Waster of Life and Limb

Need to respond to Jason Long's article where he discusses airborne operations.

He states there is a problem in the system since it allows you to use airborne units any way you want, and if you are not "militarily correct" as a player you could waste them. He also states that no leader in the Western democracies would have sacrificed that number of men, etc., etc.

I disagree. What we don't need is another rule to make you behave in an MC manner. I have been in this hobby a long time, and zillions of men and millions of tanks have been wasted on some very questionable missions during the past thirty-one years of my playing games. Fleets of air units have gone down in flames on hopeless missions, fleets of ships have been sunk without remorse in daring attempts to skunk the enemy sitting in the chair across from me, but then, that is my point. It is possible for you to do this when you PLAY the game. It is not life, it is a GAME you are playing.

And to suggest that no leader of a Western democracy would waste life on such a scale, well, do I need to list the bloody fields worldwide where this has happened? At the time it was not believed it would happen, but it did.

Good grief, Market-Garden was going to have the lead element liberated by a column traversing swampy terrain using one road! Hello, am I the only one who sees wrong with this plan?

Rules should not hamper play if at all possible. Jason's rule would. He states his proposed rule would "still allow you to execute every air drop ever made in the Europa theater of operations." Wrong!

The Soviets conducted a number of drops that fly in the face of Jason's rule. Should we use his rule only on the West front and let the barbaric Soviets do what they want with their precious airborne? I think not. Let us play the game and see what the players do. You want to drop your airborne units on Berlin to get Hitler and his buddies, go ahead, make my day. Given the fact that the Allies have such an overwhelming advantage, play the way you want, and have FUN.

And let's not tamper at the divisional command level. If you do you raise lots of curious questions.

Lindsey Murillo says:

In the EXchange column we print a letter from Mr. Murillo. He makes several recommendations which lead me to comment.

He states that we should open up the trip to Aberdeen so that anyone can go. Okay, we can sponsor it and get reservations through the pre- registration for Origins '95 to anticipate how many will go, but it will not be an easy task. Luckily, I have some contacts in Philadelphia where the next [and maybe all subsequent] Origins will be held. So GR/D will sponsor a trip, and take credit for a great time.

Lindsey also recommends that you consider supporting Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, VBoB, an organization that is dedicated to keeping the memory of that battle alive. Aha, sez I, why don't we go one better and collect as much info on this type of organization as we can, list it in simple form in the magazine, and let you decide what you might want to support?

Starting next issue we will post information such as VBoB on a general information page. To assist us in this effort we ask you to send in any other organizations or services that our readers might be interested in. Now, this is not a request for political stuff and we reserve the right to select what we print. We are interested in historical info such as: do you know about a museum near Chicago dedicated to the 1st Infantry Division? Well, when I was in Skokie this past week working on the SF countersheets, I was talking to one of the filmstrippers at the printers. He told me of a museum dedicated to the Big Red One with all sorts of things to do, a theater, book shop, and more.

Well, I am looking into this and will have more for the listings in the next issue.

If any of you have similar info, send it to Rick Gayler at the Opelika address listed on page two of this magazine.

Parting shots:

Next up -- For Whom The Bell Tolls, with comments on map size, number of countersheets, type of system, and other info on the game. In the meantime, I have a request. I was talking to someone out there about scenarios to cover German intervention in Spain and the options we could include:

1. Germans invade to occupy.
2. Germans invade to get control of Gibraltar.
3. Germans [limited number of units], assisted by Spain, attempt to seize Gibraltar.

Several other options were also discussed, and this person told me that such information had already been put together. Unfortunately, I have lost the name of this person. If you are out there, call me.

Big Thanks

As we close our sixth year I want to thank you for your continued support. You guys are great.

Special thanks to those of you who bought the War Bonds that gave us the critical cash necessary to keep the company rolling. Hope that Second Front meets your expectations and that you enjoy the monster.

And to all those who contributed to SF's playtesting, research, development, and production... Gadzooks, too many to mention, but thanks to you all for the efforts put forth. Onward!