Grand Master Europa rules, for use with the Europa games, is essentially done. There are a couple thngs left to do, such as a Jun II 1944 scenario, Strategic Air War scenario, and Soviet OB from 1939-on, but for the most part, it's done. Work is being done by Charles Sharp on the Soviet OOB, and another fellow is doing work onthe Italian OOB.
Why Master Europa?
Johnson's Master Europa set of rules is meant to correct his perceived imbalances of the Europa rules. In particular, he believes the movement rates and the Geman combat ability needed tweaking. ME allows liberal movement allowances such as an extra 1/2 movement for non-mechanized exploitation and full exploitation movement for cavalry. As for the ability fo small German units to hold off massive Soviet attacks or penetrate inept Soviet defenses, ME uses a combat factor multiplier for the Germans--the actual multiplier depends on the stage of the war. Early invasion is up to triple, while later it falls to double and then even. In addition, the combat results table has been expanded to improve the ratio of casualties between the attacker and defender. For example, in original Europa, the table scales out as 1 atacker loss vs. 2 defender losses. In ME, the ratio is closer to 1:1.
GR/D
As you might imagine, these modifications have caused a rift between GR/D and Johnson since the first EuropaFest. You can, after all, consider it tampering with successful games. On the other hand, plenty of successful games have attracted many "tamperings" that have only increased the popularity of the product.
After the death of Winston Hamilton, the bank took over control of GR/D, and the company will not have any booths at the major conventions nor make an official Europa releases in 2001. Johnson hopes there will be less antagonism between he and GR/D, a thought echoed by the assembled Europa fans.
Lectures
- Convention Introduction and Overview
Possible German-Czech War of 1938 by Jason Long
1943: Orders of Battle and Early D-Day by Walter Dunn
Kiev Offensive: October 1943 by Col. David Glantz
WWII Soviet Armor by Charles Sharp
Grand Master Europa and GR/D by Tom Johnson
Kiev Offensive: November 1943 by Col. David Glantz
WWII Soviet Air Force by Charles Sharp
E2000
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