I'd like to retract a piece of information I released earlier regarding the
available tours at the National WWII Museum during Heat of Battle.

I was mistaken that the Museum was giving away free Behind the Lines tours to
convention attendees. Apparently the tours still cost their normal amount, what
is unusual is that Museum staff are not normally available over the weekend,
particularly on Sundays, to conduct these tours. They will be available,
however, for these tours that particular weekend (Aug. 21-23).

Sorry for any confusion.

Thanks

--Andy Bouffard
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=
Andrew J. Bouffard Office Phone: +1 (281) 855 7177
Senior Developer, Defense Solutions Mobile Phone: +1 (713) 548 4944
ESRI Inc. ESRI Phone: +1 (909) 793 2853 x4566
Email: abouffard@... <
<mailto:abouffard@...<BLOCKED::mailto:abouffard@...>> >

Office Address: 14814 Elmont Dr. - Houston, Texas - 77095 - USA
"With this I hand to each of you a copy of a map, compiled from the best
sources, and which in the main is correct. . . .
You all now have the same map, so that no mistakes or confusion need result from
different names of localities."
Maj.-Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman to division commanders, December 23, 1862.
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=


From: Andy Bouffard
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 8:50 AM
To: Me @ ESRI
Subject: Heat of Battle and its Avalon Hill Classics Tournament

Do the acronyms ZOC, TEC, and CRT mean anything to you? Does the act of
calculating combat odds bring back memories of your wargaming youth?

From humble beginnings in a Maryland garage in 1954, The Avalon Hill Game
Company grew up to become the premier pioneer in commercial board wargame
development. For over 40 years Avalon Hill developed over 150 strategy games,
many of them to this day considered board wargaming "Classics".

The National WWII Museum and Heat of Battle III are proud to encourage and
promote the continued play of some of these "Classics", many of which are
actually in the Museum's collection. Thus is born a weekend-long Avalon Hill
Classics Tournament at Heat of Battle III, the National WWII Museum's annual
wargaming convention, to be held in New Orleans, August 21-23, 2009. After all,
what better way is there, to understand and celebrate the history of wargaming,
than to play some of board wargaming's "relics" in our very own National WWII
Museum?

While there are many "Classics" in the Avalon Hill gaming stable, and many
opinions on what makes a game "Classic", we've chosen ten of the oldest and most
enjoyable WWII-themed Avalon Hill products for this Tournament:

* Africa Korps
* Anzio
* Battle of the Bulge
* Bismarck
* D-Day
* Midway
* Panzerblitz
* Panzer Leader
* Russian Campaign
* Stalingrad

We don't expect players to have owned them all, nor have necessarily even played
them all, but many of them are built around the same basic principles of ZOC,
TEC, and CRT, and share similar rules. We felt, therefore, that these particular
games provided the right combination of variedness but also sufficient
similarity that, chances are, you have played several of them before and will
find great enjoyment in playing them again.

Complete rules for this Classics Tournament, (which features a flexible open
format on Friday and Saturday where you can arrange your own games with fellow
Tournament participants to accommodate YOUR weekend gaming schedule) can be
found here: http://www.nationalww2museum.org/calendar/avalon-hill-pdf.pdf. If
you have any further questions concerning this Tournament then please email me
directly (abouffard@...). If you are planning to attend Heat of Battle and
participate in this Tournament then please bring with you copies of the
aforementioned games that you wish/plan to play.

So, why not come join us at the National WWII Museum and spend a weekend in New
Orleans, where your weekend convention pass includes the $16/day Museum exhibit
pass for the entire weekend and a chance to participate for free in the Behind
the Lines tour of the Museum's greater collection and storage facilities? A
special convention hotel rate at the nearby Courtyard Marriot of $69/night
should make accommodation easy, with open gaming continuing there after normal
convention hours on Friday and Saturday night.

If Avalon Hill games aren't your thing then Heat of Battle has many other gaming
events planned: Flames of War Mid-War Tournament, Command Decision, Memoir '44,
GMT's Battle for Normandy, General Quarters, The Wargame to name just a few
(please see: http://www.nationalww2museum.org/calendar/hob3-prelim-schedule2.pdf
for an up-to-date list of events).

To register online please visit:
http://nw2m.convio.net/site/Calendar/348008071?view=Detail&id=101961

I certainly hope to see you there!!

...and remember...old wargames, and wargamers, never die...they just end up in
the National WWII Museum!

Thanks

--Andy Bouffard
================================================================================\
=
Andrew J. Bouffard Office Phone: +1 (281) 855 7177
Senior Developer, Defense Solutions Mobile Phone: +1 (713) 548 4944
ESRI Inc. ESRI Phone: +1 (909) 793 2853 x4566
Email: abouffard@... <
<mailto:abouffard@...<BLOCKED::mailto:abouffard@...>> >

Office Address: 14814 Elmont Dr. - Houston, Texas - 77095 - USA
"With this I hand to each of you a copy of a map, compiled from the best
sources, and which in the main is correct. . . .
You all now have the same map, so that no mistakes or confusion need result from
different names of localities."
Maj.-Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman to division commanders, December 23, 1862.
================================================================================\
=




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