Happy New Year, May it bring you Health, Good Fortune, and Joy

This is Steven Petrick Posting.

Things have been a trifle fouled up with Jean in the hospital. I tried to post a blog yesterday, but the system "lost" our log in information (here in the office, not blogger), and I could not figure out how to get in. So we missed yesterday's blog, but I did think about it for whatever that counts for.

So this will be the final blog of 2015.

It has been a rough patch these last few months, but we are looking forward to the opportunities the new year will bring.

Jean should be out of the Hospital soon, and her dog will be very glad to see her. At least tomorrow (1 Jan) he will get to spend visiting a neighbor dog that he is friends with.

Simone is young, so of course she is out celebrating the new year and will not be in the office tonight. SVC and Leanna have left for the day, as has Mike Sparks, so it is down to just me and the dog.

So, from all of us here at Amarillo Design Bureau, inc, Happy New Year to you all, and may 2016 bring each and every one of you Health, Good Fortune, and Joy

HAILING FREQUENCIES and COMMUNIQUE Released

Steve Cole reports:

We have released this month's issue of the Hailing Frequencies newsletter and this month's Communique. Hailing Frequencies has the latest company information and covers all of our games. You'll find news on the latest releases both in print and ebook, information on the company, and even serialized fiction. Hailing Frequencies also has links to the latest Star Fleet Alerts, which are press releases about new products and when they will be available for order. From Hailing Frequencies, you can link to Federation Commander specific news in the latest Communique, a free PDF newsletter which is full of good things for Federation Commander players, including a new ship, a new scenario, and updated schedules and rules.

You can subscribe to Hailing Frequencies at this link:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/newsletter.shtml

Got Any Marketing Ideas?

ADB, Inc., is always interested in great marketing ideas, ways and places to sell our products, as well as new products to sell. Our page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amarillo-Design-Bureau-Inc/231728653279?ref=mf) exists to put our products in front of other groups of potential customers. You will find us on Twitter as ADBInc_Amarillo. We also are releasing YouTube videos that show what you'll find in "the box" and our latest releases. You can catch our videos on our channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/starfleetgames.

We tried a lot of things that didn't work (Google Pay per Click, full-color ads in trade journals) and a lot of things that did work (banners on gamer websites, Star Fleet Alerts) and are always looking for new ideas. If you have any, send them to us at Marketing@StarFleetGames.com and we'll think them over.

WORLD WAR II: BRANCHES OF THE PATH: Part 4

Steve Cole's thoughts on the many ways that World War II could have taken a very different direction during 1944-45.
    
1944, January, the US stops the Italian War: The US never wanted to invade Italy, and once we did, wanted to stop as soon as the fighting got tough, turning the theater into a static front. The US could (and arguably should) have refused to take part in the fiasco at Anzio, forcing the British to abandon the plan. New divisions from the US should have gone to France instead. The war might not have ended any sooner but the massive casualties of the Gothic Line battles and Anzio would have been avoided.

        

1944, June, Operation Overlord fails: The failure of the landings could have come from any of a number of factors, and the definition of failure could range from withdrawing the troops, a massive surrender, or an indefinite slugging match in a much narrower beachhead. If Hitler had relented and allowed the available tank divisions to be based right behind the only two plausible beaches (Normandy and Calais) a counter-attack by hundreds of tanks at dawn on 6 June would have destroyed Omaha and Sword beaches, trapped the forces landing on Utah beach to a narrow coastal strip (by destroying the two parachute divisions and blocking the exits to the huge swamp behind the beaches), and trapped the British and Canadian divisions at Gold and Juno in a narrow beachhead (defined by the range of naval gunfire). This would have left any attempt to land new troops and supplies within range of German artillery.
   

1944, August, the Germans are trapped: Twice in the late summer of 1944 massive German armies escaped from certain destruction, in both cases because British units did not  push through the last few miles to cork the bottle. At Falaise, the US Army (from the south) had reached the designated meeting point to cut off and trap the entire German force that had been fighting in Normandy for two months. The British tried again and again, but (British, Canadian, and Polish divisions) failed to break through. There is no doubt that the US units south of the trap could have pushed across the map line and closed the bottle, trapping 100,000 surviving Germans and virtually all of their armored divisions in the West. Eisenhower granted Montgomery more time to do the British attack, but instead, Monty attacked the west end of the pocket, pushing the Germans out of the trap instead of closing it. Without those troops (including the key cadres of the shattered armored divisions) Germany's western front could not have been saved. Then again, a month later, Montgomery stopped General Horrocks from closing the trap on the Scheldt Estuary, allowing 92,000 Germans to escape; it was those troops that established the defense line that slowed Operation Market Garden to a crawl and caused its failure. With those troops trapped and forced to surrender, nothing could have stopped Montgomery short of the Rhine. Pulling German troops from the Russian Front would have collapsed it (June 1944 was when half of the German divisions on that front were wiped out) and the war would have ended by November 1944, saving a few hundred thousand lives.
        

1944, September, Eisenhower rejects Market-Garden: While the infamous failure of Market-Garden (a bridge too far and all that) is well known, lesser known is that this operation was conducted instead of the one Montgomery was ordered to have already done: clear the German troops away from the Scheldt Estuary and allow the port of Antwerp to be opened. The allies were desperately starved for supplies from the August breakout through the first of December, a problem only solved when Antwerp was opened in late November. Clearing Antwerp earlier would have allowed the allies to end the war six months earlier with the US holding Berlin.
 

1944, November, 7th Army crosses the Rhine: Troops of the US Seventh Army were ready to cross the Rhine against a massive German bunker complex that was held by only a hundred police and invalid troops. Eisenhower not only refused to allow the attack but threatened to relieve the commanders of the 7th Army and 6th Army Group if they tried. This was a major mistake. Given a bridgehead (which Patton's tanks were in a position to exploit) the German western front would have collapsed and all of those Battle of the Bulge secret reserves that Hitler had assembled would have been sent south to try to stop the disaster. Months later, 7th Army made the crossing against bunkers stuffed with German soldiers at a considerable cost in blood.
      

