A Member of GAMA

Today, class, we are going to talk about Fire In The East, the collectors series Fire In The East. We get mail and calls asking what is going to be different in the new game. I remark, "the only changes are the maps, the counters, the rules, the OBs, the charts and the dice. Other than those few changes, all will remain the same." I have been wrong, or to be more accurate, I have not been completely correct. We are also changing the name. When FitE first came out I hated the title, but what is in a name. Well, I still hate the title. Now I am in a position to do something about that, so I called John Astell and asked him what he thought of changing the name. Fine by him (see his comments below). He even suggested a name and I liked that suggestion a lot. We have a winner: Total War.

Getting There, From Here

John Astell will be putting together a playtest kit for Total War. We will issue such a kit to selected playtest groups. This kit will probably have new paper maps, OBs, some charts and a compendium of rules changes to retro onto the existing SE rules. We will not be making new counters for the playtest version of Total War. Who will be selected? Thankfully that is not my job. I do know that each playtest group will have certain tasks they must complete - you know, paperwork. We have to absorb a lot of information to judge the effects of the changes we make and we rely on the playtest groups to faithfully do their job to the end of producing a game that works.

I have read lots and lots of mail, conversed with many of you, observed and played in several FitE games. I know about NODLs and the problems of command control, and on and on, but I have to tell you that in the mail we get here it is still 50150. That is, for each letter we get saying "it is impossible for the Germans to 5 we get one stating the opposite view. There are too many factors between all the given possibilities to make a statement to the effect that FitE needs this or that. What appears to be the case is that some adjustments have to be made.

Certainly, the new air system will be incorporated into Total War. Other adjustments will be made as well, for both sides. That is why John Astell gets the big bucks and that is why we are going to playtest the game this year with an eye to publishing next year.

Kibbles and Bits

Arthur Goodwin has moved here from California. Any e-mail to Arthur can be sent to my address for the moment. We are very happy to have him here. For one thing, he is very, very strong and that helps when you have seventy-seven pound boxes of Second Front to ship. For another, he loves cats and we have plenty for him to love. Most important, he wants to do the job. So welcome, Arthur, and could you get that double pack of Second Fronts and bring it over here, please.

Second Front has almost sold out. We reprinted enough counters to get one thousand copies of the game back into circulation. We set aside, from that thousand, a couple of hundred for the Association members and direct mail. We printed an extra five hundred sets of counters for the refit. As of this writing we have about one hundred copies for distribution, one hundred copies for the direct market, fifty reserve copies, and that is that. We have about two hundred sets of counters remaining.

Scorched Earth version 1.5. We will have a limited number of copies of this game available in about a month or so. A distributor wants to return them as he believes there is no retail market for the games. Okay, we will take them back. I believe that we will get forty copies. Be advised. First come, first served until they are gone. Price will be $70, the normal retail price.

First To Fight. A limited number of these games will be back in stock in about six weeks. The number of copies will be about three hundred and fifty. The new counters will be available when MTV is released. When these refit counters are released there will be changes. As such, we will issue a new OB booklet with the counters. John Astell is putting the final touches on that project as I write this column.

A Winter War. Plenty - same goes for Balkan Front, For Whom The Bell Tolls, and War In The Desert. The current estimate is that a print run will be half of what it used to be and it used to be three thousand. More emphasis will be placed on the Europa Headquarters Stores and direct mail. We are not moving out of the distribution system, we will have to be forced out. That may occur. We are testing the waters with Narvik. That game will be available only through the Headquarters Stores or from GRD direct. Mail on that game will be coming out in a few months.

One last note, we rely on you to spread the word. Very important. If you have a hobby shop you frequent, and they are not a Headquarters Store, nudge them. If you have names and addresses of people who play wargames and might be interested in our games, send them to us.

John Astell's Background Comment

If it seem strange that the designer of game hates the title, it's because that lame title was chosen without consultation with me, or even consultation with the senior partners at GDW. Someone got tired of waiting for GDW to select an acceptable title (often a drawn out process, admittedly), and chose the title he wanted. Scorched Earth was already selected for the second game, so, duh, why don't we play off it - scorched, fire, get it? He advertised the game in print under that title, and presented what he did as a fait accomplie. Boy, am I glad we're losing that turkey of title.