GDW gives Me the PINK SLIP! Alas! Alas! Gunslingers is no more, Air Superiority is no more, in fact the whole system is no more. Okay, here's the scoop to the best of my understanding. In mid-August I received a polite call from Frank Chadwick informing me that the company would be unable to do Gunslingers, and that they would no longer be supporting the Air Superiority system, meaning they were going to let the line go out of print. I was SHOCKED, STUNNED, DISAPPOINTED, but not surprised. I had seen the warning signs for the last six months with the company's lack of prioritization and continuous delays. Why would they do this? Air Superiority was a successful game, 12,000 printed to date. It sold slowly but steadily and was very popular and contemporary and had good reviews. I can't say for sure but the gist of what I got from Frank was that the line didn't fit in with the strategic direction the company was taking (meaning roleplaying, and introductory level wargames?). AS was considered too complex and sophisticated and besides he said they had a lot of projects in line and could not really devote anyone to work on it even if they wanted to. What Now? Actually, after seething for about two minutes, I realized this was a liberation, not a disaster. My relationship with GDW, while friendly, had been somewhat of a disaster for the AS system. Product delays, mishandling, terrible proofreading and cutbacks, plus incredible resistance toward the 2d edition of the system had been its lot for the last 4 years. Okay, so while GDW is dropping the line, I am not giving up on it. One of the concessions Frank promised, was the immediate return to me of all the rights to the material printed in Air Strike and Desert Falcons, and as soon as the last copies of AS left the warehouse an immediate return of the rights to AS as well. I checked and there are only about 800 copies of the game left in their warehouse so anticipate a year for those. This is better than waiting for two years as my contract specifies. Also, I am free to market what used to be Gunslingers to any publisher willing to take it on. I have already had inquiries! I also have carte blanche to do what I will with the newsletter as well, no licenses needed now. So all this is not really bad news. Shocking yes, maybe good news, but not really bad! Like the Legendary Phoenix! Out of the ashes of GDW's AS game line arises a new modem air combat game system. The Air Power system! (Actually 2d edition renamed, but who cares). Better than the first, more realistic, and with a grand following already in hand. Gunslingers is buried, didn't like the name anyway, the material will be reworked under a different monicker to be announced when I can think of one. Well, what more can I say. Be patient, no letter bombs to GDW please. The best revenge would be to see another company take the reworked line, support it as it should be, and get rich with it! Till Next Time! Back to Table of Contents -- Air Power # 16 Back to Air Power List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1991 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