Advanced European Theater of Operations - Advanced PTO

From the outset, a Pacific Theater companion to Advanced ETO had been planned, and the AETO rules even occasionally make reference to an eventual Advanced PTO, albeit without any definitive rules pertaining to the so-called “combined game” (intended to allow AETO and APTO to be played together as a conglomerate, linked game.) To date, not much is known about the pending APTO, except that Eric Harvey has stated to have already completed a workable prototype (as of 2008), which is currently in the final stages of development (and undergoing outside playtesting.) What is known...according to the Decision Games’ newsletter (“Dispatches”)...is that APTO will feature 6 counter sheets (1,440 game pieces), two maps (22”x34”), and a substantially smaller rules set than AETO. Moreover, Mr. Harvey has made repeated references to the compatibility of the APTO rules with AETO (featuring only a few new rules in an attempt to give AETO players an essentially identical game system, and thereby avoiding burdening veteran AETO aficionados with too many additional rules to learn).

From what can be gleaned of Mr. Harvey’s public comments about APTO, there are only about a dozen “new” additional rules for APTO (i.e., rules specific to the Pacific War, such as Kamikazes, A-bombs, etc.), although even this is offset by the numerous AETO-specific rules that are naturally not included in APTO. The stated and probable result will be a substantively smaller set of rules, and less complexity, too. What is more, Mr. Harvey claims to have adapted numerous AETO rules to APTO, such that players who are familiar with tried-and-true AETO mechanics will be able to transition seamlessly to APTO (for example, the “Magic” cryptography rules in APTO are reported to be essentially identical to the “Ultra” cryptography rules in AETO.) For critics of AETO’s complexity, APTO is likely to add very little additional complexity, but much additional scope.

Lastly, Eric Harvey has frequently indicated that Advanced PTO will be an all-encompassing Pacific Theater game, beginning as early as 1937. Even obscure facets of the conflict in Asia, such as the “Nomonhan Incident” (the military clash between the Soviets and the Japanese in Mongolia) are supposedly included as well. Above all, Mr. Harvey has indicated that the detail in APTO will be more “finite”, and feature an impressive demonstration of intense research, helped in part by the thorough research that went into the monster game “War in the Pacific”, which was playtested by Eric Harvey during its development, according to its game credits.