Owl and Weasel
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| Editor | Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone |
|---|---|
| Categories | Roleplaying, Wargames, Board Games |
| Frequency | Monthly (with a two-month gap for Gen Con IX) |
| First issue | February 1975 |
| Final issue — Number |
April 1977 25 |
| Company | Games Workshop |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | Games-Workshop.com |
Owl and Weasel was a newsletter for board gamers, role-playing gamers and wargamers, published in London, England, by Games Workshop. A total of 25 issues were published from February 1975 until April 1977; it was edited by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. It was superseded by White Dwarf, which was published on a monthly basis until February 2014, before switching to a weekly format.
The reasoning behind such a "cultishly-monikered" choice of title has been stated to be a mystery by the co-editors, although anthropomorphism may have been a factor. In a 2009 interview, Steve Jackson stated that "it represented the characteristics you need to be a good games player: wise like an owl and crafty like a weasel", although this explanation had not been given in any previous editorial or interview.
The publication was initially launched to complement Games Workshop's business of producing hand-crafted wooden board games. The magazine issued a challenge to British game producers to match the efforts of U.S. and German game producers. Copies of early issues were sent speculatively to anyone within the industry in order to generate business, nurture longer-term connections and build partnerships.
The sixth issue, a key point in Games Workshop's early history, was released as a Dungeons & Dragons special – a first in the UK – and issues #11 and #23 doubled as programmes for their early Games Days, leading to coverage in The Times of these events and of their magazine.
The editors had expected that the publication would run on beyond issue #25 (in #23, for Games Day II, results for a competition were to be announced in #27), but it was soon decided that a more professional image was required in order to keep up with TSR's transition of their first periodical, The Strategic Review, into the "glossy" roleplaying and wargaming magazines, Dragon and Little Wars.
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