On the Net                                        by Alan Poulter

Command is no more

 After a long struggle to refinance Command, Ty Bomba, its owner has had to throw in the towel:  “Well boys, that's all she wrote; she didn't write no more. The jig is up. The cat's out of the bag, Alles Kaput. Etc. That is, we had a meeting with the lawyer this morning and there's no way out of this other than bankruptcy: the end of Command/XTR.

 Chris Perello says he'll be sending out a super-discount, going-out-of-business sales flyer to everyone on our mailing list in the next few weeks. If you can't wait for that, address all back stock orders, or inquiries about such orders, to him at:  cperello@calpoly.edu

 We've got three done games in-house here: my own War by Television: If The US & NATO Had Invaded Yugoslavia; Philip Sharp's Ignorant Armies: The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988; and Ron Bell's The Old Contemptibles: The Battle of Mons, 1914.

 Ron's already given me the OK to shop around that last game and I think I know where I can find a home for it.

 I'll be contacting Phil to ask if he wants me to try to do the same with IA. If he says yes, I'll see if I can't place it and my WBT with Decision games as a twinpak boxed release or some such. I'll keep you posted.

 Designers of other games that you already submitted to us, or are perhaps still working on at your home, are hereby notified you're free to seek development and publication of those titles elsewhere.

 My biggest regret (at this moment) is that we'll never get to publish the remaining two parts of that "Custer's Last Stand" article we began in issue 54.

 For our epitaph I think one we ALL can agree on would be: "In 12 Years They Never Published A Blank Counter."

 As was covered here previously, the short term cause of Command’s bankruptcy was their printing company changing management and the new owners calling in Command’s debts. Ty and others had been struggling to amass capital to pay Command’s debts off and only needed time. The recent appearance of Command #54 had seemed a good omen. The long-term causes are more debatable. Ty insists that the market for games in Command dried up. He tried selling the magazine alone, apart from the ‘hobby portion’ (with game) in order to generate news-stand sales to finance the games. He had also tried an online version of the magazine. Neither had worked. Others say that the decline of Command started with its infamous issue #49 containing Warchess 2000, a chess variant put in as the issue game at the last moment when the scheduled game, for a variety of reasons, was not ready. Ty caught a lot of flak for this and responded not by apologising but by telling irate customers that he would refund subscriptions if they wanted to cancel them. Ty says not many took up this offer. Whatever the truth, it certainly generated bad publicity. It may just be that the ‘monster’ games included in the later issues simply cost too much to produce to be profitable in a magazine format.

 During its run Command contained many excellent games (Great War in Europe, Proud Monster, Across the Potomac and more). It is sad to see it go.

Streets of Stalingrad returns

The 3^rd edition of the classic Streets of Stalingrad is due to make an appearance later this year, being rescued from oblivion by its original designers, Dana Lombardy and XX. Streets of Stalingrad is a monster tactical game on fighting in the city during its famous siege by the Germans in World War Two.

 For more information see: http://www.l2designgroup.com/

 Two New Game Companies

 Eagle Games are a new American company which aims to produce big, simple wargames. Their first two games are American Civil War and War: Age of Imperialism. The former is a basic but subtle attempt at a two-player game on the Civil War. Much comment has been made about its legions of pieces (figures mainly) and its enormous map, much of which is unused in play. The latter is a multi-player game loosely based on the global power struggles that lead up to World War One.

 Phalanx Games are a new publisher based in the Netherlands and they have brought out a new deluxe version of Frank Chadwick’s old GDW game, A House Divided. The map and pieces are sumptuous as the game is being aimed at the wider ‘Euro games’ market. Rules are provided in English, German and Dutch. More simple but challenging wargames are promised, the first being Waterloo 1815 from Richard Berg.

Avalanche

 Avalanche, who like GMT are trying to tap into the market for ‘German’ games, have released English versions of two Tilsit (a French game publisher) games. One is The Grand Alchemist in which players travel through Europe visiting cities of knowledge searching for the formula that will transmute metals into gold. It is a family game more than a strategy game. Very definitely a strategy game is Samurai & Katana a multi-player game for 3 to 6 players set in 16th Century Japan. It features the usual vicious struggle for power we have seen before (in Avalon Hill’s Samurai and Milton Bradley’s Samurai Swords for example) but has enough depth and historical veneer to warrant attention.

 Also from Avalanche are three series games. Airborne! is the third in the tactical-level  Panzer Grenadier series and offers twenty scenarios, three on Market Garden (which require ownership of previous games in the series) and the rest covering June 6 through June 11, 1944 (a few of which require the previous games). Also in the Panzer Grenadier series is Lions of Finland, a DTP (i.e. self-assembly) mini-module with scenarios from the Winter War between Finland and Russia. The latest in their Second World War At Sea series is Eastern Fleet, covering the struggle between the British and Japanese fleets for control of the Indian Ocean in World War Two.

