Issue 69 (Spring/Summer 2011)
MODERN TACTICS: LAND, AIR AND SEA ISSUE
A Newer Swarm of Hornets: A Review of the Most Recent DVG
Edition of Hornet Leader
by Jim Werbaneth
Détente No More: Three Scenarios for Avalon Hill's MBT
by Jim Werbaneth
Designer's Response to "Going Home to Gaul: A Review of
Caesar in Gaul" in Line of Departure Issue 68
by Craig A. Johnson
The Age of Jets: SPI's Air War and its Times
by Jim Werbaneth
Attack Tactics: Using American Carrier Aviation on the
Offensive in Harpoon Classic
by Jim Werbaneth
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by Jim Werbaneth
This is a year of milestones for Line of Departure. This summer, the
magazine won its fourth
Charles S. Roberts Award, and the fourth in five years, as the best amateur
magazine in wargaming. To all of you who voted for it, not just this year but in
all the others, thank you.
I do have one slight reservation though, and that is in the nomenclature of the
award. "Amateur magazine" seems a little bit dated, evoking images of dot matrix
print-ers and crude or for that matter nonexistent graphics. Plus, when a reader
looks at magazines such as Line of Departure and
Panzer Digest, he or she sees something that aims for a higher standard than
a purely amateur fanzine, issued mainly for personal satisfaction, and perhaps
the rush of seeing one's name on print. For my part, I aim for some-thing more,
and I believe that others in the field feel the same way. Thus, might it be
better to update the category, perhaps with a new term such as
"semi-professional?"
Still, by any name, I deeply appreciate the recognition and confidence that you,
the readers, continue to give Line of Departure.
There is another milestone too, one based on endurance. This fall, the magazine
will achieve its twentieth anniversary of publication. Considering that in 1991
I wasn't sure that I was going to live another twenty years, I definitely
wouldn't have been on the magazine lasting that long. But it has, starting in a
primitive, dot-matrix form, and progressing to what you see before you in 2011.
If you happen to be reading this online, then you could see that as evidence of
progress too. Twenty years ago, few of us had any awareness at all of this
internet thing. Over the years, Line of Departure was supported by a
series of sites, starting with a homepage associated with my America Online
account, then a series of sites partnered with The Gamers Net and
Wargamer.com. Today,
everything is consolidated under
www.jimwerbaneth.com.
My own life has advanced too. Back at the beginning, I was lucky to get contract
work, then moved on to an eight-year career in banking. Unfortunately two of the
three jobs I held in that corporation were miserable on their best days, and the
company was one of the one worst in Pittsburgh. The corporate culture embodied
all the integrity and moral fiber of the average serial rapist, and social
conscience of the local crack dealer. My biggest career and personal error ever
was staying for eight years, and not showing that company my back, and my middle
finger, much earlier.
Now, after more contract and temp work, I'm very happy with my professional
situation. I'm now a history and political science instructor at two fine
institutions of higher learning. After a life with more careers than I'd like to
count or admit, I'm perfectly content with this one, and hope that I can keep
this going all the way to retirement. I don't imagine doing anything else.
This is leading to more opportunities for professional satisfaction. In July, I
visited the Netherlands for the second time, spending two weeks in the
municipality of
Sittard-Geleen. There, I continued to study local government, and not only
met with members of the city council, but also gave a presentation to the city
administration. I remain proud of that because of the difficult conditions; it
was about four hours after I got off the plane in Brussels, so there was
significant jet lag. I was also in the very early stages of a bad head cold that
lasted even longer than the two weeks that I spent in Europe. Of course much of
that time was spent visiting military museums, battlefields and cultural sites
in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.
It is hard picking out one or two favorite destinations. My friends and I
returned to Ieper (Ypres in most of the history books) and also visited the
battlefield at Verdun. Each is haunting in its own way, reminding one of the
costs and destruction of the Great War. Aachen is a different sort of place,
with its medieval cathedral housing the mortal remains of Charlemagne, and the
marble throne that he commissioned as a seat from which Jesus could sort the
wheat from the chaff on Judgment Day. The
Liberty Museum at Overloorn is one of the best military museums I have ever
seen, and also covers the occupation of the Netherlands with a rare
effectiveness.
There was also a trip to Den Helder, and Fleet Days at the naval base. There, I
got to tour the Dutch frigate De Ruyter, and a Russian landing ship, the
Minsk. There were also chances to meet members of the
Royal
Marines, and the
Royal
Military Police. The latter provide passport control at the airports, and
riot control and SWAT teams for law enforcement.
I doubt that I ever could have made this trip, and conducted the work that I
did, without making the switch to a career that I enjoy in any case.
That was not my only travel in July. I spent the last week of the month at the
Conference of Army
Historians in Arlington, Virginia. I presented my first academic paper
there, titled "Counterproductive Distractions: Britain's American Diversion in
the Pursuit of Victory Over Revolutionary and Napoleonic France." Hopefully it
will not be the last.
I'm still working on a second Master's degree too, this one in military history.
I'm not sure when I'll finish it, but it will help cement my place in my best
and hopefully final career. I also expect it to enhance Line of Departure,
as further academic study of military history can't hurt.
This issue follows a theme of modern tactics on land, sea and air. Hornet
Leader might seem too abstract to be considered a tactical game, but my
opinion is that any game with individual pilots, airplanes, and even bombs and
missiles has a claim to being called tactical. Considering that most missions
take off from aircraft carriers, and some strike naval targets, it does have a
naval element as well. MBT is an old favorite among many Line of
Departure readers, and Issue 69 presents three new scenarios, with both the
United States Army and the West German Bundeswehr fighting Soviet
invaders. Air War is an SPI title from the Golden Age of wargaming,
aiming to be a comprehensive, rigorous simulation of aerial combat on a plane to
plane scale.
So please, enjoy this issue of Line of Departure. Then we'll see what's
possible for the next edition, the next year, and then maybe twenty years more.
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