''Perfidious Albion'' was a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

and

wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

magazine, published and edited by

Charles Vasey Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

History

In the early 1970s, Charles Vasey, a chartered accountant and wargames hobbyist, began to write reviews of the games that he played for small games magazines such as ''Military Modelling'' and ''

Strategy & Tactics ''Strategy & Tactics'' (''S&T'') is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue. Beginnings ''Strategy & Tactics'' was first published in January 1967 under its original edit ...

''. Vasey and his acquaintance Geoff Barnard, came to believe that other reviews being published at the time were either too deferential to the major game publishers such as SPI, or were written for game designers and publishers, not for the consumers who were buying the games. When the 1975 publication of the popular wargame ''

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near th ...

'' by

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...

resulted in more shallow reviews, Barnard convinced Vasey that they should create a

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

dedicated to in-depth, objective and critical reviews of wargames. The result was ''Perfidious Albion'', a small self-published zine focussed on miniatures and board wargames. It was intermittent in frequency of publication and irregular in size. At the height of its popularity, Vasey said that it had a circulation of about 500.

Awards

* At the 1979

Origins Awards The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...

, ''Perfidious Albion'' was awarded the 1978

Charles S. Roberts Award The Charles S. Roberts Awards (or CSR Awards) is an annual award for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby. It was named in honor of Charles S. Roberts the "Father of Wargaming" who founded Avalon Hill. The award is informally called a "C ...

as "Best Amateur Wargame Magazine". * At the 1980

, ''Perfidious Albion'' was awarded the 1979

as "Best Amateur Wargame Magazine".

Reviews

*''Magazines for Libraries'', 2000, p. 1058 *''Magazines for Libraries'', 2006, p. 506

References

{{Reflist

External links

Interviews by an Optimist # 99 - Charles Vasey
at

BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...

Game magazines Origins Award winners