Two weeks into the new year (already the same old year?) and there is already much movement on the RockyMountainNavy Preorder and Kickstarter Roll.
Delivery
Cowboy Bebop Roleplaying Game from Mana Project Studio via Kickstarter (projected November 2023, ~$54). The pdf portion of the campaign fulfilled in mid 2023 but the hardcover book did not arrive until this week. The first time I went through this game I bounced hard off of it; this time I am trying to be less excitable and more analytic.
Progress
Panzer North Africa by James Day from GMT Games on my P500 since July 2021 (30 months, $95). Credit card was charged this past week meaning shipping should begin within the next few weeks. Of the original Panzer trilogy from Yaquinto Publishing in the early 1980’s it was ’88 that I played the most; about time Mr. Day gets a GMT Games version published.
World at War 85: Blood and Fury by Keith Tracton from Lock n’ Load Publishing via Gamefound (Late Backer, $110). A rare update in mid-January has the final production copies enroute to the publisher. Yes, there is plenty of drama behind this campaign but after playing a game moderated by Keith at the Armchair Dragoons Fall Assembly I placed my faith in him.
Adds
Ebb and Flow: The Final Communist Offensive in Korea, 22 April to 10 June 1951 by Ty Bomba in Paper Wars #105 from Compass Games via Kickstarter (projected February 2024, $42). The few Korean War wargames out there usually begin at the start of the war. Focusing in on the end of the mobile phase is different, As a Bomba design I don’t necessarily expect anything spectacular in the design but I can always be pleasantly surprised if some twist in a game mechanism is found.
Stalingrad: Verdun on the Volga 2 by Michael A. Rinella from Against the Odds Magazine via Kickstarter (projected August 20-24; $50). What can I say, I am a Rinella fan.
Operation Meteor by James Pulver from Powercell Games via Kickstarter (projected March 2024, $3). This is promised to be a pdf print-n-play wargame in the spirit of the old Metagaming microgames from the early 1980’s. For less than $5 I feel it is worth a shot.
Feature image courtesy Powecell Games
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Rocky Mountain Navy Gamer 
Thank you for the plug for Operation Meteor! Minor correction: the game is by David Pulver and is published by James Eisert of Pulvercell Games.
On Panzer North Africa I had the good fortune to be on the playtest team. Its a VERY different feel than Panzer (or its 1987 versions, MBT, which I love and have a lot of play time with). WOW do you feel like you need to look for cover and there is little in the desert!! Charging with trucks is not recommended but sometimes it was the only option available… 🙂
Regarding World at War 85’s Blood and Fury, I appreciate your trust, Rocky! As a supplement to what you read yesterday, I have some additional information to share. After David Heath at LNLP receives the final production copies in a couple of weeks, as he announced, one of the copies will be forwarded to me (it will take a few more days to ship to me on the East Coast; it is not shipped directly to me).
As the designer, I have been responsible for a number of the delays this past year. We would submit files, and the printed component in the resulting prototype (one of which you played with at ACDC 2023) would reveal issues that the printer had making the printed copy match what we sent or intended, as I pointed out to you and the “other Keith” at the time. 🙂 (These issues have since been resolved!) I will conduct the final physical component spot check, and I fully anticipate approving this, and my approval is (finally) final. 🙂
I can’t wait for PANZER NORTH AFRICA exactly because desert armored warfare is so unlike the Eastern or Western Fronts. It was Yaquinto’s ’88 that taught me to bring artillery with plenty of smoke to a tank fight for the very reasons you state—never enough cover!
While there are surely many who want to litigate the entire BLOOD AND FURY drama, the play at ACD Fall Assembly absolutely sold me on the game and convinced me any wait will be worth it. Others may not like it, but Real Life gets a vote everyday in our lives. For wargame designers, publishers, and even just players that often means a delay. It’s part of the circle of wargaming.