What's Next

We are working on First To Fight, the remake of Case White. It will have two maps (not three as in Case White), new counters and rules, revisions to the charts, and some special stuff that will enhance the game and make it more playable and enjoyable.

I am hoping we can have it ready for the first part of 1991 with Second Front to follow at Origins in Baltimore. And remember, each member of the Association has my personal invitation to join our party there.

About New Counters

We have once again modified the counter font (we're now up to version 6.5). This was done with an eye toward enhancing the symbol boxes, as well as some of the symbols themselves. We've intensified these slightly to make them a bit easier to read.

There have been some other minor changes. The "fort under construction" on the back of the completed forts has gotten a lot of good reviews by gamers, as have the new air counters (here was tne biggest change we made) with the more readable front, and the model name and the word "inop." on the back.

There are some Grand Europa counters making their appearance in the new countermix: the capitol counters. The front of these counters gives the name of a country; the back also shows the name, but in parentheses. You will just have to wait for us to tell you more about what this means, but each of these counters represents a country's seat of government.

SF Playtest News

I have been hearing from groups around the country that are involved in various stages of the playtest. Generally it appears the games are going very well. Invasions have landed in all sorts of places. Some games have concluded, others are underway.

One major proposal under consideration is reducing the amount of positional flak. It seems the Germans like to move it all to the front to try and ward off the 1. slight" air advantage the Allies have. Reducing the amount of mobile position AA will speed play of the game and prevent anomalous behavior on the part of the Axis.

There is a second newsletter under preparation which will provide more news and info. We will publish it in the magazine in # 16, the final issue of 1990.

The Votes Are In

The votes have been counted from the ballots included with the last issue of the magazine. There was a total return of only five votes for Third Class mail. This coincides closely with my own assessment: the extra postage is not a big overall increase and First Class service is far, far better. Since the cover price of the Europa magazine will also be going up, you will still get the magazine faster and cheaper directly from the company.

GEnie General

I am very happy to announce that Roy Lane has taken on the task of overseeing our computer network on GEnie. Roy is a very capable computer aficionado and has been with the GEnie connection since we came on-line. Our esteemed editor, Rick, and our customer service manager, Stephanie, are now on-line as well. The start-up of this operation has proved a difficult one, but we want to encourage all of you to stay on-line. As with everything else, the time factor almost killed this project, but after some sputtering, gasping and groaning we finally have the machine going. Consult Roy's article for additional details.

A Special Note

Having been in business for about a decade I know what customers want and how they should be treated. I want to extend my personal gratitude to all of you who have shown GR/D just how nice you are. I won't go into long details, but the delays experienced with Balkan Front have shown me what a class act you guys are. I assure you that no such delay will occur again. I am going to stake my reputation and that of the company on it, my friends. No one has felt more anxious about getting the product out than yours truly and no one has been more impressed with the miles of slack you have cut us. Since this enterprise is not a fulltime job for me and not a profit orientated venture it would be easy to drop it under normal circumstances. It would make good business sense to do so. But, hey, I am just as nuts as the rest of, you and am determined to get this done. And we will, my brothers, we will.

More New Stuff

Winter War is in its final developmental stages. Gary Stagliano seems confident that we will have the game next year.

For Whom The Bell Tolls is also being playtested around the world and we have entered the development phase of that game. In discussing the game with Jeff Millefoglie and John Gee, the number of counters to be used is still not resolved, but the maps, general countermix and period of play are established. After Origins next year I hope to set a final schedule; I am not ready to fix one at this time.

Meanwhile, I am considering a plan for the reissue of Western Desert that may incorporate The Mediterranean in the game as a module. We are also thinking of including Torch and The Near East with the game, which will take on a new name: War In The Desert. A new scheme for configuring the maps is under consideration, but this is still speculation at this point, so don't write in just yet.

