This newsgram is chock full of well,
news and special offers,
so let’s get right to it!
What’s Old
Issue #58 Deliveries: Looks like the initial wave of issue #58 with Clash of Carriers inside has gotten to most corners of the country, so we’ll set April 22nd as the cut-off date for contacting us about not getting yours. Write us at [email protected] after that date and we’ll start making inquires. If you didn’t pre-order it, you can do so now by visiting the game’s webpage here.
Newsgrams: Remember you can now read any of our older newsgrams sent out previously using the “Re-read” link in the left hand nav bar on the ATO website.
Subscriptions: We’re still getting lots of notes and e-mails from people saying “I had no idea you were getting out of the subscription business and switching to a pre-order model, what can I do to keep reading ATO?” and that’s after substantive postings here and the last two newsgrams mentioning it as well. So to reiterate, the new/renewal subscription webpages have been turned off. We can still offer folks a subscription manually so long as they won’t go over the bingo expiration issue of #65. Basically, just write us an e-mail at [email protected] saying you’re interested and want a 4 issue sub (with or without the next Annual). We’ll check out if you’d go over the limit, and then use PayPal to send you a (secure) request for money, and you can use your own PayPal account to pay for it (think PayPal will also allow you to use a credit card now, even if you don’t have a formal PayPal account).
What’s New
New Webpage: We’ve been informally selling some of our “Endangered Species” issues (things we only have 1 or 2 copies of) using e-mails and occasional postings on the internet. We’ve figured out a way to get the website to show them off so people can securely make a purchase using the site and record the transaction, without sending money off into space. There’s now a click me graphic on the front page on the right:
So, if you’re missing an early issue from your collection, check out the Endangered Species webpage here.
New Way of War Pack:
We’ve added a new Way of War pack option to our set. The Way of War in ’45 offers three totally different city-fights across the last 6 months of the war, all ending in 1945. It’s a pretty nice package for a pretty nice price. You can check it out here (actually you should check out all the WoW packages for their amazing combos and prices!)
Pocket Battle Games for Sale:
One of the most requested “asks” we get is, “Can I buy some of your Pocket Battle Games?” Up until now the answer has been “No.” (We’d go insane trying to track and handle such small purchases). However, we’ve now bundled up all four Peiper at the Bulge cards into a package that also provides all the supporting materials to fully enjoy the games. Check it out on our Black Swan page here.
Right, Fierce & Available Once More!
We’ve been able to assemble some more copies of this fun issue (ATO #34) with Right, Fierce & Terrible inside, so you can now order it off the website here.
These are full copies, with the map, counters, and magazine plus the Schwarm! mini-game inside.
Best of all, it’s priced the same as any other back issue and available as part of a PICK 3 Special Offer.
Up Next: April Showers Bring Air Powers…To Grips!
Our next release and still available for pre-order is The Cruelest Month.
When T.S. Eliot penned, “April is the cruelest month”, he was talking about seasonal and life stages, not about a dreadful offensive on the Western Front that would be called the “Battle of Arras” but remembered far better for what the Royal Flying Corps called it– “Bloody April.” Still flying mostly outdated aircraft, General “Boom” Trenchard insisted on constant offensive actions and round-the-clock missions for recon, artillery spotting, mapping, etc. With the most common plane involved in this work being the dreadfully vulnerable Be2C, facing up against the likes of Baron von Richthofen’s Jasta 11, the results were woeful losses. To the RFC’s credit, they continually fulfilled the missions, despite the losses.
The Cruelest Month looks at this struggle, with the focus primarily on air operations and ground battle abstracted. As the British player, you will marshal your limited numbers of fighters to help secure the skies for 2-seaters that would be better suited to training planes. As the German player, you will employ your well-armed modern fighters against waves of RFC planes that simply keep coming, regardless of how many you shoot down.
While losses in the air were puny compared to the thousands dying on the ground, those aerial actions had great impact on how things worked out on the ground. The Cruelest Month will give you a full selection of aerial operations, including balloon busting, ground attack, bombing, and the all-important photo-recon and artillery observation missions, plus the fighter dogfights that center around protecting or stopping all the others. You’ll use a Air Battle Board for these fights, and your planes will interact with ground forces on a map of the Arras area.
All copies of this this ATO Annual also come with an expansion for our The Lash of the Turk game, and for direct purchasers, something extra for our Islands of the Damned games.
You can pre-order this issue here or just read more about on our website.
Then after that – Issue #59 with Blind Faith Inside
In A.D. 1415, at the Council of Constance, Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, two church reformers from Bohemia, were burnt at the stake for heresy. In the years that followed, outrage over the execution convulsed civil society in Bohemia, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. Now, with Bohemia in rebellion as well as consumed by heresy, the Emperor Sigismund must wage war to both extirpate the heresy and secure his throne.
This bitter and sustained struggle devastated large parts of the empire in a manner not seen again until another religious conflict, the Thirty Years War, took place in roughly the same regions. The Imperial player must destroy the heretics and retake Bohemia before the Pope is forced to make concessions in another church council. The Hussite player, led by the devout, blind and gifted military leader, Jan Zizka, must prevent this and try to begin a Reformation in Europe one hundred years early.
There is also a bonus game this issue on Operation Hailstone, the USN’s attempt to eliminate the huge IJN base at Truk in February, 1944. The pounding was immense, profoundly shcking the japanese.
You can learn more about the Blind Faith issue (and pre-order it) here at our website.
OK, that’s it for now. Thanks for reading!
ATO Magazine
