Sur le blog de Chas Argent sur MMP :
Hi Folks-
It's been awhile since my last update but summer has been hoppin' so here's the latest and greatest:
For King and Country began shipping to pre-orders last week. We had some packing issues with the shipment of counters from the printers, and lost several cases to damage, but still had enough to build and ship the module to preorders. Hopefully the printer will fix the mashed sheets and refill the order. The shipment also contained counters for the reprint of Starter Kit 3 but none of those were damaged. That game should be available again soon.
Special Ops #1 - Summer 2011, the "replacemet" magazine for both Operations and Operations Special Edition, debuted at the World Boardgaming Championships in early August. In addition to non-ASL content (including two games with counters and maps), Special Ops #1 contains two ASL scenarios, two ASL Starter Kit scenarios, and one article each on ASL ("Singling Must Be Taken") and Starter Kit ("ASLSK Corner"). Special Ops will be published twice a year (one winter issue and one summer) and will contain a mix of ASL and non-ASL content and is intended to showcase all of MMP's game lines. Look for Issue #2 early next year. It is currently availabl from MMP for $24.
We expect Action Pack 8: Roads Through Rome, with 10 scenarios by Gary Fortenberry and 3 maps by Charlie Kibler, to be on preorder this month. These maps are the same styles as those in Action Pack 6: A Decade of War. As the title suggest, the scenarios feature actions on the Italian mainland (with one in North Africa) including Free French, German, Italian, British, and American forces.
Festung Budapest cruises along in layout. The HASL will have 17 stand-alone scenarios, in addition to its 3 Campaign Games. Because many of the scenarios have multi-national orders of battle, and also some capability to "purchase" additional units, 12 of the 17 scenarios fill two sides of a scenario card (and one of them, called At The Narrow Passage, is a 3-player scenario with several charts and tables, so consumes *4* sides). We are hashing out all of the rules now and tuning up the last of the scenarios. I will work on counters next (although 1 of the 9 sheets has already been printed). We are looking for Festung Budapest to be on preorder later this year.
Rising Sun (the combined Japanese/Chinese/US Marine PTO reprint) continues to gather steam. The 32 scenarios are currently being proofed and the last of the rules edits are under review. The 2nd edition of Chapter G will contain several "Q&A" clarifications from the original. The scenarios themselves have had balance adjustments incorporated as needed, and also will under some "modernizing" of their language to bring rules references and so on up to current practice. Our goal is still to complete RS by the end of this year and have it ready fro pre-order.
Kurt Miller is working on the as-yet unpainted overlays for The Overlay Bundle and as he returns them to us I am working on laying them out for printing. The Overlay Bundle will contain every official overlay (with the exception of the Deluxe Overlays) and we hope to be able to die-cut many of them for ease of use.
Playtest for the ASL Journal 10 scenarios continues and I am working on article layout. If playtest continues to go well for them, we expect to include two 8" x 22" boards that form a "double-wide" village, and several scenarios which employ them.
On the "core" reprint horizon (and once RS is done) we'll be actively working on Hollow Legions, which will include the entire Italian OB (including Italian Chapter H); the Desert Rules (Chapter F); and the Desert maps, overlays and counters. Also, we will be including Soldiers of the Negus, originally designed by Rick Thomas, which covers actions from the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1936-36 and features counters and scenarios.
Also on the stove we have work ongoing for Korea ASL, Ortona, Slaughter at Ponyri, and several other projects that are simmering along.
Regards,
~Chas