Obviously, the big news for this issue is the Air War that was recently concluded against Iraq and in Kuwait. But since that is covered quite extensively elsewhere: I'll get on to the other items of interest. But, before I do, I just gotta say this: DAMN, ISN'T AIR SUPERIORITY JUST GREAT!!! (the game's not bad either) New Products GMT games will shortly be releasing a new solitaire card game called "Hornet Leader". The premise appears to be that you are a squadron leader and you choose your pilots from a pool that is made available to you at the start of each game. You then draw cards to determine the assigned mission or series of missions which you play out. Before you go, you must choose the load outs of each plane and then the mission is conducted as a series of steps in which random events occur (determined by cards) as your progress toward your target. The events include the appearance of enemy fighters, defenses, and bad luck like aircraft aborts. You must decide how to commit your aircraft against defenses and how many to peel off against incoming fighters and the like. According to the designers, a typical mission can be done in as little as 25 minutes allowing for several plays in an evening. Sounds like good fun to me. The advertised price is thirty smackers, but this also includes charts, counters and markers which are used to record the status of the aircraft in play. Gunslingers has been slam-dunked once again to GDW's back burner. GDW devoted much of their staff time to rapidly produce their Desert Storm Source book which has fortunately been very successful. However, this caused all their other products to slide in production, including Gunslingers. It was originally targeted for June but Marc Miller, who is heading up development of Gunslingers, is unhappy with the current set of 2nd edition rules, which he says are too massive and still not easy for the beginning gamer to assimilate. He initiated a rewrite and now the rules have been returned to me for a rework. Basically, we're re-organizing them and trying to cut about 30% of the text in a streamlining effort (meaning a lot of the chrome will be killed off). As of right now, Gunslingers is not even slotted for a 1991 release (please direct any adverse commentary to the management in written form, I'm just the designer). Air Power is working on getting up a good show for Origin's 1991. We hope to have a product or two to sell, or at least market. With luck we'll have the usual hot tourneys and plenty of open gaming. I'LL BE THERE, Tony plans to be there, and most of the infamous regulars including the Canadians and Californians will be too. Come one, come all. Back to Table of Contents -- Air Power # 13 Back to Air Power List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by J.D. Webster This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com