Another Point of Singularity

C3i Magazine Issue Nr.17
Rodger B. MacGowan, Editor-in-Chief
Steve Carey, Managing Editor

In the post the other day arrived the latest C3I magazine from GMT games, Nr. 17. I used to be a tad lukewarm about GMT's 'house organ' rag, for a simple reason: most of the strategy articles that received the most support from the editing staff in the early days were for one game: SPQR. All well and good if you OWN SPQR, I guess, but it had gone out of print by the time I was a repeat reader of C3I. Don't take my word for it, check out the issue index in No. 17. Almost every issue printed has at least one SPQR article in it, and some more than one.

Fortunately, the content and appearance of the magazine really went in a different direction during Stuart Tucker's tenure, and has continued under the guiding hand of Steve Carey. Notable changes have been a wider coverage of OTHER GMT games, particularly the Down In Flames series-- there are new (color) cards in every single issue, it seems, and lately there has been expansion modules for several series games (last time it was a new scenario for GRINGO called Chirabusco, this time the battle of Cheriton for the MUSKET AND PIKE series).

This particular issue has tons of great new addon bits, and for once, not entirely dedicated to a Great Battles of History title! (just kidding) There's bits for Empire of the Sun, Rise of Rome, Thirty Years War, Downtown, Borodino, and 3DOG. Yay! I own almost all of those!

A good house organ magazine should always seek to expand the utility of games that are already published-- gamers LOVE the replayability quotient, and giving a player a new scenario, battle, or DiF cards (even when you pay a high price for them) will continue to build product loyalty. Customers react to that support with PURCHASE loyalty, I suspect (I certainly give GMT a significant number of gaming dollars).
C3I (even with it's somewhat dorky branding -- a monumentally poor choice for a name, I think) really shines in giving the cusomters a little extra to expand the life of GMT products, and they are only getting better at it. I think they are the best house organ in the business for this reason.

So much so, I actually subscribed this year. Imagine!

Publisher's Blurb (from GMT website)

With a goal of publishing the magazine with more regularity, C3i Magazine issue Nr.17 is already shaping up nicely as issue Nr. 16 goes to press soon.

Planned articles for C3i Nr.17 include a "Down in Flames" Series campaign submitted by C3i-DiF Series Editor Mike Lemick – "Dunkirk" by Toby Pilling, along with new aircraft cards for that scenario.
Great Battles of History (GBoH) Series Editor Dan Fournie returns to the pages of C3i Magazine with his take on the Sicilian Campaign in the 2nd Punic War, including a scenario for "SPQR" (Himeras River, 211 BC) and also a fascinating "what-if?" naval engagement (Cape Pachynus, 212 BC) for "War Galley".
Alan Ray (GBoH Series Developer) and Steve Carey (C3i Managing Editor) take an insightful look at ramparts and the "Gardens of Death" in our new "Siege of Alesia" release (GBoH Vol XI).
Mark Kaczmarek ponders "Borodino", Vol II in our "Triumph & Glory" series, while Alan Smith provides his view on "Devil's Horsemen" (GBoH Vol X).
We're also planning to have coverage of the upcoming "GMT East Weekend" in New York with a report from Marc Guenette. In our Developer's Notebook section we will have coverage of the "Simple Great Battles of the American Civil War" (SGBACW) rules development, and also several more surprises for you in the issue.

Issue Nr. 17's main feature will be on designer Ben Hull's "Musket & Pike Battle Series" (MPBS), including a special battle module for "This Accursed Civil War", namely the important engagement at "Cheriton" in 1644. This new C3i Battle Module will include a mapsheet and countersheet for the "Cheriton" battle, as magazine inserts. In addition to the historical notes, MPBS developer Dick Vohlers has promised us an accompanying MPBS replay/strategy article in anticipation of the third volume in the series (and recent P500 entrant), "Under the Lily Banners".

Our countersheet insert in C3i Nr. 17 will include new counters for "Downtown", "Rise of the Roman Republic", the aforementioned "Battle of Cheriton" (MPBS) module, along with errata units for "Borodino", "Three Days of Gettysburg" (2004), "Barbarossa to Berlin", and the "Thirty Years War", amongst others.

So we hope you agree that C3i Magazine Nr. 17 is shaping up to be another terrific issue that's not to be missed. So, please P500 this issue today, or better yet, why not become an elite "C3i Immortal Subscriber" and automatically receive all future issues of the magazine as they are published – to enhance your enjoyment of all your GMT games.