Tom Shaw

Tom Shaw. His favorite games? Football Strategy, Stalingrad, Business Strategy. Stalingrad he last played a e year ago. One aspect of game playing Larry and I noticed on our trip was that few of the designers/employees of the various companies play other companies games, Many seldom have time to play wargames at all.

"I'm not into the hardcore of gaming." Time is key. Tom is important in the production end of games and is thinking of working on an Election game in the future.

Direction of the Hobby. "Better mousetrap." It is a select group but the surface is not scratched. Innovation = growth. Length of a game is not as important as the difference between games and previous designs. Dungeons & Dragons as a concept will be built on within the Hobby. "Playability (in games) is key." "Anzio is doing real well."

To penetrate the broad spectrum of wargaming Tom felt that innovation is important. Nationwide Check owns Monarch Printing which in turn owns Avalon Hill, and it is a multi-million dollar company.

Value of reviews? Many games are reviewed without being played, an initial bad review harms the designer.

Europe and Australia? "Very fertile." Germany recently placed a $5,000 order. 12-14 games will be translated into German over the next two years. I saw the translation paste-up of Tactics II and it looked superb. It will be sold in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. For this Avalon Hill (and SPI's moves in this direction too) should be roundly applauded. Of course they hope to make money on this as well but at least they have vision. Avalon Hill is still looking for someone to handle their games in France on a minimum and exclusive basis. Australia represents 1% of their sales, while all of Europe equals England in sales.

Women and Race? "Not exposed to the same advertising media," otherwise their presence in the Hobby would be larger. Culture plays a large role here as well. Tom did feel that psychologically women are not geared to aggressiveness. Culture does not "develope a competitive nature in women". Tom felt that this would not be reversed over the short haul but over "centuries." He felt that most women played Bridge and like games for social reasons, not to win ...

Don Greenwood

Next I wandered in to talk to Don Greenwood who was pasting up an issue of the General. For those who have not been to Avalon Hill, it is a very old building, in a very old section of town, across from the Welfare office. A vast storage area very few employees. Monarch Print located across town.

Don's favorite games are Football Strategy, Afrika Korps, and Anzio. "I wwant to know how to play a game before playing it." Don and I agreed on one subject was the idea of a firm understanding of the rules before playing the first game of game. It challenges one to develope a strategy instead of letting the game teach one an optimum strategy over several playings. Don felt that of non-AH games, Gamma Two games were the best.

Some of you may have recalled a favorable review of Coral Sea in Europa, a review I still stand by. Well, both Randy Reed and Don had some large reservations about the game game. Randy questioned the statistics the accuracy of ranges, etc., especially aircraft involved. Don likes the combat system but dislikes the inability to have simultaneous air strikes. "The battle can't happen and it is not just a question of the "fudge factors", as Don put it.

Don is bearish on the Hobby. He said a lot of the companies are going broke. "Too many games." Too titles have been sold, Don went on to say that we can't get "decent titles." He felt that the company with the "reputation for the best game," was in shape for the future. Somewhere gamers will overload and "get fed up." He felt SPI would stay in the Hobby he and felt a major difference between SPI and was that SPI dealt with collectors, while A Hill catered to players.

On the question of game reviews, there's "no such thing as an objective review. "Panzerfaust is the only neutral magazine." Don felt that one new solid approach to reviews would be for two or three of the game reviewers to do a combined review of the same game. "Reviews are most important with more and more games."

The Australian and European markets make up about 5% of their total sales where wargaming here was "10 or 15 years ago." The key here is the point where local markets in Europe and Australia arrive at a point where designers, publishers and magazines can appear. Then the Hobby will burst forth in Europe and/or Australia.

Women and Race? "Interest is not there." Cultural reasons were cited for this by Don. "My wife thinks I'm crazy." Don felt the various minorities would be more representatiVe in wargaming as the economy improves for minority education and occupations. He did feet, like Tom, that it would be some time before women really came to be included in wargaming, other than through such games as Dungeons & Dragons.

Don felt the closest Nazi was a dying aspect of the Hobby since the Hobby is maturing.

