Update from Gene
Hi everyone!
I hope your summers are off to a good start, and that you're getting to enjoy plenty of family and gaming time lately.
Well, the big news since our May update is that OUR NEW WEBSITE (www.gmtgames.com) IS UP AND RUNNING! (And there was MUCH rejoicing....) For more details on that, and to get a sense of where that piece fits in our overall transition, see my InsideGMT Article from late May: GMT Website Update. The feedback on the new site so far has been terrific. It's faster, cleaner, better-looking, way more mobile friendly, and the pathetic SEARCH function from the old site has been replaced by one that works marvelously! In short, we're very happy with the new website, although it IS still a work in progress.
We switched to MailChimp! As part of our systems transition, we switched services from Constant Contact to Mail Chimp for managing our mailing list and handling these monthly updates. So far, we REALLY like Mail Chimp. However, there was one downside. When we moved the list of newsletter subscribers from Constant Contact to Mail Chimp, about 8% of them didn't transfer. The amazingly helpful reason we got for the failure was "Syntax Error." Thanks so much, right?
Anyway, if you are having to read this update through our website or via social media because you didn't get it via email like you have in the past, you are likely part of that 8% we lost. If you'd like to re-signup for the mailing list, here's a quick-and-easy link. GMT Mailing List Sign-up. Please feel free to pass this along to friends or anyone online who might mention that they didn't get this update.
Back to the New Website: For those of you with accounts on our old site, your old login and password should still work just fine on the new site. And all your current P500 orders were transferred over as well. I'd suggest taking a look at your "My Account" page just to make sure everything is correct.
Speaking of the My Account page, that's one of the next items on our "to improve" list. We are going to work with our programmers to clean it up and make it easier for you to customize and navigate.
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A Brief Interlude: We show you guys links to reviews a LOT in these updates (check out the column to the right), but it hit me that we don't share much of what individual gamers are saying about their games. Here's one I liked - and think is spot on - from Tom Boughton on Twitter - about Chad Jensen's Welcome to Centerville:
If you'd like to see what Tom's talking about, you can use coupon code "TomSays" at checkout on our website and get 25% off on Welcome to Centerville from today through midnight on Friday, June 22nd. I hope you - like our family - will have tons of fun with this game!
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From the Phase 2 department, this month's work is getting the back-end systems and processes in our office and warehouse to upgraded and integrated with the website. Once that's done, you guys will see, among other things, real-time shipping notifications, which will be a big improvement.
Our word for the month is "crazy." cra·zy /krāzē/ (adj, adv, noun): A Person or company who/that thinks it's a good idea to ship 10 games in 40 days while in the midst of a major systems transition (or the act itself). As we're working on shipping games 4-7 in that process and integrating Phase 2 of the systems upgrade, "crazy" seems about right. But it's working out. Our office and warehouse folks have been GREAT throughout this process, and they are continuing to build, pack, and ship your games with the same skill and attention-to-detail to which you've become accustomed.
That said, please bear with us if we have a hiccup or two during this process. (I was disappointed to learn that several customers have been pretty mean to the office ladies during this time when they were unable to cater to requests as they have in the past, one calling them "lame" and "dumb." Please don't take frustrations out on them, folks - it's just going to be bumpy for a couple months, and we're all doing the best we can.) My hope is that each of you will be getting at least a few of those 10 games we're finishing shipping this month, and that playing some great games will distract you from noticing too many of our temporary flaws as we tackle Phase 2 of this transition.
OK, enough systems transition talk. Let's get to some game news! (I hope you WWII operational gamers and fans of Mark Simonitch are going to be very happy!) Here we go:
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New P500 Additions. We have one new P500 addition this time. It's a new operational WWII game from designer Mark Simonitch!
Stalingrad '42. I love playing Mark's operational-level wargames. They just hit the sweet spot for me, probably because:
- The maps are always at a scale that lets me learn a theatre or campaign's significant terrain and transportation network in some detail.
- Mark's now-familiar core game system does an excellent job of depicting WWII operational level warfare.
- Mark's designs have an elegance about them. There's plenty of detail, but the games aren't overwrought with a bunch of excess chrome and special rules. He has the knack of what to put in and what to leave out, so I can get right to enjoying the game experience.
- Mark's games always transport me back to my wargaming roots. Although I play all kinds of strategy games nowadays, I still love to punch out the counters, set up the scenarios, and replay history while learning a ton about it in a really good operational hex-and-counter wargame. I hope Mark never stops designing these. As long as he makes them, I'll play them.
That said, Mark's newest game focuses on the Stalingrad campaign. Please click the image above to get to the P500 page for more details. But seriously: "Mark Simonitch" and "Stalingrad campaign." Do we really need to know more?
