Publisher Spotlight: The Last Square
The lifeblood of historic wargaming, outside of the rulebooks, the miniatures and the terrain, has always been the gamers themselves. It is the players who, through their passion for history and their love of strategy, help transform a fun diversion into a lifelong hobby.
The Last Square personifies this principle. As a company, they publish and manufacture historical miniatures, rulebooks, and supplies. As gamers, they clearly share a love for all things tabletop.
I spoke with Karl and Bev Krueger of The Last Square about their company, the wargaming hobby, and how they got into the business of selling little toy soldiers for fun and profit.
The First Store
The Last Square opened in 1995 as a brick-and-mortar store in Madison, Wisconsin. Store owner Karl Krueger had seen a growing interest in gaming in the area, and the table gaming hobby overall was on the rise. Right away, the Last Square’s focus was on historical gaming, miniatures, and artwork. They also hosted a variety of games and events at their shop, helping to attract a steady group of regular customers.
One former customer, Lee Malm, now the Store Manager at Noble Knight Games, considers the Last Square his very first game store. “For me, it always had this sort of mystique,” Lee recounts. “It was a bit different than other stores–like peeking into an alternate dimension game store with model trains and war gamer vets sitting around talking military stuff. I bought my first Warhammer there and my first paints.”
From England to Madison
While the Last Square found a strong and vibrant interest in wargaming in the Madison area, they also wanted to bridge the local scene to the longstanding game culture that existed outside the United States.
As Karl explains: “England has a much more developed historical gaming community than we do. I was introduced to the fellow that owned the Figurehead miniatures line. I had stated earlier that I love naval history, so I talked with him about his business. In the end, I decided to buy the company and bring the line over here. From there, I brought in other figure lines and the paint line. It always amazes me how that first step takes you on a path you never knew even existed.”
That path eventually led the Last Square into expanding the offerings of Figurehead Miniatures and acquiring Perrin 10mm Miniatures. All of these products are now referred to under the umbrella heading of Noble Miniatures.
Expanding Lines and Casting Miniatures
According to Bev, the process of expanding their miniatures lines began with a wishlist. Once they had a good idea of the sorts of miniatures they wanted,
they worked with a sculptor from the UK to develop a series of masters and casting molds. The molds themselves are spun and maintained with help from Valiant Enterprises, a local Wisconsin company who specializes in miniatures casting.
“Karl works with Valiant to select molds for casting,” Bev explains. “He determines how many spins will be needed, helps with the casting at the Valiant shop, picks figures from the spin casted molds, and then brings the figures back…to be packaged and fill orders.”
Paints and More
In addition to historical miniatures, The Last Square offers their own line of miniatures paints, called Howard Hues Paints. Karl says their paints are developed specifically with historic wargamers in mind.
“Historical gamers are looking for the correct shade of green for Napoleonic Russian grenadiers, or the correct shade of colonial Khaki for Kitchener’s Sudan campaign,” Karl explains, “There are other extensive paint lines out there that are very good, but not the same as our historical colors. A lot of time went into producing the colors.”
The Last Square also offers wargames rules. In Harm’s Way is a set of rules for naval surface and air combat. Along with its addendums, the game has ship rules for fighting any scenario, either historical or hypothetical and including hundreds of ships and aircraft from a variety of time periods. Additionally, Last Square supports Check your 6!, offering a unique basing system for the game’s miniatures to help accommodate the speed, movements, and altitudes each plane requires during play.
Into The Future
Bev and Karl, who have been married for 49 years, run the business together. As partners, they manage the workload by dividing it according to their strengths. Bev takes care of sales and shipping, the book work, and other behind-the-scenes tasks. Karl brings his expertise and considerable knowledge of military history to bear and helps develop the product lines and produces the finished products for sale.
And the family extends beyond Bev and Karl. Two of their children, Hans and Kurt, grew up with the Last Square. Between the two of them, they helped run the shop, painted miniatures, ran games, and worked at trade shows over the years.
In 2013, Karl and Bev decided to close the doors on the Last Square’s Madison store front. The business itself continued, of course, and now operates out of an additional space attached directly to the couple’s home. According to Bev, she and Karl are “tickled to pieces to be able to walk 20 or so feet across the hallway” whenever they head to work.
It seems like a proper homecoming for a family business.
A Few Quick Questions with Karl Krueger from The Last Square
How did you first get interested in tabletop gaming?
