Byron Collins: Publisher Perspective

The best thing about publishing games... is all the great people you meet.

2010-07-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

I planned to do a report on how well Spearpoint 1943 did at Origins 2010 this past June at its launch, which I may still write up, but right now I'm going to focus on something more important- something that is crucial to success as a publisher... meeting and working with others. Many of the people I've met "in the industry" are extremely nice and helpful. Many I'd call good friends.

People like Mark H. Walker and his family (of Lock N' Load Publishing). I first met Mark as we were both exhibiting games in Gettysburg, PA in 2008. Since then I'd say we've become pretty good friends. At Origins this year, he, his family, and I shared meals, games, and had a lot of fun together. Mark is an accomplished author, game designer, and publisher. His games are great and he's one of the few publishers I know who can do this full time.

People like Lt. Col. Robert "Smitty" Smith and his wife, Katie, two of the friendliest people I've ever met- both of them full of personality and charm. Smitty reviewed my first game in Panzer Digest (good magazine btw). At Origins, the Smiths exhibited for Panzer Digest Magazine in a booth right next to mine. We offered to cover for each other during the rare breaks (though they mostly covered my area for me...). I had a blast with them at Origins.

People like Uwe Eickert of Academy Games. If there is one guy I'd call my "mentor" in this business of publishing, it's Uwe (pronounced OOOO VAAAH, not YOU EEE, OOO EEE, or OOO WAY- I know, it's tough ;)). He has so much positive energy and excitement about everything he does he actually scares me. I don't know how he keeps up, but he's a brilliant businessman, engineer, and game designer, and always a pleasure to work and hang out with. This year at the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas, Uwe, his son, and I all shared a room at Bally's. Every night he was up responding to e-mails and catching up- I literally don't think he slept- except after that one buffet at the Paris...

People like Greg Silberman, a New York lawyer who is a "hardcore casual gamer" and longtime supporter. He was one of the first guys to preorder one of my games at Historicon (Or was it WBC?). Greg is a super guy who's just fun to be around- in Las Vegas, he introduced several of us to a great "local" oldschool steakhouse called the Golden Steer. I thought we'd be shot in the parking lot, but once we walked in, the place was immaculate. The food was amazing, but the company was better. At Origins, I had the pleasure to learn how to play Fires of Midway with Greg as my teammate in a 4-player game hosted by the designer, Steven Cunliffe (another cool guy). Greg and I eeked our way to a slim victory as the Japanese...

People like Marcelo Figueroa of the Greater Games Industry catalog. Marcelo is crazy and I'll leave it at that.

People like Davide Galloni from Italy. He and his group playtested two of my games and even demonstrated my latest one at a convention called PLAY in Italy earlier this year using a demo version. He's even translated some of the rules of the first game into Italian for his group. I've known Davide for several years now and he's always a pleasure to chat with and work with. I know I can depend on Davide for some excellent constructive feedback.

People like John DiPonio. If you know or get to know John, you'll quickly be glad to call him a friend. John is the kind of guy you dream of having as a playtester. He always follows through with what he's working on and helps me keep my priorities straight. An all around great (and funny) guy.

People like Ken Whitehurst of the This Week In Wargaming podcast. Ken and I had lunch the other day to catch up. I gave him a review copy and prize copy of Spearpoint 1943 for his podcast and we had a nice conversation about games and design in general. He interviewed me for his podcast back in February (Episode AT-7) at the Williamsburg Muster, which was a lot of fun. I look forward to collaborating with Ken on a work-in-progress sci-fi game.

People like Lance Richardson of http://www.gettingboard.com/. Lance's first video review was of Spearpoint 1943 - and he even added sound effects! He's a super nice guy who is just getting started with his review site, so be sure to check it out. He talked the owner of his FLGS into buying a few copies of SP43 for their store - they're now re-ordering having sold out!

