more stuff

The next items likely to be released by ODGW are new GQIII Deluxe ship logs, they are not quite ready, but will be available at some point.

Our next campaign

We are busy with our next campaign game.  I try to write a bit each day, though I admit that I have to spend a fair amount of time on plain old reading for research purposes.  Our game playtesters demand a high degree of historical fealty, so even invented events have to be plausible.

Sudden Storm notes

One of the great things about Sudden Storm is the fact that big guns rule.  Though I am a huge fan of naval aviation and love playing out the battles from The Solomons Campaign, I understand that many naval gamers do not want to play with aircraft, this historically based game, gives them the opportunity to see how the technology that would reach its highest form in WWII developed.  It is an alternative history game, but uses only forces that were available in 1937.  Even the Timeline we wrote uses historical events, though admittedly we moved them around a bit and embellished them in some cases.  I am proud of the end result, a games that covers a Pacific war spanning from the China coast to the central Pacific.  The ground combat module, though abstract, delivers accurate results, based upon the actual US and Japanese forces available at the time.

SSC in galley

We are now awaiting the printer, as the go-ahead has been given. We hope to see the game soon.

Sudden Storm not forgotten

We have re-submitted the book to the printer and hope to have it in production soon.

Sudden Storm

A hiccup with the printer has further delayed production of this game.

Sudden Storm

It is official, Sudden Storm will not be available until January at the earliest.

Sudden Storm

Sudden Storm is now in galley and we hope to have a production date soon.  I have posted the timeline for the hypothetical conflict on the front page of our web site, so folks can see just how likely a war could have been.  All of the various events were either actual ones that we moved in time or slightly embellished.  We did thorough research on the inter war period to bring the most fidelity and veracity possible to the projected conflict.

Sudden Storm ad

1937 Sudden Storm

Though it has taken longer than anticipated due to my medical down time, we may have our latest project out by Christmas. First there is the proof copy, but Sudden Storm is in galley now. We will see how it looks when put together by the printer.

Sudden Storm is lurching towards publication. We have just decided on a printer and the price, so you will see it hopefully soon.

General Quarters

We now have three GQ products in development. Only one Sudden Storm is close enough to publication for discussion. But there are busy people ready to bring out more stuff following that.

Sudden Storm news

Our first estimate for printing has come in, so we are getting closer to production with each passing day. We will have news soon, I hope. This will be a large scale campaign, combining sea, aerial , and land combat in one package. We are very excited about this new campaign, one which has dominated our playtesting for the past several months. It is very engrossing and has led to some very good and interesting battles.

Sudden Storm

Here is the back cover which has a more complete list of what the game will contain.  We are very excited about this module, as playtesting has shown it to be a very involving experience, with lots of different strategies possible.

new stuff

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front cover

Our next project for General Quarters will be a campaign module postulating a war between the U.S. and Japan in 1937.  This is not strictly speaking a War Plan Orange war, but represents a great period for naval wargaming where the surface ship still reigned supreme.  This game contains submarine and nascent carrier warfare, as well as ground combat in and around the south Pacific, notably the Philippines.  Look for details on our website.

Japanese aircraft site

This site has a wonderful assortment of pictures and drawings of Japanese aircraft and aircraft carriers, such as Kaga, at right.

General Quarters III Amendments

There has been some discussion — more like an accusation — that Amendment 1 was required to fix a problem with the original rules.  This is incorrect.  The rules work fine in the basic game, and no changes are required to play the game as written.  There was a coterie of gamers that felt that one of the battles of the Solomons allowed penetration of a certain level of armor, and that should be recreated.  There is debate about whether the battleship armor in question was actually penetrated by cruiser fire.  But a new 3000yd range band was created to allow gamers to pursue this close action between ships with greater fidelity.  As with all our rules changes and new material, it was made available to all owners of the game.  This is standard ODGW policy, and represent a business model that does not allow us to charge for new editions of a game, unlike other publishers.  Buy the game once, and enjoy every revision, clarification, and new edition for free via web access.

We stand by our position, and will not start charging for any new material, but continue to make it available through our web site.

Skewed views

One has to be careful about where one looks for information.  Long ago a poll was taken on The Miniatures Page about the most popular WWII rules, and Mein Panzer came out on top.  Today, it might barely merit a mention.  Has it stopped being played?  No, not according to our forum and to our sales figures.  We have recently updated it and that has been well-received.  It does mean that newer games have come out and that there are very vocal factions that frequent certain forums, while other gamers do not, or are not as prone to comment.  If you believe what you read on TMP, everyone plays either I Ain't Been Shot Mum, from Too Fat Lardies, or Flames of War from Battlefront Games.  Now I, of course, have my opinions of these games, and I have played them, but they are well-supported by their respective companies and worthy choices for gaming.   However, they are not the only WWII games out there, and many others should be considered that do not enjoy as much press.  Panzertruppe from LMW Works is a little gem of a game that should be better received than it has been.  Schwere Kompanie from Troy Ritter is another fine game few people seem to know about.  Panzer, from StrikeNet Games, is a revision by the original author of the old Yaquinto game of the same name, but now for miniatures without hexes.  The first two are inexpensive and comprehensive, especially SK, and Panzer can be had as a download relatively cheaply.  For battalion level games, where a stand equals a platoon, Kampfgruppe Commander is an excellent choice, though few have chosen it.  There are others I have not mentioned.

Now I am not advocating these over Mein Panzer — that would not be very bright.  I am simply pointing out how the flavor of the moment and where one gets one's information determines how well a rules set does.

Now the real work begins

I have literally a ton of unmade paper terrain buildings and fixtures that need to be constructed.  It is time to dig into these and put them together.  The 10mm are for a friend's playtest and development group for his miniatures game.  The 6mm are for my chosen scale, microarmor in WWII, and 10mm everywhere else, though I may be tempted by 15mm's for the War of the Roses project.  So much to work toward now, what with a group that is willing to try out new systems and help me out with playtesting.  The Battlelines system has to jell relatively quickly, so that I can open up space for the GQIII project final work, and the Meine Truppen rules, which are going off in directions that no one planned for.  It is all keeping me busy.