Operational Studies Group, also known as OSG, is a publisher of

board wargames A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby (as distinct from military exercises, or ...

History

Kevin Zucker, the Managing Editor at the wargame publisher

Simulations Publications Inc. Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship ''Strategy & Tactics'', in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an enormous number of games and introduced innovati ...

(SPI), left the company in January 1976. He and other ex-SPI employees started to plan a Napoleonic wargame that would be presented as a spiral-bound book. However the logistics of this format were beyond the ability of the group to create economically, and in the end, the group changed the design to a ziplock bag game titled ''

Napoleon at Bay ''Napoleon at Bay'', subtitled "Prelude to Waterloo: The Campaign in France, 1814", is a board wargame published by Tactical Studies Group/Operational Studies Group in 1978 that is a simulation of Campaign in north-east France (1814), Napoleon's ...

''. In order to publish the game, Zucker formed the company Tactical Studies Group, and convinced George Blagowidow, the owner of

Hippocrene Books Hippocrene Books is an independent US publishing press located at 171 Madison Avenue, New York City, NY 10016. Hippocrene specializes in foreign language study guides, international cookbooks, and Polish-interest publishing. The foreign lan ...

and distributor of SPI wargames, to buy 800 copies. On the basis of that sale, Zucker convinced SPI's printer to print 2000 copies. Zucker went to Origins '78 with the ziplock game and sold 250 copies. Due to the similarity of "Tactical Studies Group" and "Tactical Studies Rules" (TSR — the publishers of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

''), Zucker changed the name of his company to Operational Studies Group (OSG) and published the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

wargames ''Panzerkrieg'', ''Rommel & Tunisia'', and . At the 1978 Origins Awards, ''Napoleon at Bay'' was a finalist for the

Charles S. Roberts Award The Charles S. Roberts Awards (or CSR Awards) is an annual award for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby. It was named in honor of Charles S. Roberts the "Father of Wargaming" who founded Avalon Hill. The award is informally called a "Ch ...

for "Best Pre-Twentieth Century Game". The following year, Zucker designed ''

Napoleon at Leipzig ''Napoleon at Leipzig'' is a board wargame published by Operational Studies Group in 1979 that simulates the Battle of Leipzig. Development and publication history ''Napoleon at Leipzig'' was designed by Kevin Zucker, with artwork by Rick Barb ...

'', which won the Charles S. Roberts award for "Best Pre-Twentieth Century Game". However, that same year, Zucker left OSG and moved to Baltimore, Maryland to join game publisher

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the compan ...

. In his absence, OSG published another Napoleonic wargame, ''

Arcola Arcola may refer to: Places ; Australia * Arcola, Grafton, a heritage-listed house in New South Wales ;Canada * Arcola, Saskatchewan, a town in the Province of Saskatchewan * Arcola Airport, an airport in the Province of Saskatchewan ;England * Ar ...

'' , but also branched out into the science fiction with '' Star Quest'', and fiction with '' The Legend of Robin Hood''. Further products included the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

game ''

Devil's Den Devil's Den is a boulder-strewn hill on the south end of Houck's Ridge at Gettysburg Battlefield, used by artillery and sharpshooters on the second day of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. A tourist attraction since ...

'' and the modern-day wargame ''Air Cobra'', but OSG went out of business shortly afterwards. After an absence of almost twenty years, Zucker eventually refounded the moribund OSG as a publisher of operational-level wargames about Napoleon's campaigns, and released ''Bonaparte in Italy: The Defense of Mantua and the Quadrilateral'' in 2000. In October 2008, Zucker announced that OSG was going out of business at the end of the year, but after a year-long hiatus, the company recommenced production with ''The Coming Storm'', which was a finalist for the Charles S. Roberts Award for "Best Ancient to Napoleonic Era Wargame of 2010". OSG continued to publish operational wargames about Napoleon's campaigns into the 2020s.

Awards

Several OSG games have received industry recognition by winning or being a finalist for a

: * ''Napoleon at Bay'': Finalist, "Best Pre-Twentieth Century Game of 1978" * ''Napoleon at Leipzig'': Winner, "Best Pre-Twentieth Century Game of 1979" * ''The Legend of Robin Hood'': Finalist, "Best Fantasy Board Game of 1981" * ''Four Lost Battles'': Finalist, "Best Wargame Graphics of 2005" * ''The Coming Storm'': Finalist, "Best Ancient to Napoleonic Era Wargame of 2010" * ''Napoleon Retreats'': Finalist, "Best Napoleonic Era Board Wargame of 2019" *''Napoleon's Wheel'': Finalist, "Best Napoleonic Era Board Wargame of 2020"

List of OSG games

* ''

'' (1978) *''Panzerkrieg'' (1978) *''Rommel & Tunisia'' (1978) *''

Arcola, The Battle for Italy 1796 ''Arcola, The Battle for Italy 1796'' is a board wargame published by Operational Studies Group (OSG) in 1979 and republished by Avalon Hill in 1983 that is a simulation of the Battle of Arcola between French and Austrian forces in 1796. The game ...

'' (1979) *''

'' (1979) *''Bonaparte in Italy''(1979) * '' Star Quest'' (1979) * '' The Legend of Robin Hood'' (1979) * ''Dark December'' (1979) * ''

'' (1980) * ''Air Cobra'' (1980) * ''Bonaparte in Italy: The Defense of Mantua and the Quadrilateral'' (2000) * ''Highways to the Kremlin'' (2001) *''Four Lost Battles'' (2005) *''The Coming Storm'' (2010) *''Napoleon's Last Gamble'' (2016) *''Napoleon's Quagmire'' (2017) *''Napoleon's Resurgence'' (2018) *''Napoleon Retreats'' (2019) *''Napoleon's Wheel'' (2020) * ''Napoleon Invades Spain'' (2021)

References

Game manufacturers Board game publishing companies Napoleonic Wars games {{wargame-stub