Big Totally Massive Box of Giant Science Fiction:
Ogre Reborn as the Designer’s Edition
by Jim Werbaneth
Designer's Response to “Civil War on River and Sea:
A Review of Rebel Raiders on the High Seas” in Issue 75 of Line of
Departure
by Mark G. McLaughlin
Coming Attractions: Designer’s Notes for
The Battle of Sadowa
by Jim Werbaneth
Little War on the Frontier: Simple Tactics in the French and Indian War
Battle Collection
by Jim Werbaneth
The General and the Old Tanks: Scenarios for the T-55
and T-62 in Avalon Hill’s MBT
by Jim Werbaneth
Adventures of the Great King: The Avalon
Hill Version of Frederick the Great
by Jim Werbaneth
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by Jim Werbaneth
A lot has happened since the publication of Line of Departure Issue 76.
As my schedule filled up with two day jobs and my pursuit of a second Masters
degree, this one in military history, I realized that I was running out time.
Literally. There was not enough time in the day to do what I was trying to do,
and some essential activities were being compromised. Looking at the publication
schedule for Line of Departure over the last couple of years, it was
clear that this magazine was one of them. There was always another paper to
write, another class to revise, and always more assignments to grade. Finally, I
continue to discover just what homeownership requires.
There was another
activity that I was finding it in-creasingly to fit into my schedule, and that
was my game development commitments to
Turning Point
Simulations. Deadlines became harder and harder to meet, and if anything, I
saw them becoming well nigh impossible, in the near future. Thus, with a great
degree of regret, I tendered my resignation as staff developer to TPS. The job
is now in the able hands of Lembit Tohver.
I have to emphasize that my
departure has nothing to do with any dispute or split with TPS or its
management. This is absolutely the most supremely ethical wargame publisher with
whom I have yet worked, and I really wish that I had more time to devote to
their projects. They are great people and deserve your support and business.
You’ll continue to see my work appear in the TPS and
Against the Odds lines in the
future, still. I’m hoping that plans go forward for the publication of one of my
articles in the magazine.
Further, and this is big news, I’m back in the
game design business. Last year, I designed my contribution to the TPS series,
covering the battle of Sadowa, also known as Königgratz, in 1866. My game is an
operational-strategic treatment of the Austro-Prussian War in Bohemia, using the
game system that my friend Paul Rohrbaugh designed for the Civil War. Then Paul
got the job of developing my game for TPS. It is currently slated for
publication in late 2015.
For all my game development work over the past
ten years or so, The Battle of Sadowa is my first original game design since
1991, when I did Rommel at Gazala. That lay dormant until I
self-published it in 2006. Recently though I took it off the market, at least
from my own web site, as it about to be published in a professional edition by
Lock ‘n Load Publishing. I already have
an advanced copy, and it looks great; not only is the artwork fantastic, but the
counters and map are enlarged, making it more inviting to play.
I don’t
imagine that either The Battle of Sadowa or Rommel at Gazala
will be my last game designs. I miss the inventive, more creative side of design
and development, and don’t intend to spend another quarter decade away from it.
Leaving the development side should free up some time, with the advantage that
the only deadlines and time constraints that mean anything will be my own. Plus,
the grad school assignments all give me additional ideas and research
opportunities that might translate into wargames.
Now for this issue.
I’ve been promising coverage of larger games over the last couple of years, ever
since I bought my house around my library and game collection, and also that I’d
address more science fiction games. Finally, I’ve specifically mentioned the
designer’s edition of Ogre. Well, they don’t get any more science
fictiony, or bigger, than that one. So Issue 76 comes through on all three
counts, with a review of the new Ogre. This won’t be the last science
fiction game, or monster, either; there will be more in the future.
The
issue also has a special emphasis on armor. It is not a theme issue, as much
early warfare comes in, but there is the Ogre review, and scenarios for
MBT. Now, this might not be the last time that the original Avalon Hill
version of the latter is going to be supported by Line of Departure,
but readers can expect a general draw down. One big reason is that GMT expects
to publish an updated version, with expansions. I expect in time to shift
attention from the Avalon Hill edition to the upcoming one from GMT, and its
expansions.
I further expect a general shift in scenarios and
sup-plements too. In the last few years, they have been about Avalon Hill modern
land tactical games, specifically MBT, its Middle East cousin IDF,
and Firepower. I would really like to expand coverage, and present more
support for games from other publishers, and on other subjects. Hence, over the
last few issues, I’ve added material, and scenarios, for the old SPI games
Red Star/White Star and Task Force. Yes, they were on the modern
warfare of their time, and while the former covers mechanized warfare in Europe,
as does MBT, the latter is a naval game. Of course too, they come from
a different publisher.
As time goes on, I would like to add more
scenarios and supplements for more varied eras too. I have the com-plete set of
GMT’s version of Panzer, and expect to offer support for that. After
all, it is close enough to MBT and IDF, frequent subjects of
Line of Departure scenarios, that the transition shouldn’t be too hard.
Further, I plan to expand the magazine’s support for Avalanche Press’ game
systems, especially the Great War at Sea, the Second World War at
Sea, and both the World War II and post-War implementations of the
Panzer Grenadier system. So far, I have not published any scenarios for the
naval titles or Panzer Grenadier, but that could change soon.
In addition, other naval games always offer fertile ground for scenarios and
expansions. Look for more sup-port in that area, including others previously not
covered.
Now let’s look at the eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room,
Line of Departure’s publication schedule. It is a top priority for me
to get this all back on track, with four issues per year. As I said, I’m
trending toward having more time for this, as my second stint in graduate school
enters its home stretch. Then too, there is my reluctant and regretful departure
from TPS.
I also got a really fortunate bolt from the blue, courtesy of
subscriber Emory Toops. He sent me an extremely extensive analysis of games
addressing the Sino-Japanese War. It is a fine article, on a subject never
addressed by Line of Departure, and on games that can’t be considered
the “usual suspects” in any ways. Plus, it promises to be a big help in getting
the issues out the door more frequently.
Emory’s article is a bit long to
be published in one issue, and I wouldn’t want a magazine to be centered on what
is really a fairly obscure, one could say under-represented, topic. So I’ll do
with it what I did with my own lengthy article on Victory Games’ The Civil
War some years ago, and split it between issues. This lowers the burden on
me to generate material for Line of Departure, and thus presents a golden
opportunity to start rebuilding a reserve of surplus material for publication
sooner rather than sometime further down the road.
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