Wellington Wargames (1976, $3.00)
Designed by Fredrik Malmberg

Playing Time 2 to 3 hours
Period WWII, North Africa
Scale Tactical
Turn 1 day
Map 170 meters per hex
Unit company & battalion size units

Contents
1 ziplock bag
1 thin B&W cardstock coversheet marked MG-01, depicting a combat scene involving infantry and tanks, done in an artistically primitive style
1 six-page, double-sided, photocopied rulebook consisting of two pages of rules. One page is blank, and the remaining three contain setup instructions, designer's notes, design credits, tables, charts and OOB.
1 thin B&W cardstock game turn track
1 thin yellow cardstock A4-sized three-color map with black hexsides depicting the immediate area surrounding Tobruk.
1 thin cardstock sheet containing 53 unpunched counters in two colors

Counter Manifest
27 hand-drawn gray German (Axis) counters
24 hand-drawn khaki Allied counters
2 khaki blank counters

Wellington Wargames says:

“Fight for Tobruk is a Conflict Simulation of General Rommels attack on Tobruk, June 1942. This game is based on Conflict Game Companys game The Fall of Tobruk although it is not a reproduction.”

In the premier issue of The Combat in 1977, Mr. Malmberg had this to say:

“When we printed Fight For Tobruk, we asked GDW for permission, since it uses some parts of their rules. They didn’t want it at first, but I send them a copy and Marc Miller says in a letter: ‘I think there was a bit of misunderstanding between us. In fact, I saw Flying Buffalo had the game offered for sale here even before I got your letter. Obviously you didn’t care if we gave permission or not. But, I do think we should resolve the matter by simply forgetting it.’

Well Marc, I will certainly forget the whole matter, but I was very surprised that Flying Buffalo sells the game. In fact, I have never sold a single FFT to them so it must be a mistake. But if they do sell it, tell them they are not allowed to and ask them where they got the games. I must say that I thought one should contact the company which games one sell. I haven’t received any letter from them yet.”

The reviewer says:

“System based somewhat loosely on Conflict’s Tobruk game. Anti-tank fire with defensive first fire option. Rigid ZOC’s. Elim’s and retreats on CRT. Special Artillery CRT. Battalion level. Quite simple and fast to play.” Richard Berg in S&T 61.

Comments

It is not surprising that few are aware of this game. Its obscurity is assured, since it was a DTP game before computers, and it was self-published in Sweden. It is physically quite basic, even for its era.

The game itself is derivative, simplistic, and thus probably for completists only. Fight For Tobruk! was offered as an incentive for new subscribers to The Combat, as follows: “Every new subscriber will get a free game. Fight For Tobruk. This one is of very high quality.”

Collector’s Notes

I have yet to see a copy of this game appear on eBay or offered for sale or auction at conventions.

Both Boone and Slizewski misidentify this game, and attribute it to Simulations Design Corp. (1977). According to Mr. Malmberg, this game was Fall of Tobruk, which was to be published by SDC. Dana Lombardy persuaded GDW to publish it when SDC and Conflict magazine ran into financial difficulties and collapsed.

Other games by Wellington Wargames

38th Parallel Dark Passage Dien Bien Phu 1954 Edgehill: The First Battle Eldstrid Home Before the Leaves Fall Holowczyn 1709 Linebacker II Operation Sicily Schwerpunkt Target: Gotland Tau Ceti 2015 AD

Other games by Fred Malmberg

Russia vs Germany.

Other games about Tobruk

Assault on Tobruk (SimCan) The Battles for Tobruk (Balboa) the Fall of Tobruk (Conflict & GDW) Tobruk (Avalon Hill & Critical Hit/ Moments in History) Rommel at Gazala (XTR) Desert Fox (Epoch) Fight for Tobruk (SDC) Objectif Tobruk (Hexalor) Tobrouk (Histoire & Collections) Tobruk-Gaza (Ludopress).

In addition, most games dealing with Gazala and with Operation Crusader (the Allied effort to break the German siege of Tobruk) also deal with Tobruk. These include:

Crusader (SPI & The Gamers) Operation Crusader (GDW & FGA) Gazala (PWG; Flying Buffalo & The Gamers) Gazala 1942 (TFG).