1945, September, the US invades Japan: Without nuclear bombs, the US would have had to invade Japan. This would have involved 800,000 or more American dead (plus 410,000 allied prisoners held in Japan who would have been executed on the first day), ten million Japanese dead, and Russian control over the northern third of Japan.

Join us on Facebook and Twitter

ADB, Inc.’s page on Facebook is now up and running, and we’re finding a lot of new faces who haven’t been around the BBS or Forum. We have pictures up of ADB, Inc. staff, links to many of our videos, snippets of information, and interaction with our fans. Jean Sexton is the main voice you will hear on our page on Facebook. If she doesn’t know an answer, she’ll ask one of the Steves and ferry the answer back.

All that is left is for you to "like" the page for Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. if you haven’t done so already. Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amarillo-Design-Bureau-Inc/231728653279?ref=mf.

Many people on our page on Facebook have not been on our BBS, so perhaps our new outpost on Facebook will become the place for those who want to keep up with current events without the intense atmosphere (and flood of information) found on the BBS. If you are very busy on a given day, checking our page on Facebook would tell you quickly if something important has been announced. The page also has its own art galleries, plus a place where you can post a review of our products. It also has discussions where you can link up with fellow gamers.

We've also added a Twitter feed which you can follow at https://twitter.com/ADBInc_Amarillo.
 Be sure to follow us for a quick look at what is going on!

We hope to see you there! For Facebook users, be sure to add us to an interest group to see all of our posts.

On Surgery and Cancer and Recovery

Jean Sexton muses:

I am afraid of everything involved in surgery: needles, blood, pain, lack of control, uncertainty. Yet there comes a time when it may be necessary and I needed major surgery. An entire system was not behaving appropriately and my doctor and I decided that since I didn't need those organs they could be removed; the removal would end the problems I was having.

Before surgery we had done everything within our power to check on the status of things. In-office procedures, scans, a more involved day procedure, and a CT scan showed no issues, but none of them were completely conclusive. While doing those I got an ECG which led to a stress test which showed my heart is healthy. I made arrangements for Wolf to be cared for during my night in the hospital, stocked up on easy-to-fix food and snacks, and stocked up on water. (I love Amarillo, but for someone raised on the sweet water of eastern North Carolina, the salt in the water in Amarillo is too much.) Everyone knew the plans to get me to the hospital on time.

And on time we were. The nurse realized I was in the middle of my worst nightmare and talked to the anesthesiologist who prescribed something that went into my IV and calmed me down. The side effect of amnesia really didn't worry me as I didn't want to remember. As people have told me, the surgery prior to mine ran a bit long and then mine ran significantly longer than planned.

The culprit? Cancer and lots and lots of benign tumors. The pathologist confirmed that the cancer was a slow-growing, non-aggressive cancer that had only made its way about 41% into the wall of the uterus. We'd planned on taking everything out, but now everything had to be scrutinized closely. In addition, my surgeon decided to take out all the lymph nodes that could be affected. This cancer had proven to be sneaky, and he didn't want it lurking in any glands.

After two weeks of worrying, the verdict came in. The cancer, while sneaky, hadn't decided to go on walkabout. There is a 3-5% chance of recurrence, but my doctor believes that I am on the low end of that, especially if I buckle down and lose more weight. That chance means frequent doctor visits for the next five years, but no radiation or chemotherapy. So my clock starts and by Christmas 2020 I should be a cancer survivor. Each Christmas I will have the best Christmas present of all -- my life.

Recovery has been slower than I hoped. Still, I know I have no patience (and the good Lord doesn't seem inclined to give me some RIGHT NOW), so I am trying to take it one day at a time. I'm on very little pain medicine now and that is to simply keep the ouchies down (I am not a fan of pain). I am back at work, part-time work for now, but I think by after Christmas I should be back full time. I should be able to drive by Thursday, just before Christmas.

Folks, the gift I wish to give to you today is knowledge. If your body (or the body of someone you love) starts doing something different, don't assume it is normal or decide to tough it out for your next doctor's appointment. Call your doctor. Tell your doctor what is going on and let your doctor make the call of "normal" or "check this out further." The sooner a problem is identified, the sooner it can be handled or stopped in its tracks. Remember that cancer isn't the death sentence that it used to be; there have been so many advances.

Finally, I want to thank my doctors (primary and surgeon) who have probably saved my life, all the nurses and technicians who put the human touch into my care, my ADB family who took on so much of helping me, my local friends who continue to help me with ordinary situations (who knew so many things weighed more than 10 pounds!), my family back in North Carolina who listened all the times I was frightened or bored after the surgery, and all my friends who through ADB's page on Facebook, the BBS, or social media took time to reassure me and rejoice with me on each little milestone.

And now we are at Christmas Zero on my countdown. I wish each of you happiness and health as your presents this season. And may your gaming be grand!

Playing Star Fleet Universe Games Long Distance

Playing games by email or by post is an alternative to playing face-to-face. While there are a few differences (i.e., your opponent isn't sitting across the table from you), it is the same game.

When playing Star Fleet Battles or Federation Commander using the Play-by-Email (PBEM) system you and your opponent submit your orders for the turn to a moderator via email. The moderator then processes them, and sends a "SitRep" (Situation Report) to the players via email. You receive the results, write up your next set of orders, and then submit your orders once again. The process is repeated until the game is completed. Sounds simple? That's because it IS! It'll take a little getting used to (after all, what doesn't?), but once you've got the hang of it, you'll be lobbing photon torpedoes (or whatever your weapon of choice is) at opponents from all over the world.

Every FC or SFB PBEM game has at least three participants: two or more players and one moderator. The moderator's purpose is to accept orders from the players and carry them out, reporting the results of those orders to all players. While (s)he is not a player, the moderator fulfills a very important role in the game. Good moderators and good players make for a good, enjoyable game. Moderating a game is also an excellent way to learn more about the game's rules.

Prime Directive games can be played by posting on the Forum. The GM of the game gets players, approves their characters, then sets up situations for the characters to face. It takes a bit longer because the players are not sitting around the table, but it also allows people who are spread out across the world to play.

Players of all our games are expanding the frontiers of playing long distance. Some are trying chat, some are adding webcams to that, many are trying out VOIP so as to get close to a face-to-face experience.

