Like you, I own too many wargames, but that doesn't stop me from shopping either. A little while after Origins I was in Atlanta's best game store, Sword of the Phoenix, and noted that they had a couple copies each of all of last year's Gamers titles, plus Gaines Mill and a few others that have come out since Dean moved to direct sales only. The MiH line was well represented on the store's shelves as well. Anybody out there who thought that declining distributor orders and Dean's reaction to that downturn would starve your friendly local retailers can stop panicking now, thank you.

Dean makes this year's Origins sound like a bit of a re-run for The Gamers; foot traffic seemed lighter than last year, while sales were better -- by a mere twenty bucks. I don't have a first-person journalistic feature on the con for you this time. And hey, those of you may have been misled by the photo credit in Ops 22 should note that I did not sever Richard Berg's head at Origins '96. (I mean, I wanted to, but the line was too long.) One bit of news from this year was The Gamers' good showing in the Charles S. Roberts awards. Dave Powell got that Hall of Fame award he's been working on for ten years, and Dean picked up another Dunnigan. DAK scored for Best WW2 and Best Graphics, while your friendly tactics tutor, Lee Forester, was rewarded with Best Post-WW2 for his Semper Fi! Ted Racier pulled down the Best pre-WW2 for All Quiet on the Western Front? from Moments in History. The Gamers clearly understand the Charlies as your expression of appreciation, and we thank you.

This spring I saw the order tracking system up and running in Homer. Shirley said good things about it, and I hope it has been working well from your point of view. Along with games, the 1998 freebie countersheets have shipped. If you think you should receive one but don't see it by October, give The Gamers a call. Also, if you haven't received a countersheet but you send in a response card from any Gamers game by December, you'll get the '98 sheet. The errata Map F for Seven Pines has gone out also. Again, please notify the office if you own Seven Pines but have not received a map, or if you own more than one copy of that game.

This issue includes the piece on favorite short scenarios originally slated for Ops 29. If the response is good enough, including more recommendations, I may run a follow-up covering newer games.

Also in this issue: a short piece that almost resembles a review of OSG's 1806. Last issue we ran discussion and clarifications on this game; I thought readers who have not seen the game yet might appreciate a quick intro.

Dean has arranged for Uto Grebbe in Germany to act as The Gamers' European "distributorship." What this means to our customers across the Atlantic is that you'll get the games you order quicker.

The quickest and least expensive game we have to offer is Air Combat Maneuver, available for free download from:

http://www.tgamers.com/dean/ACM/

Check out the article in this issue and the web site.

While losing a stare-down with a graphics problem in this mag, I received a good deal of e-mail to the effect that Avalon Hill has tanked. That is, AH has been bought out by Hasbro. Does this really mean AH is history? Does it mean we'll be playing Mr. Potato-Head ® Moves East? I confess that I've had little use for many of AH's games and not a little of that company's attitude. Still, I not only respect Avalon Hill as the firm that invented both the genre of board wargaming and the market for it, I also have really gotten my money's worth out of games from Luftwaffe to Wooden Ships & Iron Men to Caesar at Alesia to London's Burning. Farewell, big guy.

Thanks much to all of you who have sent cards, good wishes, trust fund contributions, and other sorts of encouragement to Chris Volny. He has had some encouraging news but still has a lot of hard work ahead. Dean and Dave are leg-mobile once again.