The AVALON HILL * General

** The AVALON HILL* GENERaL . A, :?. m-: , . .2!,;dy;::?;t;.c;.; -- ... " ,,,<,.nA +-..;; ;,: .;.<; ;2:- r,-:<:;! ..;. Az;.$--*v&d-:d= - >-<:,=-.:; - ..> .r: ,IT+---- - ..,:._ . - , , ...-.j::.,.fy?7,$9 . , - .:i Publication Office: 4517 Harford Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21214 , /.<.. - -- -- -.:. ... MAY - JUNE 1967 J THE GENERAL PAGE 2 ;he 1VAtON "Imt @~~.n~L3~r1 The Avalon Hill Philosophy- Part 3 ... a losing venture published bi-monthly, pretty As most of you know, the Battle of niver sary, May of 1966. Here it is close to the first day of January, March, May, July, Jutland has finally been released by exactly one year later. What happened? Septcluber and November. The Avalon Hill Company. It is the one DUNNIGAN: Well, first my Spring The General is edited and published by The battle game in Avalon Hill's line that final s happened. And then the new G I Avalon Hill Company alOl0st solely for the cul• has varied from its time-tested land Bill happened which allowed me to at• tural edification of adult gaming. (It also helps to battle formulae. The very fact that its tend school during the Summer. I also sell Avalon Hill products, tool) de sign concept is totally different from had KAMPF to contend with and after a Articles from subscribers are considered for any of the other games, necessitated a two week vacation in September it was publicatioIJ on a gratis contributory basis. Such lengthy period of testing - the reason back up to Columbia for the regular articles nUlst be typewritten and not exceed 700 why Jutland was not published on its Fall seme ster. About that time I be• words. Examples and diagrams that accompany such articles must be drawn in black ink, ready projected publication date of March I st. lieve you finally cornered me (in stack for reproduction. No notice can be given regar• Here in the offices of the General, level 5 of Butler Library I believe) and ding acceptance of articles for publication. James Dunnigan, publisher of Kampf found out that I thought you had said Magazine, and re search director for All back issues, except V01.1, Nos.! & 4, which sixty instead of fifty. Now maybe they'll are out of stock, arc available at $1.00 per issue. "Project Jutland", was interviewed re• move your office out from under the Full-year subscriptions @ $4.98. garding his contribution to the project. boiler room. Seriously, because I had to prove a point to Avalon Hill, the de• ©1967 The Avalon Hill Conlpany, Baltimore, THE GENERAL: Mr. Dunnigan - what l\1aryland. printed in U.S.A. exactly is your organization Kampf? lay was caused by my researching the DUNNIGAN: Actually, Kampf is some• historical data from every conceivable thing of an experiment. All of the people source imaginable, cross-indexing this involved in Kampf are college students information over and over again. COVER STORY: either graduate or undergraduate and THE GENERAL: Avalon Hill's selection what we are trying to do in Kampf is to of Jutland in the first place is built on find a new approach to presenting his• the premise that a ship to ship naval Never before has the pre-publication tory. game is needed to complement their announcement (March issue) of a new THE GENERAL: As far as Avalon Hill land battle titles. Now, Mr. Dunnigan, game met with such an avalanche of is concerned who got in touch with who? exactly what was the historical situation inquiries ... mostly regarding the man• DUNNIGAN: When I first developed and background leading up to the battle ner of play without the need of a playing Kampf it was done quite independently of Jutland? board of some sort. of Avalon Hill. The first issue was DUNNIGAN: Most people don't realize Those of you who are already inpos• published and really had not been meant it but the Battle of Jutland was probably se s sion of the game, need read no furth• as an assault on the Avalon Hill game the most crucial battle in the first er. Move straight to "Avalon Hill Phi• Battle of the Bulge. Actually I was World War. What brought that on was losophy - Part 3". (Do not pass Go, more incensed at the official history the deadlo ck on the Western and Ea st• do not collect $200). You know, by now, than I was at the game. However, ern fronts. Britian' s superior Navy that the immensity of maneuver pre• Avalon Hill recognized that my thinking had blockaded Germany in 1914. Ger• cluded its play on a regular, or even and their thinking as to the presentation many soon realized that she would be king size, playing board. Maneuvering of military hi story ran parallel to one starved out of the war