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New P500 Reprint Additions. We're not adding any new P500 Reprints to our list this time, but we should have a couple more for you in July.
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New Mounted Maps. We're offering one new mounted map option this time, for Cataclysm. Based on numerous customer requests, we're also including a new 3" box for Cataclysm to help with storage. If we get a strong response to this, it'll become a standard option for future mounted map offerings.
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Solitaire System to be included in Versailles 1919. After we launched the order page for Versailles 1919, one of last month's new P500s (one that has already Made the Cut!), Mark and Geoff decided that they would include a solitaire system in the game. So for those of you who were put off by our initial "2-4 Players" notation, we hope you'll be pleased that you will indeed be able to play Versailles 1919 solo.
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New Title for Time of Crisis Expansion. From Wray and Brad: "Our naming contest is over and the name we selected is The Age of Iron and Rust: A Time of Crisis Expansion. The name is from Cassius Dio, a Roman statesman and historian who published 80 volumes of history on Ancient Rome. In book 72, talking about the death of Marcus Aurelius, he wrote: 'for our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust.' "Congratulations to John Boone, who suggested the winning name, and will receive a free copy of the expansion. And thanks to all of you who contributed titles and suggestions during the contest.
Here's a brief tease as to what we have lining up for P500 addition in the coming months. Note that last month's tease of "a new volume for a popular WWII series" referred to this month's addition of Stalingrad '42, from designer Mark Simonitch. Over the coming months, I anticipate that we will add to P500:
- an expansion for one of our most popular games
- a new 4-player CDG
- a cool new Next War project
- a new space game that you (mostly) already know how to play
- a new Commands & Colors game
- a new Vietnam-themed product
- Our first Co-operative Game
- An (awesome!) fantasy-themed strategy game
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Co-operative Games. You'll note that there's a Co-operative game mentioned above. Starting about ten years ago (with Pandemic), our family has really enjoyed playing a variety of Co-op and "Co-opetition" games together. We're a competitive bunch, and we found playing Co-op games allowed us to play demanding strategy games together without bringing our six-guns to the gaming table! So on any Billingsley family game night, you're liable to find us enjoying at least one Co-op game in the evening's mix.
All that to say that I would like to begin the process of creating a line of co-operative games for GMT. We already have one in the pipeline, as noted above, from a designer who's worked with us before. But I'd love to see a few more. So this is a call to designers. If you have a Co-operative game that you think is outstanding, I'd like to see it. Please drop me a note (gmtgene@gmail.com) and let's arrange a playtest.
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Digital Games. We don't have a lot of news on the digital front this time, but there IS a lot going on in the background. Our understanding is that the digital version of Commands & Colors: Ancients is very close to release, so look for that soon. Also, I can't share details yet, but I can say that we're going to have a big announcement within the next 60 days or so that is going to make you fans of our digital games very happy. Stay tuned.
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Thunder Alley and Dominant Species on Premium TableTopia. We now have our first two Premium games available on TableTopia. These turned out really nice! If you're a Premium TableTopia member, you can play these games as part of your subscription. Check them out here:
Thunder Alley on TableTopia
Dominant Species on TableTopia
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Vassal Module Now Available for Hitler's Reich. Thanks to Matthias Jahr, who poured many hours and much skill into the effort, we now have an excellent Vassal Module for Hitler's Reich. Matthias, we really appreciate your time and effort! Here's the link to the module: Hitler's Reich VASSAL Module
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Great Video Rules Overview for Cataclysm. As part of his Sound Strategy Network series, Adam Ruzzo (Bridger) has posted a comprehensive Rules Overview for Cataclysm: A Second World War on YouTube. Using the pre-release VASSAL module, Bridger worked up a full explanation of the rules of the game with examples and graphics. If you want a headstart on learning Cataclysm, you could hardly do better than watching Bridger's work. Check it out here:
Video Rules Overview for Cataclysm
Coming This Week in InsideGMT .
Here's an update from Rachel on this week's upcoming InsideGMT articles:
As you are reading this update, I will be out of office and away from my computer, enjoying the cultural marvel that is Mexico City with my two siblings. So, we all have Gene to thank for the wonderful content that has gone up on the blog for the last couple of days and the few days following.
For example, you should check out Mark Herman's Peloponnesian War series on InsideGMT published over the last 4 weeks. In this series, we turn back time to receive advice on Peloponnesian War from 38-year old Mark in a long-ago published issue of The General. Part 4 of this series is going up today and I highly recommend you check it out! Another recent, highly recommended series on InsideGMT has been "It's All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea", written by Christopher Vorder Bruegge with some fantastic playtest card art from Blackwell Hird. We'll publish the latest installment of the series, Part 5, shortly after I get home from the trip. One of our most popular series of articles has been Volko's Nevsky: Crusade on Novgorad Replay, that's taking us inside his Nevsky design. We'll publish Part 3 or his article series on Wednesday. Finally, for those of you who have been following Joel Toppen's set of video AARs of his big Next War: Poland campaign game, we published Part 4 on the blog last Friday and we will be publishing Part 5 late this week, so look out for it!
