As if you did not have enough reasons to order the forthcoming edition of C3i Magazine Nr. 39, here are some—with a special one close to me—that hopefully reassures you as you push the “Add to Bag” button. From Steven MacGowan on 11 November:
Let’s clear up a few things first. RBM Studio’s C3i Magazine did not end with Nr38. Nr39 includes complete and just finalized games from the esteemed Mark Herman, Trevor Bender, and Daniel Hernandez Iniesta. And to top it off, a major expansion from Frank Esparrago and Fred Schachter for Congress of Vienna makes its debut. Rodger’s autobiography, the Art of Rodger B. MacGowan, is still in print and available at the C3iopscenter store. And I will keep the magazine going for as long as you are here to read it.
Here’s some details for Nr39:
When I mentioned that Mark Herman had a game for this issue, it’s really something a little more special than that. Richard Berg published a small print-to-order game decades ago, a game many have described as a “Squad Leader for the American Civil War.” Mark has given some heavy thought to developing Louisiana Tigers with exciting new ideas and updates to the rules to breathe new life into Richard’s original vision, making something old into something new. This will be a wonderful tribute to Richard and his design genius, with new and improved graphics on thick cardboard counterstock.
For our WW2 offering, could I interest you in some post D-Day action? Operation Cobra by Trevor Bender is Volume IV in the C3i Combined Arms Series, a fast-paced, 7-turn, two-player game of the Allied offensive to break out of the American side of the Normandy beach head from 25-31 July 1944. The system uses a novel all-encompassing One-Phase Sequence of Play where all movement and combat is done for both sides, at the same time, in a highly interactive and immersive manner. Players can push their units to the limit or hold them back to refresh for the next day’s big push. Managing reserves will be key to holding the line. Victory is determined by friendly and enemy losses and progress made across the map.
The Empire is a low-complexity strategic solitaire game and tense wargame from Daniel Hernández Iniesta, with stunning graphic art by Domnhall Hegarty and a unique historical article by the famous Spanish writer Hugo A. Cañete. It explores the geopolitics of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), with battles, sieges, politics, and diplomacy, from the perspective of one of four major actors: Spain, Austria, France, or Denmark-Sweden. A game takes about 40–45 minutes and unfolds over five turns. Each turn, you spend Operation Points (OPS) on actions across four phases: Planning, Campaign, End of Turn, and Victory.
Then there is this part:
We’ve also got some features for the what-if crowd. Geoff Engelstein tells how Kurt Vonnegut’s rejected 1950s checkerboard wargame GHQ finally reached print in 2024, then adds strategy tips and two variants. Aaron Danis, Trevor Bender, and Ty Bomba separate counterfactual history from alternate history and lay out what makes an alternate-history design work. And Ian B., AKA Rocky Mountain Navy revisits Jim Werbaneth’s 1994 classic Britain Stands Alone and tests its two big assumptions, German air superiority and heavy Royal Navy losses, against the history and against Paddy Griffith’s Sealion staff wargame. These and more articles await you just behind a ziploc baggy.
Although Steve has to raise the price of the magazine, it promises to be a jam-packed issue:
Now the tough part. We need to increase the price of this issue to $59.99. Rodger and I always did our best to shield readers from outside economic pressures, and for four years we absorbed rising production costs rather than pass them along. That is no longer possible. Paper and board have had multiple rounds of increases this year (containerboard is on its third), and postage and carrier fuel surcharges have climbed just as fast. As a thank-you for sticking with C3i, we packed this issue with FOUR GAMES and TWO COUNTERSHEETS, making it the biggest C3i ever. None of this would be possible without the designers, writers, and artists who put their work into this issue, and I’m grateful to every one of them.
Well worth price, even without my contribution. Pre-order is available now.
Do. Not. Wait. Press “Add to Bag” now!
Feature image courtesy C3i Ops Center
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