AVALON HILL - VFTT

1 21,/;;;;;;;1iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiAiiiiiii iiviiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiii1 iiiiiiiii"iiiiiiiiiiiiiii"iiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiilliiiiiiiiiPiiiiiiiiihiiiiiiiiiiiii iiii1 *TheAVALONHILLGENERALTheGamePlayersMagaz ineTheAvalonHillGENERAL isdedicatedtothepresenta-tionofauthorita tivearticlesonthestrategy,tactics, ,inthehopesofimprovingthegameowner' ,April, , $ $ $ $ $ $ currentAmericanExpress,VISA, , ,double-spaced, ' , , , , , , , , , , , , , 'Neill, , , , , ,RodgerMacGowan,DaleSheafferEXCLUSIVEAGE NTS:ARGENTINA;SandlerGesang, ; ;1027,BuenosAires;AUSTRALIA:JedkoGamesLt d.

2 ,18 FonecaStreet;Mordialloc3195;Victoria;BEL GIUM:CODACOSPRL;1072 ChausseedeNinove;1080 Bruxelles;FRANCE:JeuxDescartes;5,ruedela Baume;75008 Paris;GREATBRITAIN:MichaelsModels;648 HighRoad; ;GREECE:AmericanBook& ;Athens408; ;Tir-renia(Pisa);ViadelLecci,1;JAPAN:Pos tHobbyCo.;1-38 Yoyogi,Shibuya-kuTokyo:MALAYSIA/REPUBLIC OFSINGAPORE:WongInternationalEnrp;6 JalanSinarBulan;Singapore17;SOUTHAFRICA: GammaGamesLtd; ,Capetown8000:SPAIN:Joe-Play;Aribau,272- 274;Barcelona-6;SWEDEN:PlaybroundHB;Skar pskyllevagen2F;S-22242 :ChristyShawQuestionsConcerningPlay:Rese arch&DesignDepart- (nothistoricalordesignsubjects) !

3 Copyright1980fl\AVAL01VH1LL~\EGallleComp allY/ifi\O4517 HarfordRoad,If\~~Baltimore, \.!J' ,insomeorganizedfashion,everyarticle,let ter,contest,Q&Asection, ,ora ,insomesmallway, ,"we"areBruceDegi, , ,Ihankhim;ifyoudon't,blamehim100!DonEisa nraninterferenceforBruceinthisrespect,un beknownsttoeachother, , ,DonGreenwood,filledintheholes,authoreds omeofthesidemodules, havelongresistedthenotionofanindexbecaus eIdoubtedtheusefulnessofsucha toolforamagazinewhichdoesnothavea 'anindexaboutarticlesyoucan'tlookup?Neve rtheless, , , ,AHmaypublishaspecialbookletcompilingthe bestarticlesofthepastona particulargamesuchashasalreadybeendonefo rMIDWAYandPANZERBLlTZ,butthesewill,ofeco nomicnecessity, , , 'sstartbykeepingyoursubscriptionandaddr~ printrunisshortedorhasunusuallyhighwasta ge, , ,orderanyavailablebackissuesyoudon' ' ,advertizeforused ,ifyouarereallydesperateyoucanalwayspayf oraphotocopyfromAH(seepage3).

4 Thefirstissueofthefirstprofessionalboard wargamingmagazineintheworld-theAvalonHil lGENERAL-wasactuallymoreofanewslettertha na magazine(seethecoverofthisindex).DatedMa yI,1964, ,#I' "They'refightingit alloveragain!"The"it"being,ofcourse,theS econdWorldWar;thegamesbeing,ofcourse,AFR IKAKORPS,STAL-INGRAD, ,finally,a forumfortheexchangeofgamingideasnotonlye xisted,butdidsoina wasthestartofa nationalhobbyasweknowit today:ThefirstGENERAL listedAvalonHill' $ 'whoppingtwocentsduringthenext10+yearsun tiltheratefora subscriptionroseto$ ,#5inJanuary, , ~spect,atleast, ,tothisday, ,noeditorwasmentionedinthatfirstissuenor wasonementioneduntilItookoverin1972,Perh apstheriskofsucha ,quarter-pagephotosofthe"area" "editors"were"hard-core"gamers("Thoughon lyajuniorinhighschool,Iliketothinkofmyse lfastheonlysixteenyearoldFieldMarshalint heworld"-JonPerica,PacificCoastEditor)

5 Chargedwiththetaskofwritinga bi-monthlycolumnongametacticsandstrategy ,"perfectplans", #1,forthefirsttimeputthereaderintothesho es(boots?)oftheGermancom-manderinanAFRIK AKORPS situation,askedforhisnextmove, provedtobethefirstofmanysuchmindbogglers which,hopefully, "Ques-tionCorner"-theforebearoftoday'sQu estionBox-and,ontheback,a Subscriber' \ 'sgamer,ac-customedtobetterthings, #1,wastheappearanceofissue#2-THEGENERAL wasgoingtomakeit! ,#2addeda "Let-ters,yeswegetletters," ,I suppose, #2alsoaddedthe"Op-ponentsWanted"section- destinedtoundergoanevolutionofitsownasth ehobbygrewinandoutofthe"warringclubs"and "naziglorification" (SAVETHISCOUPON)appearedin1.

