I'mma callin' you OUT, McNair!

[Shad]

...tell us some good war stories!

• favorite PG game to develop?
  
• design disasters?
  
• best unpublished idea you've had?
  
• whatever comes to mind!
  

[upintheattic]

...tell us some good war stories!

• favorite PG game to develop?
  
• design disasters?
  
• best unpublished idea you've had?
  
• whatever comes to mind!
  

Well, if you insist! Mind you, I just got back from singing sea shanties and pub songs at Merlin's Rest Pub, so my current drunken condition may make this a bit free form

1) Road to Berlin was a lot of fun to develop because it was the game for which I wrote the 3rd Edition rules. At last, I was able to cut through the crap that had been inflicted on the system by previous designers and formulate a coherent set of rules that had everything in the right place where you could find it, and that explained things that had never been previously explained (like safe hexes etc.). Beyond that, I'd say Cassino was the most fun because it introduced terrain types I'd never had to work with before, the diversity of the units involved was beyond anything we'd done before, and because the campaign game system took PG to a whole new level where planning and logistics became prime concerns.

2) Yes, we had some. I don't want to get specific here because those involved may frequent this place, but I will say that I almost had to eat my words on a couple of occasions. You see, by a certain point in my tenure at AP I got rather cocky; I had developed so many scenarios that I believed I could fix anything. I was wrong. On a couple of occasions I was presented with a product and said no problem, I'll develop it, but when I got into it I realized the designer was utterly mad. This was of one or more of the following: (a) the scenarios read like historical re-enactments rather than game scenarios in that they were pointless because one side had no chance of winning, (b) the special map rules had almost everything standing in for something else, and © the designer had provided a litany of special rules at the beginning of the product and/or in the individual scenarios that basically rewrote the whole PG system; this required me to deconstruct each scenario to make sure that it was actually designed for PG and not something else, and that it was therefore playable in PG. In most cases I was able to rescue the games or scenarios involved from oblivion, but some scenarios had to go because they were beyond saving. Here are a couple of examples from my development notes:

DELETED SCENARIO: This one is ludicrous; seven unsupported German tank platoons plus some armored cars attacking twenty-four infantry platoons who are dug-in along a railway line bristling with AT guns. The Germans have no incentive to even enter the board, so I nixed it.

NEARLY DELETED SCENARIO: Here he completely lost it, using different maps to represent the same terrain he included in the previous scenario. Oddly enough, the map he uses in this one to represent a town is the same map I replaced his maps with in an earlier scenario involving that same town. But he has the map pointing east-west, which makes no sense since the river runs north-south there. So I trashed his dog-legged eight-map setup and replaced it with a nice two-mapper, which is all this little scenario needs anyway. Despite the small number of units, I had to keep it to 30 turns because the only way the unsupported tanks can wear-down the Germans is by firing at them again and again for a long time until they break. And I had to skew the victory conditions in the tankers' favor too.

3) I had a lot of good ideas back when I was just a playtester, but of course, only a few of them made it into the final product. That changed when I became a developer; there wasn't much AP could do if I decided to put something into a game since they didn't know what it'd do to the system if they deleted it. Plus, Mike was always desperate for Daily Content, so if I sent him something bizzarre he'd just use it for DC and leave it at that. The only things I designed that never got published were some GWAS alternative-history scenarios and a sci-fi game proposal that didn't pass the marketing test.

That's all that comes to mind. More will no doubt after I finish sobering up. Cheers!

-- Doug

[upintheattic]

Ah yes, now I'm beginning to remember. I suggested we take "Island of Death" down to the platoon level and publish it as a download for PG. We're talking a HUGE map of Malta here with all the marines, paratroopers, glider units, etc. making landings under fire on Malta while the Brits defend. Mike considered that too ambitious so it was nixed. Too bad, because I think it would have sold a lot better than Island because there are a lot more PG players than players of the Island/Alamein system.

[J6A]

I'd buy it.

[tanzerleader]

i also would buy it and have been working on something similar at home (although i had a smaller island in mind)

[beast013]

I seem to remember Avalanche discussing the idea of a PG based game for Malta. I thought the cost estimate was around $350.00??? I would love to see Malta done at this level. In general, as I am now playing through the Cassino '44 games, I would love to see more campaign type games. Some that come to mind include Iwo Jima, Salerno, Korsun Pocket, etc.

[vince hughes]

Beast,

I don't go much on the Pacific, but I think these island battles would go well with campaign sets. I played a couple from Guadalcanal the other day and I enjoyed playing on an actual terrain maps, it was fun and at least enhanced my Pacific play.

Of the 'pockets', a scenario pack laden with a map for the Demyansk pocket would be very neat. I think the scenarios could also highlight the improvement of Totenkopf's transition from amateur zealots to battle-capable veterans. This, in my view was the battle that changed them from blokes that were there for the ride to realistic Alte-Hassen (Old Hares).

In fact, given the amount of SS stuff that APL have brought out recently (a policy change from the original won't touch it with a barge-pole), a scenario book on the 3rd SS Div (Totenkopf) could have taken them through France into the Russian campaigns and highlight their fighting quality, morale and leader ability changes by the use of old and new SS counters and using the differing leader packs from Sinister Forces, Beyond Normandy and Elsenborn (maybe Kursk now its out too) to highlight the change of leader skills over that time.

One other Campaign pack and map I'd like to see would be one covering just outside and the peripheries of the fighting at Dunkerque. This would give extra use to the FoF French counters as well as British Desert counters I guess.

The whole war is AP's oyster really. It certainly could be a cash-cow if they wanted it to be or had the ability to take advantage of the fact.

[beast013]

Vince:

I concur - plenty of options are available. While I am more of a Europe lover, the Pacific offers very concise campaign options for the system. 3 SS is an option as you noted. Crete would be an easy campaign as well. Lots of options, lots of games. I need to win the lottery so I have more time to play!

Kevin

[vince hughes]

Vince:

I need to win the lottery so I have more time to play!

Kevin

Mein Gott !

What play numbers would you put up then !! It defies contemplation.

[Michael Murphy]

That's easy, you just pick the winning numbers before the drawing, and collect big time after the drawing.