His books can be found on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=stephen+l.+kling&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
His games can be found at Noble Knight Games in the US:
https://www.nobleknight.com/Publisher/Historical-Game-Company-The
In Europe, the games can be found at Second Chance Games:
https://www.secondchancegames.com/index.php/manufacturer/thgc
1. How and when did you get hooked on history?
As a young boy, my father who was a graduate of a prestigious military academy took me to see epic movies like Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, El Cid, 55 Days at Peking, etc. I always wanted to know more and the story behind the movie. Plus, my parents divorced and when my mother remarried and was trying to start a new family, I was routinely dumped at the local library for the weekends and spent lots of time reading history and biography books. One that captured my attention was The Sword Does Not Jest, about a 16 year old boy king who became one of the greatest military leaders of history. Very few people knew that story or that Sweden was once a great power. I came back to that history in a big way later in life.
2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?
Well, my father redirected by dual archaeological and history degree pursuits to what he called more economically viable studies. So I went on to get a business administration degree, a master’s in finance and a law degree. He told me if you are successful in life, you can always come back to history. I hated the answer but he was right in my case. Being an attorney taught me to do incredibly detailed research for which I had some notoriety. After writing some historically related law articles, I turned back to history which I had continued to study since college. In the early 2000s, I spent some time doing some playtesting, consulting and development work for some of the larger historical games companies. In 2014, I decided to write about lesser known topics of military history and produce some of my own game titles. I found research my endeavors with history to be very personally rewarding.
3. How does history play a part of your professional life/career?
Interestingly, the publication of historical books and games has led to several new law clients. One of my claims to fame was the publication of a rather groundbreaking set of articles in the Journal of the Missouri Bar on the history and purpose of Missouri’s municipal land planning and zoning laws. Boring stuff to most, but in the legal realm, it caused quite a discussion and change in how some cities approached the application of these laws. As an aside, it was quite interesting that most people had no idea that zoning in this country really did not come along until 1916. It was the construction of a building in New York which cut off most of the view of another building (giving it the nickname of the “thief of light and air”) that caused New York to blaze the way in zoning laws.
4. Why is studying/knowing history important?
It seems rather cliché, but those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Plus, it is the study of human endeavor. People, especially those in conflict or adversity, do some incredible (and some disgraceful) things and the study of those events help define us as people and hopefully inspire where the events involved sacrifice, valor and generosity.
5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?
I consider myself a student of military history though general history and ancillary aspects such as diplomacy and geography interest me. I have studied a lot of different areas of history and have an extensive personal library. The list is probably close to endless but I think it speaks for itself some that my first few books were on the Great Northern War and the American Revolutionary War in the west.
6. How did you get started creating historical games? How important is historical integrity in a game’s playability? Where can people find your games?
I first became exposed to historical games in college. They were quite complex and the artwork was pitiful by today’s standards, but many were clearly the product of some detailed research. I buy a lot of games. While I don’t play most games I buy, I love to study the systems and how a game on a historical subject is designed and how it portrays and simulates history, particularly where you have an opportunity to see if you can change historical results. For a time I did some playtesting for some of the larger companies and then was asked to design and develop some games for those companies.
My vision of games became more focused on simpler and historically thematic games, especially on lesser known subjects. That was somewhat contrary to the direction of some companies for monster games or for “Euro” type games which sacrificed a lot of history for multiple player options, high cost components including the rage for paintable miniatures, and fantasy. Euros are very popular but it was not the direction I was interested in. I do understand the profit motive for such efforts but it is less so for me and I have not given up my day job as there is not much money in making historical games and writing books. Having the ability to do my own design and artwork made the production of games easier and far less costly though each one does take considerable time to bring out to production. I enjoy the challenge of the heavy research, design (which includes a lot of math and statistics) and injection of thematic history in the game development process. The games generally cover topics such as battles and wars but always include pieces representing historical people and historical military units and always have cards. The cards inject additional thematic history and cover events or conditions that help or inhibit game play from turn to turn and provide variety in replay. My games differ. I did a game that had more dice rolling than usual on the French and Indian War which was pretty popular. Two young teenagers help playtest it and their mother told me they wore the game out playing it. A nice overview of my game on the historic Battle of Quebec can be viewed here on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBZGkxlSBvk.
