This month I have been working on the Designer's Notes, the Annotated Bibliography, and improving the graphics on the play test map. The game itself is ready for final artwork.

I have been asked what decisions the player's can make in Gallipoli. They are:

Big Picture (using the Command rules)

• Initial plan - where is the main effort? where are diversions?
• When and where to commit reserves?
• When to pull back and regroup?

Medium scale:

• Where to put artillery?
• Where to place the exact lines of defense and advance? 

Small scale:

• Assault timing and odds? 
• Should I pull back? Withdrawal in daylight is very difficult, but can I wait until night? 
• When to hide: do I give up local fire dominance in order to stay alive? 

No Retreat! 3 The French and Polish Fronts 1939-40:

The game is in the final stages of blind-testing, the full Vassal module is completed and in use. I will post the Rulebook online very soon in the regular "GMT format", and probably the module also. I am currently working on polishing the examples of play and designer's/historical notes. So this game is right on schedule.

No Retreat! 5 The Western Front 1944-45:

As soon as the work on NR3 is finished, I will embark into making good Adobe Illustrator playtest graphics for this title. It is a huge effort and is two games in one: the preparation and actual D-Day landings on one side of the map, and the rest of the campaign on the other. I am looking at including a solitaire module, with the German side being played by the game engine. Expect a good graphic preview  to be ready early summer.

Absolute War! The attack on Russia 1944-45:

Late last year I completely revamped the core game, making it even easier to play, development of this game has been going on and off for over 5 years now. Do remember there are no dice or Combat tables in this game, all this is taken care of by Event Cards, no hexes either: mostly Areas are used on the map. In my test games I was able to play a full campaign in about 4 hours, and I am working hard to lower this even more. I have also changed the counter graphics to use actual military symbols used by the Germans and Russians in WW2. In a few months I should be able to produce for you to see pretty much all the "vassal" graphics for the game but perhaps for the map (I do have a very good playtest map available already but the final one will be really something!). Speaking of the map, I am looking at perhaps extending it right to Berlin if board space permits, so the game would optionally end in 1945.

Coming up next?:

I have started research work on the next game of the 'No Retreat!" series. This time we are departing from WW2. The title of the game will be: No Retreat! 6 The Korean War 1950-53. The NR! engine will be perfectly suited to show the ebb  and flow of this conflict, including the long lulls in the last phases of the war, in a concise and easy manner. If space permits I intend to add a bonus mini-game, about the Vietnam battle of Dien Bien Phu, 1954; as the logical follow-up to the main topic.

Long-term, if the first "Absolute War" is a success, I am planning in adding more titles, some covering the Pacific War and also WWI.

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Pendragon - Designer Marc Gouyon-Rety

The Pendragon team has had busy holidays, and remains on high gear, with work focusing on the bots and writing the playbook material. I must say it is a thing of wonder to see Volko dialoguing with Oerjan and our latest reinforcement, Vesa Arponen, with multiple emails every day and new releases of the draft bots every couple days! In parallel, I am trying my best to provide playing tips and extensive background information for all the events, while proceeding with the writing of the Chronicles, which will themselves be included in the playbook.

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SpaceCorp - Designer John Butterfield

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Talon 1000 - Designer Jim Krohn

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We just released another version of the rules, charts and counters to the play testers. The rules are much improved based on feedback. Several of the rule adjustments in this version are the result of play testing in both Urban and Forest environments. These types of terrain are challenging and obviously the tactics used much different but I am very pleased with the results. It has a very realistic feel, adds another dimension to the LHY and a fun change from the typical rural combat. We are now focused on the play test of the current Missions and could use additional play testers willing to learn the rules and commit to play a couple of Mission a month. We have a draft of DYO Mission rules which also needs play test.  

Bob Green and I are now going through each rules section in detail for the next version update.  We will also need to develop 3-4 large multi-map Missions and a couple of Operations (campaigns) to round out the mission set for the initial LHY modules.

I plan to bring a complete playtest copy of "The Battle of Rhode Island" to RevCon at Prezcon next month (2/20-2/25). This is the historical scenario in Volume 9 of the Battles of the American Revolution series.  

On the night of August 28-29, 1778, the American Army under Major General John Sullivan pulled out of its siege lines around British-held Newport and began an evacuation northward off of Aquidneck Island in Narragansett Bay.  The withdrawal was precipitated by (1) the departure of the French Fleet and its land forces under Comte d'Estaing after the "Great Storm" several days earlier shattered both the French and British fleets and (2) by expiring enlistments of militia units in the American Army.

Major General, the Baron Robert Pigot, commander of His Majesty's forces in Newport, sortied on the morning of the 29th in hot pursuit of what he expected to be a strung out American army in disarray.  Instead his British and Hessian columns first encountered stout delaying forces under Colonels Livingston and Laurens and next a main American line extending 2-miles across the Island, from shore to shore, on good prepared ground that protected the ferry crossing to the mainland. It was a hot fight that ended in a tactical draw although both sides claimed strategic victory; Sullivan because he was able to get his army off the island and Pigot because he held the battlefield.  Perhaps this quote from Major General Nathanael Greene best sums up the fighting prowess of those post-Valley Forge Americans, many of whom were veterans of Monmouth Courthouse fought earlier that summer.

" To behold our fellows chasing the Hessians off the field of battle afforded a pleasure which you can better conceive than I describe."

The game board depicts the northern half of the island including the fortified American positions around Butt's Hill. There are 64 America, British and Hessian combat units and leaders giving the game a counter density comparable to Saratoga in the series.  Although the tactical situation is somewhat straightforward; Americans retreating and British pursuing primarily up two main roads, the nuanced play and game texture is like that found in all the games of the BoAR series.

To ensure replay-ability, each player has a unique deck of 26 Opportunity Cards that either enhance his side or diminish the enemy.  Cards are drawn at-start and occasionally throughout play as governed by the turn track.  There are also mechanisms for card draw tied to accumulated casualties or the possession of terrain objectives.  Players may also spend Momentum to purchase additional cards.

The cards themselves may provide DRMs, adjustments to Army Morale, leader replacements, tactics advantages, step losses or step recovery, and additional units introduced into play among other outcomes.  There is also the possibility of the game being extended one game turn into "night" wherein the British launch a surprise night attack.

There are only a handful of Exclusive Rules to provide chrome.  Players familiar with the core game system will be off and running in no-time.

Solo testing has been encouraging.  My hope is to get as many BoAR RevCon players as possible to playtest while we're in Charlottesville which should put a finishing touch on the final product.

As a reminder, the hypothetical scenario will feature a second map depicting the southern half of the island, the city of Newport and the British defensive works that surrounded it.  The French army is presumed to have stayed on the island to cooperate in an assault on the town.  It will make for a fascinating "what-if" study.  While it won't be ready in time for RevCon, it will be ready by the Spring so stand by for further updates in the months ahead.