Against the Odds Pre-Spring Fling Newsletter
Greetings from Against the Odds! This is just a quick note to share some news with you about what’s happening here at ATO. Of course, visit our website to read more about each issue in detail.
Issue #24 with Deathride: All subscribers should have received your copy of issue #24, featuring Deathride, by now. If you have not, please write our customer service staff at admin@atomagazine.com and they will investigate what may have happened.
Issue #8 with Fortress Berlin: In case you missed the announcement inside #24, one of our most sought after issues has been reprinted. Yes, Fortress Berlin is back in stock and can be ordered off our website. Basically a two player game, it can handle up to six, and also has a complete solitaire game inside. This is a reprint of this classic (CSR Award Winner for Best Magazine Wargame of 2004) so if you want a second copy, all the components are identical and will “play together” nice.
Issue #25 with Storm Over Taierzhuang: This issue is in preparation and will begin mailing in April. A really neat look at a little known battle in 1938 where the Chinese first stood up to the Japanese and defeated them (showing it could be done). Some even say that the Russian observers present at the battle took the lessons learned (sucker the attackers into a cityfight, surround their flanks, and then crush them) back home and applied them at a place called Stalingrad….
Last, a reminder that this year’s 2009 ATO Annual features Verdun: A Generation Lost as its featured game. Designer Roger Nord takes his WW1 model of warfare, first seen in The Big Push (ATO #11) and takes us to the pivotal lands around Verdun. Here was a place the French could not afford to defend, nor simply give up. Some six separate scenarios explore all aspects of this epic, and of course a campaign game examines all the tragedy and bloodletting on both sides. The annual is just $30 more (a savings of 33% off the cover price) than a regular subscription, but only at the time when you first subscribe or renew.
Best Wishes,
Steve Rawling (ATO)
And a quick word about our Turning Point Simulations line of games….
[The TPS line is a 20 game series that explores the decisive battles of history. These games feature superior components, straightforward rules, key insights into the history behind the game, and designs aimed at one-session conclusions and high replay value. Read more about this here if you’re not on the TPS mailing list already.]
Our sister division, TPS, continues to press forward with getting their new website up and running so you can actually see the game components and download/read through the rules. Still not quite ready for prime time yet, but here’s the box cover and ad copy from the game description page for the Joan of Arc’s Victory game to share now:
Even in full armor, she still looked like a young girl.
Even among men who had done nothing but war all their lives, she maintained a soldierly bearing… and something else. She led that army to victory, confidently sending the English commander her demand,
“Render to the Maid, sent by God, the King of Heaven, all the good towns you have taken and violated in France.”
History would call her Joan of Arc, with a subtitle “The Maid of Orleans.” The French would call her, “St. Joan.” The English would call her, “witch.” And you can call her the center of an intriguing game.
TPS games gives you the chance to delve into the mystery of the Maid and the making of France, with a rendition of the chaotic slice of the Hundred Years era when the biggest question was just how many separate countries “France” might become.
“Joan of Arc’s Victory” covers the entire campaign of the siege and relief of Orleans, with one-month turns beginning in April, 1429. The French player must consolidate his polyglot army and its inspiring leader, while dealing with Joan’s “voices” via an events table that leaves him feeling slightly out of control. The English player has to deal with Scots and herrings and trying to resist the “help” of an unwanted Burgundian ally. Both players face the challenges of making siege and open-field combat work for them, in an era where artillery and charges by armored knights belong on the same battlefield. The game includes 200 counters, a full-color, mounted mapboard, and all the charts you will need to keep your focus on the Maid.
“Joan of Arc’s Victory” includes a random “Joan Events” table that will render the French player a sense of the uncertainty being around someone divinely inspired might provide. And it keeps life interesting for the English too, as Joan may do something very unexpected (and have surprising combat benefits too!).
No two games will ever be alike.
Will the English make France little more than their “eastern counties,” with a Balkanized set of small kingdoms? Or will France become France? The decision is yours, based on how you react to the “voices” that The Maid hears.
Designed by Andy Nunez, who has a flare for the unusual historical situation. Previous titles include “Cactus Throne” and “A Splendid Little War.”
