Amstrad Action was the magazine that started Future Publishing. Chris Anderson, who had edited Personal Computer Games and launched ZZAP!64 for Newsfield earlier in 1985, published its first issue in October 1985 from an office in Somerton, Somerset. At the time it was his company’s only title. Three years later Future’s order forms listed ACE, PC Plus, 8000 Plus, ST Amiga Format and New Computer Express beside it. Amstrad Action itself ran for nearly ten years and 117 issues, covering the Amstrad CPC long after the big software houses had left it.
Somerset, 1985
Issue 1 came from Future Publishing’s address at Somerton, with Peter Connor, “another veteran of PCG”, as editor and Bob Wade among the staff. From issue 2 Chris Anderson appeared on the masthead, and by the spring of 1986 he was listed as Publisher. He also wrote for the early issues: in December 1985 he drove to the Midlands to find out how the three men of Gargoyle Games produced Marsport, and he reviewed business software as “small businessman Chris Anderson”.
Games were only part of it. The second issue reviewed book-keeping software, and the third compared word processors.
The Mastergame
The first issue’s review of Melbourne House’s Way of the Exploding Fist made it the magazine’s first “Mastergame”, the award Amstrad Action gave to the best games it reviewed. By the December 1985 issue, Marsport had “arrived and become the AA Mastergame”.
Editors
The mastheads show how often the chair changed:
- Peter Connor, from the first issue.
- Matt Nicholson, announced as “the new Editor” in July 1986.
- Bob Wade, by August 1987 into 1988.
- Steve Carey, in 1988–89.
- Rod Lawton, by January 1990 to February 1993.
- Linda Barker, in March 1993.
- Tim Norris, as acting editor from April 1993, then editor to August 1993.
- Dave Golder, from September 1993 to October 1994.
- Karen Levell, from January 1995.
By 1991 the magazine had moved with Future to 30 Monmouth Street, Bath.
Covertapes
Amstrad Action had given away tapes before, but from April 1991 (issue 67) it put a covertape on every issue. That issue announced “new, regular covertapes” and started with a playable level of Ocean’s Total Recall and a new “AA Toolbox” of routines and utilities. The tape was still there in 1994, when readers argued on the letters page about whether it should go.
The last issue
In its last year Amstrad Action‘s mastheads printed an audited circulation of 15,168. The June 1995 issue, number 117, reminded readers that they were holding “a magazine of over ten years’ standing”, with writers who had been with the machine from the start, and said that the big companies had pulled out and left the market to small, independent software houses run by CPC fans. Its lead feature was on desktop publishing with a CPC.
Nothing in that issue says it is the last. It trails the next month’s columns, and its contents page carries the on-sale date for the next issue, Thursday 22 June 1995, in the same place as issue 116 had announced issue 117. No issue 118 appeared. Neither the magazine nor the public accounts of it explain the decision to stop.
Amstrad Action outlived Newsfield’s Amtix!, launched a month after it, by eight years. Amtix! ran for eighteen numbered issues and ended in April 1987, when Newsfield passed the title to Database Publications, part of Europress, to fold into Computing with the Amstrad.
Sources
- CRASH issue 14, March 1985: Chris Anderson “was editor of PCG until he heard about ZZAP! 64”.
- Amstrad Action issue 1, October 1985: staff page (Peter Connor, Bob Wade), Future Publishing at Somerton, contents (“Way of the Exploding Fist”, p. 16), and “our action-packed Mastergame”.
- Amstrad Action issue 2, November 1985: masthead (Peter Connor, Chris Anderson) and business software review; issue 3, December 1985: the word-processor comparison, and the Marsport Mastergame and Chris Anderson’s visit to Gargoyle Games in Dudley; issue 7, April 1986: masthead (Chris Anderson, Publisher).
- Amstrad Action mastheads: issue 10, July 1986 (“The new Editor”, Matt Nicholson); issue 16, January 1987 (Nicholson); issues 23, August 1987, and 30, March 1988 (Bob Wade); issue 44, May 1989 (“Steve Carey (Ed.)”); issues 52, January 1990, to 89, February 1993 (Rod Lawton; Monmouth Street, Bath, by issue 65, February 1991); issue 90, March 1993 (Linda Barker); issue 91, April 1993 (Tim Norris, acting editor), to 95, August 1993; issues 96, September 1993, to 109, October 1994 (Dave Golder); issues 112, January 1995, to 116, May 1995 (Karen Levell).
- Amstrad Action issue 39, December 1988: Future Publishing order form listing ACE, PC Plus, 8000 Plus, Amstrad Action, ST Amiga Format and New Computer Express.
- Amstrad Action issue 67, April 1991: the first regular covertape (Total Recall, the AA Toolbox); issue 109, October 1994 (“Should the covertape go?”); issue 111, December 1994 (letters on the covertape).
- Amstrad Action issues 113, February 1995, and 117, June 1995: ABC circulation of 15,168.
- Amstrad Action issue 116, May 1995: “AA117 on sale” date; issue 117, June 1995: editorial (“a magazine of over ten years’ standing”), the DTP feature, “Next month” trails and the next on-sale date.
- Amtix! issue 18, April 1987: the title passing to Database Publications and Computing with the Amstrad.
- Wikipedia, “Future plc” (web, secondary): Future founded by Chris Anderson in Somerton with Amstrad Action as its sole magazine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_plc
- Wikipedia, “Amstrad Action” (web, secondary): issue 117 as the last, with issue 118 advertised. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_Action