People like Chuck Turnitsa of my local game group, ODMS. Chuck regularly hosts great miniatures games and boardgames at our local spot in Hampton, VA called "The Hangar". He's the "glue" that holds the club together and does a great job as a convention director- recently leading a team of ODMS guys in the concept and execution of Williamsburg Muster and Guns of August, both located in Williamsburg, VA spaced 6 months apart. Chuck is a great guy and he is passionate about all things gaming, yet he keeps his focus on his family, always balancing out work, family, and time with friends. Chuck has been a supporter for a long time and a real advocate for Spearpoint 1943, and he's always full of encouragement and good constructive feedback. I'm glad to know him.

There are many others and I could go on and on. I'm very thankful to have met these wonderful people - they've made (and continue to make) quite an impact on me personally and professionally as a game designer and a publisher. I've learned so many things I would not have learned had I kept my questions and ideas all to myself. People like those I've mentioned make this industry great. They, and all of our customers, make it worthwhile to invest so much time into something as complex as designing and publishing games.

Collins Epic Wargames at Origins Game Fair

2010-06-21T18:39:00.000-04:00

Last-minute prep for Origins 2010 is underway and I'll be on the road tomorrow heading to Ohio. If you're attending Origins, please join me in the exhibitor hall or in our demo-area after the hall is closed. I'll be launching Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 there at the show.

I'm really looking forward to seeing gamers enjoy the production version of Spearpoint 1943 at Origins and I'll be sure to post some pictures from the show.

Collins Epic Wargames Releases Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943

2010-06-19T14:25:00.000-04:00

It is my great pleasure to release Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 by Collins Epic Wargames. After many months developing and playtesting the design with the help of playtesters as far away from us as Italy, I’m confident you will enjoy this fast, tense, and FUN WWII-based card wargame. If you haven’t already ordered, please order through your FLGS, online retailer, or direct from CEW to begin enjoying the action in Spearpoint 1943 right away (MSRP $29.95)!

Please join me at Origins Game Fair 2010 to demo the game and take home a copy of your own! I’ll have plenty on hand next week at the show in Columbus, OH.

If you are one of the many new owners of Spearpoint 1943 in the coming weeks, you’ll want to download all 8 initial Situations from the Spearpoint 1943 downloads section of www.frontlinegeneral.com or the files section of the game's Boardgamegeek page. I recommend playing a few Standard Games before trying the Situations in order to become familiar with the game. If you have any questions on anything, please let me know directly.

As you play, I encourage you to develop and submit your own Situations to CEW. The first 8 are exciting and challenging and I hope they spark some design ideas of your own! With your permission, I’d love to share selected Situations of yours with others through our website or newsletter. More Situations are also on the way.

For those of you who preordered Spearpoint 1943, I thank you very much for your support in advance of production. Without your preorders, production of this game would not have been possible. Your preorder should ship by this coming Tuesday. Also, I want to thank Uwe Eickert (Academy Games) and Mark H. Walker (Lock N’ Load Publishing) for their design insights early in the development of Spearpoint 1943.

The battle for the Frontline begins!

Great Spearpoint 1943 Review Posted on Mataka.org

2010-06-04T19:44:00.002-04:00

I recently asked Richard Mataka of Mataka.org to take a look at a pre-release version of Spearpoint 1943. Richard reviews a countless number of games and products in the wargaming hobby and he's always a pleasure to speak with at conventions and on the phone. I'm very pleased with what he had to say about Spearpoint 1943. Here are a few quotes from his review, which now appears online here.

"I’m a typical grognard. I like my maps, cardboard counters and CRT’s. So imagine my surprise and enormous delight when I was asked to take a look at “Spearpoint 1943”, a historical based card game that I immediately enjoyed. This is a game steeped in historical accuracy, research, playability and months and months of playtesting. What’s great to see is that all of this work has truly paid off to provide the gamer with a unique and extremely enjoyable experience with tremendous replay value."

"You can learn this game in 30 minutes or less but mastering it will take a considerable longer time as the tactics are subtle and there are many fine nuances in the game that makes each game different and keeps you coming back for more"

"I feel that the impact of Spearpoint 1943 will be to historical card gaming what Magic the Gathering was to fantasy gaming. I feel it will breath new life into historical card gaming by introducing neophytes into a new world with a historical background based on sound historical research that is challenging yet most important of all, fun to play. Sometimes simple is better! Get Spearpoint 1943, I highly recommend it."

