From: Will Volny

Thanks, Kevin, for sending the Wargame Design vol II/6. I started digging in right away! I enjoyed your Modus Operandi article too. My brother and I endlessly go around and around about the 'operational' viewpoint vs the 'move and fight' camp (although much less eloquently than your article, our 'discussions' used to end up in near fisticuffs).

In my genetic predisposition to self-righteousness, I would imperiously tell Chris that the concept of massing cardboard against the enemy, WWI-like, and attacking head on is 'cheap' as it were. It struck me as 'too common', not a challenge, and in the end, only the dice battle with one another. There's no elegance to it. During the game, I would look at the puzzle before me and say 'there has got to be a better way.' This would get Chris going (no one likes a self-righteous bloviator) and it lead to many a colourful argument. The only trouble is, in looking back over the years of gaming (I don't get much in these days) is that although I appreciate fully what you term the 'operational' camp, and can pontificate about it endlessly, carrying out such depth on the paper battlefield is usually beyond my mental abilities. Chris, using his preferred head-on attacking, almost always got the better of me.

After the game, I would ponder whether that game system's design favoured such bluntness, or if I simply didn't have the right stuff to play it. Only rarely could I use his frieght train inertia against him (I remember one game of Caeser at Alesia fondly. The look of shock on the Roman's face as he realized his absolute loss amid a sea of red counters is something I still savour with immature glee!) In any case, that's where your games come in. After years of begging and cajoling, Chris has agreed to play an OSG game! The only trouble is that we have to play by email. Do you happen to know if anyone has made ADC II modules of some of your games?

From: Pierre Borgnat

Wargame Design Nr. 6 seems really fine. And I was most impressed beforehand by HtK. I still have to find time to play it front-to-front (that must be solved during the Christmas holidays); but for historical study, this game is really great.

I thank you very much for all this.

From: Geoffrey Geddes

Thank you for the copy of Highway To The Kremlin. I was glad to help in a small way towards the completion of a game I had been waiting forever since I bought my first OSG game, the unboxed Napoleon At Bay.

I read the generally favourable reviews on the web. The best review I have read so far is the Vae Victus review which my wife kindly translated for me.

First can I complement you on the physical look of the game, Joe Youst's maps are truly excellent, tasteful and some of the best map making I have seen. Interesting how cartographers manipulate information on maps. I recognise the source map for the game and note how sparse the information is on areas of the map away from the main campaign. Once you get onto the Smolensk-Moscow highway every little village and town is represented, but north to Veliki Lulki or south to the Pripette marshes the density of towns decreases. True these areas were more sparsely populated but it also true that the cartographer just gives an outline of the main centres of population.

I spent months trying to get an accurate idea of a possible southern retreat route for Napoleon's army. I like the counters, though they are a little more utilitarian than some of your others, however, on a big map and with my ageing eyesight utility is no bad thing. I like the play aids; always a good idea to facilitate play. I have not yet come to a full understanding of the rules, just a quick read through, but they seem to have adapted well to the change of scale. I will tell you more after a few playthroughs. All in all an excellent product.

It occurred to me straight away that the new 5X series is the format to adopt when you get round to revising Struggle of Nations. That game would really benefit from having more space to breath. You could incorporate Davout's operations on the Baltic coast and include the besieged French forces further east. OB on this campaign is much improved since Nafziger's trilogy on the campaign. I would really look forward to a revised game like that, it would be a mouth-watering prospect.

Have you seen the Greenhill/Stackpole edition of The illustrated Memoirs of Major Faber du Faur? This is a stunning book, all of the famous Du Faur lithographs presented in sequence with the artist's original descriptions. A coffee table book but far more than that, a primary visual source for the campaign.

I have never quite given up tinkering and designing, but I tend to worry at something then put it down until another wave of enthusiasm comes upon me. This is usually because some game problem that I have been wrestling with suddenly becomes clear and a solution presents itself from somewhere in the subconscious mind. I then leap into action until I reach the next stumbling block. In this manner I have continued design work on at least five games on diverse subjects. This summer I went on holiday to the South of France to see the spectacular ruins of the medieval period, a well written guide book sparked my interest in the Albegensian Crusade, which means that I have done some preliminary work on yet another subject.

My pet project remains a strategic study (with operational and even tactical sub systems) of the Campaign of Trafalgar 1805. I have pinched some of the key concepts of the Campaigns of Napoleon Series (I hope you don't mind) and adapted them to the war at sea under sail. If you think about it, it is obvious that the concept of initiative is crucial to the conduct of battle fleets at sea out of contact with home. Leadership is critical to an understanding of this campaign. Off board displays would have Admirals not Generals and rather than divisions and brigades would contain the ships attached to his command.

I have adapted the concept of moving under orders to become moving under Admiralty orders. Any fleet leaving port would be issued with an Admiralty order, which would allow the fleet to sail for a given destination to conduct for example an invasion or reinforce an existing fleet. I am giving each power a limited capacity to send out dispatch vessels to further instruct fleets at sea. I have also incorporated the miniature gaming concept that having been issued orders a fleet at sea will continue to strive to fulfill these orders until new ones are issued and received. A bold leader (like Nelson) will of course act on his own appraisal of the local situation to make a judgment of what is to be done.

The game is turning out to be very administrative with a good level detail in the management and conduct of fleets at sea and in dock. I am struggling with the problems of a double blind hidden movement system on two identical strategic maps. It is not only that the players need to be restricted in there information on enemy forces, they need to be restricted in there ability to respond to the world wide operations of there own forces. A player seeing trouble coming to a force in say the Caribbean can respond by despatching reinforcement from the home country when in reality they would have little idea of what was happening in another theatre of war. For example, as the campaign unfolded Nelson and the Mediterranean Fleet were out of contact for a period of over three months, this is very difficult to simulate in an elegant and simple way. I am about 60% finished in the construction of this game. I have a workable map a good deal of the charts and tables complete, a good OB and nearly complete rules. It will also have an interface for Naval Minatures campaigns and be flexible enough that modules could simulate other famous campaigns using the basic game set.

Pat Reis

Once again, I can't tell you how pleased I am with this series of games & only wish I had time to play them more than the once in a while that my schedule permits. The Highway to Madrid sounds intriguing. Any ideas on how to portray guerillas? In Avalon Hill's War & Peace game it seemed they were given too much strength. It seemed that they could always 'pop up' on the French line of communication and knock off strength points on a 1:1 basis. This seems too high to me. I don't think it would cost 5000 trained troops to eliminate 5000 irregulars. Then again, maybe that's what actually happened. Regarless, I'm sure that OSG will come up with a more historically accurate portrayal.

[Ed. Note: Guerillas will be infantry 'vedettes,' similar to the Partisans in 'Highway to the Kremlin.' Each will be assigned to a particular village and will be able to re-generate at the home village.]