I was always interested in history. One of my degrees is in history. At an early age I began to collect 1:72 plastic toy soldiers and set up historical scenarios with the hundreds of figures I had accumulated. I refought the Alamo a hundred times. From Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg to the German breakthrough in 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. All this was makeshift and spontaneous on my part. In the 70’s, Avalon Hill began to publish historical boardgames. I thought they were the greatest thing since the invention of sliced bread! Waterloo, Afrika Korp, and of course Jutland. It was the release of Jutland that introduced me to the conflict at sea. The game had actual ship counters that looked like the combatants. How cool was that?! That is how I got interested.
Why historic wargames? Why do you think they have such a lasting appeal?
It was in the late 80’s that I took my boys to Gen Con in Milwaukee. That is where I saw my first table top historical game. It was De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) and its companion De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM); rules for playing period armies (the biblical period up to the advent of gunpowder.) The rules weren’t all that great, but it was a start. They had information about historical armies and how the combatants should be organized. Since then, the games have evolved and changed a lot. For me back then, it was revolutionary.
My personal preference has always been historical, just because I love history. In reality, I also love fantasy gaming as well. My boys grew up playing both, but today prefer playing Warhammer 40K. The appeal for tabletop gaming in either genre is the competition and challenge of a human opponent. There is no learning curve as in computer games. Once you understand the AI you will win every time. On a tabletop your enemy will do strange things that you can’t account for. I have put on large convention games where I have play tested the scenario for balance and at the show players do strange things that either doom them or destroy the enemy very quickly! I look at a tabletop game as a master class in chess with the element of chance. Every game is different no matter how many times it’s played, right from the first roll of the dice.
What makes a good miniature?
It is hard to put into words what makes a good miniature. Obviously, the quality of the sculpt, accuracy, scale, ease of manufacturing etc. I think that how it is utilized is also important. Is it easy to paint? Is the casting solid and survivable on the tabletop? Those type of things. Also, it is nice to have figures for little known periods, uniqueness.
What do you look for in a set of wargame rules? Is it more important to be accurate to a particular time period, or more important to create a fun set of rules?
A good set of rules is hard to define. Some people like quick games and simple rules for an evening of fun at the table. Others like games that lean more
toward simulations that reflect the period they are playing. I like both usually. To find a rule set that gives you the flavor of the period and historical outcomes is a hard balance. We own a gaming system that was designed originally as an all-encompassing system for black powder 17th to late 19th century. What I discovered was that at least four or five different variations would be needed to cover this time frame and capture the feel of each period.
I love the system and its unique factors, but I never could justify the amount of research and work to cover all that was needed on a finished product. Especially, with all the rules out there. Perhaps someday, but I have other priorities ahead of that project.
What’s your personal favorite era for wargaming? What draws you to this period?
I stated before that I love naval gaming. I always have since the day I opened Jutland from Avalon Hill. The period I focus on is from pre-dreadnought through WWII. “In Harms Way” is designed for this. Not only do you get the feel for the periods, but you gain an understanding of the balancing act for each ship design. It is always a race between armor and gunpower. The culmination of that is with the advent of
aircraft. Following WWII naval warfare changed drastically. There are other game systems out there that better reflect all the technologies of modern warfare (Larry Bonds comes to mind). I have a game group that meets every weekend for some action on the high seas. I also love ACW. I have a huge collection of painted 15mm civil war figs (10,000+). I can and have fought battles like Gettysburg or Chickamauga.
What’s the coolest wargame setup you’ve ever seen at a convention / show?
I sponsored a gaming venue in Madison for many years that I have to say was the best gaming I ever saw. We called it Karl Con. Every year we would put on several large games, designed to immerse the participants in a whole weekend event. Forty to fifty people would arrive on Friday night and game until Sunday morning. The games were stunning. Tables that covered hundreds of square feet with thousands of figs. Viking raids on the English coast, to their siege of Paris. The siege of Berwick castle with 30 ft. of castle walls being assaulted!
The battle of Hastings, with almost 8,000 hand-painted 25mm figures. Pirates in the Caribbean Sea in 25mm. Their ships were on four-foot posts with wheels with islands and forts in multiple rooms. The siege of Peking with all the legations and thousands of Chinese Boxers. The battle of Britain where every aircraft was available to assign them to defend or attack. Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Wilderness were some of the ACW games we put on. Omdurman, Caesar’s war in Gaul. Guadalcanal naval action, and Jutland.
These are just some of the actions we have done. These games were designed for the serious gamer. The neatest element is that the convention was at a local hotel and the number of hotel guests that stopped in could not believe their eyes! They especially liked seeing a huge British three-masted sailing ship cruising down the hallway, chasing a pirate ship to the room that held Skull Island.
Best part of the hobby: painting miniatures or playing games?
My personal thing is painting. I find it relaxing to paint figures. I have no idea how many thousands of figures, vehicles, planes, ships and terrain I have painted.
Thank you so much for your time!
