Latest Game Release - Short Delay

[Sgt_Rock]

We have had some delays in the artwork production for the next Napoleonic series game about the French Rev Wars that I have been working for the last year. Add to it that John and Rich are working on the next round of updates to the Panzer Campaign series. Look for this next Napoleonic Battles series game to release in January, barring any further delays.

[Xaver]

Any chance to have a game preview??? if Tiller is doing discounts another apocalipsis signal more is not a great problem 

Lets see if game not suffer more delays in future.

[BigDuke66]

See, that is why there were usually no release dates posted for any HPS/JTS title.
But I prefer to have a release date, even if that has to be shifted, instead of just thinking there is no game to be released anymore.
I'm mean usual after a game is released for a series and as time goes on you reach the point where you think "I guess the series is dead..." just because it was so long silent. If that time is shortened by providing us with release dates, even if those have to be shifted, I really don't mind.

[Sgt_Rock]

The no release date policy is good for us ... less pressure. John Tiller takes the heat for doing it but we have never been pressured to finish a game "on time."

And hey, if Mark does finish the graphics I can shift over to finishing up the game and who knows: it might release before the year is up.

The wait will be worth it. This wont be a significant delay like some big name games I can think of. With like 98% of the game done I felt it very safe to post something about the game.

[jim pfleck]

You want a preview? As a playtester I think I locked my eyeballs and other valuable body parts in a lock box and Bill can put them in the trash compactor if I say to much, so I shall measure my words carefully.

Every major army of the period is involved (except, I think, Spain and the Ottomans). There is a huge variety of scenarios-small battles, large battles, in between. Short, long. Parts of larger battles...

The variety means in some scenarios the French attack. In others, the Coalition.

The French army in the early scenarios is a somewhat well organized mob. Think lots of large battalions with low ratings. By 1800, is very well organized (no more mixed divisions and, I think, some corps structure) well led, and has good morale values and good cavalry...In some ways this title is 2 or 3 games in one.

There are a Ton of scenarios I have not played that I am looking forward to playing...

Bill, does that pass the test or am I banned for life?

[Xaver]

Thanks for the info.

Well, with preview i refer to present the period, what is covered, who are the main actors... i expect dont see ottomans and spanish but i am curious about Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland is allways "exotic" see that kind of armies mixed with others hehehe.

If there was something good in Marengo was the battle size and his cousin looks similar that is good more if we have a good range of diferent natios to use.

In the no release date politic.... i am not a lot with it in the moment if you dont keep interest in your product you simple disapear from market... for example in a few weeks is going to be released a game that looks very attractive (hexagons+WEGO+Fantasy but more orientated to wargames and less to Harry Potter area) but nobody knows about it even if you move in wargaming niche and they have a release date... imagine with no release date or info.

For me the problem with Tiller games is you really dont know very well whats is coming and the few info avaliable is dug-in and you need heavy arty to made it leave trenches 

PD: dont worry Jim, reveal top secret info is not very hard punished in JT, they use a civilized and modern punishment system

[Sgt_Rock]

Jim did a good job of whetting your appetites for the game. He clobbered my French in the Battle of Neerwinden. His outnumbered Austrians used the terrain to their advantage forcing the French to crawl through the fields.

Included in the next game will be:

The battles of the campaigns of 1792-94 in France and the Austrian Netherlands. This includes 9 battles:
Valmy
Jemappes
Neerwinden
Kaiserlautern
Pirmasens
Tourcoing
Tournay
Fleurus (balloons too!)
Aldenhoven

For the campaign of 1796 in Germany we have 6 battles:
First Altenkirchen
Ettlingen
Neresheim
Amberg
Wurzburg
Emmendingen

For the campaign of 1799 in Switzerland and Germany we have 5 battles:
Ostrach
1st Stockach
Winterthur
1st Zurich
2nd Zurich

For the campaign of 1799 in Holland we have 2 battles:
Bergen
Castricum
(and I will be adding in more battles after the game releases - I want to wait til Geert's book on the campaign comes out next year)

For the campaign of 1800 in Germany we will have 6 battles:
2nd Stockach-Engen
Messkirch
2nd Biberach (Paul Synnot translated part of a French text for me for this one)
Neuberg
Ampfing
Hohenlinden

Altogether TWENTY-EIGHT (28) battles! Definitely the hardest title that I have worked on up to this point. The OBs for the battles were often built by piecing together information from various sources.

