First Issue

Well, as this is my first full issue as editor of Operations magazine, I guess I better introduce myself.

I come to this position after spending the last nine years as editor and publisher of The Boardgamer magazine. I started that magazine in order to cover the old Avalon Hill games no longer being covered by Avalon Hill's magazine, The General. After Avalon Hill was bought out by Hasbro, I expanded to cover all Avalon Hill games plus any games contested at the World Boardgaming Championships (which I always support, especially since I am on its Board of Directors). The Boardgamer never reached the circulation of this magazine, though I did built up a group of 200 loyal subscribers.

On the MMP website, when describing Operations, it states, "The content of this magazine will slowly evolve to include other MMP games and will eventually become to MMP what The General was to The Avalon Hill Game Company." I figure this is why I was contacted when a successor as editor was needed. The Boardgamer was basically what The General was in the day, except with no color and far less professional graphics.

You will notice a number of changes in this issue. The most obvious is that this issue is four pages longer than Operations #45 and eight pages longer than Operations #44. The idea of this extra space is to keep the Gamers' related material constant and add other MMP related articles on the extra pages. A good example is the Monty's Gamble: Market Garden article which appeared in the last issue. Another is the ASL Starter Kit material in the middle of this issue. ASL material is also a possibility, but with the ASL Journals already out there, I am not sure how much (if any) pure ASL material will ever grace these pages.

You will also notice an Up Front article in this issue. That is on purpose to emphasize that games for which MMP owns the rights (and are in the process of updating) may possibly be covered here. Panzerblitz is another obvious choice. Once the new versions of these games come out, it is doubtful much material on the old versions will see print anymore.

Finally, there is a B-17 article hidden in the back. This is also to make a point. rtic es on non-MMP games will be considered, especially old AH type stuff. Not that I expect to see this type of article in any quantity, but the possibility exists for this type of material.

Anyway, that is the plan for now. In the long run, it is you, the subscribers, who determine what goes into this magazine by the type of material which gets submitted. With the extra pages and the three times per year schedule (hopefully four per year in the future), I am going to be eating through articles at a rapid pace. The more quality material I get, the more I can keep in each issue of Operations.

As for me personally, I started gaming in 1980 with the 1965 version of Avalon Hill's Battle of the Bulge. Other than PBM games through AHIKS, I pretty much dropped out of the hobby after my marriage and new job in 1989, only to get drawn back in at the first Avaloncon convention in 1991. 1 have been re-addicted ever since. I now play most of my games through PBeM, only playing against face to face opponents once or twice a year at various conventions like the World Boardgaming Championships (Homercon seems to fall the same weekend as our local town Oktoberfest, not to mention during high school football season, so I never get there).

About 20 months ago I was asked to end my 13 year engineering career, and decided to move on to other things.

I currently work part time as a high school sports writer (specializing in football, basketball and track and field) and as a substitute teacher. I am currently back in graduate school, and by next June, I should have my Masters degree in Education and a license to teach high school math.

For now, my top priority is to deliver a new magazine every four months (every three months was considered and is still possible in the future). In nine years of The Boardgamer, I never had an issue come out late, and I intend to try and keep the same regular schedule here.

Hopefully you will like what comes out in this and future issues of Operations. If not, or you just have suggestions, please feel free to email me. As an Internet addict, I usually check my email at least twice a day.