Usually I use this column to vent steam over some guy complaining about die rolls, the sometimes inept version of warfare shown in some games, or to comment about the current status of the industry. In this issue, I don't want to do any of those things, but instead want to say something completely positive and thank those who are helping make DAK one of the best researched games in the history of our little hobby.

At times over the years I've had to write what amounted to pleas that if a gamer knew anything about a topic to come forward please and help us with the research of whatever game before it came out, rather than nit-pick after the fact.

I would like to present an extended thank you to the many gamers out there who did just that for DAK and Crusader. It has been a pleasure working on these games and the insights and hard work of the researchers in the US, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, New Zealand, and Egypt have been an inspiration to me.

We will all be able to pick over the fruits of their many labors when the games are released this summer. but I wanted to single them out for special thanks here, even before the quality of their work is generally known.

Perry Andrus Perry was a fountain of ideas for special rules and things to keep in mind. He also spent hours pouring over old German and British army maps of the desert making checks and corrections to DAK's maps. We have him to thank in great part for giving us the most accurate maps of this area available anywhere in the world.

Ulrich & Dirk Blennemann The Blennemann brothers were instrumental in making the Axis OOBs especially accurate. Dirk's knowledge of the Axis forces and willingness to speak his mind make the Axis armies as shown in DAK as accurate as possible. His forthcoming encyclopedia on the subject will be a major addition to the works available.

Vance von Borries Vance took precious time away from other matters at Origins last year to critique the draft OOB for DAK.

James Broshot James was one of those galvanized into action when the OOB was printed in OPS last year. He helped tie down some of the rough edges in the Commonwealth OOB...even if he did go down swinging over Skinner's Indian Horse Cavalry.

Frank Chadwick One of the great gentlemen of the hobby, Frank lent his time and talents to a number of items, but his knowledge of Italian armored units was especially impressive. He was able to share with us rare unpublished studies of the Italian armored force in Africa which allow, for the first time, to know who was where, doing what, in those early months of the campaign.

Mauro DeVita Mauro produced the original version of the Italian OOB and was able to go to bat over several sticky items that came up later. Especially interesting were his phone calls to various offices of the Italian military and veterans groups to determine the sailing dates of the 10 Brs Rgt...knowing the names of troop transports was a nice touch. Mauro is responsible for the game accurately portraying the development of the Libyan Tank Command from its Gruppo Babini origins.

Marco Ferrari Marco was able to obtain a copy of the Italian Official history (five total books) for me containing some amazingly detailed maps and OOBs.

Andrea Galliano Like Mauro, Andrea helped put together the initial Italian OOB and sent me things like the weather reporting data, and the schematic of the San Giorgio (used to make the icon on the counter).

Jack Greene & Alessaandro Massignani Jack provided me with information on Italian AT units and referred a problem we were having with the 10 Brs Rgt to Alessandro who immediately devoted his time to answer it. He then went to work on the Provi signal Brs Motorcycle Battalion, another almost phantom unit.

Mark Milke Mark came to us from the Land Down Under (well, New Zealand anyway) with a series of detailed reports on the 2nd NZ Division.

Steve Rothwell Steve took on the monumental task of working through the Commonwealth OOB. He did this with a level of expertise end good humor I didn't think was possible. He is also the one who discovered the lost reports on the Egyptian National Army long forgotten in a box of 7th Arm Division records in Dorset. Now, maybe he'll find the Holy Grail, too--it can't be much harder!

Dr. Thomas Scheben Thomas, our German agent in Cairo, was the other researcher responsible for identifying the Egyptian Army units. Using his skills in Arabic and contacts in the Egyptian Military, he was able to flesh out the Egyptian OOB on the land as well as the air.

Mauro Spaziani & Marco Battarelli These two intrepid Italians went to the ends of the earth (well almost) to uncover the mystery of the Aosta and Genova Battalions. Researchers were split as to whether these units were foot-based MG units or Armored Cars. Mauro and Marco went right to the source, the veterans and the Italian Cavalry Office to determine the truth. (They were foot-based MG units.)

Joseph Vanden Borre dived into French records of North African units to give us an excellent Free French OOB.

Working with these men has been a real treat for me and I can't imagine a more enjoyable research experience, nor a more authoritative final game research product. I'm sure you'll enjoy what we were able to determine!