Issue 72 (Fall/Winter 2012)
Panzers on the Meuse: Review of Sedan, May 1940
in World at War
by Jim Werbaneth
The
Fox, Alone: Solitaire Gaming with Dan Verssen's Field Commander Rommel
by Jim Werbaneth
More Battles of World War III: NATO-Warsaw Pact
Scenarios for Avalon Hill's Firepower
by Jim Werbaneth
A Very Small Waterloo: Avalon Hill's Hundred Days
Battles
by Jim Werbaneth
Modern Warfare at Sea: Then-Current Naval Battles in SPI's
Task Force
by Jim Werbaneth
Three Battles Afloat: Additional Scenarios for
Task Force
by Jim Werbaneth
Coming Attractions: Developer’s Notes to The Victory
of Arminius
by Jim Werbaneth
Visit the Line of Departure Online Features site for FREE articles, scenarios, game supplements and player's aids.
Accepting PayPal! Click here to order online, and here for a printable order form.
Click Here For Specials On Line of Departure Back Issues and other products.
by Jim Werbaneth
If you can read this, it means that the Mayans were wrong. If they were right, I
hope that you all had the foresight not to pay any of your bills.
This
year has been a big one for me, and I hope a good one for all of you too. The
big events were attendance at the New York
Military Affairs Symposium’s conference, commemorating the bicentennial of
the War of 1812. There, I presented a paper on
British
strategy in the New York and New England areas. Then in July I did more
travelling, and spent two weeks in the Netherlands, for the third year in a row.
I know the question that some of you are probably asking, so I’ll venture the
answer: No, Europe never gets boring. Even in countries as small as the
Netherlands and Belgium, there is always something new to see, and something to
do.
I’m also still working on my second Master of Arts, in military
history, from American Military History. I’m just about halfway done now. Once
more too, this laps into the multiverse of All Things Line of Departure, as I
revised a couple of projects written for my last class, and put them on the
Line of Departure Online
Features web site. One is a short biography of
Heinz
Guderian, and the other is a more extensive analysis of the
Battle of
Mortain, the failed German counteroffensive against the American breakout
from Normandy. You can read them, of course, at
http://www.jimwerbaneth.com/online_features.
Now for the biggest
personal news of all. I’m buying a house, and expect to close the deal and move
in at the end of January. This has been a long time in the making, and the
culmination of an effort that, for a long time, I didn’t think would end. I
almost gave up all hope of owning a home of my own, at least without wheels
underneath and a meth lab in the neighbor’s place, several times. I recall a
time about six years ago when I was on my way to a doctor’s appointment, and
stopped for lunch at Taco Bell on the way, only to debate with myself about
whether I had enough to buy a taco. Now I’m able to buy a house.
In some
ways I got lucky. On the other hand I’ve worked three or four jobs at a time
sometimes, so we end up making our own luck. If you want to envision me
urinating on someone else’s EBT card or misguided sense of entitlement, that’s
just fine with me.
I did win life’s lottery in one way. My real estate
agent saw my library and wargame collection, as part of a general process of
figuring out who I was and what I needed and wanted. There are a lot of horror
stories about real estate people not knowing or caring what their clients want,
such as showing studio apartments to families of ten, or trying to sell a “fixer
upper” to someone without the time or talent to change a light bulb. From the
beginning though, he showed me homes with the idea of fitting all that into my
new home, and accordingly took me to visit such places. I actually ended up
shopping for a place that would house not just me, but my books and games, and
provide lots of rooms to set up tables, and still have room for a decent-sized
television. Then, with my agent’s help, I was able to find it, and at a price
that I could actually afford.
So, not everyone tailors their wargames
around their homes. In my case I’m able to buy the house around the wargames.
Hopefully 2013 will be good, especially if those Mayans were either as
misunderstood or full or tapir crap as I suspect. I probably won’t be doing as
much travel, espe-cially as given a choice between a mortgage and Europe, I will
choose the avoidance of foreclosure. Plus, it appears that I will have more of a
chance to play the bigger games, as monsters will no longer bump against my
gameroom walls. Further, moving the home office to a room of its own will open
up more space down there.
This year is ending on a positive, though
stressful, note. Now, let’s see what I can do in the next.
RETURN TO LINE OF DEPARTURE HOME PAGE