Randy Reed

Next I spoke with Randy Reed, designer of 1776 and Avalon Hill troubleshooter on game design. Two of his favorite games? Battle of the Bulge (last played three months ago), and SPI's Turning Point. I asked him as to the weak points of 1776. Randy felt that the weakest point were the seapower rules (any variants out there? ... ) and that it was "fairly" accurate as a game. As to the slow historical British movement in relationship to the game mechanics, he felt it was a reflection of the politics of the time and not poor commanders in a military sense.

As to the direction of the Hobby Randy said, "three years ago I thought I knew, now I don't." Randy did feel the big companies would be key and that talent will concentrate with the big companies.

Randy had some comments on game reviews. "I pretty much said what I wanted to say in the General." Randy felt that there were only two or three creditable reviewers in the Hobby. A review should "not just (be) a personal opinion," or a "poison pen letter." Randy liked Walter Luc Haas' approach in Europa where the same game would receive comments on it by several people. Randy felt he was the man who handled the input at Avalon Hill on games while Don handled the output. Randy finished his remarks on reviewers with "pot shots at a game reviewer by a designer is dangerous," and "who is really informed about what", in the Hobby?

On the question of Europe, Randy felt that Walter's magazine was key for being a clearing house for ideas and games. One had two major problems. One was the lack of a large company and secondly the language barriers. Europe is "years away from being a voice in the Hobby." Randy also felt that Europe needed "far more Walter LucHaas's."

On the question of women and blacks Randy said, "I've known two Black people in wargaming and I've known one woman wargamer." On closet Nazi's Randy felt, 'What can I say, there are all types in the hobby," Larry made the point that wargaming can "become a fantasy trip." Randy was first and primarily interested in the competition aspect of gaming, "late in my gaming career I became interested in history."

Moving back to women in wargaming Randy felt that the cultural aspects were the main reasons for lack of woman in the Hobby. "Women are into softcore (war) games." Often they do learn "as (a) self defense thing" so they can see their lover.

"I wouldn't want to play a woman," as Randy would not like to see a woman in that place, a competitional place. Randy went on to say that the "quality of play of most wargamers is very low."

Odds and ends. Avalon Hill's office space is warehouse space and not office space which gives them a much lower overhead then SPI. Blitzkrieg is the biggest seller Avalon Hill ever had at well over 100,000 copies. Both Third Reich and Panzer Leader are over 50,000 in sales.

Back on the Road

Later that day we went up to New Jersey and while crossing the river between New Jersey and Delaware we were almost overwhelmed by the smell of raw sewage. It was disgusting.

On the 22nd we crossed the border into Russia. Sometime back SPI wrote about the two superpowers and the Third World of wargaming. To extend that analogy we have Avalon Hill as the United States reaching out into the Third World to grab designs and designers. A veritable brain drain. SPI must be the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as they are both a tight ship and market to a specific group of followers. This group becomes Eastern Europe in this analogy. There is even a division of territories as SPI products sell best in New York, while Avalon Hill sells best in California.

Rand, made up in part of ex-SPIers must be the People's Republic of China with John Prados a man who studied at the University of Leningrad as well as UCLA. SDC would be a mercurical Doctor Sukarno in Indonesia, i.e. great potential but not yet all together. GDW must it be Japan, i.e. a quick grower from nowhere and Battleline is a toss-up between Australia or Brazil! As to Cathedrals, it was a question between calling SPI the Mormom Temple or the Temple of Solomon, but when I finally came to New York ("Just how I always pictured it" . . . Stevie Wonder) I decided Salt Lake City was much more fitting than the wailing wall. So let us journey on into the temple ...

More Cathedrals

Cathedrals of Wargaming: Introduction
Cathedrals of Wargaming: Game Designers' Workshop
Cathedrals of Wargaming: Avalon Hill
Cathedrals of Wargaming: SPI
Cathedrals of Wargaming: On the Road to Origins
Cathedrals of Wargaming: Joe Seliga and Steve Peek
Cathedrals of Wargaming: Taurus Games
Cathedrals of Wargaming: Postscript