While there are some disadvantages to playing long distance (it does take longer to finish a game), there are advantages as well. You can play against people in other parts of the world (how often do you get to Australia, anyway?), you can play multiple games at once, and you can have large multi-player games (without worrying about running out of chips and soda).

For more information about playing long distance, drop in on the Forum (http://www.federationcommander.com/phpBB2) or BBS (http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/).

This Week at ADB, Inc., 13-19 December 2015

Steve Cole reports:

This was a week of steady work for most of the staff while Steve Cole and Jean Sexton continued to recuperate.

New this week on DriveThru RPG and Wargame Vault was Federation Commander: Lyran Ship Card Pack #1. It was already available through Warehouse 23.



Steve Cole mostly spent his time recuperating from surgery although he did make it in a couple of times to check email. One evening he spent time being interviewed by a high school student for a project she had. By Saturday he had started work on a ship card for the December Communique.

Steven Petrick worked on updating SFB Module C2 and did more work on Captain's Log #51 and the Romulan Master Starship Book. He did some preliminary work on the Lyran Master Starship Book. He was also Jean's primary chauffeur to and from work at week's end.

Leanna kept orders and accounting up to date. She also kept an eye on both Steve Cole and Jean.

Mike kept orders going out and rebuilt inventory.

Simone did website updates and hunted pirates.

Jean managed our page on Facebook (which is up to 2,916 friends), managed our Twitter feed (168 followers), uploaded a PDF, commanded the Rangers, dealt with the continuing spam assault on the BBS and Forum, managed the blog feed, took care of customers, and did some marketing. Mostly she worked hard at her recovery from surgery. 

Lights! Cameras! The SFU Hits YouTube!

Ever wished you could take a peek inside a shrink-wrapped box or look behind the pretty covers of a book? Then these videos are for you.

The brainchild of Mike Sparks, our YouTube videos are of three types. The first is about a specific product line and you can hear Steve Cole (yes, he is the talking hands in our videos) discuss the products that are in one of the different games. The second kind is what ADB, Inc. has released in a particular month. These are a great way to catch up quickly on the new items.

It is the third kind that let's you see what is in the box. A boxed game such as Federation & Empire is taken out of the box item by item so that you can see what's in there. From rulebook, to charts, to maps, to counters, each item is shown and discussed. It's a lot of information to pack into a short clip, but SVC and Mike manage it.

Check out our channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/starfleetgames and be sure to bring the popcorn!

How to Find New Opponents

Steve Cole writes:

Many gamers are looking for new opponents. This is nothing new. When I was a teenager, there were maybe four war gamers in Amarillo that I knew, but there must have been more as the one store that carried Avalon Hill games (then the only wargames) would sell one or two now and then that my friends and I knew we didn't buy. Funny, it never once occurred to us to ask the store manager to give our phone numbers to the other guys. When I was in college, SPI (then the second wargame company and rapidly becoming larger and more innovative than Avalon Hill) had an opponent wanted list. I sent in my dollar to get it, and found only one person (of the 20 on the list) who was within 120 miles; the first and last person on the list were each 450 miles away (in opposite directions).

These days, the concept of contacting other gamers has had decades to mature, works much better, and there are a lot of ways to do it. For best results, you should do all of them.

If you play Federation Commander, then you can go to the Commander's Circle and enter your data (as much or as little as you are comfortable with) and perhaps find opponents near you. We are gaining new sign-ins every day, and since it's free you can try it every month or two and find out if somebody nearby has signed in. http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/Commanders%20Circle/

Primarily for Federation Commander players, the Forum has a topic where local stores and groups post announcements and invitations. Players can let other players know they're around. How silly would you feel if you found out that the guy who you've been arguing with on the forum for years actually lives in your town. (That HAS happened.) http://www.federationcommander.com/phpBB2

You can to go to a local store and ask them to let you post a notice looking for opponents. You could also run a demo of your favorite game(s) and "grow your own" opponents. If a person already plays the game you are demoing, he'll doubtless drop by just to swap phone numbers.

Many towns have community bulletin boards on the local cable company's "home" channel. These are variously free or cost just a couple of dollars. It's hit-and-miss, but you could get lucky. (When I commanded Company C of the 1-39 MPs, I gained a dozen new recruits in a year that came from cable TV.) You could also buy a cheap want ad in the newspaper or the free advertising newspaper (American's Want Ads or whatever yours is called) found in quickie marts. There is also Craigslist, but you should use the normal caution you would for meeting a stranger.

The quickest result, probably, is Starlist. Go to http://starfleetgames.com/starlist.shtml. Enter your data in the form, and you'll get a list of local players back. (This may take a day or two as it is done by hand.) Starlist is the most effective hunt for new players because the database has some 5,000 players in it, far more than all of the other sources combined. The only drawback is that Starlist works with full information (name and address) and those who are seriously concerned about identity theft often find this uncomfortable. In all reality, however, Starlist would not give an identity thief any more information than a local phone book would, and if that's enough for those criminals to operate, they would be vastly more likely to use the phone book than to request a copy of Starlist.

You can find opponents for all of our games on our BBS. Go to http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/ and you'll see "Seeking Opponents" on the main menu. You can post a notice there (and search the previous postings). Again, you can post as much or as little information as you are comfortable with.

Friends of our page on Facebook can post to see who is out there. Not a friend? Become one here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amarillo-Design-Bureau-Inc/231728653279?ref=mf

With more effort, you can post opponent wanted notices in a whole lot of boardgame sites (see http://www.starfleetgames.com/links.shtml for suggestions).

If there is a game convention within driving distance, it's worth a trip to see if you might find someone who is also within driving distance. If there is a game club in your home town or a store with a gaming area, go there and set up the game and wait for somebody to ask what it is. (Even better, take a friend who will play the game with you so you won't be bored.) If there is a Star Trek club in your home town, show them Federation Commander or Star Fleet Battle Force. There are people who have printed a card with the logo of one of our games and their email address and left these in the windows of their cars who got emails from other gamers in their home towns who were seeking opponents.

You can go always go to SFB Online (http://www.sfbonline.com/index.jsp) and play Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander online with live opponents from around the world for the princely sum of $5 per month. You might even stumble into somebody local.