-Richard Mataka, Mataka.org

I'm really glad Richard enjoys the game and it's great to see such a positive review posted online just before the game's release (ETA Mid-June 2010)!

Does your FLGS carry our line of games?

2010-05-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

Do you have a favorite local game store that carries boardgames / wargames? Since we're new to distribution, I would really like you to refer me to the store's owner. I'd like to personally call the owner and ask him/her to carry our line of games and also send the store some promo items and info about us!

Please let me know their location, website, and the owner's name in a comment to this post and I'll do the rest!

Thanks!

It's just cool to order 8800 dice...

2010-04-09T10:07:00.010-04:00

Production of Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 is officially underway. I'm in pre-press on the artwork files and busy prepping them for print- even modifying the "final artwork" a bit based on some feedback- adding some Mark Mahaffey-supplied textures to the backgrounds of the various cards. One fairly easy component to take care of is the single non-custom component in the game- dice.

Most people probably don't put much thought into dice, but they're as important as the artwork, game mechanics, and box. The cost of the dice can really vary among suppliers based on what is available, what is popular, and other factors. I went with "good" dice for Spearpoint- a bit of a polished touch for the game- by "good" I mean a 'non-opaque' color, a standard size, and something that matches the card colors in the game.

In the game, the German cards are a (surprise) textured German gray color, and the US cards are a textured blue color. So for selecting dice, I wanted two D10 gray dice for the German player and two D10 blue dice for the US player. Talk about choices- there are hundreds of D10 dice out there in all styles and colors and a few different sizes.

I chose dice supplied by Chessex for this game (http://www.chessex.com/), one of the industry suppliers. Quite simply I got a better price from Chessex than other suppliers, and as a publisher, I have to shop around for good prices on components or I'm not doing my job. The savings get passed on in the form of a lower MSRP for customers.

I don't personally like opaque dice. Maybe I'm picky, but I wanted something a bit more stylish for the game. Opaques are certainly functional and would have done the job - maybe for a few pennies less - but I went with speckled dice instead. For the gray dice, I chose Chessex's Ninja style. The blue dice are also in the speckled line and are called Stealth. Both are pictured below:

Dice, like any component, are cheaper in quantity. To support the planned initial print run of the game, I had to order 8800 total dice - 4400 of each color. This supports the print run as well as potential overages.

They arrived at the printer the other day and I couldn't help but think, "It's just cool to order 8800 dice..."

Distribution in Germany + a second US distributor

2010-04-07T13:22:00.002-04:00

Collins Epic Wargames is pleased to announce that Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943, Frontline General: San Pietro Infine, and other future games will now be distributed in Germany through UGG (http://www.ugg.de/).

In addition, our games were picked up by another US distributor, ACD Distribution ( http://www.acdd.com/) after discussions at the recent GAMA Trade Show 2010 in Las Vegas, NV. This is in addition to our current US distributor (Alliance Games) and our current Spanish distributor.

We're very excited to have our games carried by more retail stores across the globe and we greatly appreciate your demand for Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 at your FLGS which is partially driving these accomplishments as a publisher. We hope that you look forward to seeing Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 on the shelf in your FLGS and also hope that you will consider picking it up if you haven't already preordered! Release date is planned for sometime in May 2010!

Final Artwork Preview- Spearpoint 1943

2010-01-21T10:21:00.005-05:00

I've posted a final artwork preview on the Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 gallery on Boardgamegeek.com. Here is a link to the announcement thread posted yesterday on BGG:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/486052/final-artwork-preview-frontline-general-spearpoi

I've also posted a few examples from the artwork preview below.

Please browse to the game's gallery to check out all of the images uploaded (29 total).

Spearpoint 1943 progress update

2010-01-19T08:34:00.003-05:00

To follow up on my last blog post, a few updates are in order regarding Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943. It's always a good thing when you're waiting on others to get back to you rather than being the one on the hook for files, information, and *gasp* payments. Today I find myself pretty-well caught up, which is highly unusual.

