First off, the family news. Sara and I were blessed with a baby boy (John 7 lb, 3 oz) born on January 28th. John is our third child (I might also add, last ... ) and has been great about being quiet and sleeping--both relative to the first two. All are well and John and his mother came home from the hospital the day after he was born.

We have added another member to the staff here-Don Nesbitt. Don assists Shirley in order fulfillment and Mike and I in playtesting, development, and research. He has really made the plunge-i.e. he actually moved to Homer (a major change to the population!) and he started work March 7th. That brings the in-house full- time staff to five. We all want to welcome him here and took forward to all his help.

Numerous players came forward after our call for designs and playtesters last time and quite a bit of movement has occurred on that front. Again, if you are interested in design or playtesting, let Mike know you are and get on his lists. The only type of playtester he is short on is players conversant in the version 3.0 TCS rules and willing to work on games in that series. If you fall into those categories, let him know who you are.

James Noone came to us to volunteer for something we hadn't asked anyone to do, but he thought would be a good idea. In that I concur and would like to ask for others to step forward to volunteer. The idea is to have volunteers give presentations and demonstrations of Garners games to clubs and at stores. The idea is to spread the word and to be available to help new players into our systems. If you are willing, know the games, and want to help spread the word, let Sara know here who you are and where/ what you would like to do. It would be great if even a handful of players put on demos or little events at their local clubs and stores and were available to answer questions about us, our games, and your experiences with both. It would be a great way to introduce the more hesitant gamers out there to these games, which it is hoped would generate more interest and more play activity.

As you can see in the Up & Coming column on the next page, numerous OCS games are being worked on but none have made the jump here to be ready for playtesting. Part of this has to do with the amount of work being put in on Enemy at the Gates and that effort takes away from my ability to move on to further projects. Once the OCS rules are brought into their 2.0 status, I will be able to devote more time to these smaller OCS projects.

I am forcing a few series to make needed improvements. The company remains wedded to the series concept and I will not let that idea become watered down and meaningless--BUT this concept does not dictate that we should ignore needed changes or for us to walk around as if each is perfection itself. I am making the changes I feel the NBS needs to come up to the level I expect of our game series and the OCS has a number of things which can be made better (see the article in this issue regarding the proposals).

The TCS, SCS, and CWB are mature in their current forms (after errata corrections). At any rate, short of corrections dictated by errata, you can rest assured knowing the OCS and NBS will have reached the same level as the other series after the publication of their next versions. After that, the word will be 'hands off' and no changes will be accepted (unless they comprise errata-i.e. mistakes-in the published version). In other words, the 'topped out' versions of each series will be: TCS 3. 1, SCS 1.6, CWB 2.2, OCS 2. 1, and NBS 2. 1. The current versions are TCS 3.0, SCS 1.6, CWB 2. 1, OCS 1.0, NBS 1.0. As you can see, the NBS and OCS are up for big rewrites (their 2.0 version) followed by one errata insertion (the 2.1 version). The TCS and CWB are up for an errata insertion, but that is all. The SCS got its errata insertion with the Ardennes version. The point of all this is, fear not-it is under control.

Speaking of rules, the inclusion of lengthy glossaries and extensive indexes will follow the point of 'hands off' development in each series. Given the limitations of a small staff, the work involved in these items before the rules have been absolutely finalized is wasteful and interferes with the work which needs to be done. As each of the series hits the final level of development, you will see extensive glossaries and indexes added as well as multiple illustrated examples.

After failing in our attempt to form a con-within-a-con for Origins this year (they asked more than we could afford to pay for the space), I have had to limit myself to three tournaments, instead. The goal of trying to do this sort of thing next year remains, and hopefully the economics will work out better for it to succeed. Thank you to those who volunteered to help, and I apologize that we were not able to pull it off.

Lastly, I want to encourage you to take pen in hand and write for us. Strategies you like for your favorite games, house rules, you name it. I have about two mags worth of material on-hand as I write this and I'd like to build up a bigger back-log (for safety reasons). Give it a shot, tell us all about your games!