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Update from Gene
Hi everyone!
As convention season is now in full swing with lots of new game releases, and here at GMT alone we've shipped 10 games (!) in the past 2 months, I hope you guys are finding plenty of cool games to spend some time with this summer. Personally, I have Skies Above the Reich on my game table right now. It's a fast-and-easy, but also meaty and replayable solo air game. I'm just starting to sink my teeth into it, and can't imagine that I'll get tired of it anytime soon. This one will keep me coming back for more. I hope you guys, too, are enjoying some new games this summer.
It's been a "challenging" past month or so here at GMT. We had a situation where we didn't do a good enough job with the Hitler's Reich rules, causing some head-scratching and frustration among customers. (See the "Quickly Getting Into Hitler's Reich" section below for an excellent video and article that I think will help a lot). And we had some frustration on the 2nd Phase System Integration front, mostly just trying to get all the right people together for any extended period of time during summer convention and vacation schedules. But the big surprise came when our major print supplier informed us out of the blue that the big COINFEST group of games was going to ship about six weeks later than scheduled. This is the 2nd time it's happened this year, so we are definitely not happy. There's not much we can do about it near-term (you'll note the new "September" ship times for COINFEST - sorry!), but this has been added to our "things we have to fix soon" list, and Tony's busy looking at getting us a broader and deeper group of supplier options as we move forward.
So that's going to conclude the "whining" portion of this update. In perspective, these are not big life-changing events, but they are frustrating, both to us and, I imagine, to our customers. Thanks for your grace and patience as we work through these challenges and make improvements in these various aspects of the company.
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Not getting these updates via email (any more)? 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 % of our mailing list we lost when we switched to MailChimp. 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.
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Good Press in WaPo for Twilight Struggle: We got some really good press coverage in the Washington Post Magazine this week (and it'll also be in their Sunday edition) for Jason, Ananda, Twilight Struggle, and GMT! Very cool! Enjoy the article!
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Fort Sumter Hitting Just the Sweet Spot We Hoped it Would: When Mark and I talked about a Lunchtime series that would start with his new design, Fort Sumter, we were aiming to create games that would:
- be playable in 30-60 minutes
- present strategy challenges that keep players coming back for more
- be very non-wargamer-friendly, while still appealing to our core base of historical strategy gamers.
With Fort Sumter, the feedback we're getting online is telling us that we're doing really well on all three of these fronts. Players are getting their first games finished in around half an hour, and repeat playings get it down to 20-25 minutes. We see posts from players along the line of "I've played it 20 times now, and I'm just starting to figure out better strategy." (Yes!!!) And we're seeing a LOT of players being able to easily introduce Fort Sumter to their wives, kids, even non-gaming friends as a brief yet engaging strategy game challenge. An example, from Grant at The Player's Aid, is below:
I love this! This is exactly the role in our line that we want this Lunchtime Series to play. Kuddos to Mark Herman (and his wife, Carole, who helped him a lot with the "make it friendly to spouses" piece) on a job very well done on Fort Sumter!
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Systems Transitions Update: I don't have a lot to report this time. We do now have the new computers in place, are awaiting additional peripherals next week, and are working on the software integrations while awaiting a new version installation from our friends at UPS. With summer vacations pulling away several key internal and external people, it's been slow going for the past few weeks. I'm thinking now that we probably won't be where we need to be with the software integrations piece until about mid-late August. I hate the delay, but we need all the key people working on this together to get it right. I'll update you all online if we get it finished sooner, as fairly quickly after that work is complete, we'll launch our big sale.
A piece of good news is that we used our July 4 Flash sale to test the traffic handling capacity of our new website servers, and they came through with "Flying Colors" (sorry, couldn't help myself!). There were a LOT of customers on the site in a very short timespan, but we saw no system slowdowns at all. We know the load on the server will be much heavier when we have our big yearly sale, but based on the July 4 stress test, we're happy that we now have a much more robust capacity to handle large traffic volumes.
