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PORTRAIT Joseph Miranda
Wargame Designer Extraordinaire
In 1987, two wargame reviewers disagreed on their assessment of Victory Games’ Vietnam. One said the game captured the operational and attritional nature of the conflict well; the other disliked the minimal political aspects of the game. In the absence of the Internet-required flame war, the two discussed their differences cordially and respectfully. Out of that discussion came an agreement to design a game together merging their two views: the result was Strategy & Tactics Magazine #120’s game, Nicaragua. Of the two reviewers, one went on to fame and fortune (??) as a reviewer and magazine editor (Moi); the other, Joseph Miranda, became the most prolific wargame designer to date with over 200 wargames – everything from small games, like Waterloo 20 (currently published by Victory Point Games with only twenty counters, to monsters like Decision Games’ (DG) three map, 1000+ counter World War I opus, Storm of Steel, and solitaire games, like DG’s Cactus Air Force to multiplayer games, like One Small Step’s Battle of Baghdad. So, who is this Miranda guy and why is he so prolific?
In 1992, when Decision acquired Strategy & Tactics, Miranda achieved his second life goal by becoming its editor, a post he held until 2012 when he became founding editor of DG’s Modern War. During that time his articles, supporting his game designs, have given that maga- zine an unparalleled level of quality.
Now he works free-lance, continuing to write and create. He has also worked on the design team for simulations &
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Joseph Miranda was born in 1954 in North Hollywood, California. As a teenager he stumbled across Avalon Hill wargames, which he saw as “at the intersection of gaming, history, military stuff, math and whatever went on in the inner vaults at Rand Corpora- tion.” He “took command” (as the adver- tisements went) with AH’s Afrika Korps and Stalingrad. He went to University of California at Los Angeles to get degree in history while a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, graduating in
1976. His goals at that time were to go into the United States Army and somehow work for the only war- gaming/history magazine being published at that time: Strategy & Tactics. He entered the Army after graduation.
After Officer’s Basic Training, Miranda, spent two years with the 101st Air Assault Divi- sion, involved with missile support logistics and mili- tary police. Following this assignment, he entered
the Army Reserve/
National Guard for
the next five years,
while he returned to
school and designed
games. He earned advanced degrees in Criminal Justice and Political Science from the California State University system. In 1983, he reentered the Army as an instructor in Psychological Operations (PsyOps) in the Army’s Special Warfare School. He left the Army in 1987 and in 1989 joined Decision Games editing the game review magazine Fire & Movement.
companies, notably Hexagon Interactive and HPS Simulations, as well as doing various projects for DARPA and the US Air Force.
I Creating time machines What some people miss when think- ing about a Miranda designed game, is that it is the result of what comes first
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