"*The

VOLUME 2, NO.3

"* "* "* "*AVALON HILL

Published First Day Of Every Other Month

Publication Office: 210 West 28th Street Baltimore, Maryland 21211

Full - Year

SUBSCRIPTION

$4.98

SEPTEMBER 1965

"BLITZKRIEG" • COMING IN OCTOBER!Largest Avalon Hill Wargame Ever, ScheduledFor Fall Publication

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"Blitzkrieg", the game of lighteningwarfare, has finally gone into produc­tion. This new game, after years inthe planning and de sign stage, is theembodiment of every aspect of the artof war gaming.

Huge Playing Board

Bigger than "Tactics II", more in­tricate than "Bulge", and more com­plex than "D-Day" and "Midway" puttogether, "Blitzkrieg" incorporates allof the most exciting features found inAvalon Hill battle games. The gameis played on a huge 42" x 22" triple­fold mapboard - 500/0larger than anyprevious Avalon Hill mapboard.

"Blitzkrieg" is a fictional battle~'game patterned after Germany's break­

out of the second World War. Five"weak" countries become engulfed in atremendou s conflict waged by "Big Red"against "Great Blue." Most of the con­tinent is surrounded by sea thus inva­sions can be attempted as in "D-Day."In addition, air power plays a big partin this game that includes over 300troop counters.

Land and Air Battle Game

Troop Counters include Units of In­fantry, Airborne, Armor, Marine s,Rangers and Break-through Artillery.In addition, stra te gic, tactical, bomb e l'and fighter Units are available. A brandnew way of resolving combat, even new­er than in "Bulge", necessitates manysubstitute counters which are also pro­vided in the game.

Basically a two-player game, play­ers must attack and defend over everytype of terrain imaginable - from in­vading rocky-bound coasts to holding upin mountainous areas. Combatantsmust also cross the Great Koufax Des­ert (so named because it is sandy) tosieze enemy replacement centers.Judicious use of air power often turnsthe tide of the struggle - combat occursfast and furiously keeping players ontheir strategical toes. "Blitzkrieg" has

BOB'S BLUNDER: Consumer Paneltesters intently analyse a strategic mis­take during an exhaustive test game ofa Blitzkrieg prototype.

everything you have asked for ... trulythe ultimate in lightening warfare.

Not Available Until October '65

"Blitzkrieg", at this very moment,is coming off the production line sandon its way to the wholesalers. Mostretail outlets will have it in stock SOOnafter October 1st. But according toour fair trade marketing policy, directmail orders to the general public willnot be processed until the retail storesbecome stocked.

"General" Subscribers To Get Priority

A reserve of first line copies willbe made available to subscribers On adirect mail basis. Therefore, we willaccept - NOW - direct mail orders for"Blitzkrieg." Upon receipt, such directmail orders will be held and processedat exactly the same time the games willgo on sale in the stores. While you willprobably obtain it quicker from your

Bulge - in its 2nd PrintingThe Battle of the Bulge, newly re­

leased in March '65, has developed in­to the most well received and soughtafter game of any Avalon Hill title re­leased in the last three years.

Some minor adjustments were made.There were no changes made in theBasic game; however, the Tournamentgame found a few Optional rules addedfor play balance and realism. The mostsignificant change is the addition of aFortress Counter at TT-lO at the startof the game.

Only the Battle Manual has beenchanged ... all other game parts remainthe same. The diagram at bottom ofpage 8 has been corrected. In addition,the Battle Manual incorporates a Ger­man Supply problem plus a provisionfor allowing retreats of more than Onesquare through dense woods and roughterrain. Another option allows armoredunits to withdraw from "engages" ifthey so desire.

Subs criber s wishing to update theirgame may do so simply by enclosing amere quarter (. 25¢) for the BattleManual. You'll get it a lot sooner ifyou also enclose a 6" x 9" self-address­ed, return envelope containing a 5¢stamp. Just request "Bulge BattleManual" on your order.

local store, a direct mail order fromyou will receive priority over the nor­mal direct mail business.

Game to Retail for $6. 98

Because of its hugeness and addi­tional parts, "Blitzkrieg" will retailfor $6.98. This includes parcel postageand handling. (No tax required.) Add65¢ if you wish it rushed to you byspecial delivery.

To make sure your ord"r gets ship­ping priority, please mark the envelopeII subscriber order".

A Play-by-Mail Kit is also availableat $1. 98. Discount coupons, minimumof four, may be applied toward theorder. Please send a check or moneyorder to: The Avalon Hill Co., 210 W.

28th Street, Baltimore 11, Maryland.

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THE GENERAL PAGE 2

~he ~VA~ON ~IL~ @~I!~.n:~L3~)1

Copyright 1964 T. A. H. C.Baltimore, Maryland.Printed in U. S. A.

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EDITOR - covering Delaware, MarylandD. C., Virginia, West Virginia, NorthCarolina, South Carolina, Georgia,Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama,Mississippi.

Southeast

The following units are incorrectlydesignated: No SS in 3SS, 15SS and 25SS. 319 Static should be a (3-4-3).49S5, 51SS are pz Gren not Pz.

Replacements: This rule is amend­ed so that Allied replacements startweek 12 at 3 factors per turn whileGerman replacement is delayed untilweek 18.

Special thanks to Victor M4deja andRaymond Utz for their help in prepar­ing this column. Comments will begTeatlyappreciated.

Battle Odds and Endsby Marc Nicholson

AH COMMENT: While many of Mr.Plumb's alterations appear of minorconsequence, such as a two-drop para­chute rule for the German 6th, our re­search department is not adverse tosuch designer's liberties. Please beinformed that the British 50th Division,which Mr. Plumb lists as "missing,"is included in the present order of bat­tIe.

Marc "Nicholson2425 Meadow Road

Louisville 5, Kentucky

This column will be devoted to clean­

ing up my correspondence. First ofall, I apologize to the many peoplewhose letters I have not had a chanceto answer--the mailbag has been over­flowing lately. Also, this accounts forthe delay in several of my play-by-mailgames.

There is an AH club forming aroundRaleigh, N. C. and is in need of mem­bers. AH players in that area shouldbe able to get information at their localdealers - - - Students of H The Bulge"shouId write to Matthew Buynoski ofBattle Creek, Mich. for a unique sys­tem of American reinforcements-':-Anorganization known as SPECTRE isattempting to "conquer the world".have been requested to help recruitmembers for an anti-SPECTRE group(Texas and D. C. appear to be SPECTREstrongholds). All requests for informa­tion on play-by-mail clubs should beaddressed directly to the clubs and notto me, the best I can do is to forwardthe letters--- Likewise, questions about

remedy this situation I strongly recom­mend the following revisions of thetournament rules:

Airpower: The present air rule istoo strong-to be either realistic or play­balanced. Instead, the Allies shouldbe given 80 non- reusable factors of air­power. These factors are used likeregular attack factors with the followingreservations: 1) Their use is limitedto 10 factors per turn and 5 factors perattack. 2) They must be used in COn­junction with a ground attack and cannotbe used either to cut off retreat or in

exchanges.Supply: The 17 square supply rule

is ridiculous! Amend it as follows:

For every 8 squares a unit advancesfrom its supply point it needs one supplyfactor. For example, a unit within 8squares of Rouen would require I sup­ply factor; between 9 and 16 squares,2 factors, etc. Furthermore no supplyis possible through beach squares out­side the invasion areas, but is possiblethrough captured ports. Also units maynot be brought ashore in excess of sup­ply. Up to 3 German units may be sup­plied from each coastal city or fortressfree from Allied zones of control.

Paratroops: This rule is amendedto provide that all Allied paratroopscan drop 3 times and the Br 52 Inf isconsidered airportable, i. e. it may bedropped Once after the second move ofthe second invasion or week 16, which­ever comes first. Also the German

6th Parachute Regiment (1-1-3) may bedropped twice but not before week 14.However, this unit's drops are not lostif the unit is eliminated. They can beused after the unit is replaced.

Missing Units: Add the followingunits which are missing from the initialorder of battle:

ALLIED - Br 1st Arm Div, Br 15Inf Div, Br 30 Inf Div, Br 50 Inf Div,all available in the D-Day force.

GERMAN - Panzer Group West (0­1-4), 19LW (1-2-2), 30 Mobile Brig(2-2-4), all available anywhere; lOSSPanzer Div (6-6-4), 2 Parachute Div(3-3-3) both on starred squares.

GERMAN REINFORCEMENTS - TurnI - 363 Inf (1-2-2); Turn 3 - 89 lnf (4­4-3); Turn 6 - 70 Inf (4-4-3), 6 Para(3-3-3), 64 Inf (1-2-2); Turn 7 - ·:<49SSpz Gren Brig, ·~5ISS pz Gren Brig; Turn9 - 59 Inf (4-4-3); Turn II - 100 MotBrig (2-2-4), ·Q06 pz Brig, 107 pzBrig (2-2-4), 108 pz Brig (2-2-4), IIIpz Brig (2-2-4), 112 pz Brig (2-2-4),113 pz Brig (2-2-4); Turn 13 - 105 pzBrig (2-2-4); Turn 14 - 7 Para (5-5-3);325 Security (1-2-2) (appears in Pariswhen Allied units come within 5 squaresof Paris). All reinforcements come inon starred squares except where in­dica ted.

*These units are already in thegame.

theob­To

seenit iswin!

D-Day '65 Re-visitedTo those of you who have

D- DA Y '65 tournament rulesvious that the German cannot

EDITOR - covering Maine, New Hamp­shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, RhodeIsland, Connecticut, New York, NewJersey, Pennsylvania, Europe.

The Avalon Hill General is edited and pub­lished by the Anion Hill Company, Baltimore,Maryland.

a bi-monthly magazine mailed prettyclose ro the first day of January, March, May,July, September and November.

Mr. Bruce Mathews, correspondingsecretary, has written us the followingfor publication: "There seems to be amisconception on the 15 day limit. Manyplayers write to me saying they haven'treceived a letter from their opponentfor a couple months. They could makeit much easier on me and On themselves

if they would write as SOOn as possiblewhen the violation occurs.

"Many members have written askingfor explanation on the Honorary mem­bership. It is gi,:"en to a person whogives outstanding contributions to thewargamers advancement. It is a lifelong membership and the holder is en­titled to all privileges as other membersonly without paying dues. Other Honor­ary members not listed in the news­letter are Sgt. Zocchi no. 4 and DanielHughes, no. 7.

"Mr. Bodenstedt has written to meand it has been decided that the GamesCommittee be re-named the Games andRules Committee. This committee will

function to interpret rules and makeplay balance changes subject to m'yveto.

"New league address - Avalon HillP-B-M League, 6413 Austinburg Road,Ashtabula, Ohio 44006."

Laurence Plumb

126 Washington HighwayAmherst, New York 14226

Avalon Hill P-B-M League

AREA NEWS ...

