Who used to play SPI games?

lord of the mark · August 25, 2003, 16:05

I owned Sinai, 6th Fleet, Red Star/White Star, After the Holocaust, Oil War. (ok, so i had a thing for speculative future history

)

Urban Ranger · August 25, 2003, 23:52

I had never owned any, but I used to play some of the SPI games at the gamers' club. Tend to be fairly complicated.

They also put out a rag called Strategy and Tactics IIRC, and each issue came with a simple game. I still have some of those.

Standup · August 26, 2003, 09:11

ahh paper wargames from the days when i time, space and friends who were happy to sit around all day.

Still own quite a few but they live under the bed or up in the loft... Atlantic Wall, Global War, Empires of the Middle Ages, Conquistador, Sixth, second and probably 7th fleet - were they SPI or Victory ? Also have a large number of strategy and Tactics some mint - must look on ebay see if they're worth anything.

A reasonable SPI site at , prompted a few momories anyway.

http://etloh.8m.com/st.html

Urban Ranger · August 27, 2003, 07:16

Victory Games

Urban Ranger · August 28, 2003, 05:07

Nobody else played SPI games?

BTW, Simon Redmondson made a patch for Civ and posted it on CompuServe.

Yeah, I know, that's prehistoric

Or is his name Redmond Simonson? I can't even remember.

Grumbold · August 28, 2003, 09:14

I'm sure I've played loads of them, but the only one I can definitely put a name to is Swords & Sorcery. Played that endlessly back in my school days, especially the 3 player orc revolution scenario.

lord of the mark · August 28, 2003, 12:53

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Nobody else played SPI games?

BTW, Simon Redmondson made a patch for Civ and posted it on CompuServe.

Yeah, I know, that's prehistoric

Or is his name Redmond Simonson? I can't even remember.

dunnigan authors books on military affairs, and runs a website on military stuff called Strategypage - its rather on the hawkish side, so if that will lead to disillusion with a hero, dont go there. He also has a section of the website that covers wargaming, but its not real active, IIRC.

Harry Seldon · August 28, 2003, 13:25

What are SPI games? Pen and paper, like TSI/DnD? Swords and Sorcery sounds familiar but I think I may have played it on PC.

lord of the mark · August 28, 2003, 13:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Harry Seldon
What are SPI games? Pen and paper, like TSI/DnD? Swords and Sorcery sounds familiar but I think I may have played it on PC.

Board games, generally of the historical wargame variety, though they dabbled with Scifi/fantasy settings. I beleive they did an RPG type game as well, though im really not familiar with it. I basically played the wargames. They were eventually acquired by TSR of DnD fame, so there may be some confusion.

Urban Ranger · August 28, 2003, 22:39

Yes, they did came out with an RPG system called Dragon Quest. Quite good.

Standup · August 29, 2003, 06:00

Forgotten Swords & Sorcery - i can remember X the unknown and zepplins. I also found the combat system where leaders gave column shifts could be a bit extreme. Some of the Imperial leaders i think gave a five column shift which meant 1-1 was the best odds you were going to get.

Grumbold · August 29, 2003, 10:13

Oh it had its flaws, but I found many of the scenarios were nicely balanced when you learned how to play them well. Some of the random events could seriously disrupt that, of course

Zkribbler · August 31, 2003, 16:27

I had "Empires of the Middle Ages," "7th Fleet," "Fall of the Roman Empire." "Oil War," that "Swords & Sorcery" game spoken of above [was that it's name? I don't remember].

There was also a really good Star Wars rip off called "Freedom in the Galaxy." It was played on a strategic level, but you could separate out your leaders and send them on missions--which was really imporatant for the rebel player. Your characters could have weapons, personal shields and other objects. I was also the first game I know of where your charcters could have companions--'droids or beasties with special powers.

--or was this an Avalon Hill game??

Urban Ranger · August 31, 2003, 22:16

There's also an SPI espionage game, forgot the name though.

I think it's an SPI game anyway

Zkribbler · September 1, 2003, 11:52

Urb - Did that espionage game take place just before WWII? If so, I had it too. And I also don't remember with the name or whether it was SPI.

Elok · September 1, 2003, 14:29

I take it SPI was the name of the company that made the games, and not a description?

Zkribbler · September 2, 2003, 01:07

Yep. They put out war stategy board games.

Some of them were very creative.

lord of the mark · September 2, 2003, 09:39

Quote:

Originally posted by Elok
I take it SPI was the name of the company that made the games, and not a description?

Strategic Publications, Inc, IIRC.

Standup · September 2, 2003, 18:02

Pretty sure Freedom In the Galaxy was SPI. The character cards seemed very similar to Swords and Sorcery. Instead of magic items you'd get technology items.

Urban Ranger · September 3, 2003, 01:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Urb - Did that espionage game take place just before WWII? If so, I had it too. And I also don't remember with the name or whether it was SPI.

Yeah, I think so. The Soviet still got the NKVD.

Tamerlin · September 5, 2003, 05:07

I regularly play the following SPI games (all republished by Decision Games):

Battles for the Ardennes
World War 1
Battle for Germany

lord of the mark · September 5, 2003, 09:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Tamerlin
I regularly play the following SPI games (all republished by Decision Games):

Battles for the Ardennes
World War 1
Battle for Germany

Interestingly Decision Games also publishes Strategy and Tactics, Dunnigans old magazine that used to be SPI (now under a different editor) No mention on their site of any connection to SPI though.