From: "Louis R. Coatney" <mslrc@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu>
Subject: DARK CRUSADE ... Designer's notes.  (Small revision)
 
As described in my Jul/Aug92 article in FIRE & MOVEMENT,
  DARK CRUSADE was a great hope ... and a great disappointment.

The game was conceived as a fast, simple, 2-player point-to-
  point corps/army level game about the Russian Front in World
  War II.  My original design was just of infantry, armored
  infantry, armored, and cavalry units, as in the old Avalon
  Hill classic STALINGRAD.  However, enthusiasm grew for an
  "advanced game" order of battle with considerably more.

Keith Poulter/3W wanted to publish the game as soon as he heard
  my ideas about it.  This was a mistake on my part.  NEVER
  approach a publisher with a game *idea* ... or outline.  Have
  it in finished form to the extent that you are ready to sell
  it photocopied.  In any case, publisher's deadlines reared
  their ugly, sinister heads, and the pressure was on.  Wisely,
  I kept my copyright to the game.

Keith assigned Ty Bomba to the game as developer.  At that 
  time, I think Ty was more of a designer than an editor, and
  he had his own ideas about what the game should be.  Since
  I was in Alaska and they were there together in California,
  I wasn't available to consult, and I began to feel like I was
  losing control of the game design.  For example, I had the
  daily situation maps for the German Wehrmacht, Jun-Dec41, on
  Library of Congress Map Room microfilm (and available to
  anyone to purchase, then or now).  This showed the disposition
  of German Army units down to independent brigade/regiment
  level on the Russian Front.  (Things get sketchy, along toward
  December, I might add.  :-)  )  It was a *primary source*, the
  "mother lode," research-wise.  However, Ty had been impressed
  with the order-of-battles being sold by some fellow out of
  Pennsylvania, and he acquired control of the Axis order of
  battle.

I shouldn't be too hard on Ty.  Things were hectic for him, too.
  I *finally* express-mailed him a revision of the rules, one 
  time, and he called me up that (Saturday) evening to say they
  hadn't arrived, and he needed them before he went on a trip.
  I had worked in the post office, and so I told him just to go
  down to the back loading dock of his (Venice, CA) post office
  and ask one of the guys there to cut him a break.  A couple of
  hours later, I got a rather irate and traumatized call from Ty,
  who said the dockworker he had encountered had threatened to 
  call the police and have him shot on sight!  (Alaska and Illinois
  postal workers are nicer, it seems.  :-)  )  ... and he didn't
  get the revision in time.

Ty also came up with the "Dark Crusade" title, and one of his
  proposed revisions stimulated me into the breakthrough-as-an-
  inverse-function-of-duration-of-combat mechanic which encourages
  even hopelessly outnumbered defenders to hold on for as many rounds
  of combat as possible.
 
Keith was rushing to finish the game (and a couple of others, I
  believe) in time for Origins 1984 in Dallas, Texas, that year.
  As a result, I didn't get a chance to proof the components,
  and when I finally saw the game in Dallas, I went into far
  deeper shock than any of its disapponted purchasers.  The
  mistakes in the map, counters, and rules were innumerable.
  Fortunately, I didn't find Ty there.  :-)

An interested DARK CRUSADE player at Origins 84 was Craig Taylor
  of Avalon Hill, which came out with the hex-game RUSSIAN FRONT
  soon thereafter.

To Keith's credit, he attempted to rectify DC's mis-publishing
  with a "second edition."  However, Bill Carnes -- a good
  fellow who had been enthusiastic about the game in Dallas --
  got the chance to redo the rules.  Fortunately, he sent me
  his draft, before sending it to me, and it was apparent he
  didn't understand some of the game's basic principles.  At
  considerable cost in personal and family time, I rewrote a
  substantial part of what he had done and sent it back to him.  
  However, when the second edition came out, I received no
  credit -- let alone money -- for the rewrite.  (To Keith's   
  credit, I *did* receive everything he owed me in designer's 
  royalties/fees for the first edition.)
 
I also spent an incredible amount of time trying to answer the
  questions of the game's purchasers, who loved the game but
  were doubly frustrated by all of its glitches.

Eventually, Keith donated his remaining copies to a mental
  hospital (I think), and publishing rights returned to *me*. 
  On Consim-L, I asked Ty Bomba if he had any interest in re-
  publishing the game and doing it right this time, but
  (typically) I received no response.
 
The "basic game" is a *lot* of fun, in any case, and 
  surprisingly "realistic."  I think Randy Hoffa, of C-in-C
  Castings -- 1:2400 and 1:4800 miniature warships and an
  equally large line of 1:285 miniature tanks, etc. -- in
  Fridley, Minnesota, may still have copies, as do I.
 
Lou Coatney, mslrc@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu
309/836-1447