There are probably more ways than this to find opponents, but unless you live in a cave somewhere, you can almost certainly find a new friend within a short while by trying these methods.

Phasers Fire!

By Jean Sexton (to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Warping space we go
In a trader that we bought
Our cash we hope to grow
Selling what we bought
Routes bring profits nigh
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to sell and fly
A trader shiny bright

Oh, phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say
Phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say

A day or two ago
We thought we’d make a run
To Texmex we would go
And have some jolly fun.
Our ship was laden high
Bad fortune was our lot
We went around some nebulae
By pirates we were caught.

Oh, phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say
Phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it is to fight
A pirate ship they say

Our shields were falling fast
We thought we saw our doom
When a sudden blast
Lit up the entire room
A POL it had come by
And seen our sorry lot
It fired its weapons –- my, oh my
The pirates were upsot.

Oh, phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it was to fight
A pirate ship this day
Phaser-1s, phaser-3s
Fire them all THAT way!
Oh what fun it was to fight
A pirate ship this day.


(c) copyright 2011 by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

The Current Situation

This is Steven Petrick posting.

Things are still unsettled, although slowly returning to normal.

Jean has returned to the office for the first time today, and trying to get some work done, but still seems to be in a lot of pain. The dog at least seems happier that she is around and he is not stuck with just me.

SVC got here a tad late, and is still a little rocky, but I at least think that there has been some improvement.

Yesterday was a real low point, as both Michael Sparks and Leanna got sick, and I finally wound up manning the office by myself.

I have been working on getting a draft of the Lyran Master Star Ship Book completed (have reached the end of the draft process, but I cannot send it for review until the Romulan Master Star Ship Book is completed. I am still waiting on reports, and SVC still has a number of the ship graphics to do. There is also a question on whether the Lyran Democratic Republic will be part of the Lyran Master Starship Book, in its own book, or combined in a book with some of the other small empires. I am rather divided on the question myself, if for no other reason than the "General Units" section (while many Lyran Democratic Republic General units are the same as Lyran General Units, some are different, and almost none of them are the same as the General Units from other Empires).

I have also been working on an SSD section for Captain's Log #51.

WORLD WAR II: BRANCHES OF THE PATH: Part 3

Steve Cole's thoughts on the many ways that World War II could have taken a very different direction during 1942-43.
     
1942, May, Operation Bolero: An invasion of France at this point by US and British troops would have been very different from Overlord, focusing only on seizing the Cherbourg peninsula (or Brest). The scant German forces in the West could not have thrown them into the sea, although the beachhead might have become a self-feeding prison camp for the allied Army. Protected by airpower and naval gunfire, the landing would have been safe from the Germans, but any breakout would come a year (or two) later and only after a massive buildup of troops. On the other hand, the poor performance of the US Army in North Africa may have meant that taking on the veteran Germans was a bad idea. The Luftwaffe was very strong in 1942 and might have made the idea of keeping battleships near the French coast very dangerous.

        

1942, June, for want of a seaplane: When the Japanese were moving to attack Midway (to lure the US fleet into a major battle) they sent seaplanes to cover their eastern and northern flanks, thereby preventing any surprises. Trouble was, the specific seaplane aimed at the American fleet (which the Japanese did not know was at sea) had to be repaired and took off an hour late, meaning it found the US fleet an hour later than it should have. As this seaplane was in the middle of the search fan, a competent staff officer might have simply told the seaplane on the left or right side to shift to the empty middle spot and the late seaplane to take the outer course. (Even better, a spare seaplane could have been ready to cover the delayed route.). That plane would have spotted the US fleet when the Japanese carriers (with a strike force armed with torpedoes and anti-ship bombs) was ready on deck. The Japanese would have probably destroyed one or two of the three US carriers, delaying American victory for a year. (The US industrial base was too great to change the outcome of the war.)
     

1942, August, no strategic bombing: The US might have decided to never build a heavy bomber force that could strike inside Germany. This would have sent more high-quality men to the ground forces, saved a bunch of money, avoided a lot of civilian casualties (on both sides if the Germans followed suit), and not really changed the war. (Strategic bombing did not really accomplish all that much other than forcing the Germans to disperse industrial efforts and assign a lot of men to anti-aircraft gun crews.) The biggest result would have been that the US Army Air Forces remained a tactical air support operation, the post-war ICBM force went to the Army artillery branch that invented it, and no US Air Force would have been formed for decades. Oh, and the Japanese would have lasted much longer without B-29s burning their cities to the ground.
         

1943, May, the allies invade France: An invasion at this point (Operation Roundup) would (still) have been very different from Overlord, focusing only on seizing the Cherbourg peninsula (or Brest) but with more available troops a larger area could have been taken than in 1942. The German forces in the West could not have thrown them into the sea. Protected by airpower and naval gunfire, the landing would have been safe from the Germans, but any breakout would come a year later with a massive buildup of troops. In the end, the war would have still ended the same way at the same time.
   

1943, July, the Allies invade Sardinia: The invasion of Sicily was one of two options, the other being to send Patton and Montgomery to Sardinia. (Apparently, no one considered sending each to his own island.) Defended by only one division, the island would have been taken quickly with minimal casualties (compared to a hard fight on Sicily), putting the allies in position to invade Italy north of Rome instead of south of it. This would have eliminated the entire Gothic Line battle and the Anzio debacle, possibly shortening the war.
        

1943, September, the US stops the Italian War: The US never wanted to invade Italy. It saw this as a useless diversion from the real target (Germany) and as only benefiting British ambitions in the Balkans. Had the US refused to play and sent their divisions from Sicily to France instead, the vast casualties of the Italian theater would have been avoided, the invasion of France accelerated, and (perhaps) the war would have ended sooner. One could argue that the Germans also tied down divisions in Italy, but half of those would have had to stay there just in case of an invasion. Another factor that most people don't realize is that once the US invaded Italy, the Germans cut off supplies to their former ally and the US had to supply all of Italy's food and coal.

Free Stuff for Star Fleet Universe Players!

