Greek Civil War in Japanese Command magazine

June 15, 2022 6 Comments

GCWJpnCmdedn

In a forthcoming issue of the Japanese -language wargaming magazine Command: a reissue and updating of my game Greek Civil War!

This edition features lovely map production, fine counters, my original rules and an updating of the 1944-45 scenario that was thrown into the DG edition. Also some additional designer’s notes and a reminiscence of my time living in Japan from the perspective of game design.

I see someone has taken the trouble to look at Ukrainian Crisis as well.

Nice item!

If and when you get a copy of this (production is small, but copies do make their way overseas) you can use these English-language rules and charts (and you can also use them if you have the Decision Games edition too; no changes required to the map or counters, just drop these in).

GCWrules11 18 apr 22

GCWchts11 18 apr 22

GCW Jpn Cmd ed designer notes 22 apr 22

Brian in Japan

This is actually my second appearance in this magazine: back in 2002 my game Battle for China was in issue #42, apparently the first time in the magazine’s run that an original game by a non-Japanese designer was featured (they had been doing a lot of well-produced reprints of classics, for example much of the GDW Series 120 games). It was quite the best physical production the game ever got: larger, well-printed maps; SPI style matte counters, and best of all it included the expansion kit to take the game beyond 1941 and into the Civil War.

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A Distant Plain: 4th printing in the offing!

November 29, 2021 2 Comments

pic1733403_md

GMT Games has recently announced a new P500 for a FOURTH printing of A Distant Plain!

This 4th printing is identical to the 3rd printing, and incorporates all known errata. 

You can get your copy at the P500 price of just $56.00 here: 

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-961-a-distant-plain-4th-printing.aspx

No telling how long it will take for enough orders to accumulate for them to pull the trigger, but I will say I am very pleased to see this. 

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Strategist, 2000

February 26, 2021 5 Comments

orwell_1984

Once upon a time, I edited Strategist, the monthly newsletter of the Strategy Gaming Society. Boardgamegeek.com says that “the American Wargaming Association (AWA) merged with the National Wargaming Alliance (NWA) in 1984. The combined organization was renamed the Strategy Gaming Society (SGS). The AWA’s newsletter was called “The American Wargamer“, issued from 1973 to November 1984. The NWA’s newsletter was called “Kriegsrat“, issued until November 1984. With the December 1984 issue, the combined publication became “Strategist”.

George Phillies, who is still quite active in wargaming, was a central figure in the Society from way back, but I think the Society has been defunct for quite a while now. Anyway, I took over the newsletter after John Kula had had it for a while and edited it for a year before concluding I just did not have the time or energy to keep it going the way I wanted it (I was then still in the process of recovering from getting run over by a car at the end of 1998).

This was all 20 years in the past, and in the interests of oh I don’t know future ludic archaeologists I am putting up those dozen issues, in PDF form, on the Resources page (converted cheaply from their original MS Publisher format, so there might be an oopsy or two somewhere). They give you 3 GB of space here at WordPress and I am not using much of it so far. Game Links and Resources

Here is an index to the contents, nothing really remarkable except that I did publish a few simple games in its pages: Attrition, War Fair, Wolf Pack and Zulu Spears by Lloyd Krassner; Battle of Seattle by me; and the first appearance of Waterloo 20 by Joe Miranda. Another funny thing I ran was a series of “Military Movie Star” bios where I wrote about the star’s service career and the war/action movies they were in later. Did you know James Mason was a pacifist and conscientious objector in World War Two?

STRATEGIST index for 2000

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Revenge of the Balkan Gamble

September 24, 2019 4 Comments

BGmbl cover

BALKAN GAMBLE

BACK IN PRINT – only 10 copies available! (no wait, only 9 left now…make that 7…)

Way back when, I initially made only 20 figuring they would never all sell, but they did and people kept asking for it, so I made up another 10 copies. They sold too. What gives? Is this some kind of a trend? So a year or two later I made another 10. 

The Allied invasions of the Balkans that never happened. One of the great what-ifs of World War 2 in the Mediterranean theatre, at least to Hitler and the German High Command, was the possibility of an Allied invasion of Greece and/or Yugoslavia. The Allies knew the Germans perceived such invasions as a credible threat and created several strategic deception plans, leading the Germans to move or keep critical troop formations in northern Italy and the Balkans when they would have been much more useful somewhere else. Scenarios for 1943, 1944, 1945, and a hypothetical 1950 Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia. Uses the Autumn Mist/ Summer Lightning/ Winter Thunder system of formation activations and almost-diceless combat with mission matrix, at a larger scale: 1 week/turn; 30 km/hex; division/brigade; 17×22″ hex map and 280 double-sided counters. Many “chrome” rules to cover the fragmented human, political and physical terrain of the area.

This game has twice the map (and it’s printed on nice heavy paper) and twice the counter sheets, so the price per copy is $25 US. This includes postage. Paypal to [email protected]. Thanks!

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