Someone suggested that this column should be retitled Wild Rumors. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Anyway, here goes.

Dark Nebula and 1940, along with the newly-boxed Mayday, 1942, Alma, and Beda Fomm, were released as planned at the end of January. By the time this issue is in your hands, we expect to have several new games ready to go.

TACFORCE, Narvik, Fortress Holland, ShadowslAnnic Nova, Research Station Gamma, and new System 7 sets were originally scheduled for February. However, the release date was moved to April, the System 7 sets were dropped, and Fortress Holland was replaced by Eylau. The new games, then, look like this:

TACFORCE: Boxed set of three booklets, charts, and more than fifty individual data cards; the complete rules set for modern Micro-Armour 0 battles between the US and USSR. Besides the obvious value of the rules, the set also contains a wealth of up-to-the-minute information on equipment, organization, and doctrine.

Narvik: Revised edition of Europa IV, the German invasion of Norway. Two full maps, 700+ counters, complete rules and charts, boxed. The game features a detailed regiment/battalion/ company system as well as Europa-scale counters for the armies, navies, and air forces of Norway and Sweden.

Eylau: A relatively uncomplicated, fast-moving contest of the snowy Napoleonic battle in East Prussia. Scale is regiments and battalions, thirty minute turns, and 150 yards across each hex. One map, 240 counters, boxed.

Research Station Gamma: Traveller adventure. Rescue mission to an Imperial biological facility.

Shadows/Annic Nova: double adventure for Traveller. Shadows was the official Traveller tournament run at the Winter War convention; Annic Nova is the revised and expanded adventure from (out-of-print and unavailable) Journal of the Travellers Aid Society No. 1.

As we approach Origins 80, the pace of activity at GDW increases. Each year we are faced with an immovable deadline, and we strive to assure that all the games are ready on time, as even an otherwise innocuous one-day delay at the printer can spell disaster in June. Assuming that design, development, playtest, art, production, printing, die-cutting, box-making, and packaging all do their jobs on time, we'll have the following games at the end of June:

The Fall of France: Europa VIII, the German invasion of France and the Low Countries. This will be a significant addition to the Europa project. Expect two full maps, many counters, and complete rules and charts. Boxed.

Azhanti High Lightning: A game of individual combat aboard a huge Imperial star-cruiser, with over ten sheets of deck plans. AHL will be playable as an independent science- fiction boardgame, or as an adjunct to Traveller. Utilizes a new, fast-moving personal combat system.

Asteroid: Subtle humor underlies this mission to a hollow asteroid run by a diabolical computer and guarded by its robot minions. ("Have another beer, Frank." "Thanks, Marc. And pretzels?")

Prague: Based on the award-winning Lobositz system, Prague is another battle of the Seven Years' War. This, like Asteroid, is a $5.98 boxed Series 120 game.

Bright Face/Mission on Mithril: The first half of this double adventure is the official Traveller tournament for Origins 80. The other half is a 7000 klik trek across an ice wilderness. This book will not go on sale until the Traveller tournament is concluded.