Steve Cole writes:

We have a lot of free stuff on our website. Let me point you to some of the most popular things. Doing this in alphabetical order we start with Federation & Empire. They have play aids and countersheet graphics here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/index.shtml#FNE

Some people do not realize that you can download what amounts to a free copy of the Federation Commander game (well, enough of the game to play a few battles). First Missions will give you enough of the game that you can try it out. Go here to download it: http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/Commanders%20Circle/first-missions.shtml

But that's just a start. Commander's Circle has lots of free resources such as various formats of the Master Ship Chart, Ship Cards, the current and back issues of Communique, scenarios, and playtest rules. If you register, then you can find other Federation Commander players.

Prime Directive players can find a treasure trove of play aids, including medals, insignia, maps, the timeline, and lots of other goodies to spice up a game. These can be found here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/index.shtml#PD

Want to introduce a friend to the Star Fleet  Universe? Try the free download of Introduction to the Star Fleet Universe: Prime Directive and Roleplaying found here:http://www.warehouse23.com/products/introduction-to-the-star-fleet-universe-prime-directive-and-roleplaying

Star Fleet Battle Force has new cards and play aids as well. These are located here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/index.shtml#SFBF

Star Fleet Battles players have the Cadet Training Manual and Cadet Training Handbook. These were done as a way to get players into the complicated Star Fleet Battles game system. You can download them for free here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/CadetTraining.shtml Also available on the same webpage are lots of SSDs for the game.

We have downloadable art for your computer and iPhone so you can show your SFU pride. Those are here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/wallpapers.shtml

Don't forget Hailing Frequencies, our free monthly newsletter. Covering all our games, you can read back issues here: http://www.federationcommander.com/Newsletter/past.html Don't forget to sign up to get the link delivered straight to your email box each month. You can "opt in" here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/newsletter.shtml

There are many historical documents which are available for download. Maps, deck plans, assorted graphics, and much, much more can be found here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/historicaldownloads.shtml

Browse our master index to find all sorts of interesting information: http://www.starfleetgames.com/masterindex.shtml

As you can see, you could spend days browsing. We hope you enjoy what you find.

This Week at ADB, Inc., 6-12 December 2015

Steve Cole reports:

This was a week of steady work for most of the staff while Steve Cole continued to recuperate and Jean underwent surgery.

Steve Cole mostly spent his time recuperating from surgery although he did make it in a couple of times to check email. He sent out a file for Federation & Empire for staff review and did some graphics for the SFBOL3G project.

Steven Petrick worked on updating SFB Module C2 and did more work on Captain's Log #51 and the Romulan Master Starship Book. He did some preliminary work on the Lyran Master Starship Book.

Leanna kept orders and accounting up to date and accompanied Jean to her surgical appointment.

Mike kept orders going out and rebuilt inventory.

Simone did website updates and hunted pirates. She assisted with the blog and ADB's page on Facebook while Jean was in the hospital.

Jean managed our page on Facebook (which is up to 2,913 friends), managed our Twitter feed (168 followers), commanded the Rangers, dealt with the continuing spam assault on the BBS and Forum, managed the blog feed, took care of customers, and did some marketing.  Mostly she prepared for surgery and worked hard at her recovery from the same.
 

ISC will make you behave!

Oh! You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why:

ISC will make you behave!

We're making a list,
We're checking it twice,
We're gonna find out
Who's naughty or nice.

ISC will make you behave!

We see you when you're fighting,
We know when plasma's fake.
We know when you've been bad or good,
So be good for peace's sake!

So...You better watch out,
You better not cry
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why.

ISC will make you behave! 

-- by Jean Sexton
(c) 2014, Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

Exploring Excellent Ebooks

We have continued our long-awaited move to offer more of our products as PDFs by way of the  Warehouse 23, DriveThru RPG, and Wargame Vault websites. So far on Warehouse 23, we have released a lot of stuff for Federation Commander, including the Revision Six Reference Rulebook, the 72 ships from Federation Commander Briefing #2 (divided into six packs of 12 ships and a separate rules pack), and more than a dozen Ship Card Packs. Our ebook PDFs are in color and high resolution. PDFs of most books are searchable (older Captain’s Logs are not).

The way Warehouse 23 works, once you buy a product, you can download it again for no cost if you lose it or if we upload a revised version of that edition. Thus, the people who bought Reference Rulebook Revision 5 were able to obtain Reference Rulebook Revision 6 for free (and to download it again when we discovered we had accidentally left out rule 4S).

Our Prime Directive PD20 Modern books are sold as ebooks exclusively through DriveThru RPG. We have started offering general RPG books there as well as some of the general gaming materials that Steve Cole has written. We are also listing Federation Commander, Federation & Empire, and Star Fleet Battles products on Wargame Vault.

We must note that these products are copyrighted and are not to be uploaded or passed around to your friends. Doing so is piracy, a criminal act, and may result in us deciding not to offer any more PDF products. We have already uploaded many Starmada, Star Fleet Battles, Federation & Empire, and Prime Directive products. We have created a new page that allows easy access to our PDFS for sale through the various venders. From here you can see what we currently have posted and have links to those products.

So check them out! Many people like the fact they can search our rulebooks for a keyword and find everything that pertains to that issue. Others like the fact they can carry around multiple books on one device. Some ship cards are available exclusively as PDFs. Whatever your reason for using them, we hope that you enjoy them and rate them.

The Twelve Days of Christmas, Kzinti Style

Written by the BBS Gang

On the first day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
An antimatter armed probe!

On the second day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the third day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the fourth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the fifth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the sixth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the seventh day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the eighth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the ninth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the tenth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Ten phasers firing!
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the eleventh day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Eleven fighters fighting!
Ten phasers firing!
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

On the twelfth day of Christmas that Kzinti gave to meeee
Twelve drones a-launching!
Eleven fighters fighting!
Ten phasers firing!
Nine Needle gunboats!
Eight sensors jamming!
Seven T-bombs laying!
Six points in tractors!
Five hit-and-run raids!
Four overloads!
Three scatter-packs!
Two suicide shuttles!
And an antimatter armed probe!

(c) Copyright 2011 by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.

WORLD WAR II: BRANCHES OF THE PATH: Part 2

Steve Cole's thoughts on the many ways that World War II could have taken a very different direction during 1941.
       