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THE GENERAL

AH rules should be sent to AH---Themost popular game in the Southeast ap­pears to be Waterloo, with D-Day aclose second- - -I would like to hear fromall LeMans fans and particularly thosewho have designed new cars and COUrs­es---As yet, I have received nO lettersfrom the states of Tennesseeand Mis­sissippi, get with it y'all! - uAny col­lege in the Southeast with an AH clubshould contact AH for publication, alsoplease inform me- - - To the Richmond,Virginia writer who neglected to signhis name: your plan for D-Day is work­able and I would like more details--­Anyone in D. C. wishing to engage theinfamous and illusive Brian Heavilyshould contact Marshall Cohen as he ismy agent in that area---Finally andbelatedly, many thanks to former editorVictor Madeja for his ideas which help­ed to formulate my last column.

Maybe next issue I may get to tacticsin The Bulge.

MidwestMyron R. Bruodage330 W. DickensChicago, Illinois 60614

EDITOR - covering Ohio, Indiana, Illi­nois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota,Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana.

Report On CorrespondenceMyron R. Bruodage & Wife

Since becoming Midwest Editor,have received a fair amount of mail.It is mostly coocerned with g~mes'whichA. H. fans have built. All of the games,of course, were of a military nature.Among the titles were: Ambush: VietNam, Korea, Tactics III, WW I, WW II,etc. The boards for some of thesegames ranged in size from the standardA. H. hex size of 22" x 24" to the walland floor sizes of 9' x 6' and 22' x 20'one N. U. student, the owner of thatmonster 22' x 20' board claims to havein his game room at home some "42hand made ones of no less size than 48'x 4'." Can you imagine the size of hisgame room?

A good many of these games con­cerned with recent warS had air powerincorporated into them like that ofA. H. 's Midway or Bulge. It would ap­pear that interest has been growing inAir Power in Land & Naval Battlegames ever since Midway came out.

A Plainwell, Michigan fellow has aga me boa rd on which he can play anybattle from 2750 B. C. to today and aBronx New Yorker is working on agame based on Napoleonic Naval War­fare using .)D counters.

One of my p. b. m. opponents of Nor­walk, Conn. has a ready to go navalbattle game of the WW I battle of Jut­land.

The ad that I placed in the May Issuefor postcards from A. H. fans in myarea didn't draw what I expected, buta few fans sent cards. From them Ifound that most fans preferred LandBattle over Air & Naval Battle, and thatmost everyone ownS A. K., Stalingrad,Tactics II, D-Day, Bulge or Midway.One interesting item that came out ofthe cards was: "How in the H--- didLouisiana end up in the midwest?"Well, all I can say is: "Only AvalonHill knows r "

The letter that interested me mostcame from a former U. S. Army Of­ficer and veteran of the Viet Nam war.His letter praised Avalon Hill gamesand made some very wise points onTactics. It said, A. H. games "are agood training ground for expanding asoldier's mind, if he would be a goodcommander' and 'They are also a goodplace to practice the Principles of War;for, generally speaking, he who makesbest use of them prevails." He told methat thru his years of experience as aprofessional soldier he has learned thatthere were no "mysterious secrets be­yond the Principles of War' and it ismerely 'excellence in execution' thatleads constantly to Victory. II I thinkhis points are well made and could betaken to heart by all A. H. players whowould wish to be victor s rather thanlosers.

In closing I would like to publiclyproclaim my appreciation in Tom Bos­seIer's column which I feel is a greataid to furthering ones' skills at A. H.games. (I hope this doesn't give him aswollen head.) It's the first place Iturn to when I receive my issue of the"General." That is, after reading mycolumn.

would like to hear more from youfans on how you feel about A. H. games,etc. Would you like to see A. H. pub­lish more Air Power games? Do youfeel that A. H. should clarify rules,such as, does a rule that appears inone A. H. game apply in another gamein a similar situation. Your suggestions,questions, ideas, and wants can betterhelp A. H. and I in serving you better.

VVest

Stan WolcottP. O. Box 381Hastings, Nebraska

EDITOR - covering North Dakota, SouthDakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana,Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wash­ington, Oregon, Alaska, Canada.

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Odds Computationby Stan Wolcott

There exists in Avalon Hill gamestoday, something which has botheredme for quite sometime. What I speakof is the manner in which combat oddsare arrived at.

The Status Quo

The present method is as follows(quoting from the WATERLOO instruc­tion sheet): "Round off all battle oddsin favor of the defender. For example,if battle odds are 29 to 10, thus lyingbetween 2 to 1 and 3 to 1., it is roundedoff to 2 to 1. In other words all frac­tions are rounded off in favor of thedefender." This to me seems grosslyunfair to the attacker and overly gen­erous to the defender. Sure, examplescan be found in military history of outnumbered forces defeating or gettingthe best of the enemy, but these wereexceptions rather than the rule. Wesaw above that odds of 29 to 10 wouldbe converted to 2 to 1, if we would fol­low AH's formula, i. e., "all fractionsare rounded off in favor of the defender. "He re the fraction would be 9/10, prac­tic ally another whole multiple, yet it isignored and the battle is fought as a 2to 1. Thus, AH has, in effect, createda situation tantamount to a militarymiracle.

Insult to InjuryAs this were not enough of an lllJUS­

tice to the attacke r, 10 and behold camean even stiffer measure with AFRIKAKORPS. The odds computation tablewhich superceded the old slide-rulecomputer, let it be known that hence­forth such conditions would exist mak­ing it possible for odds of 6 to 7 tobe converted to 1 to 2 or odds of 4 to 9to become 1 to 3. Hard to believe isn'tit? Yet that's exactly what they did.Some of you will say, "Well what greateffect can come from just that smallchange in procedure." The truth of thematter is, that it changes the whole at­mosphere of the game. The attacker ismore reluctant to attack; he'll makefewer spoiling attacks and less soak­offs. It was no longer fun to be theattacker!

The Corrective MeasureTo correct this situation, which has

gone beyond the point of endurance, Isimply modified the existing rules inone important way. Whereas up to nowall fractions had been rounded off infavor of the defender, now only fractionsof 1/2 or better would be rounded off.For example, a 4 to 9 would be a 1 to2 because 4 when divided into 9, leavesa fraction of only 1/4. Odds of 4 to 10

THE GENERAL

however; would be a 1 to) becauseherethe fraction would' be 1j 2. Anotherchange which I included was that notonly would the defender get the benefitof the fraction, but also the attacke r.Going back to that 29 to 10 which wespoke about previously, under the n,ewrule it. would become a 3 to 1 instead ofa 2 to 1 since the fraction is 9/10. Oddsof 14 to 5 would be a 3 to 1 also, sincethe fraction is greater than 1/2.

A Better WayThat then is my system of odds

computation. I feel it is vastly superiorto AH's method and that it greatly im­proves the play of the games. To rein­terate, the system involves only thesetwo steps: (1) Divide the smaller fac­tor, whether it be attacker or defender,into the larger and obtain a quotient;(2) If the fraction is greater than 1/2,go to the next higher or lower odds asthe case may be, the recipient beingthe one with the larger factor.

Questions?

If you have any questio'}s or com­ments concerning this article, pleasewrite to me about them; I enjoy hearingfrom you and would like to learn whatyou, the reader, think.

Concerning last issue's article onWATERLOO defense, I have receivedmany letters, the greater part being ofthe "I doubt it" variety. One such let­ter, from Richard Shagrin (Albuquerque,N. Mex.), has challenged me to a PBMgame to show me the error of my ways.I've hardily accepted his challenge, forI'm as much in doubt about the worth ofmy idea as he is and I'd like to find outhow it will go. I'll try to keep youposted about the progress of the gamein future columns.

AH comment: the "odds computation"method employed by Avalon Hill formany years has been quite a bone ofcontention .•• and many players havefelt the same way as Stan Wolcott. Indefense of their system, Avalon Hillfeels that the carryover point, whetherit be exactly on the whole number as itis now or on the 1/2 way point as sug­gested above is somewhat immaterial.It behooves the players, themselves, tobetter plan their attacks so that they donot wind up with the 29-10, 6-7 odds,etc. Future combat results tables, likethe new one in Battle of the Bulge, willreflect corrective measures in thetables, themselves, rather than in themethod of computing the odds. Thusthe making of battle results relativelymore. favorable to the attacker, ac­complishes the same end results asdoes Mr. Wolcott's suggested correc­tive measure.

SouthwestTom A. Bosseler5423 Fallbrook AvenueWoodland Hills, California

EDITOR - covering Oklahoma, Texas,New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Cali­fornia, Hawaii, Far East.

Problems and Solutionsby Tom Bosseler

In this is sue's column many tacticaland strategical problems which myreaders have faced will be presented.First, you will read the situation, de­cide on what you would do, and then seethe solution.

WATERLOO

Situation: By 1 PM on the first daythe French have taken Quatre Bras.The losses to all three armies has beenquite low. Because of an excellentholding attack the Prussians have beencut-off from the Anglo-Allies. It isvery apparent that the Allies can nothold out for long.

Solution: The Prussians must attackthe French immediately. Any with­drawal to Wavre would allow the Frenchto completely smash the Allies. Theattack must be directed toward Genappe.If the Prussians attack toward the rearof the French it will be ea sy for theFrench to delay them. If, however, theattack comes directly on the flank theFrench must engage them. Now allthat is needed is for the French andthe Prussians to exchange casualties ...

In the original game the Prussiansswung around the rear of the French atthe slopes of QB. By careful delayingthe French was able to cut through toWaterloo before the Prussians had evenadvanced to Gennappe.

D-DA Y

Situation: The Allies are firmlya­shore at LeHavre. They have capturedDieppe, LeHavre, Rouen, and Mantes.It is the beginning of the 4th week andthe German reserves have just arrived.The south part of the Seine, the Somme,and the Oise are in German hands. Isit possible for the Allies to break out?

Solution: It seems here that theGerman made his biggest mistake bycompletely writing off the possibilityof an attack at LeHavre. This probablyallowed the Allies to capture Rouen andMantes an'd thus divide the Germans in-

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to two parts. -Now all the Allies haveto do is attack before the German. Twounorthodox 2 to 1's across the Seinewould not only' insure the breaching ofthat river but also leave the Alliesenough strength and mass to carry outattrition attacks across the Somme.For every unit the Allies lost anotherwould get to the front immediately butthe Germans, because of their hairyexterior lines will eventually have toretreat.

In the actual ganle the attacks acrossthe Seine were the turning point of thecampaign. Here, the Allies managedto drive almost unopposed to the Meusethus forcing the retreat of SuperiorGerman forces in the North.

MIDWA Y

Situation: The Japanese, in an effortto create powerful air attacks has group­ed all his ships together. The Ameri­can upon finding such a concentrationwonders how it is possible to attackwith any success.

Solution: It seems to me that theJapanese has left himself out on a limb.If the American attacks the Japanesecannot strike back the next turn becausehe doesn't dare ready any of his car­riers. This will allow the American torefuel his planes free from any air at­tacks. The Japanese c,an still get powerfrom a scattered fleet ifhe concentrateshis attacks.