6 3andtheSubscriber' newsetofregionaleditorsledbysuchstalwart sasMyrunBrundage,buttheydidn'tmakeusforg etthelikesofVictorMadejaorCarlKnabewhoco ntinuedtobewargaming' ,a perusaloftheindexwillrevealsomeinteresti ng, ,nomatterhowsmall, ,a veterangamedesignerfora numberofcompaniesauthorednolessthanfoura rticles-thefirstofwhichappearedasearlyas I ,DaveArneson,alsoauthoreda pieceonBATTLEOFTHEBULGE backin2 ,ofcourse,there'sJamesDunnigan-theheadof SPIandun-disputedleaderofwargamedesigner swhenitcomestopurenumbersofpublisheddesi gns-whoauthoredfourarticles,dealing,ason emightsuspect, (3:I),RichBerg(14:2),EdiBirsan-anotedfig ureinpostalDiplomacycircles(6:3),ScottyB owden-anotedNapoleonicsminiaturesexpert( 6:3),andDanaLombardy(4:2) leavethesubjectofauthorswithoutmentionof themulti-article,onegamespecialists:Robe rtChiangw/PANZER-BLITZ,GeorgePhilliesw/S TALINGRAD,HarleyAntononWATERLOO,TomOleso nonANZIO, ' ,everwonderwhothemostprolificcontributor shavebeen?

7 Justforfunandtotestyourknowledgeof"OldGu ard"trivia, ,onefeaturearticleinVolume16representsmo reverbiagethana dozen"articles"fromVolumeIand2 butgiveit ' :RobertOlson,GeoffBurkman,RobertBeyma"To mHazlett,VictorMadeja,MarkSaha, ,MickUhl,MyrunBrundage, ,CarlKnabe,AlanAugenbraun,WilliamSearigh t,RichardHamblen,JaredJohnson,TomOleson, LouZocchi,RobertHarmon, coloredcoverscroll(seecoverofindex)butwe gotanadditionalfourpagesaswellfora , , ,now,wouldbetogothrougheveryissueofTHEGE NERAL, ,Iwon'tattemptsucha ,oratleastmostbizarre,featuresthatappear edinthemagazine' 'veleftoutarticlesonspecificgames-others aremuchmorequalifiedtodebateoverwhich191 4articlewasthemostimpor-tant, ,ofcourse,wouldprobablyagreewithwhatI've includedhere,orwhatI' ,I ,#4 ,#6 Article:IsSoakingOffInhumane?

8 ,#1 Theendofthe"newsletter"-thefirst"cover" (seecoverofindex),"AvalonHill'sManoftheY ear."Article:ThePrinciplesofWarfortheAHg amer-aserieswhichwouldrunforeightin-stal lments( ,#5)thelongestrunningarticleinthemagazin e' ,#3 ,#4 Cover:The"wargame"magazinethistimehasaph otographoftheBaltimoreOrioles'HankBauer, WallyBunker,andJimPalmer;FrankRobinson' !CouldTomShawhavebeensweptupbylocalpenna ntfeverinthisyearoftheOrioles'firstWorld Series? ,#6 ,#3 CoverandLeadArticle:The"FirstAnnualWarga mer'sConvention"heldbytheIFW,July15, ,amongotherthings,theabsenceofmanywhohad pre-registered-includinga ,#5 Plug:Anotheryoungmagazine,STRATEGY&TACTI CS,iscalled"themostaffluentofallwargamem agazines.

9 " ,#2 Photoof2 LtCarlKnabeclimbingintothecockpitofa ,#3 ,#1 Cover:Theold"scroll" ,#1 Photo:PerhapsthemostmemorableIn-filtrato r'sReporteverfeaturingaphotofromtheModel AndCraftsShowfeaturingthe,ah,healthy,"Mi ssMACS".It'stheclosesttheGENERAL hasevercometoa ,#5 Game:ThefirsttimetheGENERAL carrieda gameinthemagazine(actuallya variant)completewith"board"and"counters" . ,#1 Errata:Thelargest"QuestionBox/Errata"eve r-forGETTYSBURG'77tobesup-plantedin16 greatdealofspacetoin-depthcoverageofa singlefeaturedgameattheexpenseoflessbroa dcoverageofthelineasa , historicalremembranceorinvestigationofho wthingswereintheearlydaysofthehobbywhenw argameproductionwaslimitedtooneortwonewA Hgamesa highof19toa 'tpassuptheopportunitytocommenthereonTHE GENERALasa scatteringofsuchmaterialinthemagazinedur ingits16yearsasa ,complaintsflyeverytimea gameswhoresentthein-trusionintotheirspac eoffantasyandsciencefic-tion"wargames".

10 ItloomsasthenextbigchallengeforTHEGENERA L.'*COPIESI fyouneeda $ minimumorderof$ ,volumeandnumberoftheissueitisin, :againa $ (checkormoneyorderonly-nocashplease)toAv alonHill,4517 HarfordRd.,Baltimore, ! ;RobertHarmon's'"CommandersNotebook" 's"Chopperblitz" "s"ThePiecesofPanzerblitz"-votedthebesta rticleevertoappearintheGENERAL."BeyondSi tuation13"-twe lveadditionalscenariosbyRobertHarmon;"Pa rablitz";"Panzernacht' ,"BlindPanzerblitz";"Situation13";"Champ i onshipSituations";"PanzerblitzConceal ment' ;and"IncrementalPanzerblitz. Top "sGuidetoPANZERBLITZ sellsfor$ ,MD21214 Marylandresidentsadd5 % ArticleTitle(Author)Issue(Type)'Pages.