Tabletop Gaming magazine is 11 years old today, having launched at UK Games Expo in 2015! Former Editor Rob Burman reveals his highlights…
From Kickstarter’s explosion to the rise of legacy games and miniature-heavy releases, the tabletop landscape shifted fast during the Tabletop Gaming Magazine’s early years. We asked Rob Burman to look back at his time in the editor’s chair and pick out the single biggest change he witnessed in the hobby.
ROB BURMAN
Issues 1-6
Summer 2015-Autumn 2016
It’s probably a choice between two. For the first issue, we opened it up to the public and allowed them to choose from a selection of different potential covers. We had King of Tokyo and Infinity, along with some others. After fierce competition, Guild Ball was chosen for Issue One, which felt appropriate for a new magazine because it was a brand-new game. Personally, however, my favourite cover was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I love the Turtles and that cover accompanied an interview with Kevin Eastman, one of their creators.
The one I was most nervous about was Wil Wheaton because he’s super famous from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Big Bang Theory. At the time he was creating a splash in the board gaming space with the TableTop YouTube series. However, he was really interesting and had some good insights into the industry.
Probably Pandemic Legacy Season One. At the time, legacy games felt like they were in their infancy but Pandemic Legacy made them more popular. After that, it felt like lots of different games started including a legacy element. On the wargaming side, Frostgrave was creating a real splash, thanks to its old-school Mordheim vibes.
I played a ridiculous amount of Guild Ball. For me, it ticked a lot of boxes – great miniatures, snappy gameplay and an evocative setting that reminded me of the guilds in Discworld novels. I ended up introducing it to my local gaming club and a few of us picked up different teams. I may have missed out on it if I hadn’t been writing for the magazine and interviewed its creators for Issue One.
This changes all the time and it’s particularly changed as my kids have grown up – for context, they were three and one when the magazine launched. When they were younger, we played a lot of Sushi Go!, Machi Koro or Go Nuts for Donuts. As a family, we still play Sushi Go! and it holds up nicely after all these years.
The 2015 UK Games Expo where we launched the magazine was a pretty special moment. We had poured a lot of work into the first issue and I was extremely nervous that it wouldn’t be received well. We only managed to bag a spot at UKGE at the last moment, so we were tucked away in this little room on a tiny desk with magazines piled high.
As people were passing, they would have a quick read and then pick up a copy. However, it was amazing when a large portion of those people came back later to subscribe because they had enjoyed reading it. Although I’m not sure I could have predicted it would still be going after 11 years!
The rise of Kickstarter. There had already been a few big Kickstarter projects by the time the magazine launched (Zombicide, for example), but that only increased. There was a tendency for big projects that were absolutely jam-packed with plastic miniatures and loads of expansions.
Start planning Issue Two a lot earlier! Originally, we were expecting to see how it went when Issue One launched, but stores asked for Issue Two while we were pitching that first issue to them.
Hear from the other magazine Editors from Tabletop Gaming’s 11-year history:
Matt Jarvis: Issues 7-35 (September 2016-October 2019)
Christopher John Eggett: Issues 36-79 (November 2019-June 2023)