In the actual game theAmerican wasable to sink both the Soryu and the Kagabefore the Japanese could even attack.

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I would very much appreciate anycomments any of you have out the;re.It's obvious that all the above situationsare correctly diagnosed, so I wouldvery much enjoy to look over any oddsituations you might have.

Who Says "Bulge"

IS Unbalanced??by David Arneson

First off I would like to say some­thing about that column in the July"General" that said "Bulge was un­doubtedly one of the worst AH games."I disagree 100%. This game is One ofyour all time greats. It is perfectlybalanced the way it is right now. In allthe tournament games played in ourclub we have found it to be so well bal­anced that even one battle or maneuvercould change the entire outcome of thegame. In other words any action couldand has decided the outcome of thegame. Here are some of my opinionson what Private Marc Nicholson said.

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THE GENERAL

The basic game is by far the hard­est for the Germans to win becausethey cannot advance. Engages of cour s edo hold them up more but because thebasic game' is for beginners ... this isalright. The statement that the Ger­manS do not need any forts is absolutelythe end. How are they supposed toprotect their southern flank south ofBastogne ... set up no trespassing signsto stop Patton's Third Army, or per­haps they should tie down half a dozendivisions trying to 'stop them in theopen while carrying on an offensive. Notto mention the fact that if any drive ismade in corps strength it would furtherweaken the Germans because of thenecessity to withdraw a division or twoto drive it back.

I agree with the tactical air powerto some extent and that it should beadded to if the allied is not well ac­quainted with the game. But I do notbelieve that the allied player should beallowed to use more than six factorsper turn and not used at all when astrategic air attack is launched (theallied air force would have to put theirall into the attack). As far as the un­certain order of appearance goes itdoes everything but give the game to theallies. On the turn after the two SSpanzer divisions comes in the Ameri­cans get in 14 regiments to reinforcetheir positions there by nearly doubl­ing the size of the defenders. By get­ting their new armour in just previousto this the Germans have a chance tobreak into the open and force the U. S.to put the new troops into the line andnot launch a big counterattack. Thisrule probably seals the German chanceof victory against a well entrenchedenemy that is able to raid your linesand reinforce his engaged units andgenerally slow down the Germans to acrawl if not stop them.

Nicholson's next suggestion is sen­seless: occupy Elsenborne ridge in­deed ... how do you think the Germansare going to get the Spa without cross­ing the ridge in two places. All thisrule does is tie up one more Germanunit and wipe out anyone trying to de­fend the ridge against the German ar­mour, not to mention the fact that theGermans could cross the mountainswe st of Stavol t and cut off the defender s.

His last point has some merit for apoor allied player but as it is it makesa German victory impossible. All theallied player has to do is use theseunits to hold up the Germans on thesecond turn while the combat unitsbuild their forts. When this line isbroken they set up another and so onuntil the Germans casualties makeadvance impossible. The delaying unitsalone could hold up the Germans forthree days and each time they're usedit gives a combat unit behind it time to

build a line of fortifications that takestime and troops. It is unreasonable toexpect three panzer divisions to sup­port troops for 12 hours. I insteadsuggest a variation of this to a morereasonable ruling. The blocking unitscan only be made by a division and notby regiments. In order for a divisionto establish the road block it shouldhave two regtls left unengaged and atleast One of them has passed throughthe square. The German should be ableto gain a automatic victory over the de­fenders and all subsequent units thatpas s through the square have 1/2 ofthere remaining movement lost (basicmovement). The requirements for thisare as follows. On rough terrain roadyou heed 18 factors also in towns andbridges. They'need 9 factors in woodsquares. The reason you need a divi­sion is that each division had a recon­battalion attached to them which wasfor the most part independent of the in­fantry units, otherwise if you use theregiments it would reduce their combatby 15"/0 with casualties and all. I alsofeel that the German armored divisionsand the two para-units should also beable to construct delaying units. DavidArneson, 1496 Hartford Ave., Minn­eapolis, Minn.

A Plan for Amateur

YOn Runstedtsby Mathew Buynoski

Anyone who has ever played theBulge Germans knows that, if he dis­sipates his strength in three directions,toward Spa, along the Vielsalm-Hottonroad, and from Clervaux to Bastogneand Houffalize, the American use ofterrain (especially on the northern halfof the board) can slow him down untilit is too late to win, or stop him alto­gether. If the German commandersplits his tank divisions, this is evenmore valid since the overwhelmingmass supplied by these units is spreadout and wasted.

To remedy this, I offer German com­mander s the following plan:

1) concentrate as many units aspossible (especially panzers) in onespecific ZOne of attack.

2) try to concentrate the main Ger­man effort along the sides of a triangleSt. Vithc Clervaux-Bastogue & Houffalizeand meetup in the Bastogne-Houffalizewith all panzer divisions.

3) defend the rest of the front aslightly as is safely possible, thus free­ing more infantry units for the "supremeeffort. "

By following these directions, theGerman gains the following:

1) he avoids the miserable terrain

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On the northern half of the board.2) will outflank the entire northern

half of the board from his position atHouffalize (this becomes even morepronounced as the Germ2.ns push 'a bitnorth. By reaching Manhay, they forcethe U.S. to evacuate the Vielsalm-Hottonsupply route).

3) concentrate a mas sive for ce ofbig units at one point, a concentrationwhich usually results in breakout and,incidentally, the fastest and strongestunits in the German army being avail­able to exploit a breakout.

The general plan goes somethinglike this. The German starts by attack­ing St. Vith savagely while grindingover Clervaux and the mountains aroundit. After taking St. Vith, the Germansclear the hills dominating the St. Vith­Houffalize road (absolutely necessaryas a supply route; there is no other.Unfortunately, the German C. O. willfind that this plan has a decided lack ofsupply routes until he is well past Houf­falize). Meanwhile the Southern forcehas, with its 2 parachute and 3 panzerdivisions, hammered through the moun­tains between Clervaux and Bastogne.Now, in one huge drive, all the Ger­man forces in the St. Vith area comeroaring down the road to Houffalize,and, li,!king up with Southern force onthe left flank, crashing into Bastogne,penetrating to La Roche and the roadjunction just north of Houffalize. Inone fell swoop, 7 panzer, 2 parachute,and several infantry divisions will blasta h~le in the U. S. defensive wall. Thisis the most critical stage: if Bastognedoesn It fall, the lack of supply routeswill kill the offensive, and if the U. S.forces in Vielsalm aren 't forced to with­dra w by turning their flank, i. e. theManhay-Houffalize road, then the frontbecomes so long that too many troopsare tied down protecting the flanks andthe offensive dies from lack of troops.Once, however, the critical stage ispassed, Bastogne taken, and the Hotton­Vielsalm route cleared, the rest is agrand sweep from the Ourthe River toRochefort and Marche to the Meuse andvictory! Usually, by this time the onlyhope the U. S. player has is to delaythe Germans in the woods bottlenecks

at Marche and Rochefort and attack onthe flanks. To counter this, take alongplenty of infantry to help hammerthrough the woods, and guard the flankswith only as much is as needed, but nomore. (Leaving too much on the flartkssuddenly causes a disappearance of themassed armor spearhead). The effortof stopping the main German'drive willusually preclude anything but minorefforts in the flanks areas. If, however,the U. S. player does take the' pressureoff the spearhead and concentrate onthe flanks, then push acros s the Meusewith about whatever seems necessary

THE GENERAL

to insure that even in some units are€limo that the r.emainder will be over

the required 50, and send what is need­ed to stall the U. 5. drives. Don't for­get that all a German Co. has to do iskeep over the Meuse for 4 consecutivesupplied turns. Don't waste units toinsure that the supply route will be safeon the 5th turn; the game is over bythen.

If German troops manage to capture5pa (by U. 5. withdraw) then use moreunrts on the Danks and send over the

Meuse the 5 units needed for victory.However, don't try to take 5pa forciblyby campaign. Doing so requires a lotof units committed in rough, woody ter­rain, and will, if too much effort isinvolved, lead to the failure on the maindrive.

50, if you're a German frustratedby terrain, bottlenecks, and U.5. dog­gedness, try this non- sure-fire plan.

Don't Help the"Poor Americans"

by Bill Whitake r

I have found by reading Marc Nichol­son's article in the July, 1965 issue ofthe General and by talking to somefriends that if one begins by playing theBasic Game of "Bulge" he loses allsense of proportion and sinks to thedepths of despair where he wallows inself-pity until some joker comes alongwith "play-balance" to bail him out.

However, should One take the bull bythe horns and start immediately withthe Tournament version, his vision andinsight remain unimpaired and he cancontinue to play the game until experi­ence turns the tide for the U. 5. player.

To Marc Nicholson I offer my con­gratulations for sticking his neck out,and my sympathy if 5/5gt. Zocchi getshold of it, which he mo st certainly will.Below is an attempt to soften the blow.

I shall begin my plea for the Ameri­can by recounting a "Bulge" game be­tween two reasonably competent wa r­gamers who shall remain nameless.Both had played with each other severaltimes and each was confident of finalvictory. Neither had a reputation fortelekinetic control of the dice.

Sixth Panzer Army (5. 5. )155/I;'eiper (pz) S5-6155/4 (pz) same155/2 (Pz-Gdr) same

955/18 (pz) 55-7955/19 (pz)

same955/10 (pz-Gdr)

same

18/35 (Volks)

55-818/36 (Volks)

same

26/51 (Volks)

same

26/52 (Volks) UU-9

62/23 (Volks)

sanlC62/24 (Volks)

same

340/679 (Volks)

UU - 10340/680 (Volks)

same

560/915 (Volks)

UU-II560/916 (Volks)

UU - 13

Fifth Panzer ArmyLehr/l (pz)

QQ- 28Lehr/2 (pz)

sameLehr / I (Pz- Gdr)

00-26

2/7 (pz)

00- 252/8 (pz)

QQ-172/17 (pz-Gdr)

55-15

116/310 (pz)

00-25116-312 (pz)

san1e116/406 (pz-Gdr)

55-15150 (pz)

sarTlE::'

3/13 (Fl)

00- 223/14 (FI)

00- 263/15 (FI)

sanlC

12/23 (Volks)

UU-1412/24 (Volks)

SalTIe

277/553 (Volks)

00- 24277/554 (Volks)

same

79/153 (Volks)

PP-1979/154 (Volks)

sanlC

326/561 (Volks)

PP- 27326/562 (Volks)

same

5eventh Army5/7 (FI)

RR- 285/8 (FI)

SanlL'5/9 (FI)

same167/·333 (Volks)

VV - 3 0167/334 (Volks)

same

276/551 (Volks)

UU-30276/552 (Volks)

same

352/703 (Volks)

TT-30352/704 (Volks)

same

Once this is set up one can readilysee that the German player is slightlyunorthodox in his ways, His luck withthe die was average, but all of his majorgoals were accomplished. It remainedfor the American to hold tenaciouslyuntil help arrived. His attempt did noteven have the distinction of failingmiserably, but was merely mediocre.He did, however, succeed in buildingup a fortified line short of the Meuse

which the German had to punch his waythrough. This forced him to strip awaysoine of the units guarding his line ofsupply (which he did not need at thattime because he still was On interior

PAGE 6

liTH'S, but which h,· need(·d desperatelylater ).

