From GRD

This issue marks the debut of Victor Hauser as the Managing Editor of the Europa magazine. The addition of Victor to the GRD staff serves two very useful purposes. It provides the magazine with a full-time person dedicated solely to the coordination and completion of pending- articles. This should help ensure that the magazine is published in a more timely manner. It also allows Rick Gayler to devote more of his time to his role as Europa developer (this position, still in a state of evolution, will focus on assisting John Astell in the production of new Europa games). With this expansion of its staff, GRD hopes to both improve the publication schedule of the magazine and expedite the release of the new games now under development.

Victor is no stranger to most Europa devotees. He is one of the more well-known Europa players nationwide. Victor has previously penned many articles for both Europa: Nuts & Bolts and E. T. 0. Discerning readers will also have noticed Victor's growing level of contribution in the more recent issues of Europa. Victor brings to GRD a lot of Europa experience and knowledge, and we're glad to have him on board.

From Victor

Hello, Victor here. I am 37 years old, an ex-B-52 aircrew member, live in Austin, have degrees in computer science and history, am employed at the main library of the University of Texas, enjoy sports, exercise regularly, take my vitamins, am a vegetarian, have been greatly influenced by Thoreau's Walden, am not married, and play wargames. A lot of wargames.

I have been wargaming for 23 years, mostly Europa and Napoleonic miniatures. My first wargame was Avalon Hill's Anzio, received as a Christmas present in 1968 (maybe that's why I have a penchant for big games). I bought DNO in 1974 and have been an avid Europa player ever since. Indeed, I mean that literally. I have been involved in one or more Europa games (almost exclusively East Front) in continuous succession for as long as I can remember. I think that's one of the best qualities I bring to this magazine-I am an Europa player, first and foremost.

Thus, I look at all Europa material mainly from a player's perspective, and I promise you that I will never become removed from that viewpoint merely because of editorial or other duties. Although I favor the East Front, I will do everything I can to ensure that play-related material from all theaters receives high publication priority. In that regard, I see Rules Court and the Slick/Sick Tricks sections as the most valuable features of our magazine. So, keep your questions and tricks coming.

My Europa philosophy is relatively simple. To me, it's a game first and an historical simulation second. I believe that a realistic and complete simulation of WWII in Europe would be far too complicated to play in our lifetimes. I have become convinced over the years that while it's important to have as complete and realistic a data base as possible to draw upon (e.g., the FW 190A is only a mediocre aircraft at high altitude), such considerations should be secondary to playability if the two can't be reconciled.

As for my gaming preferences, one of the reasons I favor the East Front is that I don't have to worry about who the good guys are--they're both morally repugnant. And, due to my contrary nature, I prefer playing the Soviets simply because most everybody else prefers to play the Axis.

Enough of that. I believe in the overall format of the magazine as established under Rick Gayler's superior guidance. From my perspective, the future's bright enough that I even sleep with my Terminator Wraparounds on! And while I'm quite pleased with its basic form, I will do my best to look for ways to keep improving every issue. I look forward to reading your suggestions.

From Rick

You certainly haven't heard the last of me; indeed, I will still have my finger firmly planted in the GRD pie. Those few of you who happened to notice the masthead will still find my name at the top, at least for now. My new role as Editor-in-Chief is to guide the magazine, but from a somewhat different perspective. I will set the agenda for future issues, review and coordinate the final layout, and direct the activities of the other editors as required.

However, I will no longer be as involved with the details such as contacting authors to work out deadlines; editing the draft copy; answering all the correspondence; making the phone calls required to move projects along; and (if necessary) even keying in the text and charts. Most of this workload will now fall to Victor.

As often happens in small companies (especially wargame companies, where many employees perform their duties in their spare time) a hardworking person can end up wearing too many hats, with the inevitable result that many of his responsibilities fall behind schedule. Thus the recent receipt of your July/August issue of Europa in November.

Well, the only cure for this is to increase the staff so that everyone carries a lighter load. This is what GRD has done so as to get its products into your hands in a more consistent fashion.

