Good news!

[larry marak]

Plenty on Empire Fall and Lawrence in GC insider.  One of the decisions there will be debate about after the change is made public.  If you're a GC member you can order second edition rules for August 1914...the demand for revised artillery rules has finally prevailed in Birmingham.

[pixelgeek]

What are the new rules? I like the idea of the Infantry attack series but plotted artillery kills the game for me

[Greyfox]

I am on the fence. For OB artillery I like the preplottted becuase it is much more historically accurate. Looking forward to seeing how thy are going to handle or modify the rules.

[J6A]

I see it as "okay moves" as there's still not even a vague hint at a release date.

[Hugmenot]

"Okay moves" is definitely closer to my opinion than "good news".

Fall of Empires and Lawrence of Arabia are my last two outstanding Avalanche Press pre-orders so it will be good to close the book on them even if I don't like the solution he is adopting.

Beside those two, the only other pre-order for which I have committed money is Frank Chadwick's Thunder in the East from Victory Point Games. Very much looking forward to play it.

[Hugmenot]

You can see the Galicia maps at the URL below. Yup, not a mirage, thiey are just a subset of the Fire in the Steppe maps. I am definitely unhappy about that.

http://www.avalanchepress.com/FallMaps.php

The good news is that the release of a product generally follows the map preview by a month or two so there is hope that means we will see Fall of Empires in Q2. I am not sure if the pattern will hold as the maps are not new and thus there is no new substantial payment to the artist that impacts the cash flow.

[dirk]

. Yup, not a mirage, they are just a subset of the Fire in the Steppe maps. I am definitely unhappy about that.

I agree with you Hugmenot, I would of liked maps designed for just Fall of Empires and Lawrence, but if it gets the games in my hands quicker.....
I ordered Fall of Empires back a decade ago, when Infantry Attacks and Fall of Empires were the same game.
So I'm happy to see this come about. 
I have ordered August 1914 2nd Edition Scenarios and Artillery rules through the Gold Club. Wondering how much the new Artillery rules are going to change the scenarios?

[Hugmenot]

Has anyone seen these rules?

I was fine with the pre-plotting when attacking a fixed position because it forced me to set a cadence to my attacks. I thought it worked well after the first two scenarios I played.

The rules were more problematic when both forces were on the move. I used the OBA to deny one or two important hexes to the opposition. I have my doubts whether this was simply a waste of ammunition.

[Hugmenot]

Any Fall of Empires news in the last insider?

[Dan Storm]

Infantry Attacks: Plan XVIII

We have two large games that have hung on the schedule for years now, and remain at least six months away and possibly longer. Unless we do something innovative, so that’s what we’re going to do. It may induce a little waah, but we have something to soothe the waah.

The bottleneck for both Fall of Empires and Lawrence of Arabia has been map art – an enormous amount of map art. Fourteen maps’ worth. So we’re going to work around that:



Fall of Empires and Fire in the Steppe take place in the same region; some of the scenarios take place over the same ground. We’re going to re-print six Fire in the Steppe maps for Fall of Empires, and that will be the map set. The maps are so similar that it was already a foolish notion to make new ones.



Lawrence of Arabia and Sword of Israel also take place in the same region, with some scenarios taking place over the same ground. It’s not as clear a match as Fall of Empires and Fire in the Steppe: Lawrence of Arabia has two river boards that represent both the Jordan and the Suez Canal that are pretty much necessary. Sword of Israel has the two Golan Heights boards that aren’t very useful for Lawrence of Arabia. We’re going to reprint six Sword of Israel boards for Lawrence of Arabia, and add the two new river boards for a total of eight.



Those changes move the two games dramatically forward on the production schedule, with Fall of Empires obviously ahead of Lawrence. That also moves forward whichever naval game (probably South Pacific) that would have been in line for map art after Fall of Empires.



With those games, we’ll issue a new edition of the Infantry Attacks core rules, with altered artillery procedures and full-color player aids to match those in the other series.



August 1914 will receive an upgrade, with a new box cover to complement that of Fall of Empires and a new scenario book to correspond with the new rulebook. Maps and pieces remain the same.


Plan XVIII: The Deal

Here’s how it works:



• You can order just the August 1914 second edition scenario book and rules, as we’ve done before. No discounts apply.



• You can order the complete August 1914 Second Edition, and use your WENDY coupon for 30 percent off and SPECIAL coupon for free shipping within the United States.



• You can order Fall of Empires, and use your REDDRAGON coupon for 20 percent off.



• You can order Lawrence of Arabia, and use your REDDRAGON coupon for 20 percent off.



• You can order Edelweiss Division, and use your WENDY coupon for 30 percent off.



• If you ordered Fall of Empires and Lawrence of Arabia early enough, we qualify for a free copy of Edelweiss Division. If you haven’t ordered Fall of Empires, you should order Edelweiss Division also, because it’s that good.