Ev('ntually, the German drove acrossthe Meuse in three columns. The maincolumn was do\vn the center and COn­

sisted of three panzer divisions andthree volksgrenadier divisions. Anothertwisted south and, outflanking U .5. units,sealed off Sedan and struck north acrossthe Meuse. It consisted of three volks­grenadier divisions and one parachutedivision. The third column was in thenorth and consisted solely of armor.It was this that the American sniped atfor the rest of the ganle, using a singlearmored division and a single infantrydivision to tear into momentarily isolat­ed regiments and then withdrawingacross the river. It is this that is the

American's great resource, what 5/Sgt.Zocchi would call his "hidden power."In order to win he must make the mostof what little he has.

By this tin1e the German was stretch­

ed thin all along the "bulge" he hadcreated. The American's 22: A. M.reinforcements crushed the few volks­

grenadier regiments guarding the roadsto Diekirch and Martelange and pushednorthward, cutting the Nazi supply lines.By the time the German had moved

enough panzer units back east to try toguard his other supply lines and takeBastogne, the U. S. 23: A. M. reinforce­ments had pushed in at squares BB andHH and had completed the job of cuttingthe German's oupply lines.

Now the German was in trouble. Hestruck eastward with three panzer divi­sions, hoping to open One supply lineand hold it open for the four turns nec­essary to give him victory. He suc­ceeded, using his 23: A. M. reinforce­ments (which had come in on the roadat VV-17 and moved toward Clervaux)and his 26: A. M. reinforcements plusthe three panzer divisions, but theAmerican slipped around and cut thesupply lines farther west. With hisreduced movement rate, the Germanwas unable, in the face of U.5. airpower, to react quickly enough to themoves of fast American troops and hesurrendered his sword at the end ofhis 29: A. M. turn.

Thus, you can See that by tenaciousresistance until late in the game whenthe German has crossed the Me\ISe,the U. 5. player can, by counter-attack­ing at the sides of the board (instead ofdissapating his forces trying to cutdown the number of Germans across

the Meuse, which is a futile gesture),cut the German supply lines in time tosave the ele~tion for the D('mocrato,so to speak ...

W. H. Whitakc'r III, 26Yarmouth Lane, Media, Pa.

J

J

J:

1l

CONTEST NO.9

,-

THE GENERAL

Quandry at Quatre Bras- by Bernard W. Bopp

There have been several articlespublished in The General on defensivestrategies for Waterloo, Of these,consider Stan Wolcott's "Waterloo-ADefensive Strategy" (July issue) to bethe best, but it still does not detail aconcrete strategy for the PAA player.The PAA player should expect theFrench attack in three areas: Tilly,Nivelles, and Quatre Bras. 'Towardthis eC\d, the PAA forces should be di­vided iC\to three groups.

Tilly DefenseThe Tilly defeC\sive group should

coC\sist of four 6-4 uC\its, oC\e 4-4 uC\it,three 1-6 units, and two 2-6 uC\its. Putthe 6-4's OC\ the Tilly square and thesquare directly east of it. The PAAcommaC\der must bear in mind that thiscommand is basically independent, andcan be reinforced only with great diffi­culty. (An infantry unit at Quatre Bras,taking the northern route to Tilly, wouldrequire at least five turns to reach itsdestination.) The force is so consti­tuted that it can do one of three things:

A. If there is a strong French ad­vance down the Thil-Dyle River corri­dor, the units can gradually fall back,using their cavalry for delaying pur­po s e s.

B. If the advance is of mediumstrength, the units may counter-attack,then fall back and delay the weakenedFrench column.

C. If the attack is light or there isno attack, the units can be used to rein­force Quatre Bras, and possibly to at­tack the French units at Quatre Brasfrom the rear.

Quatre Bras DefenseThe Quatre Bras defensive group is

subdivided into two separate commands:A. Hill defense: one 6-4 unit, one

7-4 unit, and one 8-4 unit. The posi­tions (using the coordinates given in theMay '65 General) are 7-4:AA-25, 6-4:AA-26, 8-4:AA-27. This placementprecludes the French from getting 3-1odds against the hill position.

B. Southeast road defense: four 6-4units, two 4-4 units, three 1-6 units,one 2-6 unit, and one 2-4 unit. Theseunits guard the Quatre Bras road junc­tion itself. I generally position the heavyinfantry in stacks of two on squares Yand Z - 23. This group of units mustcounter-attack, since it is possible toretrea t only two square s without open­ing up the hill position to rear attack.If necessary, reinforce with the 6-4from the hill. If the attack on this posi­tion is not heavy, the units can be quick­ly transferred toNivelles or other criti­cal areas.

Nivelles DefenseThe strategy of the Nivelles group

is basically this: delay till Anglo-Alliedreinforcements arrive, then counter­attack. Generally the French use thefirst and second corps in the Nivellesattack. The French IIC cavalry can beat the Nivelles area by 11 AM. Themain body of infantry in IC and IIC willhave arrived by 3 PM. However, it ispossible to delay these units at leasttwo, and possibly three or more turnsby the adroit use of PAA cavalry andsmall artillery units, as described in

In this month's contest we have amultiple battle situation from the tourn­ament game of the Battle of the Bulge.The German forces (the lighter units)are attacking the U. S. Forces 'in andaround Bastogne. The German player'sobjective is to attack in such a way asto have the greatest chance of eliminat­ing the most U. S. units on this Turnregardless of its Own losses. In otherwords, the strategical premise for thismonth's contest is that you are to fightthe battles so as to have the highestprobability of gain regardless of losses.

Now refer to the Operations Sheet.As you can see the number of each U. S.unit in the battle is listed under the De­fenders Column. Under the AttackersColumn you are to write in the designa­tion number of the German unit that isattacking. If one German unit attacksmore than One U. S. unit, then the num­ber of the German unit is to be writtennext to each of them. See the hypo­thetical example:

ORDER OFDEFENDERATTACKERFIGHTING

BATTLES501

7, ~,17I502

?, /)J!3

HOW TO WIN

Ten (10) winners will be named.Winning entries will be those whereattacks have the greatest probability ofsuccess regardless of losses as deter­mined by The Avalon Hill Company. Incase of ties, earliest postmark entrieswill decide. Winners will be awardeda free Avalon Hill game of their choice.

HOW TO ENTER

This contest is free to all subscrib­ers. Simply fill in the Operations Sheetand mail to: The Avalon Hill Company,210 W. 28th Street, Baltimore, Mary­land 21211.

Entries must be postmarked no laterthan Sunday, October 10, 1965. Print

PAGE 7

Stan Wolcott's article. By then, enoughAnglo'-Allied reinforcements will havearrived to let you form a defensive linethree squares or so in front of Nivelles.Again, counter-attack is imperative.If possible, attack the French cavalry,since loss of these units will leave theFrench without "sacrifice" troops, andhe will be forced to use larger units atunfavorable odds,.

I have rejected Marc Nicholson's de­fensive plan because I feel it is wildlyoptimistic. Assuming the French I andIIC are dispatched to Nivelles, and IIlC

your name and address clearly andmake sure you list the game you wishas a winning prize. Those who do notwish to mutilate their magazine maysend a copy or photostat (naturally,only one to a subscriber allowed).

Operations Sheet

I DEFENDER

ORDER OF

ATTACKERFIGHTING

I

BATTLES

I501I

I

502

I

506

ICCRI

I327GI

I Name _I

I Address

I Ci ty _I

I ~:tate _I .I PnzeII

by Richard A. Shagrin

PAGE 8

Operation Robert - D-Day

Hints to All

Junior Bluchers

is an opening ~ct-up for thein D-Day. NanH'cI "Operationafter its crcatcr, Robert

BelowGernlansRobert"

Most of you haven't read the Water­loo rules closely enough. Almosteveryone I play, I find is calmly re­signed to counter-attacking Desnouettesand Dire and II corps horse artilleryin order to keep the hill in front ofQuatre Bras unoccupied by Frenchunits.·A 1-1-6 Prussian cavalry unitat FF35 or even EE35 will make it im­possible for those pesky cavalry unitsto get on BB31 and 32 from whence theymust be expelled with a certain amountof unnecessary danger to the P-A-Aunits involved. I have yet to see thedefinitive Prussian initial set up- -theone I use varies every time and is nobetter than fair- -but the major princi­ples to keep in mind include-'-Don't gettoo far from Quatre Bras--It could bevery embarrassing if the French raceyou to that Road Junction- -and win!Don't let French units control the road- - if they do it's a lot harder to get backto Quatre Bras. I suggest that the Prus­sians start out at row DD or furthersouth- - if you have a continuous line theFrench can't possibly block the roadwith their zone of control until you havea chance to withdraw to form a linealong 35 or 36 and stop up that funnelbetween Bohrs de Metz and the forestSoutheast of Quatre Bras. Of courseyou don't really want to withdraw--youhope that the French player is going tolet a corps or two be surrounded andeliminated. But if he is strong east ofQuatre Bras then he will be more thana match for you there--so use yourinterior lines to defeat II corps in frontof the hill! If the Frogs have QuatreBras by 5pm June' 16 you have done apoor job. One mOre point--hang On toyour cavalry--it's better to lose 20points of infantry and foot artillery than15 points of cavalry--you have to haveit for soaking off, building your groupsof two six pointers to 15 points, and todelay if he sends force down the secon­dary road to Wavre. Speaking of soak­ing off--keep a one pointer on 7,31, theforest square ready to be moved ontoAA31 to soak off. I can't think of anyother tricks I've found useful right nowbut I hope this will motivate someoneinto disclosing their pet ideas, too ...Richard A. Shagrin, U. of Washington,Seattle.

SEPTENBEH lX; 5

GOOD ONLY WHEN APPLIEDTOWARD THE PURCHASE OFAVALON HILL GAMES

The Coupon shown below is for the bene­fit of the full-year s)'bscriber. As SOOnas you have accumulated 4 such cou­pons, 1 each from this and succeedingissues, you are entitled to a $1.00 dis­count applied to the purchase of anyAvalon Hill game.

Dis(ount Offer.

25¢ 25¢'SAVE THIS COUPON

For full info. write: Mr. DonaldFeatherstone, 69 Hill Lane, Southamp­ton, Hants, Great Britain.

If you ~ike the "General", you'lllove Donald Featherstown's "Wargam­er's Newsletter". This British publica­tion goes considerably deeper into theart of war gaming than does this maga­zine. Because war gaming has alwaysbeen of great interest overseas, quitea large group of Avalon Hill aficionado'shave bee-n cultivated by the Wargamer'sNewsletter in this overseas market.

