!Normandy44 Beta Testing

[Dan Caviness]

Hello to all the H2H Alphas/Beta Testers/et al:

In a classic case of casual causality not to mention an abuse of assonance I am proud to announce that testing on !normandy44 is going to be suspended soon, forthwith, and posthaste.

I have contacted all testers and have their inputs.

Great minds have come together, cause and effect are established, and entropy has indeed been reversed.
Take that Stephen Hawkings...

I have 50+ turns of personal pain to get my head around with Von Luck.
He has destroyed some 597 Allied Tin Cans at the cost of 196 Axis wrecks.
His only shortcoming is entirely the designer's fault...which is a paucity of infantry which shall be corrected.

I have (most importantly of all)...tied up a slot on the H2H queue long enough...and it's time to take your inputs and incorporate them into the final version of the scenario. My thanks to the H2H custodians for their understanding and support during the last year.

We detailed 32 specific fixes and improvements earlier in this thread, and have 48 more at this point. This tells me many things. First, I make a lot of mistakes. Second, you guys are good at finding them, but I believe I have all your inputs recorded at this point.

For those of you still playing, feel free to continue, this will not effect those games that remain in progress.

One idea that occured to me recently is that many of the players were more enthusiastic about the landings and the fight on the beaches. I understand that and concur. It's the "sexy" part of the scenario and a large part of the dying occurs during those first turns.

I'm creating a shorter version that will be for the landings only. 24 Turns, with the objectives rearranged to account for the shorter game. The timing of some reinforcements will also be adjusted.

The full length version, or the fight for the entire map, will still be in existence and that is the version that we have been testing.

Some have mentioned elsewhere that these large games push the boundaries of the West Front/EFII/Rising Sun engine and that they become an abstraction. I took that comment to heart, but I will say that the entire game straddles the border between tactical and strategic level gaming, and therefore submit it is all abstract.

The game, and the individual scenarios created for it, are what you take from them and nothing more. The time and energy you put into them are directly proportional to the quality of the end product.

I cannot thank all of you enough for putting that time and energy into this grand, ofttimes tragic, occasionally wonderful, Wagnerian Opera of a scenario.

Regards,

Dan