Future Speak

In this column I will be talking about GR/D's future products, Europa and otherwise, giving you some details as to our intentions.

The game to follow Second Front will be For Whom The Bell Tolls. This could be considered part Grand Europa and part Collector Series in that it will cover the Spanish Civil War period and continue through 1945+. There will be one and a half maps, three to four countersheets, charts, rules, scenarios, and all the rest of what goes into a Collector Series game.

The GE part would be the civil war. After all, if the legitimate government is not overthrown some things could change. For instance, would Germany be able to take France without dealing with Spain? If a royalist government existed in Spain and supported France in the war, could Germany ignore this hostile nation? I think not. But this is going to be part of the game's potential. It will be a very comprehensive game and anyone who follows that period of history should enjoy the game that has been a labor of love for Jeff Millefoglie and John Gee for many, many years.

We intend to add some scenarios for a possible Allied or Axis invasion of Spain. This is not a certainty, but we think it would add a lot of appeal to the game.

All of Spain will be on these one and one half maps, plus Portugal. This game will replace the Spain and Portugal module.

Next ...

The next game will be a combination of two games and a module. War in the Desert will be the title and this product will combine Western Desert, Torch, and The Near East.

The combined game will feature the great maps from A.E. Goodwin and revised rules that will reflect the changes that have been made in Second Front. The OB research will remain almost intact since we have noted few corrections. It will be a big game: six-seven maps, six countersheets [+]? It will also offer scenarios so that you can play one campaign at a time if you choose.

One interesting possibility we are looking at is a provision for Turkey to align with the Axis and enter the war against the Soviet Union. Also planned are some what-if scenarios involving the oil countries of the Near East.

Multiple scenarios, multiple games. When this game is released we will have the equivalent of eight active titles in the series, meaning that in three years of production we will have averaged almost three games per year. Not too bad.

Following the late 1994 release of War in the Desert will be the combined games Fall of France and Their Finest Hour.

At this point I can not give you anything approaching firm dates, as the crystal ball becomes murky beyond 1994, but sometime in 1995 look for France and Britain.

In this combination I would like to include the sub-operational game of Operation Sea Lion. For those who remember, GDW did such a game with the first edition of Their Finest Hour. I believe that the effort should be repeated.

In the GDW game a map of the south of England was provided with ground scale of 3 miles per hex and regimental breakdown counters for the various divisions. In addition, a cross- channel invasion system was created for the game. Well, I would like to see this invasion scenario redesigned, which would mean that you would get the home fleet, lots of Luftwaffe and RAF, the home defense forces and all the chrome possible. I have spoken with John Astell about this, but he just moans and grabs his head. Well, we will see if this additional scenario can be incorporated into the game.

After we complete this combination game we will do Narvik, which will include both the special scale game and the Europa scale game, a preview of which was in the magazine as a scenario.

The new Narvik will be quite different. The OB research tends to show that considerable numbers of Luftwaffe air units need to be added to the fray during the initial invasion, with most of them being transferred to the Western Front for the buildup prior to the attack on France and the Low Countries. I would like to see some additional naval battles brought into the game, but that will depend on a reliable system. There should be one built for the France and Britain game, but, that is another story.

The final chapter in the series will be the revised version of Fire in the East/Scorched Earth.

We will need the time between now and then. Charles Sharp, Louis Rotundo, and others have been digging through the documents coming out of Russia during the past few years. Many new facts are surfacing and the impact of these revelations will be significant, plus, the maps, oh the maps. Wait til you see the difference. Remember the way the maps changed from DNO to Fire in the East?

And the other games and the wrap-up, Grand Europa? I will talk more about these coming attractions, plus Glory, the Pacific theater game series, and a new, and interesting game I saw at Origins next time.