Here I S how it works

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Coupons are valid only when order­ing games by mail directly from TheAvalon Hill Company. Coupons can notbe redeemed at any retail outlet.

the Prussian IVC comes on, it's alldownhill from there. For you Napoleonfans, I hope to write an article on howyou can counter the above ·strategy (ifit's possible). I'd appreciate your com­ments, criticisms, and/or laurelwreaths. Bernard W. Bopp, 2117Bogart Ave., New York, N. Y. 10462.

Wargamers Newsletter

From England

Waterloo enthusiast, Harold Rabino­witz, informs us of plans for a re-enact­ment of the battle of Richmondtown ofRevolutionary fame. Scheduled for theSpring of 1966, Honorary Major Rabino­witz states that the 17th Regiment ofLight Dragoons are forming now andsuggests that interested persons writeto him at 215 Hart Blvd. , Staten Island,New York.

THE· GENERAL

is in front of the Quatre Bras hill toprevent a withdrawal of PAA units, theFrench still enjoy a 23 factor superiori­ty over the Prussians. This superioritywould very likely prove fatal for thePAA.

I can't guarantee a win for you if youuse my plan, but if you can survive till

Every "driver" spun out in the LeMans racing contest of last month. Notone contestant crossed the finish line.But' we. did not revoke any driver'slicenses' b~cause the poor-driving re­sulted from a rather po·or day with the"dice." As a matter. of facf, 5 stocksout of the 10 provided all ended up witha sales-in-hundreds digit of "6" whichwas a "spin-out" number. Were thelaw of averages working correctly,there should have been 6 ·"safely cor­nered" results out of 10. However,only 4 such rel5ults came up thus it wasimpossible for any contestant ·to finishthe race. Therefore, the contestantswho drove the furtherest in the race be­fore eventually spinning out were de­clared the winners. Only Floyd Car­rington, whose entry just got in underthe deadline, got as far as the fifthcorner before spinning out. The re­maInIng winners, shown below, gotthrough 3 consecutive cornerS.

1. Floyd Carrington, Widener Lane,Southampton, N. Y.

2. Ed Birsan, 48-20 39 Street, L. I.City, N. Y.

3. William Barilka, 1509St. Charles,Lakewood, Ohio.

4. Terry Sweet, 447 Broadway,Bangor, Pa.

5. Lawrence Kuenning, 15261 PineLane, Lombard, Illinois.

6. Bruce Klem, 2463 So. 80 h St.,·West Allis, Wisconsin.

7. Bob & Steve Reusclein, 2225Keyes Ave., Madison, Wise.

8. Bob Jameli, 516 East DiamondAve., Hazleton, Pa.

9. Niels Holtet, 8516 N. GreenwoodAve., Niles, Illinois.

10. Mike Haney, 7411 Ash, Raytown,Missouri.

Subscribers Drive Wild

Race in Contest #8

THE GENERAL PAGE 9

Perfect Russian Placement

d-36e-34b-36c-36

163

4

Armored15 x-IS2 ee-127 ~

It can be seen after examlnlng thegraph that 1/3 & 2/1 are the most de­sirable odds to have your enemy attackat from the standpoint of his losingplanes.THIRD: c. Finally, attempt to pre­serve as many of your ships as pos­sible. This may seem self-evident,but the temptation is to put this stepahead of destroying the enemy's planes.The main point is: don't be afraid tosacrifice some of your ships to saveothers. It is better to have a smallernumber of combat ready ships than agreater number mostly handicappedand disabled.

The Japanese definitely have the ad­vantage in this game although the gameis· not as inevitable as, say AFRIKAKORPS under the old rules: the Amer­icans with a little luck have an excellentchance to win. The most successfulwinning tactic to date has been the for­mation the second day of a cruiserscreen two columns wide and strechingfrom 1 to 7 up and down the board withone heavily protected Japanese advanceforce of two or so heavy carriers andbattleships and a rear force of the re­maining carriers behind the screen.This tactic takes some maneuvering bythe Japanese to keep from being eatenup piecemeal, but done right it can forcethe American back into successivelysmaller area of the board.

Comments?

"I think I have found the perfectRus­sian initial placement", says ScottGeller, 7740 Summerdale Avenue,Philadelphia. While we consider thisa rather biased opinion our test panelthought it deserving of publication.There are some "loopholes" so we sug­gest some of you above-average playersto give a challenge to the author.

Here is his starting placement:

Russian Order of Battle

s

1<>

I~

Below is a graph showing the total num­ber of planes that could be lost in eachof the odds columns - 1/3, 1/2, 1/1,etc. :

2. Avoid being found during the dayand launch as crushing a blow as pos­sible at 1700 Hrs. Thus although theattack gives away your position you havetwo night turns to ready your planesand get lost again. In fact, this can begeneralized to trying to be sure oflaunching your attack from an unknownposition to avoid retalliation.

3. When setting up and playing thebattle board, I have found these generalpriorities to be useful:FIRST: a. Attempt to preserve yourown carriers and sink your enemy's.Your carriers are the heart of yourfleet. Besides being worth the mostpointwise, they also have a distressinghabi t of carrying too many of your planesdown with them if they are sunk. A senseof perspective should be maintained,however. If several of your carriersare traveling together and are attacked,don't be afraid to accept the automaticsinking of one to save another. Accept­ing poor odds on .all your carrier s toooften means the sinking of all your car­rie r s.SECOND: b. Attempt to cause yourenemy maximum casualties when he at­tacks - especially in his torpedo squad­rons, his most flexible weapon. Evenif a ship is going down for sure attemptto take as many of his planes as possiblewith it. A little analysis is useful here.

dlscouraging fact has forced me to avery practical measure. I have pur­chased several plastic fishing tackleboxes with the insides divided up intomany small compartments; thus allowingeach type of counter to be kept in its ownbox compartment which cuts down dras­tically the time required to set upMIDWAY. While I was at it, I boughta box of toothpicks. By using these onthe battle board to show which group ofsquadrons each ship is firing at it ispossible to keep track of even verylarge ahd complicated battle situationssimply. One may tell at a glance whichships he has already planned the fire ofand which ships he has left to fire withat the remaining attacking squadrons.

Certain things about the game havebecome evident to me and I would valueany comment on these thoughts. Al­though each tatical situation is unique initself, general guide-lines appear toapply:

1. When searching always call outsolid blocks of areas. Of course, if youfind what you were looking for, startcalling another section. Even if youdon't find him in this block, at least youknow where he isn't; and that can bevery valuable knowledge itself. TheAmerican can always be certain of atleast the general Japanese dispositionby calling blocks at the beginning of thegame.

245 T-43 2430-17165

T-43 348P-17265

R-44 48T-14343

R-44 47T-14712

P-45 l6lw.U-13347

P-45 158V-12266

M-44 326W-12171w.

M-44 244Y-11346

1-44 708Y-11159

A- 37 182BB-9242

D- 31 338CC-8181w.

D-26 148DD-7189

C-23 319DD-7157

B-21 719EE-6344

G-21 709FF-5711

K-16 716FF-549

FF-5INFANTR Y

ARMOUR272

N-45276

N-45 11G-23277

E-27 9G-23331

M-20 1161- 21271

P-17 LehrK-18275

Q-18 21L-1877

R-16 12ssT-16353

R-16 2ssT-1691

BB-9 I ssx- 1384

CC-8 2Y- 1385

EE-6 . 9ssJJ-13352

DD-9 5lssEE-2349ss

EE-23PANZER GRENADIERS

106EE-23

17ss

M-1815ss

NN-325ss

NN-33ss

NN-3

STA TIC INFANTRY

Tho~ghts on Midway.by Carl F. Knabe II

In my opinion, the Avalon HillCompany has hit a new high in enter­tainment and realism! MIDWAY iswithout a doubt one of the most carefullythought-through game to date. I amconstantly impressed by its perfectionas I play it.

The Company has also hit another highwith this game: for the first time onecan spend almost as much time settingup' an AH game as playing it. This

Stephenson, 119 Juniper Road, Belmont,Mass., it is quite contradictory to theplans of the majority of players whosuggest that the Germans fall back tothe Seigfried line. This plan is basedon inflicting numerous casualties on theAllies before falling back. "I have yetto lose with this plan", states Mr.Stephenson who admits that it takes alot of strenuous labor and knowledge ofdefensive skills to make it work suc­cessfully. Here, then, is the openingGerman defense:

,f

THE GENERAL

Infantry65

ee-15 17x-2122

r-18 29j - 3 124

u-20 6411-1510

dd-15 13hh-1412

cc-15 37j - 3 15

y-19 36bb-154

ii-15 14aa- 15-8

hh-13 9v-1935

nn-15 3jj - 1516

nn-14 28w-192

s-18Cavalry11

kk-15 2f- 3542

t- 20 6s-1927

x-19 4ff-19

Operation ForceptsTactics II

by Terry Griner

This operation for the RED army isused in conjunction with the Replace­ment rule. Its main goal is to controlas much Blue terrain as possible withthe opening move. Cities, of course,are the main objectives. First, landthe 2nd PARA at 41-43 and move it to39-43. Start the 3rd ARM. Division in28-22 and move it along the road to40-41. Move the 4th ARM. through theport at 43-16 to sea and land it at 41­43. Drop the 1st PARA. in 22-38, thuscapturing Blue Capital and then move itby land to 24-35. Move the first MountDiv. through City 13-16 to sea and landit in the Blue Capital and move it to 23­37 where it can maintain control ofBlue Cap. Put the 5th ARM. to seathrough the Red Cap., land it in theBlue Cap. and move it to 25-34. Dothe same with the 25th INF. and moveit to 25-33.

Move 1st Arm. to sea through port12-16 and land it at 2-28. Then moveit to 4-32. Move the 2nd INF. to seaand land at 2-26, then moving to 4-31.Land the 2nd PARA at 41- 43 and moveto 39-43.

Next, move IV H. Q., 17th INF.,and 19th INF., out along the road to42-22, 42-23, and 42-24 respectively.Leave the 16th INF. to hold down City43-16 by moving it to that square andmove the remaining two IV Corps divi­sions to Northeast along the road to32-23 and 33-23. Move the 12th INF.to 31-34 and deploy the remaining fourinfantry divisions of the III Corps in28-31, 27-31, 30-31, and 31-31. MoveIII Corps H. Q. to 25-31.

Move the 1s t INF. to 3- 28 and the ICorps H. Q. to 7-16. Put remaining ICorps divisions (except the 2nd whichhas already been moved) in squares 8­14, 8-15, and 11-17. From these posi­tions, these troops can be sent to anycontrolled city by way of sea on thesecond turn.

Move II Corps H. Q. to 19-30 and the

2nd ARM. to 15- 3O. Place the II CorpsInfantry divisions in 10-32, 16-30, 17­30, 21-30, and 23-30.

