Map and Counters

With 2009 Coming to an End, It is Time to look forward to 2010

“Map and Counters,” was launched — pretty much on a whim — in April of this year, and thus far, over one hundred and ninety separate posts have been published on its pages. The steady growth, over time, in the numbers of new and repeat visitors — currently, the site averages about six hundred unique visits and over 2,100 page views per month — has been both a tremendous source of encouragement and the main justification for my decision to continue with this effort in 2010. That being said, I want to take the occasion of the end of the old year, and the beginning of the new, to thank all of you who have taken the time to visit “Map and Counters” and have stayed long enough to read my often eccentric and sometimes frivolous musings. Your interest is deeply appreciated.

From its start, this Blog’s essays have centered on presenting highly-detailed game profiles and operational analysis of traditional board-style wargames. However, in addition to these regular, game-related posts, the site has also occasionally offered commentary on other subjects as diverse as movie and book reviews, our national Holidays, convention announcements and updates, and even a few posts to cover important breaking hobby-related news. This basic format will not change appreciably with the advent of the New Year. On the other hand, what really matters is which subjects you, the “Blog’s” visitors, really want to see featured in the coming year. And for that reason, I have listed a number of topics that I have either begun work on, or that I expect to write about, in the next few months. If any of these or other subjects are of particular interest, please let me know via the comments section of this post.

Possible Topics for Future Posts

• Additional “game profiles” focusing on somewhat more obscure, older, or less popular games, i.e., 1914, HITLER’S WAR, WORLD WAR II (the original Dunnigan version), MIDWAY ’64, D-DAY, FRANCE ’40, etc.
• An AFRIKA KORPS essay on the “Second” Battle of Tobruch
• A similar essay on the “Battle at El Alamein”
• A discussion of the AFRIKA KORPS “end game”
• Essays on various aspects of TAHGC’s STALINGRAD
• Essays on the various critical phases in TAHGC’s Tournament WATERLOO
• Additional lists of “game specific” articles from the General
• Game analyses for titles such as LEIPZIG, NATO,WORLD WAR II, 1812, NARVIK, 1815: The Waterloo campaign, etc.
• Additional movie reviews of recent films, such as THE HURT LOCKER, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, etc.
• Movie reviews of some of the classic older films, such as THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, 12 O’CLOCK HIGH, SERGEANT YORK, THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, THE DUELISTS, MIDWAY, FORT APACHE, ZULU, BREAKER MORANT, THE HILL, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER, SANDS OF IWO JIMA, THE DESERT FOX, GUNGA DIN, PATTON, PORK CHOP HILL, GALLIPOLI, FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, DAS BOOT, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE WIND AND THE LION, STALAG 17, EL CID, MASTER AND COMMANDER, THE GREAT ESCAPE, ENEMY AT THE GATES, GUADALCANAL DIARY, BLACKHAWK DOWN, 30 SECONDS OVER TOKYO, etc.
• Additional book reviews on “Game Design,” on the Gulf and Afghan Wars, the Arab-Israeli Wars, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, World War II, World War I, The Russo-Japanese War, the Spanish-American War, the Franco-Prussian War, The American Civil War, the Crimean War, the Mexican-American War, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Revolution, the French and Indian Wars, the Wars of Frederick the Great, the Hundred Years’ War, the Wars of Islamic Expansion, the Crusades, the Wars of the Classical Age (Greeks and Romans), etc.
• Guest posts.
• Other potentially interesting subjects not mentioned as part of this list?

Any comments or suggestions about the preceding list or about the future direction of this Blog in the coming year are welcome. Hopefully, “Map and Counters” will continue to be a site worth visiting regularly in 2010. That, at least, is my sincere wish. The year that is now ringing to a close has, for a variety of reasons, been a difficult one; let us all pray that 2010 will be a much better time, in every possible way, for us all!