Editor’s Epilogue

I was fortunate to be able to locate and make contact with Fredrik Malmberg, much to my delight and his chagrin: “I founded and owned Wellington Wargames and Swedish Games Production, and ran them until I went to the USA for a year to work with gaming companies. Upon my return to Sweden, I ran a successful game store which developed into a chain, and I founded Äventyrsspel, which started publishing and developing RPG´s. Wellington Wargames and Swedish Games Production were later merged into Target Games, of which I was the CEO for 18 years. We published a number of RPG´s and miniature games, notably Kult, Warzone and the Doomtrooper card game ourselves and through our subsidiary (originally Heartbreaker but then Target US).

We also published a number of Swedish family games, and I started the computer division which later was subject to a management buyout. I was always more fond of the business development side, and I decided after my second game design (Fight for Tobruk!) that I was probably better suited to do other stuff, such as building a games company!

“In fact, I was only 14 years old when I started Wellington Wargames, and originally it was a way to import all these wonderful games into Sweden. One thing led to another, and I was very impressed by SPI and S&T; I really enjoyed doing The Combat, and wanted to include a game with each issue. It was also a way of keeping a massive correspondence with interesting, foreign, English speaking people! I think I was the exclusive Swedish importer of everybody from SDC to TSR, and obviously I exchanged mail with the top guys, who must have wondered who was on the other side of the ocean, harassing them with loads of questions.

“Upon revisiting these old magazines and games, I’m still proud of the achievement but I think our best efforts in these companies (which were unpaid hobbies, of course) came later -- Holowczyn, Tau Ceti 2015 and 38th Parallel for example. I am less proud of the fact that at the time, I had no notion of copyright law, so when I designed Fight For Tobruk! I completely stole the whole rules system from The Fall of Tobruk by Conflict/GDW. Well, to my surprise, that was the first unpleasant correspondence I got, from Frank Chadwick and Marc Miller, both of whom later became business associates!

Another reflection that occurs to me is my poor choice of distributors. It was hard to find anybody to buy (much less pay for) your creations, and being so young, I fell into the claws of some poor choices of associates, and it took some time to clear that up.

“I also designed Russia vs Germany which was included in a Swedish war gaming association member magazine. Since I started and owned Wellington Wargames and Swedish Games Production, I published a number of game designs which I felt were far superior to anything I could do myself. I realized quickly I was better at the business side of matters.

I think I made up 1,000 copies of Fight for Tobruk! You know, I was 14 at the time and I had the local printer make up the map and counters. I managed to talk the school caretaker into photocopying the rules, and I collated the whole thing in my bedroom. Well guess what, how was I going to pay the printer? I had no clue, and so I had to hide for three months because I grew up in a very small town. At the end of the day he finally caught up with me in the post office and I almost died. I had to work a whole summer in a candy store to get rid of the debt.

“I think about 11 or 12 issues of The Combat were published, but some of your readers will probably know better. The workload got too much, so I put more effort into the games side, and tried to upgrade the quality, and eventually I started publishing RPG’s in Scandinavia and that grew into quite a large business. “Wellington Wargames was transformed into Swedish Games Production, which ceased when I started up Target Games AB, and then had a number of companies all around it doing all kinds of games from miniatures to collectible card games and even some mass market family games to challenge Milton Bradley locally.

“I liked Target:Gotland. You missed Linebacker II and Tau Ceti 2015 AD (I had just seen Star Wars and that changed my world forever). Hrm. I have to think here ... Operation Husky, and of course Holowczyn 1709, Dark Passage, and a Vietnam game whose title I can’t remember [Defiance -ed]. “It is very tough to judge one’s business achievements. Does still having fun count? [Absolutely -ed] When I stepped down as CEO of Target Games to start the Computer game company, we had 80 employees and a turnover of about $8 million (US). But prior to that, I am quite proud to have introduced RPG´s to Sweden (we had 90% market share), and of course it was a great thing to see Mutant Chronicles: Doomtrooper translated into 17 languages and more than 170 million cards sold (it was the third largest card game after Magic: the Gathering at the time).

It was a boost when I saw the Heavy Gear TV show (aimed at kids, of course) aired for the first time. I am the Executive Producer and spent much work getting the property into the film and tv world. My greatest achievement currently (but perspectives change things, you know) is the four year meticulous production of Europa Universalis I and II. The games have won numerous awards and sold more in gross dollars than anything I worked on before. So what keeps me busy currently is trying to build Paradox Entertainment into a computer strategy game leader.

“I think it would be more accurate to refer to WW and SGP as the same company because it was the same, and I was the owner of both. I thought SGP was a better name than WW, that´s all. Eldstrid was never published, it was an article in Combat magazine with stats for the Swedish army for use in Firefight by SPI.”