Place the 6th ARM in 36-42 by mov­ing it to sea through Red Cap. and land­ing it in City 43-43, then moving it byland to that position. Spread out the21st through 24th Infantry Divisions in16-6, 13-15, 15-7, and 26-9. Theseunits, too will be ready to go wheremost needed on the second move.

Finish up by placing the remainingspecial units and H. Q. s as follows:1st A.G. H.Q. in 3-7; 1st Army H.Q.in 18-27; 1st AMPH. in 18-29; 2ndArmy H. Q. in 27-29; 2nd Mountain Div.in 31-32; and 2nd AMPH. in 16-7.

Care in the initial placement of theunits and in the use of road movementwill allow all units to reach the posi­tions indic.ated.

This plan accomplishes two veryimportant objectives. (1) The maindefense line of the river which runsalong vertical 26 has been completelycrossed, and can now be used as a lastminute defense line for Red if things gowrong. (2) Three Blue cities are nowin Red hands including the Blue Capital.If Red gets lucky, the troops can holdon in all three and Blue will only gettwo units at replacement time whileRed will get its full quota of 7. Bluewill not even be able to re -create anarmored division unless the blue armycan re-capture Blue Cap!

The odds are, however, that Bluewill re-take Blue Cap. but Red cansurely hold on to City 27-29 and withanything but the very worst luck, Redshould be able to keep control of City43-43. Even with bad luck, Red shouldat least be able to keep the city in dis­puted control, thus depriving Blue of areplacement for that city.

The rest of the game is simply aprocess of gradually wearing down theblue army with repeated attacks. Evenif Red loses one more unit than Blueeach turn, his vastly superior replace­ment rate will win for him.

I believe that the be st part about thisoperation is that win, or lose, the gamewill be exciting and fast moving with lit­tle chance of both sides settling downoneither side of the central riverline andwaging a war of attrition. If you usethis plan, I can promise you a fast mov­ing, action-packed game if not a surewin.

I would appreciate any comments orcriticisms on this operation. TerryGriner, Route One, Greenacres, Wash.

Probability for U-Boatby Jared Johnson

U-Boat is the one Avalon Hill gamein which luck plays a predominant part.However, the skill comes in being able

PAGE 10

to increase the odds in your favor.U-Boat, like most other Avalon Hillgatnes, is a mathen1atical game. Asuccessful player must know some ofthe fundamental laws of probability.

To the U-Boat player I offer one veryimportant piece of advice: Never fire~~ your torpedoes ~ the ~ square.In fact it is a good idea to not fire morethan one torpedo to anyone square. Thereason for this is a very simple lessonin probability. From here on I will as­sume that when the U-Boat fires tor­pedoes that the destroyer is within range,and that he will move more than onesquare. (If the destroyer moves onlyone square and stops, there is nothingthe U-Boat player can do about it. Hemust still increase his probability asmuch as possible in the case that thedestroyer does move n10re than onesquare.) Suppose the U-Boat player isgoing to fire the maximum nurnber oftorpedoes-four. He plans to divide themup among the three squares that the de­stroyer can reach on his second move.The best way to do this is to fire twotorpedoes to square A, one torpedo tosquare B, and one torpedo to square C.Notice that if the destroyer moves intosquare A, that there is a 50% chancethat the second torpedo will be complete­ly useless. (He may be sunk by the firsttorpedo.) This is the reason for notfiring more than one torpedo to the samesquare. Each succeeding torpedo has arapidly diminishing chance of scoringa hit. The second torpedo has a chanceof 1/2 x 1/2= 1/4 or 25%. The 'thirdtorpedo· has a chance of 1/2 x 1/4= 1/8or 12.5%.

Let us analyze the above situation.If the destroyer moves into square A hehas a 75% chance of being sunk, and afifty percent chance in each of squaresBand C. (75% + 50% + 50%) +3 = a58.30/0 probability of getting sunk, Idivided by the number of squares thedestroyer could reach on his secondmove (three) to determine the averageprobability.

Now suppose the U-Boat fires allfour torpedoes to square A. His chancesof sinking the destroyer are (93.75% +0% + 0%) + 3 = 31. 25%. This is barelyhalf the chance.

There are two more combinationswhen firing four torpedoes. If theU-Boat fires two to square A, two tosquare B, and none to square C, hisprobability of sinking the destroyer is50%. If he fires three to square A, oneto square B, and none to square C, hisprobability is 45.8%. Remember, I amassuming that the destroyer n10ves morethan one square.

The following is a chart containingall of the combinations for firing tor­pedoes to the three squares the destroy-

(Continued on Page 12)

THE GENERAL

OPPONENTS WANTED

FSU student needs opponent in mostany AH war game. For those generatenot in the great state of Florida, I willplay PBM games if necessary. Con­tact: William H. Creamer, 120 West

Vir~inia. Tallahassee, Florida.A challenge to all Reds! Play "LuckyMike" Corcoran in Gettysburg. Thisintrepid Yankee leaps over Pickettfences in a single bound! Member, WarHawks. Write: 4714 North Elkart,Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.Attention: AllAH players in the Atlanta,Georgia area. Anyone interested informing a club or playing any AH gamein person, please contact me. I am 17and own 19 AH games. Jared Johnson,1548 Recbelle Drive, Chamblee, Ga .•30005. Chamblee is a N. E. suburb ofAtlanta. No phone. yet.Achtung Komerads!! Wehrmachtfueh­rungs stab Der Deutchland challengesAllied players to D-Day, Bulge, AKand Stalingrad. Continuing za traditionof za Deutch Offizier Korps, we havecompiled a brilliant 427_41 record.WFSt/ c/o John Woyansky, 4205 E 186St., Cleve., Ohio 44122.Any Montgomery who thinks he canwithstand the onslaught of Afrika Korpsshould contact Ed Turner at 2725 VanDyke Ave., Raleigh, N. C. for a PBMgame. I will also play eye to eye in agame of Bulge, Gettysburg, Tactics,D-Day, or Afrika Korps. Phone 832­8104.Attention Western Democracies ariseand defend yourselves. The Fuhrersarmies are on the march. The 155Panzer Korps is ready to defend Fes­tung Europa in D-Day and to annihilatethe First and Third American Armiesin the Bulge. Gruppenfuhrer Steffan vanLackmann Gruppenfauhrer ISS PanzerKorps, 1107 Princeton Ave., Billings,Montana.We the members of the Avalon Hill Clubof NMB wish to challenge another clubin Tactics II by mail. Challengers mustbe able to meet together to plan moves.Also individual opponents for Waterloo,Stalin grad, D-Day, and Afrika Korps.Write: 1931 N/E 187 Drive, NorthMiami Beach, Florida 33162.To: Brian HeaveySubject: Another Meet between ourClubs.I challenge your club to either a threegame tourney or one game with a staff.One side shall pick the game, the otherthe side. Tony Ianescu, Chief of Staff,World Conquests Inc.H you think you have an invincible Rus­sian defense at Stalingrad why' not takean interesting lesson from: William J.M. Gilbert, 63 Pine Brook Drive, Larch_mont, New York 10538.Summer's gone, and the walls are be_ginning to close in again. There's notime to draw mapboards, but countersand hex sheets are still available. 81/2x 11 hex sheets.,.-36/$1.00. For infor­mation and samples, send a stampedenvelope to G-3, Ralph Fellows, Tre­mont Street, Duxbury, Mass. 02332.The Confederation of the West is goingto hold Elections. Vice-Controller, 2Deputy ContTollers, 6 AdministTators.Also, many Military C. O. '5 needed.Only Westerners. However, all eligiblefor the inteTnational club league mini­stry. Clubs should check into this.Tom Holsinger, 1429 CabTillo, Burlin­game, Calif. Send specs.Romans Unite under the glorious bannerof Spectre. Here is a golden oppoTtunityfOT anyone in the Utica-Rome area tohelp forge a second Roman Empire.Please write: RichaTd J. paracka, c/oJohn E. Begley, R. D. # 1 Main Street,Herkimer, N. Y. 13350.SpectTe Calls _ Wanted: Members forthe I corpos of Oklahoma branch of Spec­tre. Must live in CentTal part of State,if interested contact Steve Tinsley, 1505S. W. 61 Terrace, Oklahoma City, Okla­homa 73159.GeoTgians: There are only two mainclubs in Georgia~ World Conquest Inc.and cheap clubs. Some day there'll beonly one. Only one. Time stands inOUTway. All southern boys can help usby joining OUT clubs. Write StephenVoinche, Box 705, Cedartown, Georgia,C.S.A.Oregonians arise - send your name, ex­perience, games owned or available, toW. Gerald White, 4004 S. E. Pine 'St.,Portland, Oregon 97l14 ... Purpose: Toorganize and prevent infiltration bySpectre into the Northwest. Multi_playergames are being arranged with the East.Other benefits available. Unite Ore­gonians.

OPPONENTS WANTED

Desperate Wellington desires battle ex­perience in Waterloo no matter howdistasteful the results. Also anyone inthe Hyattsville, Md. area who wishesto game live call SP. ~-4243. Pmbterswrite: Donald Tracey, 3904 71 Ave.,Landover Hills, Maryland.Wanted: Opponent to play-by-mail orlive Afrika Korpll (British), Stalingrad(German), D-Day (Allied), Battle of theBulge. (American), Tactics II (either).Anyone interested write, Joe Mott, P.O. Box 246, Oakton, Va. 22114 orphone 385-7414.Wanted: One player dead or alive­pTeferably alive to playa game of Mid­way, Nieuchess, or Verdict II in deadlycombat. But I must warn you, yourcause is hopeless. If you are willingto try, contact Marvin Kenan, 802 Arl_ington Terrace, Hampton, Va. (Onlyface to face ).Any North Dakota or Minnesota AH fandesiring a good well played game ofStalingrad, D-Day or Tactics II in per­son or by mail, please contact me,Chris Hoyt, by telephone 594-4659, orby mail 269A Randolph Ave., GrandForks AFB, North Dakota 58201.Wanted: Play_by_mail opponents forStalingrad, Waterloo, Bulge, AfrikaKorps, Tactics II, or D-Day (orig.).I will take Germans, FTench, Germans,either, either, either. In my area willaccept live games of all above &: Gettys­burg '58, Chancellorsville, Midway andBismarck. I accept all challenges.Write Jeff Pulis, 2585 Harrison Ave.,Baldwin, New York 11510.New Yorkers arise, we are being sur­rounded by Spectre. All ready they arein Mass. and Penn. Join us inour driveto keep them out of. the greatest statein the Union. Join our "Good Ouys"Army write to: Edi Birsan, 48-20 39St., Long Island City, N. Y. 11101.The Generals of the Reno-Sparks, orout laying areas in Nevada, must or­ganize and defend Nevada's name fromforeigners like Jack Greene. Call ifyou have any AH game~ you may findsomeone you can beat. Call either PaulJ. EtcheberTY, Jr. at 323-7869, NealParsons at 329-7122, or Fred Howardat 329-9339.

