The following dialogue is a compilation of letters recently exchanged between James Broshot (JAB) and John.Astell (JMA).

JAB: I picked up my copy of Second Front at my hobby shop in St. Louis this past Saturday. I have it spread out on my gaming table in the basement and am just getting into it. I must say that it was well worth the wait. I got into Europa in 1975 and have been waiting for twenty years or so, and I didn't at all mind waiting a bit longer. Congratulations!

With that said, I would like to point out some problems that I have run across so far.

I have been setting up the Italian Army in preparation for at least starting the July 1943 scenario with the invasion of Sicily (using Carlo D'Este's book as a guide). The accuracy of the Italian OB is great. I have been checking you against Madej's Italian Order of Battle Book, my 1938 copy of the League of Nations Armaments Book and some other sources.

I note that you have again changed the values for the Italian warplanes (the BR.20M has been changed about as many times as the British Wellington 1C). Are these the final values?

JMA: We reviewed, scrutinized, and sometimes agonized over the ratings of every air unit that went into the game. I fervently hope that the BR.20M's (and all other) air ratings are final!

JAB: I note that you have different values for some of the Italian artillery units. An example that comes to mind are the two regiments that deploy on Rhodes (35 and 36), these are now 1-2-5 Art III instead of 2-6 Art III as in Balkan Front . Are these the final values?

JMA: Everything in Second Front is intended to be at their final values-only time and new facts uncovered in further research will reveal if they are indeed forever final. Between the time of Balkan Front and Second Front , for example, research indicated that the artillery regiments on Rhodes were slightly overrated in terms of strength and mobility, hence they were re-rated from 2-6 to 1-2-5.

JAB: I would like to note here that one of the pleasures of the Europa system is that, if you are a sentimental old fool like I am, you can use counters from the older Europa games in the newer ones. Just for kicks, I am using some Italian counters from Fall of France (circa 1981), in place of their counterparts in Second Front . I think Italian Military District IV is the VenetoTridentino province, rather than included in Veneto province. My sources show the headquarters was Bolzano.

JMA: The Italian Military Area IV stretched from the Austrian border to about the Po River, and from just west of Padova to just east of Milano. It included Bolzano, Brescia, and Verona as major HQs. It is thus split by three provinces: VenetoTridentino (containing Bolzano), Veneto (containing Verona), and Lombardia (containing Brescia). Since Verona was the area's corps HQ and likely the major population center, I placed Military Area IV's garrison units in Veneto.

JAB: I am disappointed the USMC optional forces appear in the game. As much as I would like to see the Marines in Europa (or, at least in Glory), I would have preferred the counters and rules devoted to this option were used for something else. As I have said elsewhere, there was no way on earth that George C. Marshall was going to let the Marines into Europe to steal the Army's glory... again. The closest the Marines came to the ETO (other than individual members of the OSS and the Iceland garrison) was the planned deployment of Marine Corsairs to Europe to attack V-weapon sites. According to Tillman's book on the Corsair, when Marshall found out about this, he quickly squelched the idea.

If the Marines must be a fantasy option for Europa, then at least give them the organic LVT battalion which every Marine division had at this time and eliminate the "5th Raider Battalion." There were only four raider battalions and they were all in the Pacific at this time, soon to convert to regular infantry as the reborn 4th Marines. 

JMA: I regret you disagree with my handling of the USMC option. I note, however, that the Marines were not as excluded from Europe as you imply. There was a Marine barracks at Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Marine detachments served aboard US Navy ships and participated in several operations in both the MTO and ETO. On D-Day, for example, Marine sharpshooters were used to explode floating mines in the paths of ships. In North Africa, Marine parties landed in both Algeria and Morocco-at Oran, they occupied a fortress in the harbor. In Anvil-Dragoon, Marines took prisoner 730 Germans. It is true that none of this shows up at Europa scale, and it is still a long way from what went on to having major Marine forces in Europe. However, major Marine forces could have gone to Europe had things been different, and I preferred to show this possibility in the game.

JAB: Rule 23G states that tactical bombing missions may not be flown at night. This means no night harassment missions. Why bother to have an "NA" classification, or an "NA" aircraft with only a tactical bombing strength (i.e., the Ju87D 3NA4 3/10) if they can't be flown at night to attack tactically.

As you know, the Germans had at least nine or ten (I think) Nachtschlachtgruppen created for night harassment missions. They borrowed the idea from the Russians who used the PO-1 biplanes extensively and exclusively on the East Front for such purposes.

JMA: Obviously, type NA air units can fly transfer missions at night without fear of crash landing! Actually, if we ever allow (some) tactical bombing missions at night, then these air units are already rated and will automatically retrofit. Don't hold your breath waiting for night tac bombing, however. The case for this having any appreciable effect at Europa scale is rather tenuous. Still, someone someday may marshal enough data to convince me otherwise.

JAB: One last nit-pick: 1st Fallschirmjager Division was still jump trained in 1943. They had an epic battle with British paratroopers in Sicily after they and the Brits dropped virtually in the same place. This can't happen in Second Front .

JMA: Part of the Luftwaffe's 1st Parachute Division was fully jump-trained and jump-capable in 1943, but not the entire division. If you examine the breakdown chart, you will notice that the 9-8* Para-Inf XX has one Para III and two Para-Inf III breakdowns, thus allowing part of the division to be dropped.

JAB: As a whole, Second Front seems great. It is very enjoyable just to go over the pieces and rules with my collection of OB sources and information and see how perfectly things match. I appreciate the subtlety of such things as giving Luftwaffe field divisions (while they are still part of the Luftwaffe) an AA strength to account for their organic flak battalion.

While waiting for Second Front , I got side-tracked with the products The Gamers are putting out. They have high quality stuff, but I noticed that they tend to put their systems above everything else. For instance, in the games Enemy at the Gates and Guderian's Blitzkrieg, a lot of details are abstracted, de-emphasized, and eliminated for the sake of the elaborate supply and maneuver rules. All German infantry divisions have the same values, as do all of the artillery regiments of the mobile divisions.

I know for certain that the artillery regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division in 1941 was not as powerful as the artillery regiment of a panzer division. There is just not the rich detail and flavor of Europa. They are an interesting sidelight, but do not compare to Europa. You won't find the Hermann Goring Depot Brigade (1x 2-3-8* Mixed X HG Fs) in any of these games.

Aside to David Hughes: The British and Commonwealth OB grades out an A+.

Aside to everyone who worked on the project: Great job and thanks for the effort!

JMA: Thanks for your kind words.