We are definitely running a contest with the help of Boardgamegeek.com starting February 1st 2010 and will be giving away 20 preorders of Spearpoint 1943 as prize support. I sent all of the contest materials to Chad at Boardgamegeek yesterday so their programmers can get a jump on setting the contest up.
Frontline General News Issue 14 is written, but not yet formatted. This issue includes a feature article that takes readers through the entire game and previews a lot of final art.
This past weekend I filmed a full game of Spearpoint 1943 with the help of my friend Brandon. I'm beginning to edit this video and will post it on our site along with FG News 14 as a supplement to the newsletter. I won't reveal who won the game, but let's just say that person's defeat was decisive.
I've placed the order for 15 Print-on-Demand (POD) copies of Spearpoint 1943 to prepare for a tournament in February at Williamsburg Muster. Many of the POD copies will then go to PODcasters (PUN intended) for pre-release reviews. I've been in touch with several podcasters who have committed to doing a pre-release review of the game.
I've ordered a new retractable banner stand for upcoming 2010 conventions in order to make my setup a bit more portable. I had been using homemade PVC stands to hoist our 3-4 banners, but they required transport by truck.
Before February 1st I'll be posting artwork and DRAFT Rules to the game's BGG entry in prep for the contest. I'm trying to time this upload with my release of FG News 14.
I'm pushing forward with production plans. I'm still waiting on the printer to review the artwork files and tell me everything is okay.
I've written two more Scenarios for this game, which I'm now calling "Situations" just to be different. Scenarios seems like an over-used name in the world of wargames.
Collins Epic Wargames is now officially an LLC!

Final Artwork Complete - Spearpoint 1943 + Updates

2010-01-11T09:50:00.005-05:00

It's been a while between posts, but I have been incredibly busy with game design. I can finally breathe a little...

This weekend, I completed final card artwork on all of the cards for Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943, my new WWII squad-level combined arms card game, which is available for preorder direct at $24 + shipping. The artwork is for 175 cards total (86 of them unique) and includes 50 German Unit Cards, 50 US Unit Cards, 50 Command Cards, and 25 Damage Cards.

I printed an update to my prototype on photo paper last night as I listened to some music in the Drum & Base genre (I find it helpful to listen to repetitive beats when I'm doing repetitive work like trimming out or sleeving cards). I had previously finished and printed the 100 Unit Cards and only needed to print the Damage and Command Cards, so it took less time than I expected and my Dahle rotary trimmer made quick work of the new cards. Once I finished sleeving the final Command Card, after months of extensive work on the game and testing, I finally had a sense of completion.

What's next for Spearpoint 1943?

I'm currently preparing a small 15-copy Print-On-Demand run through superiorpod.com which will be ordered this week to support a pre-release tournament at the upcoming Williamsburg Muster Convention in Williamsburg, VA. I'll then send some of the POD copies off to reviewers and podcasters to generate some pre-release reviews and some buzz about the game and with luck, more preorders. Other POD copies will go to some external playtesters who are ready and waiting to do final testing.
I'll be previewing the artwork and game rules in the upcoming Issue 14 of Frontline General News. 5 pages of the article are already written but a few more are required. The extensive preview will cover the game in-depth, and will be supplemented by Design Notes and a video walkthrough of gameplay.
I'm having our printer look at all of the card artwork files to let me know what I did wrong before production.
I'm considering running a contest through http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ to generate more pre-release exposure for the game.
I'm working with Mark Mahaffey to finish the box back artwork in the coming weeks.
Scenario development and testing continues. I've written 4 of the 8 scenarios that will be freely available for download from our website upon release. The game doesn't depend on scenarios- in fact- standard games will probably be more commonly played- but scenarios really enhance the game for those seeking objective-based games with a little more story. Issue 14 of FG News will go into this more deeply, comparing the various ways to play.
I'm re-vamping our brochures, banner ads, magazine ads, and convention marketing material / signage based on the completed artwork.

