GR/D has recently seen a preview of what the future may hold for Europa on the computer frontier, The sky appears to be the limit--let us assure you it is quite exhilarating! Here are some highlights of the work in progress.

There are several support programs under development at this time. These are designed to facilitate play of the boardgame versions of specific Europa games. These not only help the garner cope with the administrative tasks within the game, but serve as gamemasters of sorts. Let's examine such a program, Balkan Front Support, under development by this issue's scenario designer, Jim Arnold.

As those of you familiar with Balkan Front are aware, the game has quite a few political rules and more than its share of special events--more so than most other Europa games. It can be difficult to keep up with all of the ramifications of events as they unfold, and one must frequently consult the rule book during play to stay on top of thinos. Rememberina to consider all the aspects of the game can be challenging.

This is where Balkan Front Support (BFS) steps to the fore. Just activate this computer program in your IBM-compatible PC, and let it handle everything for you. By using prompts and monitoring the responses. BFS keeps track of events and presents the options of play as they arise. BFS eases you right into play of the game by providing a checklist of the significant events that can occur each turn. BFS determines the weather, keeps track of victory points, and will even simulate die rolls.

As events are recorded, they are incorporated into a review screen for safekeeping and future reference. BFS allows you to save games in progress and resume play at your leisure. And, of course, when a game is completed, BFS will tell you who won and at what level of victory.

A similar support program is being developed for A Winter War, under the watchful eyes of Gary Stagliano.

A second, more sophisticated type of program registers the game action right on your computer screen. This style of program uses computer-generated maps and unit symbols to record movement and combat. Such programs can actually eliminate the need to set the game up on a table. This is of obvious benefit to those who would love to play FitE/SE, but don't have enough space to accommodate the maps. These programs also offer many advantages to those gamers who enjoy playing Europa by mail/computer.

One of the most promising of these is Aide De Camp (ADC), an existing computer program written by Scott Hamilton, and available now from HPS Simulations. ADC is a very flexible product. We saw a beautiful rendition of GDW's A House Divided produced using ADC. One can detect a distinct Europa influence laced throughout the ADC documentation. Scott obviously had Europa clearly in mind as he crafted his software package.

At Origins Scott gave us a lengthy demonstration on how ADC works with Fire in the East/Scorched Earth. He had previously reproduced the Europa maps of the Soviet Union using ADC, and while we watched he loaded in my Soviet deployment from issues # 21/22.

When the program is activated, the screen displays a map of the USSR in a greatly reduced format. One can then scroll to a desired section of the map and blow it up to whatever size desired. Scott "blew up" the Leningrad area, and to and behold, there were the Soviet units! ADC can display up to four units in a hex on the screen. If there are more units than that in the hex, you get a "stack" symbol. Clicking on the stack yields an immediate display of the units in the stack.

A really neat feature of ADC is the replay mode for executing the movement of units. Suppose your Play-by-Mail opponent has plotted the German 291st Inf XX to move administratively from Minsk to Vitebsk. When you execute the command to view the movement of his units, you will actually see the 291st moving on the map from Minsk to Vitebsk. If the movement is correct, you go on to the next unit, and so on.

A similar product was shown to us at Origins by a Japanese programmer. Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain a complete understanding of the program due to language barriers (the designer spoke very poor English, and we spoke no Japanese). Neither was he willing (understandably) to turn a copy over to us without a prior written agreement.

However, I can tell you that he had a menu offering all six Soviet set ups from issues # 21/22. Just click the one you prefer, and bingo! (Guess which set up he opened to show me... ) The graphics, especially the map reproductions, were superior to Aide De Camp, and there were a lot of other nifty looking features, such as click and drag unit movement. I only wish I'd had the opportunity to explore it in more depth.

There was yet another similar computer presentation given by an Australian gentleman to John Astell. John felt that this program was the best of the lot. Regrettably, I didn't get to see it.

None of these products actually constitute a computer game in the traditional sense of the word, where the computer handles all the background events of the game and plays one side or the other. To date these products, despite all the great things they have to offer, are really just sophisticated play aids.

GR/D has conducted some preliminary talks with an established computer game company looking into the possibility of creating a complete Europa computer game, and we will keep you apprised of future developments as they occur.

As you can see from this brief update, there is a lot going on out there in the world of bytes involving Europa. After the completion of Second Front, GR/D may be able to turn more of its attention to this area and formalize or finalize the development of several of these exciting and intriguing endeavors.