OSG News

Next Game: The Last Days of the Grande Armee

Kevin Zucker Interview

Consimworld website is featuring an extensive interview with OSG game designer, Kevin Zucker.

The current issue of "Wargame Design" is now on this website. Subscriber's copies should all be received via snail mail by January 1, 1999.

We are holding off on publication plans for "Operational Studies Quarterly," the projected game/issue magazine. We will continue publishing "Wargame Design" in hard copy until we are ready with our first issue of the Quarterly. We are accepting historical material for the new magazine.

Survey Results from August Mailing:

We now have the results of our survey which we mailed in August, 1998. Look for pre-publication offers on the top eight titles:

1812 operational, 2 maps, 22.4 pages of rules

Bonaparte in Italy, 1 map, 17.5 pages

Austerlitz campaign, 2 maps, 18.8 pages

Marengo, 1 map, 16.9 pages

Franco-Prussian War, 2 maps, 22.6 pages

Smolensk, 1812, 1 map, 13.0 pages

Abensberg/Eckmuhl, 2 maps, 20.8 pages

American War of 1812, 1 map, 14.3 pages

We will offer each of these on the "P250" basis (like the "Bonaparte in Italy" offer published in July). These games will be available BOXED, and will be published when the number of pre-orders reaches 250.

NOTE: Your credit card WILL NOT BE DEBITED until a title is 30 days from release.

Don't miss OSG's special pre-pub offers on our pre-pub order form.

GAME PROTOTYPE ANNOUNCEMENT:

The following design is on hand. We’d appreciate hearing of any interest in this proposal.

OPERATION WINTER STORM

12-23 December 1942

The attack by the German 57^th Panzer Corps to open a corridor to the German Sixth Army trapped in the Stalingrad Pocket.

Designer: Mark Stille

Game Scale: 2 miles per hex, 12 hours per turn.

(There is also a quick-play version at 5 miles per hex and 24 hours per turn.)

counters - 840

maps - 1 22x34"

player cards - currently 16. (May be reduced in number).

This is NOT an operational level game. The closest game system already in print might be the designs of Jack Radey. His last 2 from COA are Eastern front, battalion and regimentlevel, but the topics are much different; the playability is intended to be much greater.

Game system: based on COUNTERATTACK’s 48^th Panzer Corps system - an unknown classic. It is like Radey’s games only in that they are both battalion level treatment of Eastern front battles. The specific differences are too numerous to explain, but the biggest and most important is the command/control/ initiative system. This is the heart of WS and what makes it so realistic. This puts it out of the beer and pretzel category, but that is why there is a folio also included.

Scenarios - one historical and one with optional German units. length of play - the whole game is 24 turns. The full game, 30 plus hours. set up time - one hour.

In WS, the Germans don’t break out; hopefully the relief force breaks in. The historical scenario offers the Germans little chance of succeeding against a competent Russian player. This was the reality of the situation.

However, there is a lot of fun just trying and seeing whether you can do better of worse than the historical result. One can add some other units to give the Germans a better chance of breaking through. These are units that were slated to be used in the operation or were in the area but were for various reasons drawn away.