Why do Video Previews of Boardgames work well?

2009-09-23T07:58:00.005-04:00

I recently finished a video component preview of the map artwork and functional design in the upcoming Frontline General: San Pietro Infine game. A direct link to the video may be found here: Link (52mb .MP4 format, use Quicktime to view). The video previews the map for San Pietro in its entirety, shows the area of coverage, explains the functional elements (symbols) and how they are used to replace traditional hexagonal terrain types, and provides a brief intro to the game using period photos courtesty of sanpietroinfine.com.

The video creation and editing took roughly 15 hours for this 15 minute video- part of that time no doubt due to my lack of experience in video editing and learning new software. I used the 30-day free trial of Camtasia Studio 9 by Techsmith, the same company that makes Jing, which is a lower-cost stripped down version of Camtasia (with no editing capability and more limitations). I really like Camtasia for its editing features, but at $300 for a licensed copy, I may stick to the cheaper full version of Jing for future less-complex vids.

Why did I spend the time to do this you may ask? Well there are several reasons:

Videos provide visual and audible communication all at once. I can clearly show you what I am talking about and point to it using screen capture.
Videos provide motion and animation and the ability to focus your attention on a single element. With the screen-capture approach, I can zoom in to key points and features, get your attention focused on them with highlighting tools in Camtasia, and quickly move to the next point.
Properly edited videos become polished productions that not only preview elements of games but can also be used as tutorials for players learning the game post-release, eliminating a lot of rules reading.
Showing how something works and talking through it is often much easier than putting it into words, even if it takes a while to talk it through correctly.

I've already mentioned the software I used for this video which I do recommend if you're interested in creating video previews of your games. However, you may want to start with the free version of Jing before diving headfirst into editing, just to see how it works. Once you've used Jing to create a few screen capture vids with your own voice-over, check out Camtasia to see the wealth of features it provides beyond Jing's functionality. The free 30-day trial is fully functional, which is nice, but as I mentioned, the full $300 pricetag for the key to unlock it after 30 days is expensive.

Use of videos to preview boardgame elements works well for all of the reasons mentioned above and for the simple reason of quickly presenting your games visually to a potential customer in a polished format that could impact their decision to buy.

After one year, CEW is now in distribution

2009-08-25T08:49:00.003-04:00

I'm very excited to announce that Collins Epic Wargames is now in distribution with the largest US game distributor. After a year of talks and preparation, I am proud to say that my upcoming games Frontline General: San Pietro Infine and Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 will be available in retail game stores across the United States. I'll also still sell games direct, but, I do prefer that if you purchase any of the titles I offer, especially after preorders are fulfilled, you buy through your local game store to support them as well.

Playtest Notes on Initiative: Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943

2009-08-21T08:11:00.005-04:00

Playtesting continues on Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943, my main focus right now. Last night at ODMS, four new players tried the game for the first time. In about 2 hours they each played 4-5 games and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I was there to answer any questions and guide them through the rules- so this wasn't a blind test- but it was a lot of fun.

Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 is a fast-playing standalone card game based on Frontline General: Italian Campaign Introduction combat rules that focuses on WWII squad-level and individual tank, aircraft, and artillery unit combat for two players. The game plays in 30 minutes or less and includes an assortment of card-based land and air units that handle all necessary stats for play, command cards, dice, several pre-constructed deck suggestions and easy-to-learn rules. It is a non-CCG, so no random packs of boosters, etc.

The base game includes 150 cards - of those, 50 cards are Command Cards that let players affect units in some way during the game.

Combat is the focus of the game and has become the main area of rules adjustments. Some of the rules adjustments have been working so well that they will also be applied to my first game's combat system, which has a traditional board, counters, cards, scenarios, etc.

I want to talk about one of the rules in particular and how the mechanics have been tweaked to be less powerful. Initiative. Initiative in both the base game and initial prototype of Spearpoint used to determine who fired all of their attacking units first. Since damage in the game is not simultaneous, Initiative was very important and very powerful. It's determined with a die-roll on a D10 (highest number wins).