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You P500 Supporters are Awesome! I just want to take a minute here to say "Thank You!" to all of you who are supporting our P500 program. Your support tells us which games you want to see soonest, and gives us both planning help and operational funding to make sure that we can print those games that you want to see. I was just looking at the games we've added to the P500 list over the past five months. Of those 11 games, 9 of them are already over 500 orders (and 5 are over 750)! That's really great support! Thanks so much! (And I'd note that the two that haven't made it to 500 yet, The Dark Summer and Flashpoint: South China Sea, are both outstanding games. I guess we're just going to have to do a better job of showing you all how good they are.) Our office folks often comment, after a phone call or chat with one of you: "Our customers are the BEST!" This terrific P500 support is just one more way you continue to show that. Thank you!
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New P500 Additions. We have two new P500 additions this time. One is a 4x Space Game based on the Triumph & Tragedy system. The other is a long-awaited "Tri-Pack" - this time for the Men of Iron series.
Expansion or Extinction
Men of Iron Tri-Pack
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New P500 Reprint Additions. We're adding FOUR new P500 Reprints to our list this time, as we have several key games that have sold out recently.
Churchill, 3rd Printing
Labyrinth, 4th Printing
1960: The Making of the President, 2nd (GMT) Printing
Triumph & Tragedy, 3rd Printing
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New Update Kit for Flying Colors, Deluxe Edition. Whenever we decide to add significant components to a game on the P500 Reprint List, we do our best to find a way to offer you an Update Kit. We recently added a Deluxe 3rd Printing of Flying Colors to the P500 Reprint list, and Tony now has pricing for us for the Update Kit. It's going on P500 today. Click the link below for more details.
Flying Colors Deluxe Edition Update Kit
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Commands & Colors Ancients from HexWar Nearing Completion. Here is a peek at several screenshots of the Commands & Colors Ancients digital version, which should be in the "Coming Soon" section of Steam shortly, if it's not there already. This product will be available on Steam as well as for iPad and Android tablets. I'm unsure at this point on release timing - that's up to our friends at HexWars. But I'm thinking they're very close - a month or two away - at this point. Here are some screenshots for your enjoyment:
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Major Digital Announcement Coming Monday, July 23. We've also been working in the background with another digital partner, and we're just about ready to announce details. Keep an eye out for a new digital announcement from us and our development partner on Monday, July 23rd. I think this is going to make a LOT of you who've been clamoring for more digital versions of GMT titles very happy! Stay tuned....
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 space game that you (mostly) already know how to play" referred to this month's addition of Expansion or Extinction. Note that this is NOT a comprehensive list, so I'll switch these up a bit from month to month. Over the coming months, I anticipate that we will add to P500:
- A new game from Volko
- An (awesome!) fantasy-themed strategy game
- a new Commands & Colors game
- a new Vietnam-themed operational-level game
- A new solitaire game that you may already know how to play
- A fast-playing quad game: theme pre-1900 warfare
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New French Language Printing Partnership. GMT is pleased to announce the start of a French Language printing partnership with Nuts! Publishing in France. The first GMT game to be published in French will be SpaceCorp.
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Status of "New" 18xx Games. I've had several questions online about a "new" 18xx game that Andy had mentioned late last year. I wasn't sure on status, myself, so I reached out to Andy Lewis to check. Andy said that, unfortunately, the TWO new 18xx he was evaluating both got "just ok" feedback from his crack testers. So he is passing on them for now and still in search for the next awesome 18xx. Sorry to disappoint all you 18xx players, but when we do a new 18xx, we want it to be amazing. In the meantime, I hope you'll really enjoy the GMT version of 1862, coming in early-mid 2019.
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Plains Indian Wars Videos from The Players' Aid. For those of you wanting to see what Plains Indian Wars is all about, the guys at The Players' Aid have played it quite a bit and have recently created two videos about the game. I think these are really well done. Please check them out at the links below:
How to Play Plains Indian Wars
Video Review of Plains Indian Wars
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Vassal Modules Available for Recent Releases. Be sure to check out these VASSAL modules for a couple of our recent releases:
Cataclysm: A Second World War - by Scott Muldoon
Hitler's Reich - by Matthias Jahr
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Quickly Getting Into Hitler's Reich. Our apologies, everyone. Hitler's Reich is a fast-playing and fun game of WWII in Europe. Based on early feedback, it seems like we may have overwritten the rules a bit, and left out one really important rule in a few places. We'll do better - and we'll get an updated pdf rulebook ready as soon as possible. In the meantime, please don't miss this fun game because of a few rules issues. To help you get up to speed quickly, here are two resources from Mark Buetow (thanks Mark!) that we think will be a big help:
Hitler's Reich: The Gist of the Game (InsideGMT)
Mark's Intro to Hitler's Reich YouTube Video
Coming This Week in InsideGMT .
