WDM Issue 9

[kzucker]

Issue Nr. 9 will be our Special Design Symposium issue. The attached draft is the lead article for the issue, and is intended to help start the discussion that will follow. This article is unedited, and will certainly be helped by going through the hands of our editor and managing editor.

[kzucker]

Issue Nr. 9 is about to reach the printer and should be printed and mailed next week. We will be mailing the 24-page issue separately to all those who have taken advantage of the current sale, as well as subscribers.

The contents of the issue have undergone a dramatic change, as we decided to focus the entire issue on Four Lost Battles and delay the Design Symposium to a later issue.

The table of contents for issue Nr. 9 includes four articles on the mechanics of Four Lost Battles - a general introduction to how the cards work, a special look at the Cavalry Charge, another on the Bombardment Tables, and one page devoted to reprinting the Revised Combat Card. There are three different replays in the issue. In the center of the book are the Set-up Displays that show all the units in full color.

Then there are two articles that focus on the strategic situation in 1813, focusing on Napoleon’s Mobile Striking Force and on the Germans troops in Napoleon's Army. Plus editorials and regular features.

You can order the issue separately at our "STORE" now.

[Jeffrey Arnold]

Kevin,

I think my subscription to Wargame Design is still current, but it's been a while...

What is the best way to make sure I don't miss this? Should I re-order?

[kzucker]

Jeffrey-

Your sub expires with issue Nr. 9. You will receive Nr. 9 as your last subscription issue. Thanks for checking-in.

[kzucker]

I hoped to write for Issue Nr. 9 an article on the recruitment of the army in 1813. Fortunately, Scott Bowden has published a book on the subject ("Napoleon's Grande Armee of 1813" was of tremendous value in understanding things like attrition). A new regiment was expected to grow from the equivalent of a company or less, sometimes very short of officers who were themselves but newly promoted. All of that you can see in Bowden's data. Certain corps in the French Army received lower initaitive ratings because of their officer shortage (mainly the ones with 1 Initiatives).

The draw-back to this method of re-forming the army resulted in all the first battalions of each regiment being separated from the 2nd.

Rather than re-create the army on a non-existent strictly formal ordering, regiments could have been re-grouped and numbered based upon their appearance in the field.

Complications and a lack of espirit resulted from separating the battalions, aside from the extra level of paperwork required to attend to them.

The sensible thing to do might have been to recreate the Levee en masse of the 1790's, large battalions of untrained troops, such as the Landwehr. There may have been a proposal to do just that. However, Napoleon scorned such formations, and relied upon superior organization to help IHQ command the troops to victory.

[kzucker]

We had actually left a page blank (back cover) so I was able to complete the article above and get it into the issue. It goes to the printer today...

[kzucker]

There have been delays transmitting the issue to the printer. We finally sent a disk by mail, they should be opening that up today... Once that happens, it should only be about a week until we start mailing.

[kzucker]

Let us know if you are interested in purchasing a copy of Issue Nr. 9 as we will not overprint a lot. If you reserve by email and you live in the U.S. you can save $3 on postage, by sending a check for $8.50 to OSG (or send a payment through paypal - skip our store page - to kzucker@charm.net)

Note: If you have a current subscription, and/or you ordered Four Lost Battles since our Flyer Sale was announced, you do not need to reserve your copy as you will be sent one automatically.

The issue is 24 pages and is entirely devoted to Four Lost Battles.

The final Table of Contents ...

A Card Assisted Game
An Absolutely Believable Narrative
Cavalry Charge on the Field of Battle
To the Gates of Berlin
Chancing the Katzbach
Bombardment
Set-up Displays for the 4 Battles (color insert)
Designer's Notes on Combat
Napoleon's Mobile Striking Force
under the Tide: The Germans in 1813
A Policy that Began to Seem Incomprehensible
Recruitment of the Grande Armée

[kzucker]

We just heard from the printer that Issue Nr. 9 is now on the press. They should be bound and ready for shipment tomorrow 1/11/06. We will start shipping them out on Friday 1/13/06.

If you live in or near Baltimore please come by for a couple of hours on Saturday 1/14/06, consider giving us a hand in assembling games & get a copy of the new magazine for your troubles. We'll be at work from 11 AM to 6 PM, Saturday January 14 2006. If you have 2 hours in that space please send an email for directions...