MMP production update

[King Scott]

Saw this over at GameSquad, and thought it would be worth cross-posting… exciting stuff!

MMP ASL Update (9/29/09)

Core:

Doomed Battalions 3 is at the printers.

For King and Country 2 will go up for preorder shortly; we are just finishing up proofing the new maps so any corrections can be made by Kurt Miller. Those new maps (in Starter Kit-style) are: 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 32. I will also be increasing the size of the counter images from the original release to bring them in line with the rest of the reprints. Despite the preorder factor, the module will print as soon as the components are ready.

The PTO module, the reprint of Code of Bushido and Gung Ho!, is nearly complete. The only projects remaining are to complete the balancing of the scenarios which needed some help, and creating the new box art. All other components are laid out and in an advanced state of proofing. I expect the project will be finished by the end of the year. Then it will be a question of when/where Brian will want to put it up for preorder and where it will fit in the print queue. The reprint includes 32 scenarios, combining the original Code of Bushido and Gung Ho! scenarios with thirteen out-of-print PTO scenarios. The reprint will also include the Gavutu-Tanambogo scenarios and campaign game (Sand and Blood) originally released in the ASL ‘93b Annual.

PTO reprint contents:
-Chapters G (Pacific Theater) and H
-over 1,700 counters, including the entire Japanese, Chinese and US Marine orders of battle
-boards 34-39 and 47
-overlays 1-6, B1-B5, Be1-7, Ef1-3, G1-5, GT, M1-5, O1-5, OC1-4, P1-5, RP1-5, Wd1-5, X6
-32 scenarios:

Smertniki
On The Kokoda Trail
Shoestring Ridge
Bungle in the Jungle
The Eastern Gate
Hazardous Occupation
Red Star, Red Sun
The Bushmasters
Cibik's Ridge
The Rock
Today We Attack
KP 167
Jungle Citadel
Sea of Tranquility
Hell or High Water
Bloody Red Beach
Grabbing Gavutu
Tanambogo Nightmare
Take Two
A Stiff Fight
Battlin' Buckeyes
Broken Bamboo
Last of Their Strength
Munda Mash
OP Hill
Orange at Walawbum
Ramsey's Charge
Shanghai in Flames
Smith & Weston
The Drive for Taierzhuang
Totsugeki!
White Tigers
Hollow Legions 3, which will include the entire Italian order of battle as well as the Desert components originally from West of Alamein, now has one additional component – counters, rules and scenarios from Soldiers of the Negus, originally designed by Rick Thomas, which covers the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36. The MMC/SMC counters for this will be designed by Charlie Kibler. The map art and overlays are under way, and Chapter F has been laid out, while scenario layout is ongoing. We anticipate that HL3 will also contain some out-of-print Desert scenarios above and beyond those from HL and WoA.

Yanks 2 preliminary layout has begun. We expect this module will include the scenarios which originally appeared in Paratrooper and presume it will also include several out of print scenarios as well.

In The Pipeline:

Much of Hakkaa Päälle! has been handed over to me by Lars Thuring and Tuomo Lukkari while the last of the play testing is conducted. There will be several replacement rules pages for Chapters A, B, D, E and H, in addition to 12-16 scenarios, a map, a sheet of overlays and a whole mess of counters. New rules will cover Prepared Fire Zones, Early War Russian Doctrine, Light Woods, and Aerosans, as well as revised Finn national characteristics. There will be several new vehicles, guns and SW, including many of the Lend-Lease vehicles sent to Finland.

Pete Shelling and Don Petros’ Slaughter at Ponyri will have 10 scenarios and one Campaign Game, all of which are still undergoing play testing. We had hoped for a release early next year but some concerns have been raised about the CG so we’ll keep plugging away on it until it is ready. The release will feature a large multi-section map and several counter sheets, including Lend-Lease Lees and Stuarts in Russian colors and German Sapper 447 squads.

Festung: Budapest , designed by Bill Cirillo, has been almost completely turned over to me in the past few weeks and we will begin layout soon. Charlie Kibler is in the process of painting the final versions of the four maps which have 1” hexes. This HASL will be a large one, with 16 scenarios and 3 CGs. We are still deciding how many counters will be included.

After speaking with Ken Katz of the Korea ASL project we have decided that his group will submit the module in the first half of 2010. The module will have 4 maps, rules for all the major combatants including Republic of Korea forces, United Nations and Communist Chinese in addition to such terrain types as Steep Hills. There will be bunches of new counters in addition to all the supporting rules.

Ortona, the HASL covering the action of Canadian forces vs. the Germans in Italy and designed by the late Jim McLeod, is back in the pipeline after several years of stasis. MMP has already produced the map, which was painted by Kurt Miller. I have recently been in touch with Darren Kovacs, Blake Ball and Bill Bird, who have, with the assistance of Jim’s wife, uncovered and are forwarding to me all the relevant rules and scenarios which Jim had (fortunately) kept organized and stored at his house. Once I get all the material I will be able to gauge where the project stands and thus how much work it may still need to be completed.

David Roth is going to forward to me in the next month or so an updated package for the Manila HASL. I have never seen any of the material so once this arrives I’ll be able to get an idea of the scope of the project and, working with David, determine how much there may be left to do before we can produce it.

Action Packs, Periodicals & Miscellaneous:

AP6 is still in play testing and coming down to the final development, and we are hopeful it will be released before the end of the year.

We have another Action Pack (tentatively AP7) in the works with three new maps and a goal of 12 scenarios which should see the light of day sometime in 2010. We are still looking for scenario designs for this project so if you are interested in contributing please contact me. There is no specific theme though it definitely has a PTO angle, so will probably be dependent upon the release of CoB2.

I have begun working on both Journal 8 and Out of the Attic 2 and should be able to start layout on J8 in the next few weeks. J8 scenario selection is complete and I am soliciting more articles to flesh out what we already had slated for the magazine. I’ve also begun working on scenario and article selection of OotA 2 which will feature all 3rd party scenarios and out-of-print articles.

The Journal 2 reprint is in final proofing and should be ready to print whenever Brian feels he can fit it in to the queue.

The Blood Reef Tarawa Gamers Guide should be at the printers within the next few weeks.

Submissions:

As always, we are looking for submissions of all kinds – individual scenarios, historical ASL projects, articles for magazines, you name it. Please contact me if you have something you’ve been working on that you’d like to see developed. The farther along your project is the better the chances are it can move to the head of the line. If you have an idea you want to bounce off of us to see if there’s an interest in please let us know and we can discuss it.

~Chas Argent

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