Gettysburg Greenhorn desires compe­tition with an understanding veteran(Union or Confederate) or another greenhorn with some Play-By-Mail experi­ence. Have won 100% of games with mywife (but that's no great accomplish­ment, so don't let that dissuade you).Send openers to: G. Kleine, 8106 Michi­gan Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. 63111.New Subscriber wishes to make con­tact with others in like situation. N.Forrest, 1624 Nokomis, Dallas, Texas75224.Experienced DesertFox seeks qualifiedDesert Ratfink who thinks he can holdTobruch. Contact: W. H. Whitaker, 26Yarmouth Lane, Media, Pa. 19063.I challenge any German madman in agame of D-Day. I also play Midway(if you have a PBM system) and Gettys­burg '58 version. Please send openingmove to: Charles Wells, 7512 BelmontAve., Baltimore, Md. 21224.WIN, INC. (40 miles from Paris,France) needs members for out inter­national war club dealing with primarilywith intermember and inter club games.Your personal PBM record is kept withtop_winners becoming members of ourelite general staff. No experienceneeded. If interested send 25~ via air­mail to: Wayne Godfrey, c/o Lt. Col.Wayne Godfrey, Headquarters, U. S.Element, A. F. C. E. N. T., A.P.O. ­New York 09011.Wisconsinites, S. p. E. C. T. R. E. calls.Answer this by joining so we can de­feat the world of wargamers that areorganizing against us. Write: WilliamHoyer, 7833 W. Becher, West Allis,Wis. 53219. Also, I need opponents:Stalingrad, D-Day, Waterloo, Tactics,Gettysburg 64 and Afrika Korps.

Anyone living in the Pittsburgh areawho wants to play AH games or has aclub that would admit a teenager, con­tact me. Also, I will P-B-M Stl., Gd.,D-Day, Bulge, Midway, Tac. II, A. K.I'il take Ger., Allies, Ger., Amer.,eith., eith. Fred Kruger, 342 Canter­bury Dr., Pittsburgh, Pa. Phone 963­0692.Opponent wanted for either Afrika Korpsor Battle of the Bulge. Age around IS.Am inexperienced, (haven't even playedanyone yet) wish amateur player likemyself. Send letter to: David Marsh,201 Sea Gull Dr., Satellite Beach, Fla.

OPPONENTS WANTED

Californians, your State needs you.Enlist now in the army of tbe Confedera~tion of the West. Write today to Chiefof Personnel, Headquarters, SecondCorps, P. O. Box 8203, Long Beach,California.Boston college student will play D-Day,(both sides), Stalingrad (both sides),Waterloo (P-A-A), Afrika Korps 164,(German). Tactics, adjusted rules.College-level players preferred. GeorgePhilliea., Room 156 Burton House, 410Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Mass.The MIT War Games Society challengesthe cowards of Spectre to come out andfight. Any others fancying themselvesgood players are also welcome. Terms:Staling;:rad, both sides; D~Day, bothsides. Write: Stanley D. Hoffman, Apt.307,50 Masa. Ave., Cambridge, Mass.Ol139.Will playStalingrad (both sides), D-Day(both sides). Write: The Empire ofWilliamsville, c/o Hon. Sec., 101 Oak~J'trove Drive, Williamsville, New York.The Royal Army of Grand Fenwickwishe s to challenge anyone who willtake the following sidell: Stalingrad ~Russians, D-Day - Allies, Waterloo ­PAA, AK _ British, Bulge - Germans.Write to Dan Drewek, 311 West Lexing­ton Blvd., Milwaukee, Wis; 53217.Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag! Allloyal University of South Carolina Reb­els interested in starting an Avalon Hillclub contact John Rockholz, Building E,room 306.All Generals in the East bay area units.Either with the Supreme Commander,Larry Jagard, or with us, his followers.Guenn and John Hinkle, 45 LaSalle Dr.,Moraga, California.In desperate need of a Tactics II oppon_ents. Would use only isolation and re­placement. If interested, please con­tact: Philip Beasley, 522 W. Sec., Lib­by, Montana.Achtung! Kampfgruppe Maine is nowmobilizing! All MaineAH players wish­ing to join Spectre, please send name,address, age, and games owned to:Brian Libby, 16 William St., Portland,Maine 04103. We need you!Will anyone within a 10-mile radius ofBasking Ridge, New Jersey please con­tact Lew Mitchell III, 8 Lee Place, Bask­ing Ridge, N. J. I have most of the AHWar games, very few opponents, experi_ence (4 l/l years) and play the "Ulti_mate in Wargaming." Will teach newart or give good last_ditch stand.

University of Washington senior willplay_by_mail Waterloo and take P-A-Aagainst Lt. Generals, French againstGenerals and Field Marshals (pick yourown rank), New D-Day 65Allies againstLt. Gen., Germans against Gen. &: FieldMarshals, Stalingrad, Germans exceptagainst Field Marshals, Afrika Korpseither side but no Field Marshals needapply. (General) Richard Shagrin, 240724th Loop, Sandia Base, New Mexico87116.

To all spectre: Since reading youradvertisement, I have been unable tosleep. I and a few friends have bandedtogether to form a sroup called MI-5.We challenge all Spectre to any AH wargame, bar none, with only one restric­tion, will play German role in Stalin­grad only, (naturely not Russian). Foracceptances write Marting, 234 EastThompson', San Antonio, Texas 78225.Dusk is coming! Entirely New! Dusk(Del' Uberlegan Siegreich Kommando)is now being organized. Commandersare needed from every state in theUnion for Divisional and State com­mands. Will incorporate smaller in­dustrious groups and accept singlemembeTships. Contact immediately.Send name, age, number of games, ad_dress, experience, and questions to:Der Fuhrer Dusk, 441 Broadway, Ban­gor, Pennsylvania 18013.Desperately need opponents. WritePeter Reese, 5916 Sarah Court, Car­michael, California.Play-by-Mail opponents desired forAfrika Korps and Battle of the Bulge.Write Paul R. Johnson, Atk, 303, 4Ames StTeet, Cambridge, Mass.Must have battle with competent oppo~nents. Write Scott H. Savary, 116Canaan Court, Stratford, Conn.Opponents for Afrika Korps, D-Day andBulge a.re wanted by David G. Gruen­baum, 605 West 5th Street, Marysville,Ohio.Hot Arizonian wantB a cool opponent.Write Larry Himes, 4132 E. Waverly,Tucson, Arizona..

OPPONENTS WANTED

Oberkomm.ando Panzerfeber Midwestand Rostoy challenge aU worthy AvalonHill fanatice (or fanatical armies) to awar. Pick your own weapons--Afrika.Korpll, Stalingrad, D~Day, Battle ofthe Bulge, Midway, Gettysburg '61,Chancellorsville, Tactics II, Waterloo--or one of our own_~Coral Sea orGrand-Tactics. PBM or in person.Send all dispatcbes to Panzerfetzer­gruppenfuhrer Schaefer, 2709 NorbertSt., Flint, Michigan 48504. Heil SuvarovlA club called Dusk (Der Uberlegan Sie~g'Teicb Kommando) has been started inBangor, Penna.. The intent. of the clubis to go nationwide. After the club be_comes organized the members will haveplay-by-mail games and tournamentsarranged for them, if desired, betweenthe va"rious members, states} and divi­sionll. If interested please contact DerFuhrer/Dusk, 447 Broadway, Bangor,Penna.Wanted: Opponents for person-to-per­son combat living in or near MonroeCounty. I have Bis., Tac. II, Ak, MdWjy,BoB, and Waterloo. Contact KeithOschman, 5 Pleasant Way, Penfield, NewYork 14526 or call LU. 6-4896.I Purple Baron of Richmond proclaimthe East Bay of San Francisco to be theNew Switzerland of California! Allwars are off! We are now neutral andwill remain so. If any defeated gen­erals want to rest in a neutral cornerjoin up. But please only from the EastBay~ Contact Larry Jagard, 5300 Bar­rett Ave., Richmond, California.Join ESAC! New Eastcoast league fordestruction of all sadistic organizationll(i. e. Spectre, etc.). Features inter­league club vs club combat; ESAC vsany league/club and PBM player co­ordination according to personal abili­ties. Notice-All SE Pa. generals &:

club pres. 's get in contact with ESAC.Write OT call CG/ESAC Dave Weaver,717 Stockton Circle, Ridley Park, Pa.19078. Call LE. 4_1128.To: Any and all Connecticut AHplayeTs.From; Seventeenth Army HeadquartersSPECTRE, 15 Ludlow Manor, E. Nor­walk, Conn. 06855.Opponents wanted for any AH war game(in person or mail). Must be willing tosuffer defeat at the hands of the invinci­ble South Shore Viet-Minh. Also in­terested in converts (new members).Write Scott Palter, 6 Sterling Place,Cedarhurst, New York 11516.Attention Yankees: 9th Texas Corps,ConfedeTate Army of Central Pennsyl­vania, can defeat any force of mereYankees at Gettysburg (hexagonal). Ifyou desire to be beaten, write: E. A.Mohrmann, CG, 9th Texas Carps, Con­federate Army of Central Pennsylvania,209 S. Bisop St. #2. San Angelo, TexasAfter losing Stalingrad in five months,A. K. in four: 6 inexperienced kids forDiplomacy. Also, the Confederation ofthe West needs members and tap-flightgenerals like Kempsky, Karel, andPeTica's. Greene's will be exceptedreluctantly. Have fun and get experiencein our M. C. PBM league now. JackGreene, Jr., 670 Darrell Rd., Hills~borough, Calif. 94010. Get the imperial.Defenders of the empire state unite!The 2nd Spectre Army of New Yorkwants and needs all loyal New Yorkersfor play-by-mail commands. For in­formation write to LeonaTd Phillips,101 Maple Lane, N. Syracuse, NewYork 13212.Wanted: Opponents to play Tactics IIusing 1961 rules and opt. rule of isola_tion. By mail only - 2nd edition com­bat results. Table _ will take eitherside. Send first turn now. Hurry.Send to Hartford Club, c/o Sean Donohue,1209 Bluejay Drive, PGH, pa;. 15216.Anyone who thinks he can keep his de­fenses from crumbling in and aroundBastogne or hold bis previous gainsfrom the Italians. Send acceptance to:Steve Scott, 3341 Los Prados #3, SanMateo, California.Wanted: Opponents in the Sacrament­Carmichael area to play AH war games.I will also use PBM. I am going tostart a club if I can get members. Con_tact Peter R'gese, 5916 Sarah Ct., Car­michael, California or call IV. 9-3794(Age 16).The Central Command of JamaicaEstates hereby challenges any personor coalition of per lions who believethey have the ability to defeat our firstclass IItrategic commanders in anyAvalon Hill W. W. II war game that theychoose, by mail or otherwise. RichardShepard, 84-15 Wareham Place, Jamaica3Z, New York.

