As one can see, with this issue of the Command Post we are attempting to advance into the late 20th Century, just in time to run into the 21st Century. This is being done on a Mac using Micro Soft, and hopefully all future issues of the Command Post and the Supplements will follow suit. I have had several requests from among you to send in articles on disk, and now that will be possible. I have been informed by the staff here that you can send your article in on either: 3 1/2" Disc in ASCII or Mac MicroSoft Word 4.0 1991 As I write this Command Post#4, along with the Desert Shield Supplement, is being mailed out. I had hoped to have gotten #4 out a little earlier, but DESERT SHIELD/STORM gotin the way. Frank Chadwick's exercise in Military Thought, the DESERT SHIELD FACT BOOK, ended up selling over 400,000 copies, and the warehouse found itself busy enough with that. Now that the rush is over, its time to outline plans for 1991. With this issue we will be charging $8.00 a year for US subscriptions, and $15.00 for overseas subscriptions. The $64 question is, what will you get for your money? For the answer, my goal is the following: This issue, Spring 1991 (#5), is to be mailed on or about the 1st of May, 1991. With it will be the Command Decision Supplement on the Japanese Army of World War II, LIGHTER THAN A FEATHER. The next issue, Summer 1991 (#6), will be mailed on or about the 1st of August, 1991. With it will be a special supplement entitled AWAY ALL BOATS, THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS IN WORLD WAR II. This will include a section on amphibious warfare, including information on Landing Craft, and Naval Bombardments. The Fall 1991 (#7) issue is due out on or about November 1st, 1991, and will have a supplement on the Korean War for 1950, entitled Police Action. For those of you who have wanted to put your 1945 US Army up against the Russians, this will be an interesting conflict. The North Korean Army is a 1945 Russian model force, while the US Army of the Korean War uses the late war organization adopted in 1945 but never used in the field. The Winter 1991 (#8) issue will be due out on or about February 1st, 1992, and will return to the Pacific with a supplement entitled I Shall Return. This supplement will concentrate on the Southwest Pacific, and include the US Army, the Philippine Army, and the Australian Army. Future plans will include at least two, and possibly three supplements on the Pacific War on the Asian mainland. There will be one for Burma (THE FORGOTTEN ARMY) and then we need to cover China, Malaya, and the Manchurian Campaign of 1945. We have been asked to work on supplements for the Polish Campaign of 1939, the Norwegian Campaign of 1940, and for the Race to Tunis as well, so all of our efforts will not be concentrated on World War II in the Pacific in the future. Our goal for this year is to produce 128 pages of newsletter, which will be under this new format could be an interesting experience. We will have to see how we do at this time next year. SOME REALLY GOOD NEWS Now all of you Combined Arms players have read the above list, and are shouting "but what about us?" Rest assured that you have not been forgotten. We are currently working on a major rewrite of Command Decision/Combined Arms that will be due out at the HMGS Summer Convention in 1992. In so far as the two rule sets use a common system, we intend to merge the two into a single set of rules that will use of series of add on modules to reflect the changes in technology. For example, the basic rules will not include information on ATGMs. The module for say 1950-1970 will include rules for first generation systems, while the rules for 1970-1991 will include information on the second and third generation systems. To give you a background to use with this rules, we intend to put them out with a special booklet tentatively entitled A HALF CENTURY OF CONFLICIT: The Armies of the Mideast 1941-1991. Among the campaigns and wars that we are currently researching for inclusion are the following: The North African Campaign 1940-1943 The Iraqi Campaign, 1941 The Syrian Campaign, 1941 The Iranian Campaign, 1941 The Israeli War of Independence, 1948 The Sinai Suez War, 1956 The Seven Days War, 1967 Black September, 1970 The Yom Kippur War 1973 The Iran Iraq War 1980-1988 The Invasion of Lebanon 1982 The Gulf War 1990-1991 As you can see from the above list, there will be something for not only the World War II gamer. but the Modern player as well. Some of the World War campaigns listed are very interesting due to small numbers of troops employed. The British used a reinforced division in Iraq in 1941, and for Syria ended up using the equivalent of two divisions. The Syrian campaign is starting to be a favorite with the author, as it was an exceeding hard fought campaign between a very interesting mixture of forces. Some of these wars will have more information than others, but I think all will be pleased with the information that we find. I WISH THAT YOU WOULD... As part of the rewrite, we are inviting ideas and comments from the readers of the Command Post. If you have a idea you would Re to see considered, a pet peeve, or suggestion of speeding up play--or even something that you DON'T want to see changed-- send your thoughts in to the Command Post. (Please don't send them direct to Frank at GDW--they will end up on his desk and turn up again sometime in the next century.) We will not be able to give credit to everyone for their ideas and comments, due to among other things the fact that someone else out there may have the same idea that you do, or we may already be thinking along the same lines ourselves. What we will do is this. Everyone who sends in an idea or comment, or who has written or will write for the Command Post, between now and next June, will have their name entered into a drawing. The first 24 copies of the new CD/CA booklet will be numbered and autographed by Frank Chadwick, and sent to the winners of the drawing. If only 24 gamers respond to this offer, all will win!! If you responde by the millions, well we'll have to see what we can do. Looking forward to seeing your comments. Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Newsletter #5 To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by Greg Novak. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com