THE COUNTER ATTACK

At this writing I have finished the counters for A Winter War (AWW) and have also completed the American and German armies for Second Front (SF). There is still lots to do for SF, but we're cranking along. We've received the counters for the First To Fight reprint, our new Scorched Earth reprint (Version 1.5), and the corrected counter sheet of the German and Italian armies for Balkan Front.

We have decided to stop printing counters directly on cardboard, and revert to printed sheets glued to cardboard. The decision to revert to mounting printed paper on cardboard was due to the questionable look and quality control problems we experienced with the cardboard-only counters. The concept of the cardboard-only counters was good, the finished product, however, did not meet our expected standards for game component quality.

However, we hope to be able to retain the 352-counter sheet size because it minimizes the total number of countersheets in each game. This helps reduce packaging time, as well as cut costs. And last, it is easier to lay out the 352-counter countersheets, which can reduce the time required for that part of the production process by as much as 50%. So, if the 352-counter die cutter can pass the quality check when cutting the new mounted counters, we'll be in great shape. You'll be able to see the results of this change with AWW.

For those of you who go way back to the early dawn of Europa it will be recalled that the maps were okay, the rules interesting and fun to play, the concept was great, but it was the counters that knocked you over. They were the state of the art for the industry and made Europa special.

Now the maps have replaced the counters as the most appealing part of the games as well they should. Our maps represent some of the best research and design efforts in the industry and we are very proud of Arthur Goodwin for his great job on our behalf.

But I want the counters to reclaim their place as the industry standard. I have spent many hours of my life creating a counter font that would enhance the visual quality and appeal of the counters. I am pleased with what I have been able to accomplish in this regard. Now, all we need is to get the counter sheets printed by people that have at least a minimum understanding of the colors and quality we want.

To this end I have searched for a company that does this sort of work for other game companies and have found someone that should be able to do this job. The conflict is between economy and quality. I have always pursued economy in an effort to keep the cost of each project down. I still believe that we must watch expenses, but game-component quality must remain our first concern. Traditionally, Europa has meant quality rules, maps, and counters. Thus, it has become my personal quest for the Holy Grail.

EUROPA DOES DALLAS

At the end of February GR/D got together in Dallas for a long-term planning session to discuss the series's direction. Astell, Gayler, Hauser, Goodwin, and Yours Truly held work sessions to discuss what I just wrote about above, the series in general, A Winter War, and our old friend, Second Front.

Some changes in the company were planned. We have added Arthur Goodwin to the development team. He is the developer for AWW. Rick Gayler was moved into the SF line to put his efforts into achieving the finished product in the area of rules, charts, and other linkage parts of this huge project. Victor Hauser was put in charge of "things with wings" and, under his new nickname, "Dr. Rivets", is busy with the air ratings and getting the last of the air OB stuff done. Arthur Goodwin, upon completion of AWW, will be taking charge of For Whom The Bell Tolls, the Spanish Civil War game. I'll be handling the games' final production and creating counters. Barbie Pratt, our graphics-art wizard in Washington state, will be producing the camera- ready stuff.

The meeting we had was very helpful in establishing the form and substance of what we will be doing over the next five years. Many topics were discussed and as we finish the details on these projects we will announce them here in the magazine.

We finalized Victor's takeover of the basic operations of the magazine as the managing editor, with Rick as editor-in-chief. The overall magazine report was encouraging. We currently have a circulation and paid subscription base of 5,000. Not bad when you consider the limited scope of the game system. In fact, its pretty damn good.

The cover price of the magazine will be going up to $5.00 in July. This increase is due to both the addition of more/bigger scenarios and higher production costs. Page-for-page and pound-for-pound we're currently delivering the equivalent of a 68-page magazine in 48 pages. The reason for this is that most magazines sell a lot of advertising space which, naturally, tends to fill up pages without adding content.

There will be some changes in the company structure here in Grinnell, as well. Our employee, Stephanie, is returning to school and will leave GR/D sometime in April or May. We will miss her and wish her success.