| New Stuff
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
President, Avalanche Press
June 2010
For some reason, I like getting deliveries at the warehouse. From paper for
the printernator brought by Chester the paper guy, through dice that just
come in a relatively small but very heavy UPS box, through the pallets and
pallets of game boxes, it just feels good to see materials arrive. Because
that means we're making new stuff.
The latest new shipment has boxes and boxes of game pieces, the little
colored and die-cut things that hard-core gamers call "counters" for some
reason. This is going to allow us to ship a whole list of new stuff, and now
it's time to open up these products for ordering. Some of these you've heard
about before, some you likely have not.
We'll spread the shipping out to about one product per week — we just don't
have the capacity to send them all out at once. The first one will be Battle
of the Bulge, because we've already laid out all the components for
assembly. After that, we'll choose whichever has the most pre-orders at the
time and make that the next one.
Here's what we've got. We were planning to parcel out the announcements one
per week, but someone pointed out that if a customer bought all of them,
they'd pay our full flat-rate shipping charge each time. I was most
definitely tempted — revenue is a good thing and we need it — but he was
right, that would seem kind of unfair. So you can order all of them right
now — that lets you put all of them in one order for our flat-rate shipping
charge, and lets our Gold Club members make maximum use of their special
coupon.
Battle of the Bulge
This is a reprint of one of our most popular Panzer Grenadier boxed games.
We already had maps, boxes and scenarios books in the warehouse, and my
strong suspicion is that we had counters in the Virginia warehouse as well
and they were not loaded for the trip to Alabama. So it took us a while to
get organized enough to print new ones. These are much nicer to my eye, and
you can order them separately if
you just like this style.
Polish Steel
This one's unveiled here for the first time: a 10-scenario story arc of the
Polish fight against the Red Army in 1946, in the opening days of the Third
World War that never happened. Polish tankers wield Centurions and
Pershings, plus some captured Nazi gear. There are also a couple of
helicopters and a battalion of Polish paratroopers, with those nice thick
die-cut-and-mounted counters. All Polonophiles need this supplement.
DAK '44
We debuted this a couple of months ago, then removed it from the pre-order
list when our original short-run counter maker could not deliver. The new
one has delivered very well: 88 crisp and beautiful German pieces in desert
camo scheme, and Doug McNair's delivered as well with 10 scenarios of tense
desert combat. Try out those Tigers and Fireflies in the wide-open spaces of
Libya and Egypt.
Hopeless But Not Serious
Like DAK '44, this one was meant for the original short-run scheme. Those
counters, frankly, weren't good enough for anything but small-scale
supplements. The new ones are — to my eye at least — the best-made counters
we've ever done (in terms of physical production). That's what a Holy Grail
project like this one deserves, and your 330 Austrians look great on the
game map. Because it's not how well you fight, but how good you look. Add in
16 scenarios, and this is a very nice package.
Iron Wolves
Another one rescued from the print-on-demand counters and given top-drawer
treatment. Ten scenarios of Lithuania against its enemies (Poles, Germans,
Soviets) with 165 new die-cut-and-mounted pieces.
Workers & Peasants
This one's a book project, with 165 pieces (77 of them extras for big
scenarios) and 25 new scenarios by Mike Perryman. And it's got all the wire
diagrams, background and such that we like to pack into our books.
Black SS
This started as just a set of counters in a different scheme than we usually
use, but then Mike Perryman decided that would not do and wrote 30 new
scenarios to go with them. He wanted to write more but they wouldn't have
fit in the book so I made him stop. There are 165 new die-cut-and-mounted
pieces, black with silver and red trim.
They Shall Not Pass
No counters arrived for this one — we already have them in stock — but we'll
ship this Game in a Book item as part of the same sequence, getting its
place in line depending on pre-order volume.
The delivery did also include counters for one more book, but we're going to
hold that one in reserve for now since the scenarios, cover and text haven't
been turned in yet. It will be popular with Japanese-Americans and Texans.
And after this? We have counters on hand for another boxed game, Battles of
1866: Frontier Battles, and await boxes. Our box maker went out of business
again (third time for this particular firm, which means they're out). I sort
of expected that outcome so we have another. Right after will come Panzer
Grenadier: Operation Citadel. The designer, Mike Perryman, has made some
radical changes that I've approved as I think they add great value and, best
of all, will speed production.
With these nine items plus more boxed games in production, I really hope we
can keep up a pace of a product a week through the end of the year. That
would do great things for the company's future health and my sleep pattern. |
