I am writing a book

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phillies
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I am writing a book

Post by phillies »

or two about play of the classic title Stalingrad. I would be interested in using Zun Tzu to generate pictures of small segments of the board to discuss rules and tactical issues. However, I cannot find contact info for the people who did the Stalingrad box. Note that the ZunTzu Stalingrad pieces and map are new artwork, not the AH version, so I really would like to find the people who did the ZunTzu box. I can be reached off-line at phillies@4liberty.net if you prefer.

George Phillies
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Jerome
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Post by Jerome »

Hi George! I believe Bill Barrett made the Stalingrad box.
You can contact him through this forum or the Consimworld forum.

By the way I am delighted that you are planning to use ZunTzu for the pictures of your next book! :-)
Jerome, ZunTzu developer.
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Bill Barrett
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Post by Bill Barrett »

Yes I made the Stalingrad gamebox :wink:

And George, I did get your email and apologies for not getting round to replying sooner.

What's held me up is that you actually rekindled my desire to revamp that module (it was one of my first and I've learned a lot since then).

You'll be pleased to hear that it won't be much longer and that I've fixed all the map errors - I'll email you as soon as it's ready.

Regards, Bill.
phillies
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Joined: 03 Aug 2012, 03:03
Location: Worcester, MA

Post by phillies »

The map is attractive. Correcting any map errors would be positive. Adding names to the two islands in the Baltic would be nice, even though they play no role in the game. I personally find the markers on Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad to be a bit garish, but if I did a map the results would be abominable.

Labeling the Straits of Azov -- which have a role in the game -- rather than the Sea of Azov, would be positive.

However, it is a beautiful piece of work. Note that your competitor uses other colors for the units; I much prefer red and blue.
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Bill Barrett
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Post by Bill Barrett »

Hi George,

One thing you must understand is that the graphics were done by John Cooper - not me. I've made a few minor alterations while building the ZT module, but the work is essentially his.

You can contact him via Consimworld or here:

http://www.jrcooper.com/gaming.htm

I believe that he only intended the map to be an enhanced rendition of the original, which is why the Kerch Strait and the Baltic Islands are not labelled. The errors around Leningrad (now fixed in my revised module) were introduced because he used an already inaccurate Cyberboard gamebox as a template...

Regards, Bill.
phillies
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Joined: 03 Aug 2012, 03:03
Location: Worcester, MA

The Prospectus for the Project

Post by phillies »

Noting the sad fading away of players of war games, I am starting to write two short (by my standards) books, namely "Stalingrad for Beginners" and "Stalingrad for the Intermediate Player". I hope to finish them within a year. The objectives are to introduce new players to the game and bring up tactical skills. While Stalingrad is no longer in print, used copies continue to appear on eBay, and ZunTzu, Vassal, Aide de Camp, and other software packages support play by mail.

I will be using ZunTzu to generate the figures, and will be publishing via Kindle, Smashwords, or perhaps Createspace. As part of the book, I am looking for records of complete games that could be critiqued. ZunTzu records are somewhat easier to handle, but I will take what I can get. I will be happy to protect the anonymity of players, since some of you might prefer that your opponents not know that you were the one being critiqued.

The wise man or woman will ask: Can this Phillies fellow actually write a book, let alone two of them? When complete, Stalingrad for Beginners will be my 14th book, unless I finish something else first, in which case it will be my 15th or perhaps 16th book. My most recent three books, completed this summer, are

*Designing Modern Strategy Games (with Tom Vasel, Kindle, Smashwords.com)
*The One World (smashwords.com, Kindle; novel, three musketeers vs amazons)
*Mistress of the Waves( Kindle, Kindle premium; novel, her wits against starfarer ultratech)
...George Phillies
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Jerome
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Post by Jerome »

Hi George,
Speaking of books, I am reading Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World, a history of simulating wars, people and fantastic adventures from chess to role-playing games". Fascinating!
You are quoted a zillion times in the book.
I was wondering: I suppose you met Gygax, but did you by any chance meet Arneson? Were you lucky enough to participate in early D&D games with one of them? 8)
Jerome, ZunTzu developer.
phillies
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Joined: 03 Aug 2012, 03:03
Location: Worcester, MA

Post by phillies »

Jerome wrote:Hi George,
Speaking of books, I am reading Jon Peterson's "Playing at the World, a history of simulating wars, people and fantastic adventures from chess to role-playing games". Fascinating!
You are quoted a zillion times in the book.
I was wondering: I suppose you met Gygax, but did you by any chance meet Arneson? Were you lucky enough to participate in early D&D games with one of them? 8)
Dear Jerome,

I am very fond of Peterson's book, of which I have had time to read small parts. You should all buy it! Jon Peterson was a daytime houseguest repeatedly while he was writing it, mostly to make use of my collection of boardgaming zines. He had a portable highspeed scanner and worked diligently.

As it happens I viewed Gygax and Arnesen as friends, but we never met. I spoke with Gary on the phone, back in the IFW days, regularly. I never played in a D&D game with either of them.

Now I have for you a riddle. Is there a background variable I can set in Zun Tzu, that will let me make the stacks not click into stacks -- or something similar? My objective is to have stacks that are sufficiently spread out that people can see what all three units in a three-tall stack are, when they are looking at a screenshot. I can do this if I am very careful, but I have to be really careful setting units onto each square. The alternative since I am using MSPaint is to tag the stacks on an adjoining blank space. That may be the better solution, so people see the stacks and know what is in them. Creative alternatives are of course welcome.

I am acknowledging you in my book as "Jerome" but you may prefer a different nom de plume. Please advise.

Best,

George
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Jerome
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Post by Jerome »

phillies wrote:As it happens I viewed Gygax and Arnesen as friends, but we never met. I spoke with Gary on the phone, back in the IFW days, regularly. I never played in a D&D game with either of them.
Thanks for sharing that. :-)
phillies wrote:Now I have for you a riddle. Is there a background variable I can set in Zun Tzu, that will let me make the stacks not click into stacks -- or something similar?
Yes. You can disable stacking altogether. Look for this icon and click on it: Image
phillies wrote:I am acknowledging you in my book as "Jerome" but you may prefer a different nom de plume. Please advise.
My complete name is Jérôme Bonnet.
Jerome, ZunTzu developer.
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