We received the following press release. Multi-Man Publishing, LLC, (MMP) is proud to announce its recent acquisition of The Gamers, one of the hobby's finest producers of military simulations. The Gamers have a well-deserved reputation for innovative design, quality production, and top-notch customer service. The Gamers' games cover a variety of military subjects, allowing you to: try your hand at Command & Control in the Tactical Combat Series; balance the need for supply with the overall placement of troops in the Operational Combat Series; hear the sounds of hoof beats as the cavalry charges in the Civil War Brigade Series; or form up squares for a Napoleonic battle. We at MMP have always been big fans of The Gamers, and are looking forward to a close collaboration with Dean Essig and his designers. We were thrilled when Dean approached us about buying him out, telling us that he wanted to concentrate on designing games without the distraction of the business end of gaming. First, we were happy that he felt we were the right people to carry on what has been a 13-year labor of love for Dean. We like to think that he saw in MMP that same dedication to quality and serving gamers that has been his driving force all these years. Second, we see this as an opportunity for more Dean Essig designs, which can only be good news for gamers. Third, we hope to be able to develop some synergy between the design and the production departments of the two companies and also to take advantage of economies of scale. Our immediate plans are to change as little as possible in the design process at The Gamers, only the minimum necessary to accommodate the new corporate structure. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We are looking forward to several new designs that are coming out soon and hope to be able to support Dean and the gang in future designs. The Gamers' office in Homer, IL will be closing right away (Homercon will go on as planned, in Homer, at the end of September). All orders, questions, and other business will be conducted solely through MMP's office in Millersville, MD (see details below). For the first two weeks we will be in the process of getting the operation moved into our offices, so until that time we won't be fully operational with The Gamers materials until that process is finished. We've always appreciated the hard work and attention to detail we have received as customers of The Gamers. We intend to continue that tradition, just as MMP's customers have always been first in our thoughts. On the retail scene, there are some great games in The Gamers inventory that we think will do very well on game store shelves, and we are anxious to work out arrangements to make this happen. We will be contacting all our customers about these new opportunities, but feel free to contact us first if there is something in particular you are interested in or if you just have some questions. The dust will be flying in Millersville for a while as our office staff tries to get this acquisition thing under control. Please bear with us as we integrate The Gamers line into our overall operations. Advanced Squad Leader In the meantime, we are hard at work with our regular line of games. The Advanced Squad Leader Rulebook 2nd Edition has been very well received, and we are very happy to see it and Beyond Valor 2nd Edition in Wizards of the Coast stores. Our upcoming ASL historical study on Guadalcanal provides a new take on an ever-popular subject, with a detailed, historically accurate mapsheet of Edson's Ridge, an accompanying campaign game and scenarios, and also standard geomorphic depicting other actions throughout the 'Canal. The British will be reappearing on shelves shortly as the out-of-print West of Alamein is spilt into two modules-For King and Country (British OB, updated Chapter H, updates of 20 out-of-print scenarios). West of Alamein concentrate on the desert (updated Chapter, overlays and five original desert boards, eight original scenarios). Next year will see Armies of Oblivion (Axis Minor vehicle and ordnance counters, Chapter H notes, scenarios, four boards). Not far behind is Hakka Palle, updating the Finnish OB (more counters, more notes, another board) and Valor of the Guards, the upcoming Historical ASL module depicting the fighting in central Stalingrad. Next year will also see our updated version of Up Front, the Squad Leader card game, featuring a simplified rulebook, new artwork, and no counters. We think this will be a big hit. We also have great hopes for our upcoming introductory ASL game, which promised to be a fun little game on its own merits as well as serving as a stepping stone into the vast possibilities of the ASL system. There is so much more to look forward to. Please stop by our web site at www.multimanpublishing.com and see for yourself. From Dean Essig Hi Guys! This posting is to let you know what is going on...there have been some pretty wild rumors and now that I can talk about the matter, I want to calm everyone down. We’ve negotiated the sale of The Gamers to MMP and I’m greatly looking forward to my new role as game designer...without all the other hats I’ve worn all these years which kept me from devoting the concentration to that task I really wanted to do. I’ll retain the position of OCS Honcho, plus I’ll be able to far more rapidly produce games in any number of different series as well as be here to help the other honchos with the more arcane aspects of my series rules. The deal is just now final and will take effect at the beginning of September. MMP will be the hub of production and sales for the joined companies, my office in Homer will remain for Homercon plus my graphics and design work only. It is expected that MMP will be operational with Gamers stuff later in September (there is a lot of stuff to move, etc.), so please give them the benefit of the doubt in getting everything up and running...there is much work to do! Russ Bunten will take over the main job of running The Gamers end of MMP. He is a good and fair man and will do very well in that job (probably better than me :-). He will be the contact for all the honchos and deal with the business end of things. The way of doing things will remain as it is, but with Russ being the point man. I will do much map and counter artwork for both companies. As I understand it, MMP will be using our printers for things like counters and such at least for the time being...more importantly, I’m sure the same high standards you’ve come to expect will not only be maintained but improved upon. I’m not sure what MMP specific artwork I will be asked to do, but I’m looking forward to making it the best I’ve ever done. MMP is promising to “not fix it if it isn’t broke” and I believe they will do just that. Russ has been playing the games for years and I could not think of a better choice to head up the operation. I am eternally greatful for the years of support everyone has given the company under my leadership. I'd like to ask all of you, personally, to offer that same level of support to Russ and his team. All the best! Back to 3rd Quarter 2001 List of News Items Back to Master List of News Items Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Coalition Web, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com