In April we reported that the English Chess Federation was going to give 250,000 chess sets to England’s 25,000 school – 10 chess sets per school. The results are already making themselves felt.

Anne Carter, a special educational needs co-ordinator at Park Primary PRU, contacted the ESF after reading about the program. Ms. Carter said she has been “staggered” by the impact chess had had on her pupils’ all-round education.

She said: “Playing chess has helped improve pupils’ confidence, self-esteem and concentration. It’s absolutely staggering when you consider the children we have got at the school.

“I am amazed at the difference it has made to the children and am amazed at the way they have performed at the tournament today.”

They have arranged tournaments, and as often happens in news articles, the tournament winner was interviewed. I wonder how much of an effect these programs have on those who are, shall we say, not top tier players. I suspect it’s still pretty positive.

(source)

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GMT Games will begin shipping today P500 preorder copies of Kutuzov and the second edition of Napoleonic Wars. Both are card-driven war games, designed by Mark McLaughlin, and set in Europe of the early 1800’s. Kutuzov focuses on the defense of Russia in 1812, while Napoleonic Wars takes a more strategic look at the 1805-1815 conflict between France and Spain on one side, and Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Turkey, Sweden, and Denmark on the other.

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Galactic Emperor, the brand new science fiction-themed empire-building game from Crosscut Games, apparently generated such anticipation prepublication that while initial shipments are still on their way to preorders and retailers, the game has already sold out at the publisher level. In this board game, players fight to fill the power vacuum left by the sudden death of the last Galactic Emperor. Each round they can choose from several different roles, including Explorer, Steward, Merchant, Engineer, Warlord, Regent, and Scientist. Galactic Emperor includes 84 miniature plastic spaceships, as well as numerous tiles, tokens, resource cubes, and victory chits. And a feature that is probably responsible for much of the excitement for a game of this type, it supposedly plays out in only 90 minutes.

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Just a quick note to let you know that the Memoir ‘44 Campaign Bag has started shipping. Direct preorders are on their way from Days of Wonder. It should also be available at retailers soon.

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Now up at Wizards of the Coast. Errata for PH, DMG, and MM.

Replace the words “fourth edition” on all pages with the words “soon to be a doorstop when 4.5 edition is available”.

(errata page)

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From a country where board games featuring Nazi symbology have been barred from entering comes the card game Das Fuehrer Quartett, a simple child’s game based on Go Fish.

In this game, you collect dictators, with fun facts about them printed on the cards:

For example, the card featuring Stalin explains that while in school he was repeatedly caught reading material that had been banned. The card on Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu reveals that he had a soft spot for Vlad the Impaler, said to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

Needless to say, there have been some raised eyebrows in Germany. The developers’ response is that, unlike the traditional game, in Quartett you have to rid yourself of the dictators as quickly as possible.

(source)

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