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On this channel we have already covered the best miniature painting YouTube channels, and the best wargame terrain YouTube channels, but what about channels that are just, you know, about wargames? There are plenty of channels that are devoted to the hobby–be it a Games Workshop game or something else–and they deserve a little more love because many of them don’t seem to get the same viewership that a painting channel or terrain channel does (with a few notable exceptions).
So here are, in no particular order, my nine best wargaming YouTube channels.
Arbiter Ian
This is a relatively recent addition to my list–the channel’s not very old–but it is a remarkably valuable resource for all things lore-related in Warhammer 40k. Very rarely does Ian get into the meta–I can’t remember him doing so at all, really. His videos are about the lore of Warhammer 40k and, occassionally, his hobbying. He speaks with such knowledge and authority that it seems as if he knows everything there is to know about the lore–a walking Lexicanum. But he describes it in a perfect way to invite you in, as though he’s a storyteller, not a wisened old librarian. Truly some great stuff.
Hobby Night
Hobby Night is a channel that I turn to particularly for gaming news. They almost exclusively cover Games Workshop but there’s an insider twist: the woman who runs the channel, Angela, works at a game store so she has the inside track on a lot of the boots-on-the-ground machinations of Games Workshop, such as ordering and allocations and discounts. Yes, half of the channel is devoted to painting, which I appreciate, but I mostly just watch for the updates about what’s going on in wargaming (and board gaming).
KiriothTV
Jon at Kirioth has long been a trusted source of news and commentary about Games Workshop products–I don’t recall him ever talking about something non-GW. From his Monday Rambles which cover all of the week’s news (including the previous Saturday’s new releases and product drops) to commentary about the way the games are run to the range reviews where he goes through every product in the line to describe and judge each. The channel is not a painting channel, but it does have a serious bend toward the modelling side of the hobby: not necessarily How-To videos (though he does show some really stellar conversions of his) but just a discussion of the love of the models that Games Workshop puts out. Always entertaining, always insightful.
Modelling For Advantage
Modelling for Advantage is a delightful channel that is run by just a handful of people in England, who go by the pseudonyms The Restless Kaiser, Jonny B, and James Workshop. This channel is a little bit of everything, and I especially love them because of their embracing of historicals. All of the Warlord Games that I’ve dabbled in they play, including Bolt Action, Hail Caesar and SPQR, plus they get into Flames of War and World War Three: Team Yankee. The show is delightful just for the personalities. I admit that I got hooked on the channel because of the Bolt Action battle reports (supposedly, in the absence of COVID they are primarily a battle report channel) but their live streams where they just sit and hobby–usually with a guest from another channel, are extremely entertaining. The Restless Kaiser is a librarian by day and a seemingly endless fountain of military history, and all of them seem like you’d like to hang out with them in a pub.
Miniwargaming Studios
The first real online wargaming channel I got into probably six years ago when I was just rediscovering my love for the hobby, Miniwargaming Studios (or MWG as it’s sometimes called) puts out a TON of content. Because of their business model, where they put out a free YouTube battle report nearly every day AND put up a second battle report on their site behind a paywall (the Miniwargaming Vault) they’re able to have a fairly substantial staff and resources for a YouTube channel. They’re almost entirely Games Workshop focused, both 40k and Age of Sigmar, and even some 30k. My personal favorites are the narrative campaigns where they have house rules for leveling up and gaining new abilities (and getting permanent injuries). Miniwargaming Dave and Miniwargaming Matt are two personalities who are widely known, especially Dave who does collaborations and guest appearances on many other channels. Worth it for the sheer amount of content. (And it’s even worth it to become a vault member.)
OnTableTop
Another channel I got into because of their historical focus, but I found out later that they’re not necessarily historical-focused; they’re just not married to Games Workshop. Some of the content that they’ve put out recently is related to Stargrave, Kings of War, Dystopian War, and Wargames Atlantic. Their videos are a little bit of a mix of everything: sometimes battle reports, sometimes interviews, sometimes unboxings–they do a lot of unboxings and first-time tutorials. They’ve been doing this long enough that they have some clout and they’re able to get interviews with pretty great people, including designers of Age of Sigmar, digital sculptors, and board game designers.
Tabletop Minions
Uncle Atom, as Adam Loper goes by, is the YouTube personality behind Tabletop Minions. Another channel that has been around long enough that it has gained not only a lot of followers, but a lot of credibility and respect among miniature wargamers. He’s been doing Friday videos without missing a day for at least eight years and has talked about almost everything there is to talk about. But the thing I love his channel best for is the Every Other Sunday Show, which is a two hour livestream, which I consider a can’t miss series. The breadth and depth of knowledge that Uncle Atom has about the hobby is almost unparalleled, and he can talk about Games Workshop just as easily as he can talk about the tiniest wargame that you’ve never heard of. He makes no bones about the fact that he’s not a competitive player, and his shows are never about competitive meta. Instead, they are primarily about the little things he finds fascinating–sometimes hobby tips, sometimes game design tips. He recently launched, with Vince Venturella, a “models agnostic” game called Reign in Hell.
Tabletop Time
Run by Jazza, who is an extremely well-known Australian artist who has a primary channel making art, once a week (sometimes more) he has a channel devoted to getting back into a childhood love of his: tabletop wargaming. Being extremely famous (his art channel has more than 5 million views) he has no end of sponsors who are willing to send him new product to try out, and he’s already made good use of building with Woodland Scenics products and Green Stuff World products. There’s a certain amount of enthusiastic obnoxiousness that you have to be willing to get past, but I think that, in reality, it’s more of unbridled passion and enthusiasm for his work.
Little Wars TV
Little Wars TV is one of my all-time favorite channels on YouTube. It’s hard to say whether they’re wargamers first and historians second, or the other way around, but they spend the first half of their battle report episodes (which they keep under 25 minutes due to good editing and scripting) is spent discussing the historical facts of the battle–a mini history lesson–and then the second half is playing the game. They rarely get into the weeds of which rules do what and wo rolled how many sixes. Instead they film the entire report, draw from it a narrative, and then edit it to tell the exciting story of the battle. I’m not sure if one of them went to film school, but it’s done amazingly well. That said, they are almost entirely historical (which I love, you’re mileage may vary) though they did branch out one solitary time to play Star Wars: Legion. Overall, a terrific channel. (And also: they started the annual Caesar Awards for a host of wargaming-related blogs, channels, battle reports, and painting tutorials.)
So those are my top 9 best wargaming YouTube channels. Who do you love?
