James Werbaneth

Jim Werbaneth is the publisher, editor, and primary writer of Line of Departure. He was born in 1961 in Pittsburgh, and has lived in Western Pennsylvania almost all of his life. His involvement in wargaming began in 1972, when his unsuspecting grandparents bought him a copy of Avalon Hill's 1914. In 1985 he had his first article published, an analysis of landbased airpower in Flat Top, appearing in The General. That led to more projects for Avalon Hill's house organ, especially a series of historical and scenario articles on Firepower. One of these, on the Nicaraguan Contras, won the Editor's Choice Award for the best freelance article of 1987. He has also written for most other professional wargaming magazines, such as Command, C3i, Fire & Movement, and Strategy & Tactics. His work has appeared as well in such leading amateur publications as Paper Wars, The Canadian Wargamers Journal and Cry "Havoc!". Jim's first published wargame design was Inchon, the issue game in Command 9 (March-April 1991), which was a co-winner of the Charles S. Roberts Award as the year's best post-World War II game of the year. Three years later, GMT published his game on Operation Sealion: Britain Stands Alone. He is also the developer of two Civil War games, designed by Peter Perla for Spearhead Games, Bloodiest Day (Antietam) and They Met at Gettysburg.