These days my games are mostly developed for museums and other historical groups. I have done games for the Swedish Army Museum, French colonial groups and soon for an American Revolutionary War exhibit. I am currently in discussions with some museums and historical groups on a Second Seminole War game. Yes, another lesser known subject full of fascinating history and personalities on both sides. The preliminary box work is below giving some idea of the game. The game will go forward if one of these groups agrees to sponsor- meaning paying for printing and helping in marketing as niche games like this do not have a real commercial market. While somewhat focused on Sweden, I actually did a paper on the history of historical games for a Scandinavian academic conference several years ago. I don’t aspire to be a big player in making games but I do enjoy it.
7. You’ve also become an author. Please tell us about your most recent books? Are you working on a new project, either as a book or a game?
While I enjoy developing games, I have spent far more times on books. After some grueling years of practicing law I wanted to scale back some and write books I had in mind for quite some time. From practicing law, I developed an ability to research efficiently, absorb and categorize large amounts of information and write incredibly quickly which are very helpful. I certainly am not one to shy away from ambitious projects. In 2015 after three years of work, I edited and co-authored the 2 volume The Great Northern War Compendium with 42 experts from 11 different countries. My interest in this history stemmed way back to reading The Sword Does Not Jest. It was the first true international effort to cover in English what was a major military with far-ranging implications to today’s world. It started off as a much smaller project with a nucleus of experts including one of the main ones in Sweden, Colonel Einar Lyth. But soon professors and other experts from all over Europe were contacting me to join this international effort. The book grew to 2 volumes and started my vision of having new thematic art and maps to adorn the book. The book has received international acclaim. Of course, no major publisher wanted to publish the book. It was not World War II or the Civil War and the inclusion of new art and maps, particularly in color, was not something they felt they could make lots of money on. I found that interesting, as their non-color books with few maps were usually more expensive than my books. There was also the fact that I was not a professor with a proven track record. My legal assistant suggested we could learn the publishing business and do it ourselves, and she was right, which led to THGC Publishing. I have my own bevy of contract graphic designers, artists and professional indexers.
Next up was the little known Battle of St. Louis during the American Revolutionary War. I am descended from a man in the St. Louis militia during the battle so bringing this history to light was important to me. I attended an annual commemoration a few years before and saw the incredibly small turnout and that the organizer was lamenting the lack of interest. The book idea was born and I walked down to the organizer and told her I could help. I first contacted a researcher in Spain who I knew was studying this history, particularly the history of the St. Louis commander, Fernando de Leyba. I knew access to the Spanish archives in Seville (where all the colonial Spanish history is kept) would be crucial to bring new discoveries to light to tell the full story. My Spanish was also not up to the delicate and voluminous translations that were needed. It became a great partnership and after educating her on military terminology, many new discoveries were made on never before published or cited documents. The close friendship of Fernando de Leyba and George Rogers Clark was instrumental to the British defeat and has received no recognition until our book. After the book was published, an elaborate celebration by the Spanish military honoring Fernando de Leyba and erecting a monument incorporating his aid to the United States independence effort was erected in Ceuta. I had over 50 speaking engagements on the book and in 2021 HEC-TV (Higher Education Channel) produced an hour long documentary on the book which just won the St. Louis Filmmakers award for best historical documentary and has been nominated for a Mid America Emmy.
I knew from that documentary, people would want to know more, so I gathered 12 authors from the US and Spain to write The American Revolutionary War in the West including my friend in Spain from The Battle of St. Louis effort. After the success of the Battle of St. Louis book, many were eager to contribute to the new book. It covers all of the expansive events during the war along the Mississippi River, not just at St. Louis. It prompted the development of a museum exhibit based on that book which will open next May in St. Charles County, Missouri. The book release is being held for the exhibit opening. We hope to have all sorts of educational events during the run of the exhibit.
Lastly, there was quite a bit of research done for The American Revolutionary War in the West book that could not be included as the book was already large (my co-authors in that book did an incredible job). So with Covid delaying the museum exhibit and giving me time at home I launched another book project. I had read Professor Jim Piecuch’s Cavalry of the American Revolution and realized it covered nothing west of the Thirteen Colonies. I contacted Jim who was highly encouraging about my effort to write a new book covering this void. After reading a statement by a historian that there were no mounted units in the French and Indian War, I knew a book covering cavalry during the French and Indian War and in the west during the American Revolutionary War was needed. Plus I already had all of that original primary source research. To cap it all off, both of my parents were avid equestrians and though my talents were more modest, I had a good understanding of horses. My father was a cadet officer in the cavalry troop at a prestigious military academy and my mother competitive jumped horses. So the book became a tool to remember them in their prime. Thus, Cavalry in the Wilderness was born and just released in September of 2021. As with all of my books, it is hardbound with lots of color illustrations and maps both historic and newly commissioned.
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