PAGE 11

OPPONENTS WANTED

Wanted: Vol. 1, No.1 issue of General.Will· pay $Z. 50 plus handling chal'iU.Contact: Donald Nance, 1015 GriffinParkway, Minion, Texas 78572.Midwesterners arise' Meet the threatfrom the eaet. As you well know thesubversive organization known as Spec­ter is invading our area and will soontake over tbis lastbaston of resistance.We are all. tbat remains to stem thistide tbat has swept in from the Eastcoast. We must resist. We challengeany Specter club (aside from the oneswe have already beaten) to beat us in"Bulge". Also we need more recruitsfrom the upper Midwest if you wisb tojoin our club write: The Centurions,David L. Arneson, 1496 Hartford Ave.,St. Paul, Minnesota 55116. Or call:698-6300. Also letts hear from otheranti-Specter clubs if any.Opponents wanted for the followinggames: Stalingrad, Afrika. Korps, andWaterloo. I would like the Russians,Germans, and PAA in that order. Allother games please write and ask mewhat sides and rules you want. Writeto; Robert Barrow, 3801 70th Avenue,Landover Hills.Adults in Philadelphia area. Informalgroup (Mid- and late 20's) Most games.In-person play. For information, con­tact A. P. Mark, 345 Winton St., Phila.,Pa. 19148. HO. 2_6017.Long Islanders! Join the NassauFreikorps! Recruits wanted for anorganization devoted to Freebooteryand internecine competition. For thoseinterested, combat and/or affiliationwith such decadent formations as Spec_tre is contemplated. Ro01des and vet­erans from L. I. and the New York areawelcome. Contact Steven List, 4 Cran­ford Rd., Plainview, N.Y. 11803. Phone516.GE 3-3868.Join the University of Washington War­gaming Club. Requirement: Enroll­ment at UWand interest in A-H gaming.Everyone who reads this will start withat least rank of Major General. (3games anda subscription tothe General).Contact Richard Shagrin, Room 356Haggett Hall after Sept. 21 or 240724th Loop, Sandia Base, New Mexico87116 before then. Join now (no dues)and watch your grade point zoom nextfall. (I'm not promising which way!)

Wanted: Wargamers from the vicinitysof Reading, Allantown, Altoona, Har­risburg, and Erie to open up branchunits of the III Army of Penna., Spectre.Write III Army of Penna., c/o DonaldGreenwood, 128 Warren Street, Sayre,Pennsylvania.I will be attending Fordham College asa boarder, and am looking for oppon_ents in any AH War Game, and any side.All those interested can contact methere or at my home, 7205 - 72nd Court,Brooklyn, New York 11209. Gerald P.O'DriscoIl, Jr.Achtung! Reichmarshalls von Davisand van Hawes would like to persuadeyou to die for "Old Joe" and the Mother­land (Stalingrad, peasant), encourageEnglish Channel swimming (D_Day).We will condescend to run you out ofTobruch on a lead surfboard (AfrikaKOTpS), or dump you into the Meuse(Battle of the Bulge). Contact R. Davis,Apt. 144, 1201 South Barton, Arlington4, Virginia.Wanted - Someone in the Grand Rapids,Michigan area who can play these games.Contact either Randy Bytwerk, 1034Barber Terrace, GL3-0567 or RichardWilson, 2320 Leonard, GL3-3145. (Nopbm)Opponent wanted to take German sidein Afrika Korps. D. Meehan, 2 Pine­cone Lane, Westbury, Long Island, NewYork.

.10: 1\.l1yand allConnecticutAH players.From: Seventeenth Army HeadquartersSpectre, 15 Ludlow Manor, E. Nor­walk, Conn. 06855.Subject: We are waiting for you. The17th Army need. men. Defend yourstate from invasion. Join now. Sendany questions, name, age, "games andexperience to: Richard Shalvoy, 15Ludlow Manor, E. Norwalk, Conn. 06855.

Attention anyone who does not belong tospectre: Fight this ruthless organiza~tion! You don't have to join anything,but don't let this group run Wild. Yourpatriotism should make you automatic­ally challenge any organIzation thatthreatens to over_run our country. Heedmy warning, send your attack to yournearest spectre agent. Steve Sullivan,166l Bournemouth, Grosse Pointe Wds.,Mich. 48Z36.

r

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THE GENERAL

New D-Day' 65 Invasion Diagram in Error

The Allied player must be bold; the conservative approach of landing all invasionUnits on the undefended Coastal Squares will prove fatal because the German playerwill have an easy time sealing off the St. Lo-Bayeux bottleneck. Thus, the Alliedplayer hopes to eliminate this possibility by dropping parachute Units behind enemylines. The three Parachute Units are dropped on Square U-33 which is not in anyenemy zone of control - - the adjacent German Unit at V- 34 is on the opposite side ofthe river thus its zone does not extend across.to U-33. The Allied player has landedtwo 4-4-4 Units on Sea Square R-31 and, along with th.e 17th Parachute, attacks Ger­man Lehr at 11-10 (1-1) surrounded. Chance of victory is only 33% although there isa 50% chance of eliminating the German Lehr Unit. Next, the Allied Units on SeaSquare R- 33 and the Parachute Units on T - 33 attack the German 2nd at 14- 14 (1- 1).Th.e remaining two Units allotted by the Troop Invasion Table are landed on Sea SquaresP-32 and P-33 and moved directly onto Coastal Squares to establish the beachhead.Victory in one or both of the above attacks will put the Allied player in quite an advan­tageous spot: (1) he will have secured a firm beachhead relatively close to Germanyand (2) he will have eliminated the really strong German Units. However, the riskis so great, especially to the tactically important Parachute Units (the two ParachuteUnits, however, have a retreat route to T-32 and U-33 which are on opposite sidesof the river to adjacent enemy Units) that we recommend the assault be made insteadat Brittany when faced with the above German defensive setup.

(Continued from Page 10)

er can reach on his second move andtheir respective probabilitie s for sink­ing the destroyer, providing he movesinto one of them.

2-1-1 58.3%2-1-041. 7%3-1-0

45.8%3-0-029.20/04-0-0

31.3%2-0-025. 0%2-2-0

50.0%1-1-033.3%1-1-1

50.00/01-0-016.7%

I have said nothing so far about firingto one of the seven squares the destroy­er can reach on his third move. Some­times it is better to fire to one of thesesquares rather than to fire a secondtorpedo to one of the three squares thedestroyer can reach on his second move;especially when the destroyer is tryingto catch up to the sub in order to keepit from entering the convoy zone. Seediagram. There are several combina­tions of moves the destroyer can makewhen leaving from "X", nine in all.They are A-I, 2,3; B-3, 4, 5; and C-5,6,7.

Notice that the destroyer is twice aslikely to move into squares 3 and 5,rather than the other five. These arethe squares I usually fire to until myopponent gets wise. Even if he triesto make his escape maneuvers as ran­dom as possible he will inadvertentlymove into these two squares more often.

There are, of course, always excep­tions to the rules. In the case of a "downthe throat" attack, the U-Boat may beforced to fire many torpedoes to the samesquare in order to cause the destroyerto turn violently or in order to be sureof sinking him before he can launch hisdepth charges.

D-Day players who have the brandnew Battle Manual are directed to cor­rect an error appearing in the text be­low the diagram on Page 7. We sug­gest that you cut out the following para-

Question Box

Q: If a Supply Unit is in Tobruch maythe enemy land troops in Tobruch andcapture the Supply?A: No, because the enemy, not havingcontrol of Tobruch in the first place,could not land in Tobruch.

The "Imperial"THE IMPERIAL, a monthly maga­

zine, is the same length as the General.This mimeograph magazine is publish­edaround the 15th, though the first edi­tion, Sept. 15th, will be published inOctober probably. Concerned with mili­tary history, A. H. wargaming, ParkerBrother wargaming, home made games,model soldier gaming, strategy, andstrategy, and anything. Subscriber list,if you do not want to be on it, say so,ads as in the General, YOU write thearticles. We need editors and writers,(send samples of your work please) andat least 100 subscribers. Not anotherGeneral-more varied. Price: $3.30and 12 (twelve) self addressed large,immense, big envelopes, 10¢ land mail,16¢ air mail. Subscriptions to JackGreene, Jr., 670 Darrell Rd., Hills­borough, Calif. 94010. Articles andads to Steve Karel, 2235 California St.,Apt. 198 Mountain View, Calif., orTom Holsinger, 1429 Cabrillo Ave.,Burlingame, Calif. Closing date forarticles or ads is the 1st of each month.If we do not get 100 subscribers byOctober 15th we will refund.

graph and paste-in overtop the text ofPage 7. The following copy correctsthe wrong assumption that German ISSis surrounded in the diagram. The en­tire text should read:

PAGE 12

League Now FormingWe of the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology War Games Society and Das'Kriegsspicl Bund believe that interestin multiple commander gan,ing hasreached the point where the launchingof a Multiple Commander League isfeasible. If interested in becoming acharter member of the MITMCPBML,please write to MITWGS, c/o StanleyD. Hoffman, Pres., Apt. 307, 50 Mas­sachusetts Ave., Cau1bridge, Mass.02139. Please include the followinginformation: 1. Name, address, andphone number. 2. AH games you de­sire to play by mail and the commandpreferred in each. 3. Smallest num­ber of units you would consider com­manding. 4. Resume of experience.5. $1.00 for a year's dues and a stamp­ed self-addressed envelope.

In return you will receive a copy ofthe latest m. c. p. b. nl. rules preparedwith the help of the Summit Conference,a copy of the standard rules and gridfor each game you participate in. Youwill also be given the opportunity toplay in a series of play tested gamesdesigned by the MITWGS specificallyfor multiple commander play. Alsoyou will receive a complimentary sub­scription to the Tank, newsletter of theMITWGS. Laurence Plumb for DKB,Stanley Hoffman for MITWGS.

Out of Stock ItemsThe following items are now obsolete

and can no longer be obtained fromAvalon Hill:

1. Troop Counters for Gettysburghexagonal-grid game.

2. Troop Counters and Order ofAppearance Cards for Gettysburg '58copyright game. (However these itemshave been updated and the originalsquare-grid Gettysburg gaD)e can berefurnished by ordering '64 troopcounters, Battle Manual, Time RecordCard and Order of Appearance Cards.$1. 50 total cost. )

3. Volume. 1, Nos. 1 (May '64) and4 (Nov. '64) for the "General."

Please take note that Troop Countersmust be ordered in complete sets ... in­dividual Units cannot be sent. Alsoavailable are sets of 169 blank Count­ers, Waterloo size, that contain noprinting or colors. These all-whitecounters cost. 50¢ per set.

Plain mapsheets for "do-it-your­selfers" are available for $1. 00 each.These sheets are unmounted white card­board containing only the hexagons.Theyare sent to you rolled up in a mail­ing tube to prevent creasing of the 22", x28" sheet. No other sizes are available.

For cur rent Replacement Parts List,send a self-addressed envelope contain­ing one 5¢ stamp ... 8¢ for airmail.