Here's an update from Rachel on this week's upcoming InsideGMT articles:
Lots of great content this week on InsideGMT!
First up this week, we had the first in a series of articles from David Waldorf where he will be playing a Manoeuvre tournament "March Madness" style. Be sure to check out this intro article and download the brackets to follow along, then keep an eye out for the first game of the tournament, Russia vs. Spain, this coming Monday. On Tuesday of this week, we posted the final part of Mark Herman's Peloponnesian War replay series, originally published in an old issue of The General. To find out the conclusion of the game, be sure to check it out! Wednesday on InsideGMT, we published Part 4 of Volko Ruhnke's Crusade on Novgorod replay from his upcoming game, Nevsky: Teutons and Rus in Collision. Today, we posted an excellent article from Chris Holly (Marlowespade on BGG) discussing Hitler’s Reich gameplay, etc. For those who may need further clarification on the Hitler’s Reich rules, we posted an article last week from Mark Buetow titled “Hitler’s Reich: The Gist of the Game”, so go check that out! And finally, in the next couple of days, look out for a Fort Sumter final crisis strategy article from Mark Herman and Part 3 of the Skies Above the Reich 1942 Campaign AAR from Bruce Geryk.
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:
Cataclysm Overview and Strategy Videos
Nevsky: Crusade on Novgorod Replay - Part 3
Next War: Poland Video AAR (Part 5)
Replicator Tuesday Issue #45: After Action Report
Peloponnesian War Series Replay: Turn 1
Fighting Formations Scenario 4: Series Replay Videos
Peloponnesian War Series Replay: Turn 2
It's All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 5)
Skies Above the Reich 1942 Campaign AAR: Part 1
Apocalypse Road -- What's in a Name
Peloponnesian War Series Replay: Turn 3
Next War: Poland Video AAR (Part 6 -- Final)
It's All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 6 -- Final)
Skies Above the Reich 1942 Campaign AAR: Part 2
Hitler's Reich: The Gist of the Game
Manoeuvre Tournament Part One: Introduction
Peloponnesian War Series Replay: Turn 4 (Final)
Nevsky: Crusade on Novgorod Replay - Part 4
And, in case you missed them, here are links to our previous month's 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)
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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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. Of those, 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 October, 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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Charging and Shipping Update
Shipping. We have finished shipping these seven games over the past month:
Gallipoli, 1915
Hitler's Reich
No Retreat 3: France & Poland
Skies Above the Reich
A World at War, 3rd Printing
Dominant Species, 5th Printing
Sekigahara, 4th Printing
Our next shipments won't happen until early-mid September, when we'll ship the big group of COINFEST games.
Charging. Our next P500 charges will begin in late August, when we'll begin charging for the following six COINfest games and three update kits that we'll ship in early September:
A Distant Plain, 3rd Printing (5 lbs)
Andean Abyss, 2nd Printing (5 lbs)
Ariovistus (3 lbs)
Cuba Libre, 3rd Printing (4 lbs)
Falling Sky, 2nd Printing (4 lbs)
Fire in the Lake, Reprint Edition (5 lbs)
Andean Abyss 2nd Ed. Update Kit (1 lb)
Cuba Libre/A Distant Plain 2nd Ed. Update Kit (1 lb)
Fire in the Lake 2nd Ed. Update Kit (2 lbs)
For you guys calculating shipping charges for these games, I've included the weights we're using for shipping in parenthesis after each game title, above.
To avoid any delays in your game shipment, please make sure you've updated your charge cards on our website before we charge. If you use the "Pay by Check" P500 option, please send your checks in by the above dates. Thanks!
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Tentative Production Schedule
Here's our most current Tentative Production Schedule from Tony and Mark. Games with a ** following their entry are currently at the printer (we're a little more certain about scheduling on these).
