finds a personal connection to WWII.
Most days, whilst I am sat at my desk, I am presented by a selection of the usual kind of day-to-day business issues that require my attention. On rare occasions the person standing at my door has a certain look on their face and this is usually followed by the phrase "how is your day going?" This phrase is not what it suggests; simply somebody concerned for my well being. Rather, its code for "I have something to tell you that you are not going to like." Last week this happened in the same way as it has several times before and I turned in my chair to prepare myself for just how bad it might be and I was handed a piece of paper. This normally suggests that it is really bad and nobody even wants to say out loud what has gone wrong but this time it turned out to something worth a chuckle.
I was holding in my hands a page from eBay showing me an auction for a product that I have been wanting to make for quite some time - just a few years earlier than I expected.
As you can see, somebody has gone to great lengths to try and con people into believing that despite our open communication policy, we have somehow created this secret and somewhat random book and then quietly distributed it out into the world one at a time on eBay.
Obviously, this is not our product. Despite the fact that some of you might be cursing me right now for even posting an article suggesting that the Pacific had come out earlier than expected, there is a serious side to this. Currently, this is not the only individual or company in the world copying or trying to profit from FoW by using our name or models to offer fake or copied product for FoW. Although we already have a team of well-dressed men who get paid too much per hour getting this sorted formally, I have had numerous emails from customers and gamers all over the world concerned that we were being taken advantage of. Thank you for your concern and shared irritation that this is going on.
The unfortunate thing about growing and creating something as serious as a new hobby is that there will always be people who are too lazy to do anything other than steal and profit from other's hard work. It is both flattering and frustrating that people feel enough money can be made to be worth the risk (as the punishment can be quite severe). Obviously, we have reached that point and we have just got to deal with it as best we can.
In response to this handbook, the design team was reassigned to tirelessly work on its antidote (actually, Ken came up with this in his lunch break). So, may I present to you our first official PDF download for the Pacific theatre to help balance this existing, yet unauthorised, Japanese intelligence handbook. Hopefully this will keep the Pacific in balance just long enough for us to do it the justice it deserves in the right way.