Unlike the last few issues, I have much housekeeping to catch up on. The first thing I want to bring to everyone's attention is this. We now have a way for those looking for In Their Quiet Fields to put together copies-while the parts last, at least. To assemble your own ITQF, you will need the Upgrade Kit ($7 plus shipping) which we still have in abundance. Then contact Bob Schindler to order a map and a game rule book. If You have the series rules from another game, you now have an ITQF, revised edition in your possession less a box. I hope that all those who have hunted high and low for the game will avail themselves of this method of obtaining one-supplies of some parts are limited.

Rod "Ice-Man" Miller "just moving his counters around." Notice the almost complete lack of enemy units in his path. Stalingrad sends word it is still holding out...not for long, though.

We are trying to arrange an area at the next Origins (San Jose, CA) to use for open Gamers' game playing. We are looking for volunteers to help us run this "Con within the Con." Specifically, we need people willing to set up and manage the game of their choice for whomever signs up. We can replace your copy of the game used with a new one if yours gets played (provided the game is still in print). Let me know if you can help ... it should be a lot of fun.

Mike Haggett has been with us now for a couple of months. Several of you have called to ask what he does and what impact it will have on the company. Technically, he is the company's Production Manager-a title I expanded to cover development and playtest management as well. He takes the game from the designer, works it over, sends it out for playtesting, refines it, and then gives it to me for the artwork. I do the artwork and give him the final films. Mike then marches it through the production process. This will mean we can put out more games per year. It also means two other things: if you want to publish a game in one of our series, now is a good time to do so, because the backlog will start moving now-and we need more playtesters. If you want to design, call or write for a Submissions Packet. Call if you want to playtest. Ask for Mike.

Our new production schedule (fully in place by next fall) will allow us to publish one game every two months. To keep things flexible, we will be publishing definitive game release dates no more than 6 months in advance (as opposed to our current calendar year method). That way, we can select the games that are most ready at the moment.

Since an astute gamer has already expressed confusion about this plan with his question "But, will that give enough time for playtesting'?" Let me explain more fully. When a design is submitted, Mike makes an initial development run through it and prepares it for full playtesting. Then, he will prepare the playtest kits, send them out, and monitor the progress of' playtesting. As each six month window reaches a decision point, we will review the games in playtesting and give the go ahead to one that seems most finished. At that point, and not before, the game will be six months from release and will be through its playtesting cycle. At each decision point, I want to have several almost finished games rivaling for the same production slot so I can choose the one among them that is the best. Games that seem most in need of help will remain in playtesting until I can look the game in the eye and announce it done. Any game that just doesn't cut it at all will be evicted during Mike's initial development period.

We need game designs in all of our series, but specifically the SCS, OCS, and NBS, in that order. We have a good number of TCS and CWB games in the works. I encourage you to give it a shot. With our new production schedule, your game (if accepted) will come out relatively quickly.

Mike also handles most of the rules questions we get over the phone now. Part of this is his training in rules and rules wording (seeing what kinds of questions come up) and the rest is to free me up from the phone so I can get my work done. The point is, if you have a rules question call and let Mike answer it. If you really want to speak to me instead, do not hesitate to ask for me ... but please be considerate of my time.

(Mike sure gets around doesn't he?)

After months of losing our shirts shipping Gettysburg magazines, we had to raise the shipping rates on them. Each one of those mags weighs a short ton and a shipment overseas (by air!) of several issues almost cost us more than the customer paid (not counting the cost of the mags themselves). To keep my wife off my proverbial behind and to appease our accountant I had to raise the shipping rates for those bricks.

Finally, you will note a slightly different format for this issue. In order to make the magazine more efficient, I've trimmed it back to 32 pages (still way up from its advertised 24 page format!) but a quick comparison between issue 9 and this one shows that the "useful" page length hasn't changed at all-staying constant at 2 1 pages (after you subtract the stuff at the end of the mag, the covers, and my opening gibberish). The result is a leaner item which has a game-content of some 66% (length less overhead) up from 58% just two issues ago. Unfortunately, this adjustment means we will no longer be able to offer convention and dealer listings. We are offering an alternative to the old dealer listing-call Sara here and ask for the stores in the area you are interested in and she'll be happy to give you their address and phone number.