I meant: Asserted but not yet proved

John,

Thanks for the copy of Simulacrum #1. 1 enjoyed it very much. But what do you mean Flying Buffalo "allegedly" published a second edition of Schutziruppe? We definitely did so. Jim Bumpas' original game came in a brown envelope. Our edition was in a plastic baggie with a red and black cover sheet. I believe we incorporated some "errata" from Jim Bumpas into the rulesbook. Unfortunately I don't remember the print run, and we did not really keep careful track of those. It was probably either 500 or 1000. 1 think after we let it go out of print, Jim sold the rights to the Canadian gentleman who keeps buying up all kinds of games and selling them at conventions. ("Excalibre?") I don't know if he has yet come up with the third edition.

Al Macintyre says you are going to cover "Ace of Aces" in the next edition. You might want to mention that the Balloon Buster game and the Flying Machines game (both variants of Ace of Aces) are both available from Flying Buffalo for $9.95. (We don't have any copies of the original.)

Rick Loomis
Flying Buffalo Inc.
PO Box 1467
Scottsdale AZ 85252 USA
Ph: 602-945-6917
Fax: 602-994-1170
Ans Mach: 602-994-0658
http://www.flyingbuffalo.com

I meant no disrespect in using the term "allegedly", Rick. I was merely pointing out that hearsay evidence suggested that a second edition had been published, but I had not seen it myself or seen reference to it elseewhhere. In retrospect, a quick note to you in the first instance could have sorted it all out, and I regret not doing so. -ed

I'll tell you what - if you have a few minutes

About 18 months ago, I got back into boardgaming and war gaining after a 30+ year absence. I have been to several auctions including those on the net and have always been excited to pick up a game for a couple of bucks. However, I have no idea what games are sought after and why (although I am slowly picking up general raps against certain game companies).

I obtained a copy of Simulacrum hoping to get more insight into which games are and are not more valuable and therefore presumably more playable. As interesting as the issue was (and I may subscribe), it did not answer those types of questions.

David Carroll
the Internet via Consim-1

Welcome back, David! Although you weren't addressing me directly, I couldn't resist. After more than 30 years away from the hobby, you're going to find that there have been a lot of changes. There are many useful sources for determining the relative values of different games, but don't make the mistake of assuming that an expensive game is, ipso facto, more playable. That's the kind of information you'll find in several other places, including Simulacrum. Stay tuned -ed

Blockhead indeed

(Re: Rommel in the Desert) Does this mean the Germans weren't double-hit in the original edition (a big change)?

Incidentally, since double-steps take slightly more than two hits each to kill (because odd hits are lost) but cost only double to rebuild, it follows they're actually cheaper to repair.

You say "an expansion covering the terrain west of El Agheila and into Tunisia ... would have been fascinating". In fact, Columbia's house journal Around the Block has more than once mentioned the possibility of such an expansion, called Rommel In Tunisia but it's never come to anything so far. If a 5000 print run made in 1984 has only just been exhausted 14 years later, we're talking real niche markets here.

"Other games by Craig Besinque" lists Bobby Lee, actually a Tom Dalgliesh design, and Volga Front, which was by Tim Taylor (who in theory was also designing the WWI version of EuroFront, another project that's gone quiet).

I find a remark such as "Prices for the first edition have remained what I consider to be artificially low, due simply to ignorance of its existence" to be a wonderful example of the internal incoherence of the collectors mentality.

Dave Lockwood
via the intemet

Craig Besinque provided me with the information about games he designed or helped design. I understand your position regarding collecting ... I feel the same way about old motorcycles. They are meant to be ridden, not fixed up and put in a glass case. Games are a different story in my opinion. They are a consumer product which were produced in significantly larger quantities. 5000 copies oJ' Columbia Games' Rommel in the Desert were produced, yet they still command prices close to or in excess of their original cost. Why? Where did the other 4999 copies go (well, okay, 4998 as I have two copies)? Surely if they were all in the open market, the price they would fetch would be considerably less. But they're not: and I doubt that they're all in the hands of collectors (I play mine; the second copy is for replacing parts when they wear out). They were thrown away. The collectors make sure that at least a few are not thrown away.

In fact, if I may be so bold, the collector mentality which has taken off so rapidly with the rise of the Internet is, in fact, reducing prices in many cases. Several years ago, a punched copy of Campaign for North Africa would sell for over $200, if you could find one. Nowadays, there are so many coming up for auction that they are available for between $50 and $75. Shogun, which also sold for $150 a few years ago now can be had for under $25, now that Milton Bradley has reprinted it as Samurai Sword.

Well, I doubt I will convert you, and I'm not so sure of your chances of converting me. That doesn't mean I don't admire and like you. And if you feel like contributing something to the journal, even if it is a polemic against collecting, I would be delighted to publish it. -ed

Guerilla

Last issue, I promised that there would be an analysis and component manifest for Ariel's Guerilla (1976). Well, the game arrived, still safely in its shrinkwrap. However, the cover illustration, not dissimilar to the illustration above, did not bode well; nor did the Subtitle: a Game of Fluid Movement and Subtle Tactics.

The box contained one mapboard which looked like a two-dimensional dodecahedron, an 18-page rulebook, and 180 small plastic pieces (60 each of white, black and red, the red also being referred to as massacre tokens). A quick glance through the rulebook suggesied a game which was a cross between Go and Life.

Guerilla is an abstract game about groups of pieces. Larger groups kill adjacent smaller opposing groups, or massacre them if they are sufficiently big. The winner is the side with the most territory at the end. Any similarity to a wargame simulation is coincidental.