World Domination

We are experiencing an upsurge of worldwide interest in Europa. Since the beginning of this year we have established Associations in Belgium, France, Poland, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden. Arrangements with Holland and Germany (or Greater Germany, depending on which side of the issue you land) are pending. All this is part of a rush by the world community to enjoy our fine series of games.

Time Again To Re-sub

Accompanying this issue of the magazine you will find an official subscription notice. Please send it in! I feel we are near the top of the heap, magazine-wise. We've paid attention to our readers. We have worked diligently to provide a forum for system-users and to enhance the Europa games. Our issues have continued to grow in page count, and we have added new features, improved the physical quality of the product, and with few exceptions, have been on time.

This has come from the tireless efforts of Rick Gayler, along with a great deal of help from Deen Wood, Jason Long and many others. One should bear in mind that all this is part- time (make that overtime) work for the staff. Rick gets the lion's share of the credit for his efforts and I can not say enough good things about how great he has made this magazine look. Kudos are in order to all who have contributed to the effort. The longer we continue our hard work on this enterprise, the closer to the top we shall rise.

Europafest, My Way

So I am sitting on a table talking to Deen Wood and this guy walks up. He has read my articles about Narvik and tells me that he brought the game, but left the maps out by mistake. Well, I brought the maps, but left the rest of the game home by mistake. Do you believe in divine providence, karma, coincidence? Do you believe that he told me the Germans could never win? Do you believe that I smiled when he said that?

So, while Deen Wood, Rick Gayler and Victor Hauser were getting their heads handed to them by Task Force Johnson, I was training yet another misinformed one on the reality of German combined arms dominance. Though I can not remember the exact words he spoke after my initial invasion, they were something like, "Well, its obvious that the Allies can't win."

Wrong, countersheet breath! Anyone can win this great game, but on that day I won. Twice! So Europafest was a great success, period! Gloat, gloat, gloat.

I would like to thank the individual who took the time to play the game with me and hope we can rematch at some point. I am sorry that I don't remember your name, but if you read this, get in touch and we will talk.

Freebies For You

Each year we generate a premium item to thank our members for belonging to the Association. This has helped generate more members and spread the word about Europa. The free countersheet last issue resulted from a joint effort by John Astell and myself. We decided to run the counters as an adjunct to Balkan Front and give one free sheet to each Association member, along with a discount on the purchase of additional sheets.

Next year we will be offering a substantial bonus that will be part of an overall plan to market the games to a wider audience. At this time we are still in the development stage of the project, but we will keep you informed as to its progress, if not its shape, nature, identity or other crucial parts. I am quite sure that you will enjoy it.

Covering Your Bets

Last issue's cover featured the box art from Balkan Front. Each game in the Collector Series will feature a different WWII poster. John and I have picked these for all the games except two. If any of you out there can reference a poster for Winter War or First To Fight I would appreciate hearing from you. We need a poster picture that would be about eight and one half inches wide and eleven inches long, but we can vary that if necessary.

We have searched several books, but as you can imagine there weren't a lot of posters put out by Poland prior to the war in September 1939, or Finland either. So, if you have a source and want to help, write to me at the GR/D address.

1992 and Beyond

As the next year passes you will be able to see several new games come into the line. With the wide acceptance of the new games and with the excellent prospects for getting the entire series redone within the next five years, we will be able to think about some extra efforts outside our regular game line. I have been talking about this (the Pacific, of course) to several people and I would like to set down some preliminary thoughts on "what is what."

First, there will be two games involved, naval and ground. The scale will be 44 miles per hex at sea, 16 or so on the ground. Some have suggested that we should set the unit size at battalion level for games covering the invasions of the islands, as this will provide a more playable scale.

How do you feel about this? What changes to the system will be needed to reflect the nature of the battles fought in the Pacific? I would be interested in some comments from you on this. Should we have small-scale unit action: company, battalion, and individual ship action down to individual destroyer, escort and submarine? Let us know what you think. Bye for now.