In Spearpoint 1943, Initiative started off as the same rule from Italian Campaign Introduction, described above. After target declaration, players would roll Initiative and fire every unit on their side if they won.

This was too powerful- especially in a card game where combat is the entire game. Players had a huge advantage for firing first- possibly destroying all of their opponent's initial units without the chance of the opponent to retaliate. No good and no fun.

Initiative is still rolled on a D10. However, the winner of Initiative now chooses to resolve one of his/her attacks. Players then alternate resolving attacks of their choice after the initial one is complete. This choice is still a powerful thing and as Uwe Eickert puts it, "it adds tension, which is what you want in a game like this". Damage is still immediate, meaning that if an attack is resolved that destroys another unit that hasn't yet attacked, that unit's attack never occurs. So initiative is still a powerful thing.

This simple tweak to make Initiative determine the first attack changed the entire flow of combat, lowered the importance of the Initiative roll, and eliminated downtime. The old way, the opponent used to have to wait while all of his units were possibly decimated. With the change, both players became active- constantly planning and adjusting strategies based on the results of hits (or misses)- and making tough decisions as an Initiative winner regarding which unit should fire the opening volley for the current Combat phase.

A few Command Cards may affect Initiative- providing a bonus to the roll if they are played.

One other rule regarding Initiative that represents loss of momentum very subtly, is that the Winner of Initiative receives a cumulative penalty of -1 to the next Initiative roll. That penalty is reset when they lose Initiative. So if a player wins Initiative 3 consecutive turns, that player receives a -3 to the roll the following turn. This is a balancing mechanic that helps prevent the same player from winning Initiative each turn, because let's face it, firing first is fun- and we can't let one player have all the fun...

I must thank Uwe Eickert for this suggestion as it came up while playtesting the game with him at WBC. We were looking for a way to improve the combat flow and make Initiative less powerful... after weeks of further testing, I'm extremely happy with the results.

I plan to discuss more rules adjustments in this game as a result of playtesting here on the blog as well as the background and reasoning. Adjustments like these stem from playtesting, which is why it is so important to thoroughly test your designs. One minor rule change can change the entire game, which is why I always recommend that if someone changes a rule- they change only one rule at a time- the effects of that change are more easily understood during the next playtest.

Back from WBC

2009-08-10T14:59:00.007-04:00

WBC (World Boardgaming Championships) is an annual tournament-driven convention held in Lancaster, PA with lots of open gaming, demos, seminars, and a small vendor area later in the week. I just returned from my first WBC as a Vendor and it was a blast! I can't stress enough how important it is to go to shows and exhibit, sell, and/or demo games as a publisher. Many people at each show say they've never heard of me- but that's actually a good thing- it means I'm reaching new people at that show.

The 2008 Charles S. Roberts Awards were announced on Saturday evening at WBC and my friend Uwe Eickert took three awards for his game Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! - Russia 1941-1942 and his efforts on the design. I want to extend my congratulations once again to Uwe for sweeping the awards. He has put a lot of thought into CoH and has made it one of the best WWII tactical systems available today. If you haven't yet played this game, please check it out- as well as his other games in the line which can be found on the Academy Games website.

It was nice to see Mark H. Walker and his wife again at the show, of Lock N' Load Publishing. Mark is another really nice guy and friend that I first met at Fall In! in Gettysburg, PA. I also got to meet some of the guys at MMP, GMT, and Lost Battalion. Z-Man was my booth neighbor.

Academy Games is publishing Michael Tan's Sturm Europa! This is a grand-strategic block game that covers the entirety of World War II. It was nice to meet Mike- he's a really smart designer and has some neat concepts going on in the game- he was there demoing a working copy during open gaming in the auditorium. I believe the game has the potential to become one of the best WWII grand-strategic games of all time. It still is in need of some refinement, but I think Mike is well on track to have a very successful game.

