Well, a lot has happened lately. I'm sure the copy of Operations you're now holding was at least as anxiously awaited as it was overdue. As you probably already know, Multi-Man Publishing purchased the rights to all Gamers series and games. I thought perhaps a word or two regarding the genesis and evolution of this arrangement was in order.

We (MMP) were approached by Dean Essig early last year. We discussed a scenario in which Dean would reduce his day-to-day business duties in order to concentrate on design and development of new (and existing) games.

Dean indicated that the current situation was such that some fairly drastic measures were in order to allow more (free) design time. Reduction in office hours, suspension of the Consortium, reduction in overall inventory to only existing games, as well as a number of other steps were tentatively planned.

Dean also suggested an alternative scenario. One in which MMP would take on all business and production aspects of The Gamers. Namely, to purchase the company outright. I must admit, I was very excited. Following an extended meeting in Tucson, we all set to work tackling the myriad hurdles to make the purchase possible. When this whole thing began, none of us could have guessed the immense amount of time and effort it would take to bring it all together. It would have been impossible without the dedicated efforts of Dean and Sara.

The long and short of it is that we all agreed on most things right from the start. In addition, we could all see the benefit from merging the two companies. Dean wanted out of the business end of things to allow him to continue designing and developing games. We felt we could make that happen. We also looked forward to bringing so many superior games together under one banner.

Closely following this issue of Operations should be the release of three new Gamers titles. The first under the auspices of MMP, we hope you find the quality and workmanship you've come to expect from both companies. The first, Screaming Eagles in Holland, is a TCS game covering the 101st Airborne's actions during Market-Garden. Next comes Operation Michael, an SCS game covering Ludendorff's last great offensive in 1918. Third is A Fearful Slaughter. This is an RSS game covering the battle of Shiloh.

These titles, as well as this magazine, are sorely overdue. For that, we apologize. There have been a number of unforseen legal issues during the change over, but Dean and Sara have done their best to help smooth the waters. We anticipate returning to a more normal schedule as we enter the new year.

We have some great ideas for many of the game series, as well as some business ideas which we believe will help the hobby grow. Those of you fortunate enough to live near a hobby store should begin to see Gamers games showing up on store shelves over the months ahead.

There are still a larger number of kinks to work out, and we seem to have had more than our fair share of personal issues over the past year. An extended baseball season, post-season, personal illness, and family illnesses have all taken their toll on deadlines and schedules. We are hopeful, however, that we are now approaching some sense of normalcy. We want to expressly thank all of you for having the patience to stick with us through these tumultuous times.

Have a wonderful new year, and God bless.