tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post7705400087646354316..comments2024-03-27T06:13:42.855-07:00Comments on The Mad Padre's Wargames Page: On The Shoulders Of Giants 2: Jim Dunnigan On SPI And WargamingMad Padrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-37045974376360995242013-05-19T08:59:57.159-07:002013-05-19T08:59:57.159-07:00Wonderful post! Your story is very similar to my ...Wonderful post! Your story is very similar to my own, with me playing boardgames in the 70s. I moved on to monster titles that covered my bedroom floor, then minis, then PC games in the late 80s to 90s. Now finally back to minis. Good times, good memories. Montyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16094254709103687259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-72412046636788956402013-05-06T16:33:11.691-07:002013-05-06T16:33:11.691-07:00Great post - I too was a High Schooler in the late...Great post - I too was a High Schooler in the late seventies and a big fan of SPI games - I had the market -Garden game "Highway to the Riech" set up for months until the dogs got into the room. Oh the horror, 30 corps was so close to the bridge....<br /><br />Your post brought back a lot of good memories. I was equally a fan of Redmond Simonson's (Sp?) art style along with Dunnigan's game design<br /><br />Thanks for the post<br />Miles<br />jmilesrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17961624317410579611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-54215199397526317842013-04-27T07:26:03.658-07:002013-04-27T07:26:03.658-07:00I still have my original Wreck of the Pandora and ...I still have my original Wreck of the Pandora and the magazine prequel Voyage of the Pandora. Fantastic games from SPI at its best. Ashleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13666947574653683678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-66822105691677530982013-04-26T06:52:45.963-07:002013-04-26T06:52:45.963-07:00Fantastic post, Mike. I heard Herr Docktor's ...Fantastic post, Mike. I heard Herr Docktor's podcast with JD when it came out a few weeks ago and thought it was terrific. JD came across as a really interesting guy - spiky, creative, inspired and having a really sharp mind. His stories about the early SPI days in NY were brilliant. As for SPI games, I confess that in the early 1980s I was a confirmed Avalon Hill fan, rather than an SPI fan. I always thought that the AH games helped the player a bit more, assumed less knowledge and (with games like Kingmaker, War & Peace and Russian Campaign) had a really easy entry point to share with other friends who knew nothing about gaming, war or indeed wargaming! How I loved those games!!<br /><br />I the last ten years I've been collecting a few of the old SPI S&T classics. I've really enjoyed the NATO/Warsaw Pact titles. I've got almost all the Central Front series - so BOAR, Berlin '85, Donau Front, Fifth Corps - and looking at these together now is great fun. They're not exactly user friendly, but they've a fascination all of their own.<br /><br />We certainly owe a huge debt to Messrs Dunnigan and Greenwood…..and the others like Mark Herman that Herr Doctor's been interviewing. <br /><br />Great post, Mike!Sidney Roundwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14795563060856586670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6519665561624985779.post-18545790137597188032013-04-25T18:55:34.965-07:002013-04-25T18:55:34.965-07:00I have a few SPI games myself, though I rarely pla...I have a few SPI games myself, though I rarely play them. Possibly the best ever SPI design was the 'Terrible Swift Sword' game system used for several American Civil War battles. I have have two of those: 'Cedar Creek' and 'Pleasant Hill'.<br /><br />Never a subscriber to S&T, I tended to cherry-pick the games: 'Desert Fox', 'Napoleon at Waterloo' (the original), and 'Global War' (WW2, which included production tracks - quite an innovative idea). At roughly the same time that AH produced 'Wooden Ships and Iron Men', SPI came out with 'Fighting Sail' - a game system I have been meaning to revisit for some time, now.<br /><br />That's about my limit of 'paper' war games.<br /><br />One of the criticisms (?) I have seen levelled at SPI games, is that they weren't too concerned with play balance. Certain artificialities, such as time limits, and/or objectives don't fully compensate in my view for playing a game in which you are going backwards all day. This is not necessarily the same asa fighting retreat, in which you occasionally lash out to force the pursuers back for a space.<br /><br />I recall an American Civil War game (not sure whether this was SPI or not, after 40 years). I had the Confederates. As it happened, I did rather better than the historical Confederacy, and achieved enough to bring Lincoln's re-election into question. Sure enough, he lost, and the President-elect opened negotiations.<br /><br />Yet from very soon after the game's beginning, I felt the CSA couldn't win a trick. The numbers arrayed against us were to huge, it was extremely difficult to arrange battles with favourable odds. The peculiar combat didn't help, neither, when bringing 100.000 against 60,000 was likely to be costlier than bringing 80,000 against the same opponent.<br /><br />By mid-1864 Kentucky and Missouri had definitely gone - no surprises there - but my CSA had lost the northern halves of Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia, with no prospect at all of getting them back.<br /><br />I won the game, but it didn't feel at all like a win. No more, I'm betting, did it feel to my opponent like a loss.<br /><br />Having said that, I owe something to the TSS game system for ideas I have used in my own war games with miniatures.<br />Cheers,<br />IonArchduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.com