About Me

Hello! I’m Henry Hyde, a writer, designer and podcaster.

I have been a professional graphic designer since 1991. Nowadays, I specialise in book design, corporate identity and branding. My own experiences over more than a decade have also given me the ability to offer sound advice on self-publishing and online marketing.

I was the Editor of the internationally regarded monthly hobby magazine Miniature Wargames with Battlegames, combining Battlegames (which started life as his own self-published venture in March 1996 before eventually being bought by Atlantic Publishers in December 2011) and Miniature Wargames, the grand-daddy of the hobby which was first launched in 1983. I left this post in September 2016 to pursue my personal creative goals, including writing.

My first non-fiction book, The Wargaming Compendium dealing with the hobby of miniatures wargaming, was published by Pen & Sword in July 2013 and became a best seller. The follow-up book, Wargaming Campaigns, published in June 2022, also garnered that coveted orange tab on Amazon.

In July 2016, I launched Gladius Publications, the first step in developing my own self-publishing career. So far, I have self-published three highly acclaimed titles via Amazon KDP: Tabletop Battle Tactics (Volumes 1 and 2, plus the hardback Deluxe Full Colour Combined Edition, all 2023); Martinstaat 1744: A Detailed Wargame Campaign Set in A Fictitious World (2023); and Shot, Steel & Stone (2023). In addition, I have released a wide range of titles for wargaming and military history enthusiasts as PDF and audio files via my Payhip shop site at https://payhip.com/gladiuspublications.

I run a successful Patreon site for hobbyists at https://www.patreon.com/battlegames which includes over 150 podcast episodes as well as a host of written material and videos. Moving into essay-writing and fiction, I am also experimenting with Substack at Henry’s Second String, https://henryhyde.substack.com/, again with audio and video elements.

My other interests extend to international and military history (I have a European Studies: History degree from the University of Sussex), visual arts and music, languages (I speak German, French, Italian, Spanish and a smattering of Portuguese), cookery, health and martial arts. Over the last few years, I have been rekindling my interest in watercolour painting. More recently, I’ve been experimenting with abstract work using acrylics and gold leaf. As a result of online interest when I have posted photos of my work, I have decided to add this skill to my professional portfolio and you will now find a page dedicated to my art on this site.

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2019 and made a series of no-holds-barred video diaries on YouTube. Fortunately, after 37 radiotherapy sessions and ongoing doses of a drug called Prostap-3, the cancer is now in remission, but the stress of the illness combined with other factors (not least the Covid pandemic) led to me having a breakdown in January 2021.

With the help of loved ones, therapy and my own determination to recover and understand my own mind by putting in ‘the work’ and reading widely, I have managed to reach a much better place in my life. In fact, the experience has been so powerful that I decided to share what I have learned and explore the world of mental health, psychology and neuroscience in a podcast, Inside Your Head. I also dedicated myself to losing weight and shed around 49lbs/22kg.

I live in beautiful Brighton and Hove on the south coast of England with my partner Ann.

Thanks for visiting!