Simulacrum issue 1 contained a review of the Jim Bumpas game, Tatchanka, by Brian Train. Sadly, Jim had been dead for quite some time, so it was not possible to contact him for any insights. Imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that the co-designer had been posting on Consim World. Herewith are Dennis L. Bishop’s comments:

Not exactly with Jim [Bumpas -ed], but certainly introducing us, was the article that I wrote for JagdPanther Magazine enhancing his Schutztruppe game. It was after he read this that we cooperated on Tatchanka. Jim wrote the rules and produced the project and I did the graphics, some of the research and edited the rules. We both, if memory serves, invested $200 each (a princely sum for me in those days) into the publishing of the game. About the same time as we were doing Tatchanka, Jim published Bay of Pigs on his own. Later, we cooperated on a project on Malaya. I have a copy of the game, but I don’t remember the name.

“We were thinking of cooperating on a game on the Mexican Revolution and he sent me a really bad game that had been published on the topic. This was in the days of the US Postal Service and I moved, he was divorced and he moved, and we lost contact with each other. When email became available, I tried to contact him again, but to no avail. Then, I learned later that he had passed away.

“My biggest contributions [to Tatchanka] were the additions of the Allied troops, armored trains, and the rules for these units. Also on the map is emblazoned c 1977 by Jim Bumpas, Graphics by Dennis Bishop. Jim added this to the map I think to show our partnership in the publication of the game. “One last aside: I received mail from the Ukrainian Independence Movement for years after the publication of the game. I may have lost contact with Jim, but the UIM seemed to be able to track me down where ever I moved.

“Thanks for thinking about Tatchanka. I know that I have provided more than you requested, but it was my first serious excursion into publishing a wargame and I like telling the story. I still get Tatchanka out and play it once in a while. It is the only game that I either designed, developed, or playtested that I can say that I play. I did once play Red Thunder (Edensoft) from beginning to end once just to see whether the Germans could win, and won a decisive victory in the last two game turns. But, I don’t think that this counts [grin].”