Norm Is Still Alive

[Fading Captain]

I know that many have been wondering what is up with Norm Koger lately, and some have expressed this concern on various wargaming forums and sites.

I don't have a direct hotline to the man, but I do see that he has updated the RJW section at his website. He's posted a new release date and some screen shots. Here is the link:

http://home.austin.rr.com/normkoger/RJW.html

I vainly check Norm's site for an update every now and then. It is usually a very futile effort. Glad to see that my efforts finally paid off.

Now if we could just get word out of him regarding future development of TOAW...

[Siberian HEAT]

From his site regarding his new game;

"Never an Orphan

I plan to retain control of this game engine. It will not be allowed to disappear into the corporate round file as most commercial releases eventually do. This will be a living engine, expanded and improved for years to come."

As an aside look for something "interesting" from ArmchairGeneral.com regarding TOAW. We have been in contact with some TOAW-related personages...and although it is NOT a new patch, it will be something that helps the game system. More soon I hope! :whist:

[KG_Jag]

Outstanding news! It appears that Norm is following a variation on the John Tiller theme--keep it yourself, or go with a small company run by people you trust and where your products are essentially that company or very big part of it.

[laobao]

...and here is what Norm just posted on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical newsgroups:

Thread title: Norm Koger RJW

>Risky topic. Wonder if there will be a Jutland sequel.

It's only a risky topic if your looking at it as a single
release.

I still can't say too much about things like names or
publishing agreements. At the moment, I'm in an "if you build it, they
will come" mode. But...

After TOAW, I allowed myself to be talked into a project that
consumed a year of time and ended up being canceled for delays after
one of the parties failed to live up to their side of our agreement.
It was a bit of a disaster for me. Enough said on that.

Then there was another project (P2001) that seemed to be going
well, but once again problems developed with one of the partners. That
project is actually still in the pipeline, delayed pending the release
of the naval game.

The Russo-Japanese War (RJW) title began life as a "mental
health" project. Originally, the idea was that this would be my hobby
game - something for fun that wouldn't necessarily bring in serious
income. I was just looking for a bit of enjoyable development for one
or two days a week while working on P2001, which while interesting,
wasn't my favorite topic. When P2001 hit a serious snag, I found that
1) the RJW game was actually pretty far along, 2) my remaining
potential partners were actually interested - a surprise to me, and 3)
I could complete it completely on my own if need be - no potential
delays due to partner problems.

Now it's true that if I were planning to swim in lucre beyond
our wildest dreams, RJW is hardly the topic I'd pick. But money had
absolutely nothing to do with the topic selection. Those who worry
about whether RJW is risky can stop fretting. Consider this: An engine
that can handle RJW can easily handle various campaigns in WWI and
WWII, and with refinement may even eventually be able to handle
something like the entire WWII Pacific theater. So I'm going to have a
bit of fun and polish the engine with an admitted "loss leader" topic,
and only then go after the topics everyone agrees are popular. Along
the way, hopefully I'll be able to hit the Spanish American War, etc.

In another thread in this newsgroup, there has been some
discussion about the balance in the Russo-Japanese War. It's true that
the Russian navy of the period has a hard time facing the Japanese in
a standup fight. It's not so much that they didn't have the force, but
that their initial deployments were simply awful. Most of the tactical
scenarios will reflect this. I'm having to come up with historical
"what if" situations to create alternate versions that offer a bit
more interest for the guys who will be playing tactical scenarios via
TCP/IP and LAN. "What if Iwate ran up on the rocks prior to Ulsan
rather than Bogatyr" - that kind of thing. What you have to keep in
mind when considering the war, is that the Russians did not have to
defeat the Japanese navy in order to win. Instead, they had to disrupt
the Japanese supply effort. The entire Russian navy can end up on the
bottom of the northwest Pacific, without the Japanese having lost so
much as a destroyer, and the Russians can still win the war if the
supplies don't get through. The Vladivostok cruiser squadron gave the
Japanese fits for a months. They did not destroy a single Japanese
warship, lost one of their own, and had the others severely damaged.
But their activities did have a direct impact on the land war. By any
reasonable standard, their lonely campaign was an operational success.
It's a bit like the Germans in WWI and WWII. They were unlikely to
face the Royal Navy in a standup fight, but that didn't keep them from
throwing a good fright into the Brits on both rounds. Same with the
Spanish American War. If the Spanish navy cruises out into the middle
of the Atlantic and challenges the US to a duel, well... But used
correctly, the Spanish navy of 1898 could make a real nuisance of
itself. WWII is atypical in that there are quite a few "balanced"
tactical scenarios. But most conflicts can only really be appreciated
if the tactical engagements are framed in an operational context. And
that's where the engine that I have targeted on RJW for the first
release is really intended to shine.