I invite you to visit InsideGMT.com this week to check out the above mentioned articles (and more!) from our team of excellent InsideGMT contributors. -Rachel B
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This Past Month in InsideGMT!
Here are links to this month's new InsideGMT articles:
Next War: Poland Video AAR (Part 3)
Wing Leader Second Edition: Combat Analysis, Part 2
It's All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 2)
GMT Website Update
Nevsky: Crusade on Novgorod Replay - Part 1
Peloponnesian War: What Was Old is New Again! (Part 1)
It's All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 3)
Conquest of Paradise as a 4X Game
Advanced Railroad Engineering Rules for 1914 Offensive à outrance: The Initial Campaigns on the Western Front in WWI
Clausewitz’ Trinity in 1989 (1989, #7)
Peloponnesian War: What Are the Opponents’ Objectives? (Part 2)
It's All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 4)
All Bridges Burning: Simulating the Finnish Civil War
Nevsky: Crusade on Novgorod Replay - Part 2
Peloponnesian War: System Mechanics and Specific Strategies (Part 3)
Operation Silver Bayonet (Part 1)
Next War: Poland Video AAR (Part 4)
Peloponnesian War: Final Strategies and Conclusion (Part 4)
And, in case you missed them, here are links to our previous month's InsideGMT articles:
Pins and Strings of the Atlantic Chase
People Power: A Brief on Elections and Personality
Conquest of Paradise as a Wargame
Space Empires 4X: Empire Events
Wing Leader Second Edition: Combat Analysis, Part 1
4 CMBG: A Brief History
It's All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 1)
As always, I invite you guys to head over to www.insidegmt.com, check out the articles, leave us your comments, and tell us what else you'd like to see us do to make InsideGMT even better!
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Heavy Duty White Game Boxes and Blank Countersheets Still Available.
For you guys looking for extra boxes for component storage, we now have some 2" deep and 3" deep heavy duty (like the COIN games come in) white game boxes in stock. They're $6 + shipping (1 lb) and $8 + shipping(1 lb), respectively. Here are the links:
2" White Game Box
3" White Game Box
And for you guys who like to design your own games or extra counters, we now have several sizes of white blank countersheets available on the Parts and Accessories Page of our website. They are $3 per sheet, plus shipping. Links are below:
1" countersheet
5/8" countersheet
9/16" countersheet
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New content for the SPQR Deluxe Edition Reprint. For those of you ordering the SPQR Deluxe Edition Reprint, Tony has just told me that we are going to include some additional content when we print it late in 2018. We're adding all of the original Barbarian module (one scenario book, half a counter sheet and a double-sided map) “for free.” We hope you enjoy this bonus content!
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Found in the Warehouse. 50 sets of C&C Napoleonic dice and dice stickers – $5.00 each, while they last.
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Fall 2018 GMT Weekend at the Warehouse - October 11-14 2018
We have dates established for our Fall 2018 weekend. Come join us for 3 1/2 days of gaming fun!
For those new to the event, this is mostly an open gaming event, although we do have tournaments from time to time. We expect about 125 gamers to attend, and space is limited, so please get your reservation in to the office ladies (call, chat, or email) as soon as possible.
Click on the GMT Weekend at the Warehouse page on InsideGMT for more details, as well as a list of designers attending.
There are several hotels within a few miles of our offices. The closest one, The Sequoia Inn, blocks rooms for our attendees at special rates. The hotel's reservation # is 559-582-0339. Tell them you want the "GMT Group Block"rate. They have already blocked rooms for us for April, so feel free to go ahead and make reservations whenever you are ready.
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Keep up with GMT Online
Virtually every day, we announce new information or show off upcoming products or give you a peek under the hood of our new designs in our various online sites and forums. For you guys looking to keep up with us online, here's where you can find us. Drop in and start a conversation!
GMT Games Website
InsideGMT blog
GMT Facebook Page
GMT's Twitter Feed
GMT on Instagram
GMT on BoardGame Geek
GMT YouTube Channel
GMT on Consimworld
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That's it for the news bytes from me for this time. Here's what you'll find in the rest of today's update:
- Charge and Shipping Update
- Production Outlook
- P500s (in right column)
- Project Updates and Sample Art
- P500 Reprint Update
- Website File Additions
- GMT Top 15 Best Sellers (in right column)
Thanks, as always, for your support of GMT Games! Enjoy the games! - Gene
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