I also met my map and box artist for the first time in person. Mark Mahaffey came by at the show and I didn't recognize him (his online picture is a bit dated)! Great guy, talented artist. Mark and I talked about the new map for Frontline General: San Pietro Infine that I had at the show on display- and how the print came out a bit dark. He'll be lightening it up before production. I plan to do a video preview soon to show everyone online how this map is more functional than most wargame maps out there. I'm really proud of how it turned out and it certainly helped me sell some preorders for San Pietro at the show.

The show was great, the people were even greater, and I almost sold out of the copies I had on hand of Frontline General: Italian Campaign Introduction with the new vinyl Deluxe Map (shown to the left).

It was a lot of fun to playtest one of Uwe Eickert's son's games at the show. I can't reveal much about it- but wow- what a fun Euro. A 4-player session that lasted about 1-1/2 hours was a bit cutthroat but was a lot of fun.

Another WBC highlight for me included playtesting Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943, my new card game, with Uwe Eickert. Uwe had two rules suggestions that I've now fully implemented for further testing. Those two tweaks resulted in the elimination of 3 die rolls whenever Armor Piercing rounds are used vs. armored units. I can't wait to upload more previews and info on this title, including a video. In Uwe's words, "This game is gonna be hot."

I highly recommend that if you missed this year's show, and you're big on boardgames, you make plans to attend WBC in 2010.

Introduction - Collins Epic Wargames

2009-08-04T08:43:00.005-04:00

Collins Epic Wargames. Collins Epic Wargames (CEW) focuses on publishing high quality wargames that appeal to a competitive niche market of adults, ages 25-60, who are avid history buffs, board gamers, and/or historical miniatures gamers. Formed in 2006 by Byron Collins, CEW brings a fresh approach to wargaming and game publishing by introducing new concepts and unparalleled player support. CEW is now branching off to publish games by other talented designers that pass our high standards of quality and target audience appeal. We take our time with development and testing which results in playable games right out of the box without subsequent errata and FAQs. Each game introduces a new innovation in rules or a new concept in gameplay, along with top quality physical components such as mounted game boards, thick, die-cut cards and counters, and full-color printing of every item.

CEW strives to design and publish games that provide years of entertainment, stunning components and artwork, and an epic depth of play. We employ an extensive external playtesting process for all games, relying heavily on hand-picked internal and external playtest teams all over the world as well as professional consultants in the US. CEW does not stop with the sale of a game to the customer. The CEW player base is actively supported through e-mail and internet forums, video gameplay tutorials, and periodic newsletters that offer previews, examples, add free content to existing games, and reveal “behind the scenes” insight into game design and development. Collins Epic Wargames is actively forging business relationships with other game publishers, distributors, and retailers for maximum exposure and joint cooperation. All of our games are manufactured and assembled entirely in the United States, which supports our domestic economy, US-based printing companies, and their suppliers. We look forward to bringing you great games now and in the future.

Here is our main website: http://www.frontlinegeneral.com

Introduction - Byron Collins

2009-08-04T08:37:00.003-04:00

Byron Collins. The 30-year old owner and founder of Collins Epic Wargames, Byron has a passion for all types of games, World War II history, art, engineering, and historical research. Byron began studying World War II history at a young age and has learned a lot from his uncle, a WWII veteran US Naval Reserves officer who helped plan the small boat portions of the Utah Beach D-Day Invasion. Byron points to the formal interview he conducted with his uncle to capture his WWII experiences, just three months before he passed away, as the most personally rewarding part of his venture.

Growing up, Byron took 14 years of private art lessons and has exhibited his watercolor artwork at various local and national shows. As a degreed Mechanical Engineer with a unique art background, he brings to the business an understanding of math, statistics, economics, the design process, and project management, mixed with artistic abilities and accomplishments in fine art and graphic design. Byron currently manages all aspects of Collins Epic Wargames and he designs, publishes, and sells his own games after extensive development and external playtesting. Byron jumped head first into game publishing and has not looked back since 2006. He is active on various Game Design forums and is always willing to pass on what he has learned to those who consider turning their game design hobby into a business. He currently travels to promote and run his games as events at various conventions and trade shows including Gen Con, Historicon, and the World Boardgaming Championships (WBC).