Never Say Never
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
October 2014

Some years ago, we launched a series of downloadable game supplements. They allowed us to keep publishing during a period of corporate disarray; while they did not generate a whole lot of sales, neither did they rack up a whole lot of cost. We stopped producing new ones several years ago and finally pulled the plug on them for good on October of last year.

And that’s where I firmly intended them to end. I had a vague notion of reusing some of them, or parts of them, in some future product at some future date, but no real plans to do anything more. I chose their topics very deliberately to not interfere with any future printed books or boxed games we might want to make, so the themes are kind of out there on the fringe. Since the mass retirement, I haven’t had the impulse to re-work them.

That’s probably where things would have remained, until the folks who make out scorchless, sootless laser-cut playing pieces suggested that they make a small number of the downloadable counter sets for our customers who wanted them. I declined their offer at the time, but filed it away for future use in a Christmas promotion. And now Christmas is here (at least, the time to print things you want in time for Christmas is here).

One time only, we’re offering printed versions of seven old downloads with comb-bound scenario booklets and scorchless, sootless laser-cut counters. It’s only for members of the Gold Club. Sign up now and these can be yours; we're not going to keep them in stock so this is your first and last chance.

Infantry Attacks Supplement

To Hell With Spain!
This was an ambitious project, and as far as I know remains the only wargame version of the Spanish-American War's land battles in Cuba and Puerto Rico. There are 10 scenarios and 330 pieces, and it features Buffalo Soldiers, Cuban rebels, U.S. Marines, the Rough Riders, dynamite guns and even more stuff.

Panzer Grenadier Supplements

Waltzing Matilda: The Defense of Australia, 1942
This one's pretty strange, but it's crammed with cool stuff: masses of Australian tanks (both locally-produced and Lend Lease) take on masses of Japanese tanks (both the models in use in 1942, and some that came into service later). And there's a lot of cavalry (both Japanese cavalry and Australian Light Horse), Japanese SNLF troops, additional Australian infantry and heavy weapons, and a while lot more stuff including 330 counters and 12 scenarios.

Grossdeutschland 1946
And this one is even stranger: all manner of German secret weapons in the livery of Germany's best division wields weapons that never left the drawing board: the Kätzchen armored personnel carrier, Pz42t medium tank, the Tiger III heavy tank, the Panther II tank, helicopters (a whole brigade of helicopters!) and more. With 253 pieces and 10 scenarios.

Power of the East
Soviet.and Mongolian troops face off against the Japanese in a series of 12 scenarios drawn form the border conflicts of 1938 and 1939. There are 88 pieces including Mongolian and Manchukuoan troops and weapons (how many games give you that, hunh?).

Second World War at Sea Supplement

The Tsar's Navy
Before we conceived the Second Great War at Sea, we had a couple of supplements on similar themes, including this one featuring the Tsarist Black Sea Fleet of the 1940's. There are 70 "long" ship counters, 140 standard-sized pieces and 10 scenarios.

Great War at Sea Supplements

Reichsmarine
So what if the German High Seas Fleet did not scuttle itself in June 1919, and the British took over the ships as some in the United States Navy feared? And what if Weimar Germany therefore did not have to hand over its older dreadnoughts to replace the scuttled ships? This supplement has 135 "long" ship counters, 70 standard-sized pieces and 10 scenarios.

Prizes of War
And so what if the German High Seas Fleet, or the British Royal Navy, got their hands on the heavy warships under construction in France and/or Russia? This supplement has 70 "long" ship counters and a stunning 21 scenarios.