1941, March, Hitler talks sense to Mussolini: The failed Italian invasion of the Balkans (and Egypt) delayed Operation Barbarossa by six weeks and was one of several things that cost Hitler the war. Invading Russia on 1 May instead of 22 June, the Germans could have reached Moscow before the start of winter (and before the Russians could have risked pulling troops away from the border with Japan). Moscow would have fallen, and with it Stalin and (probably) the USSR.

         

1941, April, Hitler gives Russia another year: While Hitler wanted to attack Russia as soon as possible, many of his generals argued for a year's delay. During that year, the massive forces that surged into Russia would have been able to easily grab Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Syria, and probably even Iraq. Britain would perhaps have been forced out of the war, leaving the US permanently on the sidelines. The German Army would have been stronger (and had better tanks) for an April 1942 version of Operation Barbarossa. However, the Russians would have had a year to repair the damage caused by Stalin's purges and replace all of their tanks with T-34s. Hitler might well have lost the overall war somewhat faster, leaving Russia in control of Germany and France.
     

1941, June, Hitler the Liberator: With the invasion of Russia comes the German announcement that they want to liberate the Russian people from communism, not conquer them as lower-class humans. This would have given Hitler another million troops (Russian volunteers), wrecked the morale of the Soviet Army, and collapsed the USSR. With that done, Hitler could have then said: "I lied, you've been conquered, now move out of the way of my German colonists." The Liberated Russians could not have done anything about it.
   

1941, August, Japan invades the USSR: The Japanese Army wanted to declare war on Russia and seize the Russian far east before pursuing a war against the US, but the Japanese Navy won out with its promise to cripple the US in one blow at Pearl Harbor and secure a negotiated victory. Had the Japanese Army invaded Russia and the Japanese Navy delayed the Pearl Harbor mission for a later time, Russia's Siberian troops would have stayed in the east, Moscow would have fallen (and with it, Stalin and probably the USSR). A victorious Hitler could have made some kind of deal to rule Europe in peace while the Japanese attacked the Americans in 1942. Then the US and Germany could fight World War 3 in 1955.
 

1941, December, Pearl Harbor: The US had plenty of long-range patrol aircraft at Hawaii to fly out to carrier attack range in a full circle every day. They did not do so because they did not envision that the Japanese would launch an attack that far from Japan. (They expected the attack to come in the Philippines.) Peacetime complacency and budgets meant that the patrols were not flown. Had they been, the Japanese carriers would have been detected. Even if the attack went ahead, the US would have been alerted and losses of ships and aircraft minimized.
  

1941, December, Hitler isn't stupid: The single dumbest thing Hitler ever did was to declare war on the US after Pearl Harbor. There is no plausible reason for doing this, but then, understanding Hitler's thought processes was never easy. The thing is, the US (other than FDR) wanted no part of "the European war" and without Hitler's declaration the US Congress would not have agreed to war with Germany. The British might have held on with American aid, but the Congress might have stopped FDR from selling war materials to Russia on credit. Britain cuts a deal, Russia falls, and the US and Germany fight World War 3 in 1955.

Star Fleet Universe Downloadable Art

Simone Pike writes:

Many do not know that we have a page where you can download backgrounds and covers with Star Fleet Universe art. We have art that will work on Facebook, iOS7 iPhones, Android devices, and computers. You will also find art you can use as binder spine cards.

Check out what we have on http://www.starfleetgames.com/backgrounds.shtml.

Big monitors, small monitors, we have something for nearly everyone. 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1680 x 1050, even 2560 x1600. If you need a different size, we'll see what we can do to fill that desire.

If there are any other sizes or any other images that you would like to see turned into downloadable art, please feel free to contact us at graphics@StarFleetGames.com and we'll work your request in.

Where Do We Go With the Magellanic Cloud?

This is Steven Petrick posting.

One of the things we need to do to advance Module C5 to its next publication is develop the Chomak. There is a problem in that the original designer (Ken Burnside) had a vision for them that we could not accept. Much of his vision is, however, embedded in the history of the Magellanic module.

We are left with a history that pretty much says that the Chomak were, compared to the other known empires in the Magellanic module "invincible" (my word). The history pretty much makes them technologically superior to the other empires because they could essentially "move at will" and the other empires were literally afraid of them. And they resisted the Andromedan onslaught for a decade almost single handed (the other empires had all been reduced to "guerrilla warfare" in that decade).

This makes it impossible for the Andromedans to ignore them. They have demonstrated a capacity to move from their space to any point in the Magellanic cloud sans any significant logistics support (embedded in the history), and conduct combat operations for years (three) while operating in Andromedan held space. Given that the less advanced empires destroyed one, and crippled a second, of three Desecrators the Andromedans had in the Magellanic Cloud, and the power of the Chomak (all this is again in the history), it became impossible for the Andromedans to ignore the Chomak and continue on to the Milky Way. The Chomak might decide to hunt down and take out the last Desecrator, ending the Andromedan campaign there and then.

So Chomak ships and technology need to be powerful enough to overawe the Eneen and Baduvai and resist the Andromedans, but still be weak enough that eventually the Andromedans win.

The history of the cloud is open in some ways. Andromedan losses to the Chomak are not really defined, i.e., we can mess with the arrivals because this was something that was not known to the Milky Way until after unity. But to make the Chomak at least interesting to play they probably need to have some limits that make it possible for an Eneen force to have a chance of winning a battle with them, otherwise the Chomak wind up being a very restricted empire that only plays against the Andromedans.

It is a conundrum, but the original designer's intent that the Andromedans would ignore the Chomak and proceed with their assault on the Milky Way is simply unworkable if the Chomak are as powerful as he intended them to be.

All that being said, perhaps something can be done to develop the "Yrol Septs," which technologically should be on a par with the Baduvai, Eneen, Maghadim, Jumokians, and Uthiki, but they are not likely to make a publishable product by themselves. Even the Chomak and Yrol Septs together as a product would probably include some additional ships for the other five empires, and perhaps some "Magellanic specific" non-asteroid ships for the Jindarian caravans within the Magellanic Cloud.

