These have been interesting times for us all. I have just finished refitting the company's computer systems (including a new, high-power machine for myself). We added another part-time employee, Steve Krause who will be helping Shirley and Sara in the warehousing and shipping area. The internal operating systems of the company have been streamlined and reconditioned to handle the strain of the sales load we had last year. Maybe Shirley will even get some time off now.

On other fronts, the game industry is showing all sorts of signs of life the pundits are trying to ignore. Personally, I am dealing with no fewer than 6 proto-game companies which have plans to begin operation in the next year or so or have already made some small attempts at a start-up. I wish them all the best From every crop of these outfits which start, the gamer in me will find something to love, something to like, and the occasional thing to dislike. Regardless, the influx of new blood and ideas will continue the process of diversifying the available product base in all sorts of great ways--new topics, styles, production qualities, and whatnot AH of these things win cause older companies to learn new tricks. See the article about positive competition in the Outbrief of this issue.

If you or someone you know is planning on starting a game company in the near future, feel free to call on me. I'll be happy to help. Vive la difference!!

On the medical front, my left hand has progressed nicely (read: no more therapy!), but a further 'tune-up' surgery will occur later this year. It seems the newly planted "thumb" is about 60 degrees off kilter. That will require an operation to cut it loose (again) and rotate it to a better position. As an added plus, another tendon transfer will be done so as to create better opposition movement. I can't wait...

A whole slew of rules questions were generated recently regarding the use of the 6th Corps in ITQF. In this case four over the course of five days makes quite a crowd, especially for a game which has been out for so long. At any rate, I must apologize to the first couple of callers because they caught me off guard about an issue I hadn't dealt with in some time. By the time the last caller got to me, I had reviewed the rules and remembered some of the critical handling matters we had used so long ago. For those first few callers, let me give the answer here (in the hopes you will see it). The 6th Corps can move at will provided it does not engage in fire combat. Engage here is meant to pertain to both the firer's and the target's function in fire combat. Therefore, if the Confederates can put together a long range artillery shot on any unit of the 6th Corps, the corps has engaged in fire combat and immediately must become uncommitted and have its HQ bolted to the ground. That eliminates the callers's fears that 6th Corps would post itself, while uncommitted. within range of some important objective and engage it for free. The alert Rebel should see it coming and be able to stop it dead in its tracks before it gets close enough to do any damage. If he does let it get that close, he deserves what he gets!

In terms of things to come, we are very excited to have teamed up with Scott Hamilton of HPS (read: the ADC computer program) and are in the process of tooling our games up for use with ADC. For those who haven't heard of it, ADC (Aide de Camp) is a IBM program which greatly simplifies the process of play by mail. The most tedious part of using ADC is the generation of the fThe format which contains the board game map and counter information. As soon as we have developed a library of these for our games we will sell them as inexpensive add-on modules. If you are interested in helping this effort out, let me know. Contact Scott (who is very nice, positive, and a gamer himself) at:

HPS Simulations
PO Box 3245
Santa Clara, CA 95055

If you don't want to jump in before seeing the program in action, drop by our booth at Origins where Scott will have ADC up and running for you to see.

The whole concept is a brilliant integration of existing board game technology with computers--the kind of thing that will finally get computer games over the many humps they have encountered. My hat is off to Scott for making this step of genius.

Like any outfit our size, we benefit greatly from the efforts of a large number of folks who receive little reward and almost no recognition in return. These include, but are not limited to: our collating militia (you know who you are) who always show up to do the "game-put-together- two-step" for unending hours and enjoy the now traditional manhood testing Burrito Run, Bob S. and Gerry P. who have taken the time to look over counters for die cut problems (Gerry, especially, for having to endure the pick up of the counters for the GB reprint). Mike IL, Rod S., and John B. for taking time to join the in-house playtest team, Owen F. who sweated over all the production aspects of GB (even though he knew he didn't have the time to devote .. thank you, Owen), Dave P. and Sticky C. for always enduring the collating parties and never ending efforts to make the games better, Rod M. for still saying "Now, why would you do that" (with 'you' in the generic sense, of course, Bubba), and to the whole assortment of wives and children who must forever endure daddy's little affliction. These are die unsung folks out there who bust their behind for all of us. They deserve all the credit.

I got a letter a few weeks ago from a fellow who was amazed at the bias he saw in our game ratings. Biased? Gee, you mean that because the readers of this magazine (a house organ for our games) rate the games, they might also like them... Again, the ratings only show what you (our readership) likes. It is not, was never intended to be, nor ever will be, a randomly selected cross-section of all gamers which will show in a scientifically accurate statistical sense what the gaming public likes as a mob. No, its a just-for-fun and interest thing we do of, by, and for, our readership. I suppose if each company did this themselves, you would got exactly the same results, only with the games at the top of the chart being their own. No member of this company (i.e. Dave or 1) has had the ability to rate any game on the chart for well over a year and a half now ... if anyone cares to make any accusations of hanky-panky, they best do it to my face prepared to back them up.

One last minute note, the U of I managed to change their football schedule for this fall (thanks, guys). This means our Retreat falls on a football weekend after all. So, if you are planning on coming, make sure you make all hotel and flight reservations now and do not wait until later. If you wait, I doubt you'll make it in or have a place to stay.