiliated networks. The logo was designed by my cousin, Halie Tee, a professional graphic designer. We spent several late nights going over the color and designs to ensure that the logo conveyed what The Avid Wargamer is in the minds of wargamers. Historical, gentlemanly, and authentic.

However, the most significant update is the total overhaul of every part of the website with a new theme inspired by newspapers and historical magazines. The addition of social media channels and the subscription form at the top of the page makes it easier for new visitors to subscribe.

Underneath the hood is a new engine that is highly optimized for both mobile and desktop users. In short, pages and posts will load much after than on the old ones. There are also a few neat features but I’ll you discover that yoursleves.

New Faceboook Group

Wargaming isn’t just about playing wargaming alone. It is also about finding other wargames to play in a multiplayer via Play By E-Mailmatch (PBEM). In addition, it’s a place to share your latest conquest with informative After Action Reports (AAR) or to engage with the community by getting to know everyone’s favorite computer wargames.

Now, you may join our growing Facebook group, which has more than 200 members and growing steadily. It has many active members, including myself, participating and sometimes helping others figure out how to play certain wargames or talk about them. So if any of this sounds fun to you, you are more than welcome to join us.

New Guide to Computer Wargaming

The Computer Wargaming Guide is the most extensive and extended project I have had since the website; the idea even predates The Avid Wargamer and is the seedling for all my work in the computer wargaming community. I am proud to announce that the guide is now completed and is sharable to everyone. The focus is intended to bring new souls into the computer wargaming strata.

By introducing wargaming concepts and recommending accessible wargames that regularly go on sale, the reader should come out with a sense of what computer wargaming is and where to start their journey. This guide will receive regular updates based on feedback from readers and myself as I discover new games and more content for the guide.

New Military Historical Writer

The website’s new focus on military history articles has led me to scout a passionate and knowledgeable writer in military history who has spent time researching historical conflicts to write quality articles like your typical military history magazines.

Introducing Garrett, who has a long interest in military history. His interest in Napoleonic era warfare came after a chance of exposure to the Richard Sharpe series. Initially writing about British victories, he expanded to covering all theatres of the Napoleonic Wars and the 7 Years’ War, the South American rebellions, and Nader Shah’s campaigns. He lives in the U.S.

You can expect regular military history articles from Garrett soon. We sincerely hope that viewers a slight change in direction with a focus on military history. From what I can gather based on polling, most wargamers are military-historical enthusiasts. Still, it will be tied back to computer wargaming, seeing both of these subjects are pretty interrelated and is also a side hobby of many wargamers, myself including.

Future of the Website

Short of being a fortune teller, I can only predict the growth of this website as I continue to write content for it. Naturally, scheduling and discipline will be a necessary part of this endeavor. Some readers have expressed their worry this website may backslide into commercially driven content that wargamers are not interested in. Worry not, for this website will focus on computer wargaming and military history.

Reduction of Google Ads

I have been financially supporting every aspect of this website, from server and domain maintenance, network infrastructure, and regular maintenance. I hoped that Google Ads could help with the cost, but it has barely covered 25% of the network cost alone. Despite this, the new site will significantly reduce Google ads, and I hope to eventually eliminate it.

I have some plans for this shortly, but it involves getting sponsors related to wargaming and history. This is in line with my overall vision of The Avid Wargamer to bring related content under one roof. Ideally, viewers will only see ads from other wargames publishers, historically inspired services & products. You may read more about it HERE.

Updates on older articles

One of the practices I am trying to adopt is updating older content like reviews and opinions. I am tempted to call them FIrst Impressions rather than a Review since some require extensive hours to understand all the mechanics fully. This cannot be easy to archive while trying to output regular reviews on the website. This is why going back to update the reviews will be akin to updating pages in Wikipedia. Ideally, readers will regularly come back to read this review and keep Google’s algorithm happy and satisfied.

Thank you!

Lastly, I thank all of my readers and supporters who helped give valuable feedback and support during tough times over the last two years. Because of people like you, I keep pushing myself to write for this blog and strife my best to provide the best wargaming content for everyone to enjoy.

Please don’t forget to follow my Twitter and FB group as they are very active. Also, I have a YouTube page, but there’s no plan to publish any videos. That will be for another campaign.