WFHQ New address

[KG_Cloghaun]

http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/

[KG_Cloghaun]

http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/

Warfare HQ Evolves into StrategyZone Online!
Submitted by Don Maddox

The Winds of Change

It’s been a very good five years at Warfare HQ. In that time we have hosted more gaming tournaments than I can remember, sponsored a variety of contests, supported the wargaming community with our scenarios, maps, and files, and plenty more. During that time the site continued to evolve and we expanded to include boardgames such as Advanced Squad Leader to those types of games we cover. And now it’s time for us to continue to grow.

The Golden Era of wargaming in the ‘70s was a time of great growth for the hobby, and scores of new players were introduced to the hobby. But with the rising expense of printing paper products and the rise of computers, wargaming changed. Many of today’s gamers have never seen or even heard of classics like ASL, Panzer Leader, or Supremacy. Console games have become ever more popular among younger gamers, and developers of traditional wargames were slow to respond to the changing situation.

But strategy and war are still very popular titles among today’s games, and some of the older classics like ASL appear to catching their second wind. Warfare HQ started as a small fan site devoted only to the most hardcore wargames and we are proud of our roots. That being said, we want to help introduce today’s younger gamers to some of the wargames that are currently available. Not only that, but there are some truly innovative and enjoyable strategy titles that are now available that are slowly influencing how people think about "wargames" and how developers design them. With this in mind we have decided to expand our focus a bit from the more traditional wargames we have covered in the past. Never fear, we will still be covering you favorite wargames just as we always have. In fact, we intend to do this much better than at any point in our history! But in addition to covering hex-based wargames, we will now also be paying a lot more attention to strategy games and tactical FPS titles. It is our hope that this will help expose gamers to a variety of different war and strategy games that they might not have otherwise ever heard of or seen.

Those of you who have spent significant time around Warfare HQ in the past are well aware of our strategic relationship with Armchair General Magazine. With this new site redesign we have brought the two sites closer than ever—an exciting development for all of us. This means that visitors will have access to the very best interactive history via Armchair General, while simultaneously having access to the gaming community via SZO. A great combination and we’re looking forward to bringing lots of exciting articles and fresh content in the future.

Where are our "game sections" you ask? They will be returning bigger and better than ever in the coming weeks. We’ll start off with gaming sites for all of our old favorites like Decisive Action, The Operational Art of War, and Advanced Squad Leader, but we will also be adding some newer sites to the mix. Stay tuned for more on that.

What about our online ladders? They’re right where you left them. Our online game ladders are continuing to grow in popularity and we are continuing to refine them to make them even more user-friendly and flexible.

In short, this is an exciting time for both Armchair General and veterans of Warfare HQ. We have a new website URL and we are expanding our focus, but our commitment to gaming excellence is still at the core of everything we do. Enjoy looking around the new website. As always, your feedback and comments are always appreciated. Welcome to StrategyZone Online.

Don Maddox
President, StrategyZone Online