It has been touched on that someone might develop a set of "linked" scenarios as a campaign of a Tholian force crossing Magellanic space (they cannot stop and set up light housekeeping in the current history) pursued by a Seltorian force, with various battles at various times with various elements of the Magellanic empires. Multi-player scenarios would be possible.

This Week at ADB, Inc., 29 November - 5 December 2015

Steve Cole reports:

This was a week of steady work for most of the staff while Steve Cole continued to recuperate.

New this week on Warehouse 23, DriveThru RPG, and Wargame Vault were the Star Fleet Battles Module C1 Rulebook and SSD Book (in B&W and color). These are newly updated for 2015.



Steve Cole mostly spent his time recuperating from surgery although he did make it in a couple of times to check email.

Steven Petrick worked on updating SFB Module C2 and did more work on Captain's Log #51 and the Romulan Master Starship Book.

Leanna kept orders and accounting up to date.

Mike kept orders going out and rebuilt inventory.

Simone did website updates and hunted pirates.

Jean managed our page on Facebook (which is up to 2,892 friends), managed our Twitter feed (165 followers), commanded the Rangers, dealt with the continuing spam assault on the BBS and Forum, uploaded PDFs, managed the blog feed, took care of customers, and did some marketing.  

How Not to Get into the Game Business

Steve Cole writes:

I constantly see things on industry mailing lists and in my email where people want advice on entering the game business. The best advice I have is my free book which you can find at www.StarFleetGames.com/book as a nice multi-chapter PDF.

In one recent case, an individual wrote to say: "I just lost my job and have decided to be a game designer for a living. I need a stable income of $4,000 a month. How long would it take me to get there? Three months? Six?"

I laughed and cried at the same time. For one thing, I don't make $4,000 a month now and I've been in the industry over 30 years. (A few years I have made that much, barely, but not in the current market.) The sad fact is that except for the lucky three or four, game designers won't ever make that much. Worse, you probably cannot make a living as an independent game designer at all, since game publishing companies were (99% of the time) created to publish the owner's games because no other company would publish them.

In another case from some time ago (I'm going to blur some facts here so that nobody can tell who I'm talking about), a young game enthusiast decided to quit his day job and focus his full time efforts on game design and publishing. His wife said that she would allow this only if he "brought home" a paycheck of a defined amount each month. He had some money from an inheritance which was separate property and his wife allowed that he could use this. Well, he went through the nest egg, borrowed money from savings without telling his wife, maxed out the credit card he got for the business, and then got two more cards (those offers in the mail) without telling his wife and maxed them out. All the time (his company lasted 18 months and did a dozen products) he was "bringing home" the required paycheck. His company was making a profit beyond expenses, but not enough to cover the paycheck, but the paycheck continued because (a) his wife insisted and (b) he was sure he would start making more sales any time. One of the credit cards was a $5,000 cash advance spent on advertising (which produced few if any new sales). Every month, he wrote that paycheck but came up short elsewhere. He had established credit with the printers and with the companies that sold him advertising pages so he ended up deeply in debt to the printer and to advertising publishers. Worse, his first product (which sold well enough) ran out of print, but it was going to cost $20K to reprint it and the dwindling rate of sales (nowhere near as good as it had been 18 months earlier) would not support the debt load, but he "had" to reprint it to avoid looking like a company on the way out. Finally, with no more places to borrow money and creditors threatening legal action, he took the case to his wife for a home equity loan. She, of course, had no clue that his company was $40K in debt (for which he was personally liable) or that most of the family savings account was gone. It's a wonder she didn't kill him or leave him, but she did force him out of the game business immediately. He sold out for what he could get and applied that money to the debts. Moral of the story, if you are married, make your wife a part of every business decision and do not keep secrets from her about family money.

In another case (actually, there are four or five of these I have seen, all about the same), an enthusiastic game designer who knew nothing about the industry but was sure his game was the next big thing got a home equity loan, printed thousands of copies of his game, and THEN (and only then) asked other game companies how to contact stores and wholesalers to sell his game. He had no clue what size the market was (few games sell over a couple of thousand copies) or who the wholesalers were or what it would take to get them to buy (some now demand that you pay them $500 for advertising before they will carry your game) or even what the discount structure was (which meant that his cost per game was fairly close to the 40% of the retail price he had printed on the games). Moral of the story, learn as much as you can about the industry before you spend a dime getting into it. GO READ MY BOOK FIRST.

I see lots of gamers who think that running a retail store, and online discount store, or a game publishing company involves low work and high reward. It does not. If it did, a lot more people would be in this business.

On Surgery and Fear and Courage

Jean Sexton muses:

ADB has always been open with our friends about things that affect the company. Some of you may have noticed that I've been a bit distracted the last two months. I've had a health issue that has been building up and my doctors and I have been taking the logical steps to deal with it. I thought I might be through with the issues after a minor surgical procedure in November. However, while the results showed I didn't have cancer, they also weren't a complete sampling. Therefore I was sent to a surgeon to discuss more options with him.

The result of the consultation was that the offending parts need to come out. When they do, they can be checked for any issues. The odds are high that there won't be any problems once they are out. My surgeon and I didn't see any reason to dillydally about the timing or to draw the mess out for months when the truth is I don't need those organs. So this Wednesday, I will be having surgery and will stay in the hospital overnight. The nurse assured me I'd be easily able to go to see Ragtime on the 16th.

Still that means planning and appointments so that we can be sure that my doctor goes in with the best information about my body and that I have the best information ahead of time about taking care of myself. I need to make sure there is plenty to eat and drink in my apartment. I've made arrangements for Wolf to be cared for the one night I won't be there and for any problems I might have walking the little rascal. He might be small, but he is strong and could possibly unbalance me if he saw A Dreaded Foe (also known as a cat) and lunged after it.

Am I scared? Absolutely. There are doctors (and I do have a bad case of White Coat Syndrome) and needles (and I've always been terrified of those) and uncertainty. What is important is my doctor isn't unsure about this. He has done this a zillion times (and he trained at the Mayo Clinic for three years to do robot-assisted surgery). I'm in terrific hands. But this is all out of my control and that does make me afraid.

