Responded to directly, off list.

Tom J

Are the Germans gray-green, light blue, and black?

The Germans wear gray, you wear blue :sillygrin:

Does anyone have a contact phone number for Tom Johnson? He's gone AWOL from all email correspondence and I am worried that something may have happened to him. His website does not have a phone listed.

Tom seems to be alive and well, he's a Facebook friend of mine, and active there last time on April 21st. I sent him a message that you are looking to contact him.

Thanks, Carl.

Hey Tom,

How is this progressing? Last word was a late spring/early summer 2016 release. Do you have a new target date that you can share?

Steve

Hi Steve;

We got pretty submerged with production orders (both for our material (ME & OCMS) and for the other companies stuff we make. This caused work to slow way down. We are ramping back up now, but I do not want to get out with a firm date right now.

One of the things going on is the setting up of a distribution center for Leandoer publishing (Sweden) that we will be running. Right now we have inventory of 14 books and a web site is being constructed to allow orders and such to get processed. ( Leanderbooksna.com ). We are excited as the selection of fine historical books will continue to grow.

Tom J

Hello again Tom!

Any chance of an update? Are you still intending to take this series forward?

Cheers,

Steve

Hi Steve;

Yes, it remains our firm intent to continue the series forward. I recently came into a source that should make the Soviet OOB much faster to do, and the map continues to limp along (the main file is just getting to large for the current computer to manage it with speed).

The Map for "Strike to the East" will run from about 17 miles West of Warsaw to the East of the Caspian Sea (entire), and from the north portion of the Persian gulf to north of North cape in the Arctic ocean. it will (of course) match up exactly with the map for "The Beginning" as well. The German OOB is constructed fairly well complete up to March of 43.

At this point such reports and testing (as continued) has brought only a couple of minor changes to the rules, such as the change of the cargo capacity of the Naval Transport Point from 15 cargo points to 30. This change should be retrofitted into "The Beginning", while the NTP count in "Auspicious Beginning" should be halved (while the cargo capacity is doubled).

Tom J

Work continues on the maps for "Strike to the East" & "Into the Lair". I finally had a brain storm and figured out that the 1:250,000 maps I am using to guide the terrain setup feature the lines of Latitude and longitude. (Never said I am a really bright fellow!) The map for the series features the intersecting points for each line of these where they intersect, and so I can get a much faster 'read' on the terrain that before. The only issue comes when the different projections used (the Army Map Series maps are using the Transverse Mercator projection while the OCMS maps are using a type of cylindrical equal area projection to set these lines at 90 degrees making the map directions consistent with the cardinal directions. If you look at these you will see there are some slight changes in the way things look (especially when your used to the Mercator projections). The net result is that the AMS mas are (typical military ones) narrower at the top and wider at the bottom, while the OCMS is strait in both directions.

But I digress, the point is that the map is getting done much faster than before, and I think with the increased accuracy in both distances, and terrain evaluation the map will continue the trend in accuracy, appearance, and ease of use for the two games covering the war in Russia, 41 - 45.

Other work on the series is also well to hand, with Much of the OOB for the Scandinavian nations, and the Italians (throughout)being done by Steve Marshall.

Tom J

Hello Tom,

Hope 2018 was a good year for you! How goes Strike to the East and Into the Lair?

Best,

Steve

Hi Steve;

My apologies. However, things continue to grind along.

The map is complete save for the weather zones. I have managed to track down a US Army map service detailing climate information. I'm quite happy with it, as it fits onto a 4 foot by 8 foot table, and covers from just North of the North Cape of Norway, South to show the North tip of the Persian Gulf (this brings the whole of the Persian Corridor into the game). Coverage from just West of Warsaw, Poland to the Urals.

Order of battle research continues, and accelerates with Melanie now being here full time to provide assistance. Steve Marshal continues doing yeoman work having finished the Finns, not only for "Strike to the East" but "Magnetic North" and "Into the Lair". Mel and I have been immersed in the Soviets and Germans. The Soviet "Perchen" reports listing units in service helps, although using 'google' translate has lead to some interesting items (unit converts to a 'shopping mall' (grin)). Having David Glantz to provide pointers covers things nicely however.

If the current pace continues, we will be getting very close by the end of this year. With "Into the Lair" and "Magnetic North" rolling out soon after. the map also covers the Desert area from just West of Benghazi so the North African map is about 1/2 finished as well.

It goes well, and it WILL get done! (grin)

Tom J

Just heard the news about Tom. My prayers go out to his family. He will be missed.

I'm saddened to report the passing of Tom Johnson. I will post on the news site shortly. :frown:

John,

thank you for your action. Tom will be missed by many of us.

such a sad news.

Very unfortunate and sad news indeed. Tom was a great contributor to the hobby and will be sorely missed.

RIP partner.

He had such grand designs for his OCMS series of games. He was working on the Eastern Front game. I enjoyed working with him back a few years ago. The hobby has lost a great one.

Ron

Made counters for three of my small games and was always a gentleman. RIP Tom.

Melanie is looking for some support to help GPW running and publish games :

https://www.gofundme.com/f/game-production-workshop?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR0698SJr_PVzphfqVddVEUchi7I2mae0_5ui-Th7yVcNVbLotHMAZpl7CE

Thanks for sharing. So very sad for the family and their loss. I just stumbled upon this from last January. :frown: :frown: