So what happened to Berlin???
I'm thinking that may be my #1. Particularly after all that work you did on it.....
We have finished ( almost) both playtests of the latest versions of 4-27 Noon. ( one logfile remains covering the RtPh- APh and CCPh of one game.)
A single large issue cropped up and was corrected in the rules ( poor artwork led to that.) A suggestion form all play testers along the same lines led to another change.
I am in process of an in depth proofreading of the rules revision 12.1 as of now - there is a lot of typos and stuff to fix, along with your changes everyone agreed to re narrow streets vs. road / building terrain that needed to go into the revision. The Zoo Flak Tower changes to meet the historical reality of the situation have gone in, as has JPs information on the IR Panther cited in Muncheburg Pz Div T/O and found by the Russians after engagement, verification from several sources puts this just to the east of Belle Alliance Platz and the Div reserve PzGruppe of the Tiger VIE(L) and JgdPz IV that are parked unmanned to the East of RSHA HQ building and require LOS to a KEU to maneuver without facing the breakthrough penalties if they re-position sooner.
The re-worked RG charts, OPT RG Charts, and Breakthrough rules are now in the revised rules as well. Artwork for the Alexanderplatz map to the West is almost complete ( the new map) - with a couple of building renderings being worked on that will cover the needs ( the Flak Tower and the A-platz S-Bahn / U-Bahn station by name) - someone is working on those for us.
Then the new map will get the coloration wash needed and the neighborhoods dropped into the city blocks.
The issue with non - alignment to the map West edge along the Tiergarten has been dealt with - Critical Hit did no favors to anyone by compressing the map landmarks along that edge and tinkering the road net too close together - so we used the roads as they pass through the Tiergarten to open them back up to the correct distances and standard of the rest of both Critical Hit - printed maps already out there, before the built up areas begin again on the far side of the park.
The map for Templehof area is at about 45% complete - and will likely remain in work for some time yet to come. Muncheburg's Sector defense area of E is also being mapped to the East, and is at about 25% complete ( all road networks and water obstacles in place, along with the S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines).
RGs have been revised for the Soviets as well - to break out those units from 3rd Shock, 5th Guards and 8th Guards out form the 5th Guards Tank. This allows us to use a similar ( and for players a familiar) approach to what Phillipe L did with KGPs RGs ( i.e. colored asterisks to define the FMEs those units can enter - and a RG SSR footnote to define when those RGs can be purchased.)
The Command and Control Rules are being revised - this will be the biggest addition to the CG - and borrows some from everyone's input along with some ideas from the SASL framework to create a more rigid set of requirements than one has seen in ASL yet.
We intend to continue the two play tests now, into 4-27 PM and 4-27 Night turns - nothing else yet would be occurring anyway unless an early breakthrough occurred which is really just poor German play. The Germans should do the breakthrough, but only at the point when it would occur anyway, so they can gain the "reinforcement" of the stragglers. Makes pulling from the OPT RG tables a matter of timing and good strategy being required.
The last requirements pending is finishing the OPT RG for the units around Templehof as well, they will be needed for the next run through after all maps are completed there - that is another round of 4-27 AM and 4-27 Noon.
Overall the rest of the additions, deletions and changes all lead to the goal we all chose when we began - neither side has a " perfect choice" in any circumstance. The commanders of both sides only get that " lesser of two evils" choice, and it is presented over and over, with every decision that needs to be made - for that was the ultimate reality of Berlin 1945.
Last, we have just begun the work on the Northern Map - the area of Sector A under protection of the 9th FJ Div and to their north, the 23rd SS PzGrDiv. That will incur construction of another building rendering of a Flak tower ( the only one the Soviets ever assaulted directly) - and inclusion of its attendant LOS rules ( it had a slightly different weapons mount system than the Zoo tower), as well as a full OPT RG for the 23rd and a filling out the RG of the 9th FJ. Those are later changes - and might be done by the time we get to 4-29 AM turn when the Soviets pushed hard enough, giving up on the flak tower assault, to clear all points north of the Humboldt Basin and Rail Station. ( It as that turn that led Mohnke to order the screwed up demolition of the Admiral Scheer Bridge across the Spree.
It is , in short ,alive. It is being worked on by a dedicated team continuing the development into a CG that covers all of the battles leading up to the assault on Sector Z as well as the actual fall of Sector Z had Critical Hit already began for us. It is a far larger product, adding four full mapsheets to the map, and many rules nuances missed and / or miffed by Critical Hit. Our goal remains to polish that diamond in the rough that Mark Porterfield began for us, and enhance it from that point forward. Will it ever go to Critical Hit? Doubtful. But it will see the light of day for ASL players sometime before 2020 - that is the deadline we set for ourselves when we began this journey in 2013.
KRL, Jon H
