From: Conradclub@aol.com Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 Dear Kevin, I wish to make one observation regarding the last OSG news, a correction if you will. You stated that "Procope" was the oldest cafe in the World. Well, I don't know exactly how you define various eateries, but the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the World is Ma Yu Ching's Bucket Chicken House in Kaifang, China. It opened in 1153! I have a question regarding "Castiglione 1796". Will it be the only operational level game produced about the Italian Campaign? Or will there be a "Marengo" for instance using the "1806" system? I'm just being curious. I'm not pushing for any additional designs on this campaign. I anxiously await my copy of "Bonaparte in Italy". I still remember the day I sold the copy of the original OSG design I had. At the time I thought Clash of Arms would be publishing a new edition. That was some years ago. --Bill Conrad THE HISTORY OF OSG In the world of game publishers the history of the companies gets confusing at times.....witness SPI, SPI/TSR, SPI/DG or the GMT, Fresno Games oddessy. Can anyone run down the OSG cronology. They seem to be dedicated to Napoleonics when at one time they did some of my favorite WWII sim's. --Tim Keennon I can't really run down the OSG chronology, but I can provide some elements of it. I'm pretty sure that Kevin Zucker was with SPI in some capacity back in the mid 70s. (That's right.) My guess is that he is now a man in his mid- to late-40s. (Too true.) I don't think he came on as a designer; like many who went on to "greatness" as designers under the tutelage of JFD, KZ initially served SPI in some other, possibly less exalted, capacity. (I worked, mainly, as Managing Editor, half-way between Dunnigan's R&D and Simonsen's Art Depts.) OSG was initially named Tactical Studies Group I believe, and the name was changed relatively quickly, possibly to avoid any clash with TSR, who were operating the D&D franchise at that point in time. (Right again.) I also don't know for sure when OSG ceased operations. (I left the company in September of 1979; the company remained active for a few more months.) But I think that KZ has remained active in wargaming during the entire period. Did he work for AH during the 80s and 90s? (For one year: 1980.) It would be very interesting to hear him speak about the reasons he had for revitalizing the OSG brand name at this, seemingly unpropitious, point in time. (My grandfather, who farmed 80 acres in Iowa, had an old red/black 1948 Dodge pick-up. As a kid, I asked him why he didn't get a new one: "Because everybody knows this is me.") And it would be interesting to see a list of all the original OSG games. (There were a dozen or so: Napoleon at Bay, Panzerkrieg, Rommel & Tunisia, Napoleon at Leipzig, Dark December, Bonaparte in Italy, Devil's Den and Air Cobra prominent among them.) The Nap. titles such as Nap. at Bay and Bonaparte in Italy were pathfinding designs imo that for over two decades have been hugely influential on many members of the wargaming community. As Tim suggests, they did some WWII games too - the only one that I own is the J. A. Nelson design, Rommel & Tunisia. By the standards of today, the 28 page rulebook is, I suppose, a mere bagatelle. But for 1978, the whole presentation gives the impression of somebody going for Big Ideas and Very Serious Stuff. It's one of those games that I've looked at numerous times and thought about playing, but, lack of time, lack of energy...and so on, have prevented me from doing more than browsing my copy. In the whole canon of N. Africa games, I would judge R&T to have been largely forgotten... --John Best jlbest@tuscola.net Back to OSG News October 1999 Table of Contents Back to OSG News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Operational Studies Group. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com