NATO Division Commander

 

About 40 years ago I lusted after SPI's NATO Division Commander. I had The Next War, but NDC just kept being delayed, but the rumours that it had a PC companion made it seem like the game to have. But a combination of price, delays and starting to soldier for real meant that I never got around to buying it.

Fast forward 39 years and I started tracking NDC on eBay, most copies where £150 and in the US (so add £30 postage!), but Hind Figures had one, looking battered and "only 1 map" for £100. Then a week or ago so someone had a map on its own, I picked that up for a bargain, debated whether I could survive with just the map, PDF rules, and self-printed PDF counters, but once I had the map in my hands I decided I really needed (wanted) to bite the bullet and get the whole thing. 

Discussions with Ian at Hind to confirm the state also revealed that it was actually 2 (!) sets he was selling, but the boxes were so battered and counters so intermingled that he couldn't face trying to divide it up to confirm 2 sets. So in the end I decided I might as well be the one to sort out 1200 counters so I made him an offer and the sets were mine.

Yep the boxes are pretty battered, and there is a bag of ~700 counters, but the rest are unpunched, and it does look like there are 4 maps there (NDC is one of the few games with a double map set for hidden movement/umpire play).

I've already got the starter scenario - Advance on Fitzlar - laid out, ready to be played over the next week or so.

So the plan is try create two separate sets, and sell one. As long as most of the counters are there I'm not too bothered by completeness (will probably create some UK ones anyway), so I'll give the "for sale" set the mostly unpunched counters. I will probably keep the better box (still tatty) but make the second box at least usable. Then I'll put it on eBay and see if I can recoup some of the cost. And then there's always the 5th map! Given my schedule don't expect me to get it done til late summer though!