HMS News – 07 Sep 2012

On September 9, 2012, in News, by Gar

Later this week we were finally able to speak with the building owner. He had been waiting for the promised news as well. A new testing company has been brought in to retest the building. They are expected to be finished late next week. The owner believes that this new company will then give us a plan to recover some of our material. My own guess is that this would only include sealed and undamaged boxes. As the photos show, we have a significant number of sealed boxes of Total War components and shrink-wrapped earlier games.

We will be working with the testing company or asbestos removal firm (they can not be the same companies under Colorado law) to get the clean-up procedures, cost and what certifications that would be address our inventory. We have been told that the procedures range from a simple vacuuming in place to a very elaborate, multiple clean room, multiple vacuum, wipe and transfer to a second clean room procedure. Cost certainly goes along with how much work is mandated. The high volume vacuum may not be useable on the stacks of exposed counters since it would probably pull the die-cut counters out of their frames. However, there are over 1,000 sets of counters still in unopened boxes.

We will post news as soon as we can confirm what it is the official position and that/when we can move ahead.

Here are the first three pages of the Soviet OB:

download here

4 Responses to HMS News – 07 Sep 2012

Anthony Perri says:

September 16, 2012 at 19:46

Very happy to see these samples. Please keep them coming!!!!!
Patrick says:

September 16, 2012 at 20:36

Sounds like things may be getting unstuck, maybe there is forward movement ahead
William Dalzell says:

September 20, 2012 at 03:18

First I hope that all is well with you. Second, I think that all members of the Association should send you 4 leaf clovers, rabbits feet, and any other items that can bring you good luck, as it appears that you could use all the help you can get! Third, thank you for the posts of the samples, which leads me to a question. If these three pages deal with only volksdeutsch, Chechens, and the invasion of Iran, then how many pages does the full OB run?!? I guess I should plan to have library shelves next to the gaming table!
Stephen says:

September 24, 2012 at 21:25

These look like three random pages of the Soviet OB rather than the first three. I’ve never seen Europa OBs start with conditional reinforcements pages and if they did they would start with No 1, not No 15. The SG 15 has some missing cross refs where a quesion mark is used instead of the number and the third page doesn’t obviously fit at all. I don’t doubt the research and scholarship, but this still looks ominously like an unfinished work.

HMS/GRD returns Europa to its roots and revisits the best selling Europa title Fire in the East.

The new game covers the same time period as the older ones (summer of 1941 to the spring of 1942) but uses a completely new Soviet OB, a new map, and the latest rules for the Europa system. Buyer's who preorder Total War will also receive the Red Army from September, 1939 to March, 1942 in preparation for Grand Europa.

Total War gives the Axis player the opportunity to see if he can improve on the massive offensive that pocketed and captured millions of Soviet soldiers. Can you take Moscow or Leningrad? Or are you condemned to suffer the Soviet winter short of victory. The Soviet player must build a strategic reserve large enough to stop the advancing Axis forces and throw them out of Russia.The Soviet player is aided by massive reinforcements that allow him to form new defensive lines in an attempt to slow down or stop the Axis armor thrusts. Published counters will be the same high quality counters players expect from HMS/GRD.

Total War is a historical game on the German invasion of the Soviet Union, from summer 1941 to spring 1942.

It charts the titanic struggle of the largest ground campaign in World War II, from the Axis offensives that brought the Germans to the gates of Moscow to the Soviet winter counteroffensive that hurled them back.

Total War is a two-player game. One side controls the forces of Germany and its allies while the other controls the forces of the Soviet Union.

The maps cover Eastern Europe and the western USSR from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, from the plains of Poland to the steppes along the Volga River.

Ground units represent corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, and battalions. Air units represent groups of 40 to 80 aircraft. Naval units represent task forces of warships.

Total War is a complete remake and updating of the classic Europa game, Fire in the East.

The game's Soviet order of battle makes extensive use of formerly secret Kremlin information on the Red Army forces that fought the war.

The game includes a Soviet order of battle for all of the USSR from 1939 to 1942 and is the most comprehensive game OB ever published on the Red Army in peace and war.

The Axis order of battle also is updated, reflecting new research since the publication of Fire in the East. The rules for Total War incorporate the latest rules for the Europa system, with on-demand air power, armor effects, combined arms, and much more, recreating both the German blitzkrieg that captured entire Soviet armies and the Soviet deep operations that nearly splintered the invaders in the depth of the Russian winter.

The price is $234.