 For more information see: http://www.avalanchepress.com

Columbia Games

 Columbia Games has taken a leaf out of GMT’s book and started a pre-publication order system. It is called Game Plan and allows the pre-order of proposed wargames from a list at a 25% discount. Pre-orders will not be billed until the game has been published and that happens when there are at least 500 preorders. Current pre-orders for each game will be posted every Thursday. Pre-orders may be cancelled or updated  at any time. To sign up go to:  http://www.columbiagames.com/

Decision Game s

The latest in the Der Weltkrieg series is Brusilov/Gorlice-Tarnow, on campaigns on the Russian front in World War One.

GMT

 GMT is currently suffering from a glut of P500 games coming into production and the delays caused by having to use a variety of printers for cards, maps, boxes and rules. In a sense P500 (a pre-publication programme where 500 copies need to be pre-ordered to get a game published) has been too successful in getting games into production.

 The first of the latest crop is Clash of Giants, two separate games using the same game system covering the two most famous opening battles of World War One, Tannenberg and The Marne. Originally slated for Command and designed by Ted Raicer (designer of Paths of Glory, The Great War in Europe and more) Clash of Giants has a unique combat system based more on a unit's training, equipment and morale than numbers.

 Reported shipping but not seen at the time of writing are Thirty Years War 1618 - 1648 from designer David Fox and Caesar at Alexandria, the next game in GMT’s Great Battles of History series. Thirty Years War uses the card-driven game system earlier used in GMT's Paths of Glory and Wilderness War.

MMP/The Gamers

 Another spin off from the acquisition of The Gamers by MMP has seen Sandi Hire, an ex-member of The Gamers crack customer service team, set up her own online game store, HomerGames.com. She is also the official American distributor for UGGamedesign and is offering to hold advance orders for forthcoming The Gamer’s games. She explained:

 "I enjoyed the years I got to talk to the customers at The Gamers. I found that gamers in general are great people. I knew I would miss talking to and e-mailing some of the best customers in the world, so I decided to open up my own cyber store."

 HomerGames.com is at: http://www.homergames.com/

 Russell Bunten, who is the person at MMP responsible for looking after The Gamers products, had this to say about the speculation that is rife about MMP’s plans for The Gamers:

 “I have been watching the discussion with interest. Having been a customer of The Gamers since nearly the beginning, I can remember the discussion (if you can call it that) when Dean announced his decision to sell only via direct sales.

 I can't recall the voices, but there were more then that were as adamant that Dean would fail as there are telling us (MMP) that we will fail by going back into distribution.

 I submit that the success or failure of The Gamers rested, ultimately, not on the type of marketing selected, but rather on Dean's ability to design and/or develop games and game series. Thankfully for all of us, Dean’s abilities spoke for themselves.

 Having said that, I would like to add that those abilities are still a major part of where we are going with The Gamers. Would we remain solvent if we remained direct with The Gamers titles (past and future)? Probably. Will we remain at least as solvent by moving back into distribution? Probably. Based on our projections, and with some additional information to which none of you are privy, we feel the best road for the future of our company and wargaming in general is through the store shelves.

 Is that the best short-term solution for us? No. We make more money by selling direct to you via our website or telephone. No doubt about that. We sell 10 copies to you (et al) we need (roughly) to sell 15 to distribution. Can we keep that pace? We think so. At the very least, we believe that the combination of direct and retail sales will allow us to continue to bring Dean's brainchildren to your hands and to store shelves.

 Regardless of the ultimate success or folly of all of this, a couple of things I do know. I know that most of the people who interact with you (et al) while playing a game already play wargames, probably already own some (if not all) of the titles in that series (and probably others), and if they don't, they will pick it up based on their experience with you (not us). I also know that if there are no games on shelves, the only source of growth is through ads in magazines or the occasional "history buff" that a gamer bumps into at work, church, whatever.

 We feel that not having the games on shelves is unacceptable. Thus the main thrust of our decision.

 As for "automatically voting with [your] wallets" and subscriptions, I would much rather you buy a game released by us based on your own interest in the subject, your confidence in the quality of our products, or some combination of both. It's long been a joke around the ASL world that most ASLers would buy a potato if it has "ASL" stamped on it somewhere. Having been a long-time Gamers player, I can attest that for quite a few people much the same applies to anything with "Game Design: Dean Essig" anywhere on the box. Still, that is not what we are after. If you absolutely MUST have a subscription to one or more series of games to continue to enjoy them, then I might suggest that you take your case to someone like Boulder Games (or maybe even Sandi Hire). Perhaps one of them (or another source) would be willing to do the same type program. You sign up with them. They ship yours to you as soon as they get them (which will be sooner than you can get it from us directly since we ship to stores and distributors first). You might even get a discount along the way. We sell games (read: we stay in business). They sell games (read: they stay in business). You get games without having to take the effort to make a phone call or place a web order (no lack of convenience for you). We maintain a commitment to stores to give them the titles before we release it for direct sales (except at conventions and such). Looks like everyone wins. Everyone, that is, except for the local game store who would much rather you walk into his store and buy it. Everyone, that is, except the dad of that Pokemon Kid (tm) who wonders why there aren't more games for adults in this store any more. Everyone, that is, but the history major who is tired of playing chess and might be looking to try something new. Maybe one of those games that used to be on that shelf over there. You know, the ones I used to reach over to get my HO Scale model buildings for my train set.