From Other Editors

Many flattering remarks and commentaries (and some not so nice things) appear about Europa in other wargaming publications from time to time.

For example, Jeffry Tibbetts, Editor of The Grenadier, pronounced Europa moribund about a year and a half ago in an article entitled "R.I.P. Europa", declaring that Europa would soon evolve itself into extinction with its quest for historical accuracy and simulation perfection. Of course, his obituary notice proved somewhat ironic--Europa has since flourished in a veritable state of renaissance, while The Grenadier has not since reappeared.

On a more upbeat note, Joseph Miranda, the Managing Editor of Fire & Movement, and Christopher Cummins, the Editor of The Wargamer, recently chose their top ten wargames of all time, and Europa was very well represented. Mr. Miranda chose Drang Nach Osten/Unentschieden as his #7 pick, and Mr. Cummins was even more complimentary, choosing our game system as his #1 wargame of all time.

Quoting Mr. Cummins:

"Where War in Europe may gloss over areas, Europa goes into detail. Europa has detailed air and naval systems, and a more sophisticated representation of land combat. Europa is a moderately complex game system, but has the virtue of many smaller campaigns to allow players to whet their appetites and hone their skills before jumping into a lengthy game (such as Scorched Earth, Fall of France, or Second Front). The need to maintain a workable system to cover the entire war is keeping the game system relatively simple and clean. As Grand Europa nears completion (hopefully in time for the new millennium if not the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two), we are seeing the various games/battles being combined into campaigns.

Within the published games we have "War in the Desert" covering North Africa from 1940-1943 with Torch, Western Desert, and Near East; the 1940 Campaign can be recreated combining Narvik, Fall of France, and Their Finest Hour. From unofficial sources we have Bill Stone's "Hitler Turns South" scenario, a 1941 "what-if" Hitler didn't invade Russia and instead pursued a Mediterranean/knock the British out strategy.

War in Europe has only two advantages over Europa: it was complete from the beginning and has a production system. Hopefully, the mild evolution of Europa will continue to a final set of campaign games that can cover the entire war and will include the possibility of changing the course of political and economic history as well as military."

About This Issue

This is our first "theme issue"; that is, the first time an issue has been entirely devoted to one of the Europa games. The decision to use this drastic step to "clear the pipeline" of some of the excellent material we had received dealing with Fire in the East/Scorched Earth/The Urals was not made lightly. We are already perceived in some quarters as displaying bias toward coverage of the East Front (see this issue's EXchange from Russ Jennings). This is really somewhat ironic. The truth is that where editorial preference is given, it is given to those articles which do NOT deal with the East Front. This results from our desire to provide broad coverage in the magazine to ALL Europa titles. But the fact remains that the East Front games, followed closely by the desert games are the most popular titles in the series. Since these are the games most of the members of the Association are playing, not surprisingly they are also the games our authors most often write about. And it would seem to follow that these would be the games that our readers most want to read about.

GRD wants to know how you feel about this topic. We will be asking for your opinion in our resubscription questionnaire. Please take the time to respond.

Coming Attractions

Issue #22 will focus on the new game, First to Fight. It will contain Designer's Notes from John Astell; a historical article on the Polish armed forces by John Gee; an early battlefield report from a game where things didn't go entirely according to plan for the Germans; and a chronology of the Polish Campaign and the events which led up to it. The Rules Court feature for this issue will address all the questions which have arisen from preliminary feedback on the game.

The featured scenario will introduce readers to Deen Wood's Boot Camp rules, an introductory rules set for Europa. The supplemental rules set (which will accompany the core rules) will allow players to try out this simplified system with the game Balkan Front.

As room permits, we will also have an article on the Italian air force in the Balkan campaign from Howard Christie; an update from Gary Stagliano on the new game, A Winter War; an analysis of the Europa air system by Mark Swenholt; and a second batch of Scorched Earth deployments, listing the placements for Soviet units in the interior military districts.