However, a friend told me that courage isn't the absence of fear. It is carrying on in spite of that fear. And I will carry on. Still, I will likely be offline for a few days. I will be back with you as soon as I am able; my laptop is set up beside my recliner. My plans are to put in a TV show that I have on DVD or Blu-ray and binge watch it. (I am trying to decide between the original series of Star Trek, Doctor Who (the newer run), or something else.) In the meantime, please bear with my lesser presence on social media.

Play Online

Many people do not know that you can play either Star Fleet Battles or Federation Commander online in real time against live opponents.

Ten years ago, www.SFBonline.com was created to provide players of Star Fleet Battles with an on-line gaming experience. It was a smash hit as hundreds of gamers joined the battles. Tournaments and other competitions, plus general opening gaming, have gone on around the clock since then. It since expanded to include Federation Commander!

Now you can play with real live human (not to mention Klingon, Romulan, Kzinti, Gorn, Tholian, Orion, and other) opponents all over the world in real time 24 hours a day! The computer automates many functions and acts as a friendly assistant for mundane chores.

For the modest subscription fee of less than $6 a month per game system, you have access to most of the ships in the Star Fleet Battles/Federation Commander game systems as well as new ships still in playtest and development. The Java Runtime system is compatible with Windows and Macintosh systems.

Never worry about a lack of opponents. Never worry about opponents who don't show up for games day because of silly reasons like family reunions or their own weddings. Don't be cut off from your regular gaming group while on vacations or business trips.

Even better, you can join in online tournaments and campaigns, and your victories will add up to a higher and higher average score!

The system also allows you to chat with friends, taunt your enemies, and watch other players fight their own savage battles. (Why learn from your own mistakes when you can learn from someone else's?) This "observer" system allows players of either game to learn the ins and outs of the other game before deciding to invest time and money in it.

We continue to develop Federation & Empire for an online environment and have playtesters working out the kinks. We'll let you know as soon as it is ready to release.

Things Moving Forward

This is Steven Petrick posting.

Reports are still coming in on the Romulan Master Star Ship Book. All files, except the "Main" file, cover page/table of contents and copyright information pages have been sent out. So far the reports have caused some major revisions to some sections, and those sections have been sent back out to be reviewed again to see if the revisions created new problems.

We still need a fiction piece for Captain's Log #51. I am considering trying to recreate the (now lost) synopsis of the Valdon story (a Klingon versus Lyran coup incident in the Far Stars Duchy) that might perhaps provide a basis. The major problem with that is (at least in my mind) the story has become too large to fit into a Captain's Log. I really wish I could write, as I have to admit that I have a kind of possessive attitude towards it, and to some extent hate to let it go to someone who will then hang their own style on it (sigh).

So far, the Klingon Master Star Ship Book has not generated many line items of errors, so perhaps we are getting better at doing them, and maybe the Romulan Master Star Ship Book as a result will have even fewer errors. Just about all of the reports on the Klingon Master Star Ship Book are typographical errors, for which I take full blame.

With SVC indisposed temporarily, I am taking some time to (in addition to trying to keep wind over the deck on the Klingon Master Star Ship Book) get a start on another book. Although I have to admit that thinking about doing a book and doing it are two very different things (the amount of tedious detail is daunting and can drive you to distraction, as you find something you missed in entry #66 that applies to most of the other previous entries.

WORLD WAR II: BRANCHES OF THE PATH: Part 1

Steve Cole's thoughts on the many ways that World War II could have taken a very different direction during 1938-40.
     
1938, June, Germans drop Plan-Z: The Germans had planned to build a balanced navy to challenge the British by 1947. If they had abandoned all heavy ship production and instead concentrated on U-boats, they could have had 200 ocean-going boats in September 1939 instead of only 60. With that number in service, Britain's lifeline from America and its colonies could reasonably have been severed, forcing the British out of the war by 1941. Hitler could then have focused entirely on Russia, defeating it in December 1941, and then fought World War III with the US in 1955.
      
1939, August, competent German postal clerks: The Germans accidentally mailed an Enigma code machine to Poland weeks before the war started. Before the Poles gave it back, two telephone engineers examined it (taking notes and photos, which were sent to Britain). Without this, Bletchley Park might have never broken the German codes (and could not possibly have before 1943, and may never have as it was only the promise of quick success that got funding from Churchill). Without that, ULTRA would not exist and all of those German secrets would have stayed secret. The British would have lost the Battle of the Atlantic, the British Army would have been trapped before they reached Dunkirk, Montgomery would not have won Alamein, the Salerno landing would have been destroyed, and D-Day would have been far more risky. Any one of those could have resulted in an Axis victory or a negotiated peace leaving Hitler in power.
       
1939, September, France invades Germany: Given the minimal defenses the Germans had on their western border, a French offensive would have quickly driven to the Rhine river and beyond. Little could save Poland (which in two weeks was reduced to a besieged city of Warsaw) but the French could have brought the war to a quick conclusion (had they actually envisioned and prepared for an attack in advance for a reaction to a German attack on Poland).
        
1940, May, the British Army is destroyed: Before the heroic evacuation at Dunkirk, Guderian and his three panzer divisions stood on the Aa canal, closer to Dunkirk than the British. (It is a historical fact that an intercepted Ultra message convinced the British commander in the field that he needed to run for Dunkirk immediately. The loss of Ultra would have destroyed the British Army.) The German high command was terrified that Guderian was "out on a limb" and didn't want him to be destroyed, so they ordered him to stop. Years later, some generals from Berlin insisted that they secretly wished he would ignore his orders, grab Dunkirk, and destroy the British Army rather than let it escape. (To be fair, nobody knew that escape was even possible.) This would have caused the fall of Churchill and the British would have accepted a separate peace. With no African or Balkan campaigns to mess up his plans, and with no need to leave large garrisons in France and Norway, Hitler would have conquered Russia. The US would never have had a reason to get into WWII, but a US-vs.-German WWIII might have happened in the 1950s.
  
1940, November, an anti-British president is elected by the US: Without US support, Britain would have had no choice but to end the war on whatever terms it could get, leaving Hitler with the additional forces he needed to take Moscow in December 1941 and win the war. Again, a scenario for a 1950s World War III between the US and Germany seems plausible.