Mid-September, 2018
Coinfest:
A Distant Plain, 3rd Printing **
Andean Abyss, 2nd Printing **
Ariovistus **
Cuba Libre, 3rd Printing **
Falling Sky, 2nd Printing **
Fire in the Lake, Reprint Edition **
Andean Abyss 2nd Ed. Update Kit **
Cuba Libre/A Distant Plain 2nd Ed. Update Kit **
Fire in the Lake 2nd Ed. Update Kit **
Late September, 2018
SpaceCorp **
The Dark Sands **
October-December, 2018
Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea
Ardennes '44, Reprint Edition
A Time for Trumpets
Bayonets & Tomahawks
Commands & Colors: Medieval
Empire of the Sun, 3rd Printing
Fields of Fire Volume II - With the Old Breed
Panzer Expansion 4: France 1940
Paths of Glory, Deluxe Edition
Silent Victory
SPQR Deluxe, 2nd Printing
Talon 1000 **
The Hunted
The Hunters, 3rd Printing
Time of Crisis, 2nd Printing
Time of Crisis Expansion
Early 2019 (art work started)
Red Storm
Tank Duel
The Last Hundred Yards (possibly by late 2018)
Early-Mid 2019
1862
Absolute War
All Bridges Burning
Bear's Claw: 1941
Cataphract, 2nd Printing
Death Valley: Battles for the Shenandoah
Gandhi
Imperial Struggle
Invierno Cubano
Mr. President
Musket & Pike Dual Pack
Navajo Wars, Reprint Edition
Nevsky
Next War: Korea, Reprint Edition
Peloponnesian War
The Battle for Sicily
The Battle of Rhode Island
The Russian Campaign: Designer Signature Ed.
The Seven Years War: Frederick's Gamble
Versailles 1919
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Project Updates and Sample Art
Sneak Peeks:
Here's a peek at the final map for Bayonets & Tomahawks.
Design Updates:
Death Valley: by Developer Bill Byrne (via Consimworld)
While in Tempe at CSW Expo, Charles Golightly and I tested the "Sheridan's Attack" scenario from Death Valley's 3rd Winchester battle. This two-mapper scenario's action begins at noon, with two corps of Sheridan's US infantry almost fully deployed (one VI Corps division starts in reserve status). Early's three divisions (the ANV's II Corps) are on hand to oppose them, but one of them, Rodes', is still en route to the front. Fitz Lee's two CSA cavalry brigades, along with two of Lomax's mounted infantry brigades, are positioned roughly on the Confederate flanks. Wilson's Union cavalry division is attempting to catch its breath on the Union left after several hours of trying to clear the Berryville Pike of opposition.
Breckinridge's CSA infantry (Wharton's division) and the rest of Lomax's southern cavalry and mounted infantry have yet to enter the fray. But the same is true of Crook's federal corps (two divisions) and two divisions of heavily-armed US cavalry under Averell and Merritt.
Thus, as the scenario begins, two somewhat skeletal Confederate divisions oppose four "cornfed" (to use Allen Dickerson's apt phrase) Union divisions. Each side has another infantry division on map. All the CSA divisions went through the spring, 1864, wringer of either the Overland Campaign or New Market. Since then they've fought at Lynchburg, Monocacy, Cool Spring, Rutherford's Farm, and 2nd Kernstown, as well as in several smaller engagements. The federals have taken their lumps, too, but I do not envy Early's forward infantry that September day. The sight of those big blue battle lines advancing toward the Dinkle and Hackwood farms must have given even the stoutest southern heart pause.
Sheridan's mission: remove Jubal Early's Valley Army from the war's calculus, then deny the South the benefits of the Shenandoah Valley.
Early's job: re-concentrate after raiding the B&O Railroad and try to survive, making the Yankees pay as heavily as possible and maintaining the threat to the Union's Potomac communication lines.
The photos below depict the situation partway into the 1200 turn. As spectacular as Greg's maps are, the components do NOT represent the final product.
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East Front Series Update, Summer 2018: by Designer Vance von Borries
Let me say all this very briefly. My team and I had some challenges but we have overcome these and thoroughly cleaned up the standard rules to the series. You will see a Rules Book rewritten from top to bottom. There are many small changes but these are intended to make the whole game system easier to follow and understand. We have improved clarity with more notes and examples of play. Some rules were cut and sent to the Play Book and a few in the Play Book graduated to the standard rules.
