Planning the Victory Decision releases

[Agis]

Hi again,

as promised in the “Planning the 2012 releases...” threat I am running poll to let you decide what to do next for Victory Decision.

Let me 1st take a look back. 2011 was a fantastic year for A.D.Publishing. Victory Decision was released in May 2011 and it starts selling pretty well for a one man company product with no miniature line tied in.  
In fact I was selling more Victory Decision books since May 2011 as World at War books in the last couple of years combined.
A big thank you to all of you who bought any of the books and all the positive and encouraging feedback. Even with solid sales A.D.Publishing is still a 100% hobby project, I am not anymore in the red numbers but healthy black sales are still far away, good that it is a hobby to me and I do not have to make a living out of it…

One more thing - Big thanks to Reuben and Thomas; my creative consultants, lead playtesters, proofreaders and overall nice guys! Both gave great feedback in 2011 and will hopefully do again in 2012, without them Victory Decision would not be what it is now.  

Victory Decision is at the moment all about WW II and consequently I focussed on the 4 “big” powers of the conflict. This can be changed in 2012…  
So time to look forward.
The next releases are the Soviet Technical Manual and the Romanian Army Book. Both are in proofreading and layout right now, I am aiming for a January 2012 release.
The Romanian army book is something new in many ways. 1st off it is a mixture of the Army list booklets and the bigger Technical Manuals (Gun and Vehicle Compendiums). It is the perfect way to cover smaller nations that participated in WW II. Army books will cover some lists and the vehicles of that nation. As usual affordable products to get you what you want. The book is also new since Thomas Baumgärtel is the author. We switched roles on that one, I was proofreading and recalculating points and making suggestions while he provides the book itself. Be assured that the book is still 100% compatible with all other Victory Decision books.

The Gear Krieg book is already planned and in development.

For everything after that I am open to your suggestions. Please vote on the options above.
If anything is not covered please chime in!

[Last Chancer]

Too many great choices!!  How can I only vote on one!   

[Agis]

LOL, well eventually all will come out; I am pretty sure of that. Maybe even more.

But I have to set some priorities...

[Sheerluck Holmes]

I voted for the Pacific, but I would hope you would include Australians in the list.

[Agis]

I voted for the Pacific, but I would hope you would include Australians in the list.

Honest question - Are the differences to the British lists justifying a separate entry? 
I was reluctant to include them, since for me it just smalls like "I stick an AUS sticker to the same list and want your money"... 

[Dargoth]

umm all of them?
Hard to decide. All seem quite nice. I was talking about early war, but lately I feel like SF. I think I need a change of setting. I wonder what do you mean by "example army lists and guidelines to create your own forces" some hard-numbers calculators which allow to field my favored flavor of brainwashed genetically modified killing machines wearing tanks as underwear and/or zealous squishy things in papier-mâché ? (If so, that's my vote)

Well anyway I'm happy that VD is doing good. And as the year is ending let me say:
Happy new year! Let's hope that this wonderful rule-set will gain even more popularity.   

Can't wait for RTM I hope it's HUGE.

[Agis]

I wonder what do you mean by "example army lists and guidelines to create your own forces"

I am thinking of unit stats for rather typical troops. Like Terminator Robots, Alien Hunters, Alien devouring beats, Powerarmoured humans etc. Then add a lot of equipment and weapon options (lasers, air burst ammo, IR equipment etc.) and some guidelines to create a force from it.
The idea is to give the players the ability to play most SF settings. The same would go for the weird war book. Stats provded for Zombies, Bomb Zs, Power armoured troops, Rocket Infantry, Walkers and strange tanks. Very customisable.

Soviet TM - Well it even has Aerosans in it... 

[Rabbitz]

Voted for BoB but would love you to do a dedicated Indian Mutiny set of rules and army lists

[Agis]

Voted for BoB but would love you to do a dedicated Indian Mutiny set of rules and army lists

Well Colonial and VSF (I have a lot Darkest Africa, Opium War and Martian Empire minis) is also on the card, but not as fast as the other above...

[Kane]

Early war! Go Belgians go! 

[constrict]

I'm really for the sf-stuff, would be nice with a as you say, very customizable set off rules!

[Sheerluck Holmes]

Honest question - Are the differences to the British lists justifying a separate entry? 
I was reluctant to include them, since for me it just smalls like "I stick an AUS sticker to the same list and want your money"... 

 There is enough difference to warrant a separate list - slightly different Orbat (more noticeable at the higher levels), different access to support equipment (limited tank access, different artillery types) and better trained/motivated than your average British troops (I dare say this will start an argument - a lot would depend on what year of the war).

Certainly enough differences to just call British troops Australian.

[Don_Silvarro]

Heh, I''ve been following this board for a while now but registered just to cast my vote  

I'm all in for the sci-fi stuff. I'm not really a big history buff, I actually got interested in Battlefield Evolution WaW and later Victory Decision because of the slick mechanics - I was an avid Starship Troopers player all those years ago A sci-fi book from you Agis would be like a Starship Troopers 3.0, which is pretty much what I've been wishing for a long time now  

[Agis]

There is enough difference to warrant a separate list - slightly different Orbat (more noticeable at the higher levels), different access to support equipment (limited tank access, different artillery types) and better trained/motivated than your average British troops (I dare say this will start an argument - a lot would depend on what year of the war).
Certainly enough differences to just call British troops Australian.

Hmm, even at the high abstraction level of ViDe?
On a Platoon level the forces are that different, I am really reluctant to justify it.
What are the differences - besides a higher Ld value - in your opinion?
Convince me and I write the list... 

[MountainMan]

I hope you mostly remain focused on WWII until all of the major conflicts/theaters have been covered.  I greatly prefer early war, followed closely by mid-war.  I'd love to be able to game Poland '39, France '40 and North Africa '40 - '43 including the entry of the US in Tunisia, and the fight for Sicily.  And the Pacific early to mid-war as well.

The strength of these rules with WWII is that the troops and vehicles are "known" and anyone can game the war with any set of minis they own from any of dozens of manufacturers. 

How would generic sci-fi rules fit my miniatures collection?  If you don't happen to cover the specs for the minis I own, then I have no use for the rules.  Same for Weird War rules.  I suppose you can go with generic walkers and generic power-suited space marines and the like, but I find with each passing year I have less hobby time.  And if I must take a base formula and then tweak it to suit my minis collection, that's time I could be playing.  So I've stopped doing so.  I play rules as they are, if they fit.

So again, I hope your focus remains mostly on WWII until all the theaters have been covered.