AMERICANS AT WAR ISSUE II
Civil War on River and Sea: A Review of Rebel
Raiders on the High Seas
by Jim Werbaneth
Tactics Before ASL: Squad Leader and its Modules
by Jim Werbaneth
Two Visions of Vietnam: Command Magazine's
Minigames of the Vietnam War
by Jim Werbaneth
NATO v Warsaw Pact, 1973: Two
Additional Scenarios for the Original Red Star/White Star, from SPI
by Jim Werbaneth
Coming Attractions: Paul Rohrbaugh's
The Vicksburg Campaign, for Turning Point Simulations
by Jim Werbaneth
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by Jim Werbaneth
This issue marks another milestone in the history of Line
of Departure: It is the seventy-fifth. There are days in which I never thought
that it would go this far, but I’m happy that it did. Also, other periodicals,
including some that were rolemodels for this one, fell by the wayside. My sense
of disbelief has increased with each. Yet, sometimes in stark defiance of common
sense, Line of Departure keeps on keeping on. I expect that to
continue.
As this is a milestone issue, I decided that it would be
entirely appropriate to give it an overarching theme. This time, it is Americans
at War. There is precedent for this, and it is actually the second time that an
issue has had this focus: The first was Issue 39, back in late 2001. So this is
officially Americans at War Issue II.
Furthermore, it is a consistent
practice that each issue of Line of Departure carries at least one
project pertaining to the United States, or Americans, in some way. This can be
something on the French and Indian War, when there were Americans but not yet
independent ones, or the settlement of the Americas, including North America.
The old Conquistador fits the latter criterion. More frequently though,
the game, or games, include the armed forces of the United States of the
America. The time frame can range from the Revolutionary War, into the future.
Issue 75 starts with the Civil War, and ends with hypothetical combat in the
Cold War. Of course there are other countries involved, as only the Civil War
can be portrayed as a “pure” American conflict. Otherwise, Americans go to war
with others, most often with allies.
This was actually the genesis of the
issue. For a long time, I had been considering a retrospective analysis of what
is now frequently called the Classic Squad Leader series, from Avalon
Hill. This would look at all the titles, from the first game through the
G.I.: Anvil of Victory module. Of course there are Americans in there,
along with German foes and Soviet allies. Then I acquired Mark McLaughlin’s
innovative grand strategic naval game of the Civil War, Rebel Raiders on the
High Seas. I wrote a review, and that meant more Americans, North and
South.
At that point, I started leaning toward an all-American theme
issue, especially when I wrote about Command magazine’s twin microgames
set in Vietnam, Hamburger Hill and Operation Solace. When
Command was at its zenith particular, its products were frequent subjects
for Line of Departure projects. However, in the years since its demise,
it went from the ranks of the usual suspects to the seldom-seens. Thus it seemed
like a good time to go back and look at a Command issue game. Again,
these were American-themed games, set for treatment in Line of Departure.
I was also determined to include scenarios. Avalon Hill titles were already
scheduled for prominence in Issue 75, so I looked toward an SPI title. Like
Avalon Hill, this company has been one of the more examined throughout Line
of Departure’s history, but more as the subject of analysis than
supplement. In consequence I dug out Red Star/White Star, the first
hypothetical tactical game, and the subject of an article in the last issue of
the magazine. In the spring, I had considered adding some scenarios for the game
to accompany that article, but decided that they would not quite fit. Now they
would.
Along the way, something had to be set aside for later. This
turned out to be a review of the supermassive designer’s edition of Ogre.
That will have to come later. Also, in the process I ended up with more articles
than I needed for Issue 75. Thus I have a little bit of a strategic reserve
again, along with a head start on Issue 76. We will just have to see what fits
in there, both thematically and spatially.
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