We accomplished this through a lot of testing, usually by use of Vassal. An updated Vassal module will be available from the start for each game in the system and for the entire campaign of linked games. That is a tall order. Because of its size and geographical position, if the Army Group Center game works right, so too will the rest.
We also have the Army Group Center Play Book nearly done as also the charts, tables, and set up cards. We are maybe three months away from submittal for production; yes, we are that close.
The above also means that most issues with the Army Group North and Army Group South games are solved. The Naval Module for the series is also largely done. These games can all now move along very quickly. After them, Typhoon! In the future, Stalingrad!
- Vance von Borries
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P500 Reprint Tracking
Here's the current status of all the games on our P500 reprint list - with current order totals and a +/- order growth since last month. Please help us determine what to print by pre-ordering any of these that interest you. Thanks for your help!
Fire in the Lake, 2nd Printing: 1,122 Orders (+48)
The Hunters 3rd Printing: 945 Orders (+18)
Ardennes '44: 852 Orders (+27)
Barbarossa: AGN: 760 Orders(+0)
Paths of Glory, Deluxe Edition: 723 (+29)
Empire of the Sun, 3rd Printing: 689 (+28)
Andean Abyss: 631 Orders (+15)
Barbarossa: AG Center 2nd Ed: 613 Orders (+6)
SPQR Dlx.: 608 Orders (+25)
Barbarossa: AGS - 600 Orders (+3)
Cataphract: 543 Orders (+7)
Falling Sky, 2nd Printing: 476 Orders (+26)
Navajo Wars: 466 Orders (+11)
Next War: Korea: 462 Orders (+21)
The Dark Valley, Deluxe Edition: 451 Orders (+0)
Red Winter: Expanded 2nd Edition - 380 Orders (+7)
Combat Commander: Pacific: 378 Orders (+9)
Flying Colors Deluxe 3rd Printing: 372 Orders (+15)
Cuba Libre, 3rd Printing: 348 Orders (+25)
1989: 305 Orders (+10)
Silent Victory, 2nd Printing: 273 Orders (+9)
C&C Ancients Expansion 5: Epic Ancients: 250 Orders (+6)
France '40, 2nd Printing: 247 Orders (+22)
This Accursed Civil War: 228 Orders (-1)
C & C Ancients, 6th Printing: 217 Orders (+20)
A Distant Plain, 3rd Printing: 204 Orders (+9)
Space Empires: Close Encounters, 2nd Printing: 200 Orders (+22)
Combat Comm. BP 4: New Guinea: 199 Orders (+6)
C&C Ancients Exp. 1: Greece & E. Kingdoms: 192 Orders (+5)
Roads to Leningrad 2nd Ed. 166 Orders (+0)
Time of Crisis, 2nd Printing: 156 Orders (+33)
Combat Commander BP 3 Normandy, 2nd Printing: 98 Orders (+8)
Wing Leader: Victories, 1940-42, 2nd Edition: 96 Orders (+3)
Combat Commander BP 1 Paratroops, 3rd Printing: 78 Orders (+6)
Fields of Despair, 2nd Printing: 72 Orders (+6)
Panzer Exp #1: The Shape of Battle, East Front: 72 Orders (+6)
Combat Commander BP 5 Fall of West, 2nd Print: 71 Orders (+4)
Combat Commander: Europe, 4th Printing: 71 Orders (+7)
Combat Commander: Resistance, 2nd Printing: 61 Orders (+4)
C&C Napoleonics Exp Prussian Army, 2nd Print: 58 Orders (+18)
C&C Napoleonics Exp Russian Army, 3rd Print: 24 Orders (+4)
Panzer Expansion 2: Final Forces on the E. Front: 15 Orders (+5)
Churchill, 3rd Printing: New to List
Labyrinth, 4th Printing: New to List
1960: The Making of the President, 2nd Printing: New to List
Triumph & Tragedy, 3rd Printing: New to List
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New Game Support Files, Vassal Modules, New Reviews, Interviews, and Sneak Peeks
Here are new support files we've added to our website since our last update. Enjoy!
Game Support:
Vassal Modules:
Reviews and Resources:
P500 Sneak Peeks:
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