unle s s she broke individual ship counter s, approximately another and coming back from one of this blockage. Unwilling to risk her 2" long, requires much more space than my frequent trips to Washington to do inferior fleet in a surface engagement does the 1/2" Troop counters. While research I stopped off at Baltimore and she had first sought to blockade England it would have been possible to incor• we had a discus sion about Bulge - both with her submarines by sinking mer• porate play on a playing board, as was the game and the Kampf issue. chant ships around and about England. actually done on an original mock-up THE GENERAL: Then apparently Avalon Germany invariably took American test version, the sacrifice of realism Hill approached you with the idea of lives. The United States responded by was too great. digging up the historical data for Jut• threatening to enter the war on the side land. of the allies unless Germany ceased In brief, greater emphasis has been DUNNIGAN: Actually it was a bolt out endangering American lives and prop• placed on re-captu:dng historical ac• erty. Germany realized then that un• curacy than for any other game. Ample of the blue. I had never thought of de• signing a game. My intere st had al• less she defeated the British surface optional rules in the Tournament Game fleet she would starve her self out of the allow players to face some, or all, of ways been in history. I sympathized with Avalon Hill's problems in design• war within three years. This is what the problems that confronted the actual actually happened. There was in fact commanders, Jellicoe and Scheer. ing game s. I realized they had to bal• general starvation in Germany in 1919 The only problems you will confront ance playability with historical authen• ticity. I also realized in researching - less than six months after the War is where to find the game. Since AH ended. deals mostly through wholesalers, who the first issue of Kampf that it would in turn sell to retail stores, We learn be no easy matter to combine both of THE GENERAL: Historians have com• the names and addresses of only a these elements, playability and authen• mented that the battle of Jutland was small number of outlets where they're ticity. the first and last general action between sold. Try those listed on page 14 of THE GENERAL: When did you actually modern battleships. Actually, how thi s, and pa st issue s, for a starter. begin the research on this game? many battle ships were sunk in this DUNNIGAN: Actually I began it the event? Jutland retails for $6.98 - mail moment Avalon Hill approached me DUNNIGAN: Actually, no battle ships order s at this price, (add 65~ for special with an offer to de sign the game. It at all were sunk. The battleships at delivery) can now be accepted. How• was, I believe in April, 1966. that time were masterpieces of modern ever, you will probably get it quicker THE GENERAL: You realize, Mr. Dun• technology. Protection of the se ships from your favorite outlet who will have nigan, that Jutland was originally sched• including compartmentalization, foot Jutland in stock right now. uled to be published on its fiftieth an- thick side armor, armored bulkheads. PAGE 3 THE GENERAL Damage control was so great that the British but was in fact scuttled by its was a very time consuming portion of only way you could poereibly link one of German crew because it was unable to the design and probably one of the major these ship^ was to take the crew off it get back to port, due to itr alow speed reasons why it took almost a year to do. and use it for gunnery practice. caused by 24 heavy shell hits. At that Actually, what was the hairiest part of THE GENERAL: In other words in thia time the British Fleet was between the the design of this game? game there are going to be a heck of a Lutzow and The High Seas FIeat. The DUNNIGAN: When it cornea to sheer iot of floating hulks lying around on the Germana alao lost the 13.000 ton prs- diiiculty, and that's not just the drud- living room floor. How have you re- dreadnought battleship Pommern which gery involving reaearch, T would aay flected this in the rules of the game? took two torpedoes amidships during a that the most difficult designaspectwas DUNNIGAN: You will notice that each night British destroyer attack. The in writing the rulee. We of the Kampf ship ie ar~igneda protection factor. Germans ale0 loat four light cruisers design team made the usual miltake This protection factox reflects two and five destroyer^. The British even amateur game designers make when we things.

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