 Someone has accused us of being arrogant about all this. I have also been told that I sometimes offer a tone which makes me appear to "take offence" to some of the comments. Neither of these statements could be farther from the truth. I have been offended (and only mildly at that) by a single private email I received. The sender sent along a subsequent apology before I had time to reply. We worked it out and are now looking forward to sharing an adult beverage or two together at this year's Homercon Retreat. So if you feel that my tone or words indicate either of the above sentiments, then I wish I knew how better to say what I have said while still saying SOMETHING which addresses the issues. I suppose I could avoid them if I wanted to, or pay some complimentary lip service, but I wanted to genuinely try and address your concerns. Believe me, we considered them all for a great deal of time. I might add that our purchase of The Gamers was not an overnight decision (nor was it accomplished overnight). It was a very long road, which started nearly a year ago. The bottom line is that we want wargaming to continue beyond the current generation of gamers. The only way we see that possible is if the games are on the shelves.”

 I think that pretty much clears up what MMP is going to do with The Gamers. It will put their games in retail stores. Series subscriptions will not be available from MMP, as these hurt the store-distribution policy. The gamble is that retail stores are the best place to sell board wargames. It would indeed be sad if this was not the case, but time will tell.

 UGG

 There is yet more fall out from the MMP acquisition of The Gamers. Udo Grebe Gamedesign (UGG), based in Germany, used to distribute The Gamers games in Europe, saving buyers paying shipping fees from the US. It looks like this arrangement will continue and may even expand to cover MMP games as well.

 Udo Grebe Gamedesign (UGG) have issued a 2^nd edition of Blitzkrieg General, their short, playable game on all of World War Two. There is no update kit available for owners of the first edition (which sold out, hence the second edition) but all the (minor) rules changes in the 2^nd edition are at: http://www.ugg.de/bg/bg2mod.htm

Magazine wargames

 Strategy and Tactics #207 is out, containing the game War of 1812, on the Seven Years War in Canada and North America. Plans have changed for the next issue, as publisher Christopher Cummins explains:

 “We are going to replace the next regularly scheduled issue (#208) with a special issue devoted to the ongoing war. Miranda and Bomba are working together on this issue. The issue game will be Bomba's Back to Iraq game updated with all the latest information on the forces likely to be in the area three months from now. The lead article will focus on the military situation in and around Iraq. Other articles will focus on the Afghanistan campaign and other aspects of the current situation. This issue will be out around Christmas.”

 Vae Victis #41 is now available, featuring a strategic level game, Les Campagnes du  Danube, on the campaigns that led to the battles of Austerlitz and Wagram.

 DTP wargames

 Canope 1801 is the fifth game of the Jours de Gloire series (originally published in Vae Victis) and is the first DTP game by its designer, Frederick Bey. It covers the last battle of French expedition in Egypt. It includes a full-colour map (Vae Victis size), charts, and more than 200 counters. The rules come in French, English and Italian versions. For more details see:  http://perso.club-internet.fr/fredbey/

 The latest from Perry Moore Designs has the longest and most obscure title I have ever seen, Sonderkomandojunck 1941. It covers the German/Iraqi attacks on the British airbase at Habbinaya, south of Baghdad in May 1941. While focussing on air-to-air combat, ground units are also present. Perry Moore Designs is at:  http://www.jps.net/perrya

 Richard Berg via his DTP label BSO has produced Longbow, which includes two battles of the Hundred Years, Créçy and Poitiers. It uses the latest instalment of his medieval battles system, which started with Kingdom for A Horse, and continued with Simon Says and The Last Raid. A hiccup with the reproduction of the first batch of maps caused one level of terrain to vanish but these faulty maps have been replaced.

 Schutze Games has released a bumper crop of four new titles. Hamel 1918 designed by Peter Schutze is a tactical game on the World War One Western Front battle in which the Australians and Americans fought the Germans. Allenby's Blitzkrieg also designed by Peter Schutze is an operational level game on the World War One campaign game in Palestine between Britain and Turkey. Revanche! designed by Paul Rohrbaugh is another World War Two game using his Blood and Steel/Patton's Finest system. Finally Breaking into Valhalla also designed by Paul Rohrbaugh is a monster game and covers Operation Veritable and Grenade, attempts to cross the Rhine in World War Two. All games include sticky-backed counters.

 For more information see: http://www.geocities.com/schutze_games

Computer Wargames

 Simulations Canada is not a company one hears much of these days. It did publish an extensive range of boardgames and then moved into computer games but got out of publishing a while ago when company owner Stephen Newberg decided he had had enough. Now he is back. He has a deal with Matrix Games to republish many of Simulation Canada's most popular wargames designs. This will involve giving these old games a new windowed interface but leaving their essentials untouched.

 Matrix Games are at: http://www.matrixgames.com

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