Osprey Books Price Increase

Osprey announced a price increase effective the first of 1998.

Campaign, Air Combat and Aircraft of the Aces series will list at $17, making the Fine Games cash price $13.60. All other series (Warriors, Vanguard, New Vanguard, etc.) are unaffected.

SPEARHEAD GAMES is rumored to be postponing or cancelling all of its upcoming releases. The two Fleet Admiral titles have been transferred to Moments in History who will likely publish them next summer.

DECISION GAMES' S&T #186, Over the Top: Mons & Marne, sold out immediately. I mean within days of its release. My distributors are now also sold out (I say with a wink ;) Those of you who preordered this mag will receive it at the standard price for an in-print copy. Those of you who still want a copy, I suggest snatching one ASAP. I have a limited # of them for $25 at the moment.

EXCALIBRE announced plans to reprint a long-time collectors' item and good game, Kaiserschlacht. This is a 4-map game of the war on the Western Front in 1918 at the division level. SImple mechanics keep things moving along, and the game is actually quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, Excalibre seems to believe they can reprint a collectors' item and continue to sell it at collectors' prices: It will list at $85.

Omega Games Purchases Paper Wars and Hexessential Publications

With the demise of Zone of Control, Paper Wars was the best review mag. But its former owner needed to move on. So this passes to Bill Gibbs at Omega whohas published a healthy line of games dating mostly from the late '80s.

He's talked about republishing his games with new graphic standards. Paper Wars may give him the venue to make his product known. Whether Paper Wars then becomes more of a house organ remains to be seen. As does whether Omega actually succeeds in publishing any more games.

Stay tuned.

New Games and Pending Releases

BABYLON 5 BOARD GAME set is back in stock but in short supply. If you want a copy, this another window of opportunity. Despite its color, it hasn't proved to be such a hot game. Too bad.

AH RELEASED STARSHIP TROOPERS '97 to coincide with the movies release. We'll see how they do on this try...remembering how Platoon bombed as a game. (AH has NOT yet released either SUCCESSORS: ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE or ATLANTIC STORM, tho both are due in November.)

For lovers of the East Front, better check out OPERATION SPARK, the Soviet relief of Leningrad, Jan.'43. Using the Black Sea/Black Death system & designed by Jack Radey, this one looks to be a tough situation for both sides. And its reasonably priced especially for its maker.

Decision Games OVER THE TOP is just out but has not yet arrived here. All eyes on on this one. Note that the two companion games in S&T#186 are already out of print--a week after release. Now that's anticipating demand!

MAYFAIR'S DIE SIEDLER GAMES are in stock--the card game, the board game and its Seafarer and 5-6 player expansions are in stock. However, the card game expansion and the Seafarer 5-6 player expansion are in very short supply. While it would be nice to see the best of all these kits in one revised Settlers of Catan, each adds its own flavor to this truely enjoyable unique and MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED game system. These kits can be used w/ the Mayfair version of Settlers, too.

OSG--in the form of Kevin Zucker--has completely revised one of his earliest Napoleonic game, NAPOLEON AT BAY. Its being distributed by AH, but clearly its his baby. And he did a very nice job bringing both the rules and the graphics up to contemporary standards. A good game gets that much better. $33.60 in stock.

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