The 1998 Napoleonic Tour

Nine grognards signed-up for the tour-two Finns, two Belgians, one Dane, one German, and three from the States-plus an always variable number of guides. We had a great time, and got to see all the battlefields and river crossings of the campaign (including Modlin, below-the view is of the Narew and Vistula looking toward Warsaw). I was thrilled to finally see the Masurian Lakes district. The hills were much more gentle and rolling than I imagined. It rained constantly, but the fields were green, and we didn't mind getting wet. At Jonkovo we saw a com-plete double rainbow that stopped everything-we walked back to the bus through the muddy field in silence. From there one of the greatest adventures of the tour was just ahead of us. We decided to take a very obscure road to Bergfried, which was an outpost of Bennigsen's front line. The road was barely wide enough for our bus, and the paving stones were only one one lane of the road until they too ran out and we proceeded about 5 miles an hour with branches scraping the top and sides of the bus. When we reached Bergfried, a railroad overpass appeared too low for us, but we managed to clear it with 2" to spare. And that was just part of one day! We hope to get some pictures up on the Tour Webpage.

Marketing

We are in the process of consoldiating all our warehousing and shipping operations in Phoenixville, PA, with our affiliate, Clash of Arms Games. Beth Queman of Admiralty House did a great job for us, and we look forward to working with her as graphic artist on OSG products. Please note: direct all future by phone or fax to Clash of Arms's office at 1(610) 935-7622. The address for mail orders remains OSG P.O. Box 50207 Baltimore, MD 21211.

Our marketing cooperation with Clash of Arms will be increasing. Despite the agreement of everyone involved, our products continued to find their way to unauthorized agencies which undercut the competition, undermining all involved. The distribution system is supposed to get the games into stores where folks might see them, and to help support the overhead devoted to providng gaming space in the game stores. Unfortunately, the only way to control access to our products is to require that all outlets maintain a storefront with regular business hours.

In conjunction with Clash of Arms, we will therefore begin to market our games directly to the stores. This move is made more urgent by the collapse of several distributors, which has resulted in the quantity of games we can move via distributors below a critical level. Talk to your retailer and let him know you'd like him continue to stock OSG products, and remind him too that he can order our games along with Clash of Arms Products in a single phone call.

Now with the demise of the last large publisher in wargaming, we'd like to take up some of the slack. However, we cannot do anything without your support. Remember: the purchase of an OSG game is a vote for a steady stream of new OSG publications.

Our plans for Operational Studies Quarterly have been evolving. The latest idea is to publish no game in every issue, but limit it strictly to historical material.

Guerrilla Marketing

We need your help in sustaining word of mouth advertising-the most effective kind by far. Remember, a vibrant hobby means lots of games played face to face, and an OSG game your friend enjoys has just received the best form of advertising there is. We also ask that you write letters to the editor, mention OSG products on discussion boards, get clubs and/or store owners to sit down for a game of NAB and 1806. Go in to your nearest game store and offer to run a Saturday demonstration game and ask the store owner to publicize the event. If you are planning to attend conventions, take some time out to play NAB or 1806 in the open gaming area. I took NAB game to The Gamers retreat, and just about everyone stopped by to chat and watch for a few turns. Even: if you'd stand at a booth at your regional convention, we'll ship you the goods to sell (and you can make a few bucks). In this case, make sure you bring an opponent and that way you can sit and play at the booth.