There are FOUR campaigns to include:
The Battles of the War of the First Coalition - not the traditional kind of campaign but a string of historical battles with choices for both sides. Its meant to acquaint the players with the battles and let them make choices as if they were the commanders at the battle.

The Campaign of 1796 in Germany
The Campaign of 1799 in Swizerland and Germany
The Campaign of 1800 in Germany

I want to add in a campaign in Holland in 1799. I have built a large map of the entire upper peninsula above and including Amsterdam. Its a huge map. I was aided in this work by Mark van Hattem, a Dutch member of our team who made numerous corrections to the map. As I said before once Geert's book comes out I will finish off the battles and then build the campaign.

You will like the Situation maps and image maps for the campaigns we built. Joe Amoral reworked some physical relief maps and they look great. I look at this game as our team's crowning achievement for this series. No one has ever done this period of the wars on this scale before.

The armies represented are:

French
British
Austrian
Russian
Prussian
Hesse-Darmstadt
Hesse-Kassel
Hanover
Dutch Republic and the Batavian Republic
Conde's army and other Emigre contingents
Bavaria
Poland (Legions)
Swiss
Cisalpine Republic (Grenadiers and Hussars)
Saxon

The Spanish front was not as active so I chose to pass on working on the battles. We also did not do the Egyptian campaign for Marengo and I chose not to include it here too. A game on the Russians, Austrians, French vs. the Ottoman Empire would be interesting but unlikely. Its the only way I can see us ever adding in the Turks. Frankly I have little data on those battles (other than Egypt) and it would be a real "crapshoot" for me to try and guess at the OBs, troop locations on the maps, etc. Just not my strong suit.

There were numerous "Clashes" listed in Digby Smith's book that I passed up on. I felt that 28 battles was sufficient (HUGE WINK). Moving on to the Eylau-Friedland game was the next logical step for me.

Once the game comes out I know that you folks will enjoy it. Its going to round out the period nicely. Marengo is the companion game to this next title and yes, I may eventually include a huge campaign file for the 1796 Germany AND Northern Italy campaign which would give both sides choices in transferring troops to Italy. Wurmser was sent to the Italian theater right before Moreau and Jourdan attacked across the Rhine. It didn't matter as Charles defeated the French without those Austrian troops. Italy was the more important theater anyway.

A campaign linking the 1799 campaign in Italy to that in Switzerland and Germany would be interesting too. I have variant scenarios (stand alone) featuring Suvorov arriving at 2nd Zurich.

There are several variant battles added in as well. I have an "Islands" battle that use a map of islands that each player tries to hold. Naval forces arrive for the French to do battle against the British. Units use the "Has Boats" capability to try and take other islands. All SIX Nations are used in the game to include:
French
Austrian
Russian
Prussian
British
Emigre (replaces Spanish)

There is a variant Battle of Fleurus where Bonaparte and his army of Italy (Massena, Augereau, etc) take on the Prussians. Also featured is a battle of Zurich where Bonaparte fights Charles AND Suvorov.

For diversity this game has it. Pick a nation of the period and you can fight with its army. The British army in Holland is not terribly large but has nice morale. Lots of Dragoon Guards cavalry units. Guard infantry and the usual regulars.

Ok .. enough hype! Off to work on the Battle of Ostroleka in Poland, Feb. 1807.

[Xaver]

Thanks for the info, looks like another great mixed title, is not possible cover all but the content is great.

Interesting the on work 4th campaign and material to expande content.

Good luck and have a nice holiday time.