Favorite old SPI game

Started by bayonetbrant, February 01, 2012, 01:21:13 PM

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MengJiao

Quote from: bayonetbrant on February 01, 2012, 01:21:13 PM
We've all played them!  What was (is?) you favorite old-school SPI game?


My favorite was The Conquerors.  Kind of like Rome II on paper:

http://boardgamegeek.com/images/boardgame/5023/the-conquerors


Nefaro

Quote from: MengJiao on May 06, 2014, 11:24:29 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on February 01, 2012, 01:21:13 PM
We've all played them!  What was (is?) you favorite old-school SPI game?


My favorite was The Conquerors.  Kind of like Rome II on paper:

http://boardgamegeek.com/images/boardgame/5023/the-conquerors

Looks like Excalibre reprints it.   ;)

Hopefully they didn't F-up anything, like changing the counter art from a top-down view to a side view for the tanks or aircraft in their versions of Panzer and Wings.  >:(

ArizonaTank

I enjoyed the Blue Grey quad games.  But I was more of a AH and GDW fan at heart.  Out of the many, many games I own, very few are SPI. 

Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

MengJiao

Quote from: ArizonaTank on May 07, 2014, 04:43:23 AM
I enjoyed the Blue Grey quad games.  But I was more of a AH and GDW fan at heart.  Out of the many, many games I own, very few are SPI.

  I got rid of all my old SPI games.  I gave away tons of games about 1990.  I recall one guy exclaiming: "Do you know how much these are worth!"  I said something like, "Yeah!  They are great games!"  I didn't want to rain on anyone's parade and say something like "Graphically, these are among the ugliest games of all time."   

  Strangely, I really don't miss them at all.  Just a glance at those Conquerors counters was enough to dampen any lingering enthusiasm, though I did enjoy the game at the time.

  These days games are so much better.  For example, I just got Nightfighter, which is a really hilariously cool set of graphical objects -- kind of New Wave Sci-Fi in a blacklight black box and the game itself is nicely minimal and endearingly nutty.

ArizonaTank

Quote from: MengJiao on May 07, 2014, 09:17:56 AM
Quote from: ArizonaTank on May 07, 2014, 04:43:23 AM
I enjoyed the Blue Grey quad games.  But I was more of a AH and GDW fan at heart.  Out of the many, many games I own, very few are SPI.

  I got rid of all my old SPI games.  I gave away tons of games about 1990.  I recall one guy exclaiming: "Do you know how much these are worth!"  I said something like, "Yeah!  They are great games!"  I didn't want to rain on anyone's parade and say something like "Graphically, these are among the ugliest games of all time."   

  Strangely, I really don't miss them at all.  Just a glance at those Conquerors counters was enough to dampen any lingering enthusiasm, though I did enjoy the game at the time.

  These days games are so much better.  For example, I just got Nightfighter, which is a really hilariously cool set of graphical objects -- kind of New Wave Sci-Fi in a blacklight black box and the game itself is nicely minimal and endearingly nutty.

I can't really explain why, but when I think of AH or GDW, I think of games I really liked. 

When I think of SPI however, I think of their games I really despised. 

Agree, SPI's dull graphics and colors had something to do with it ( but GDW was not much better).  It is probably also that as a lad, I spent my hard earned money on some real SPI dogs...   Global War scarred me somehow....  http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6938/global-war
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

Barthheart

Still have Air War... Very interesting game but almost unplayable.

Another favourite is Fortress America. Huge map stretching from Columbia to the Arctic Ocean and Alaska to Newfoundland.

Canadian and US troops try to fend off invader from the ESU, CSA and PAL. Hex and counter version of the MB Invasion America.

Many of those counters are worn on the corners from play.

Nefaro

Quote from: Barthheart on May 08, 2014, 05:49:20 AM
Still have Air War... Very interesting game but almost unplayable.

Another favourite is Fortress America. Huge map stretching from Columbia to the Arctic Ocean and Alaska to Newfoundland.

Canadian and US troops try to fend off invader from the ESU, CSA and PAL. Hex and counter version of the MB Invasion America.

Many of those counters are worn on the corners from play.

I had Fortress America back in the day, but I didn't enjoy it near as much as the others in the series.  A&A and Shogun were superb but FA just left me kinda 'Meh' for some reason. 

MengJiao

Quote from: ArizonaTank on May 08, 2014, 05:07:29 AM
Quote from: MengJiao on May 07, 2014, 09:17:56 AM
Quote from: ArizonaTank on May 07, 2014, 04:43:23 AM
I enjoyed the Blue Grey quad games.  But I was more of a AH and GDW fan at heart.  Out of the many, many games I own, very few are SPI.

  I got rid of all my old SPI games.  I gave away tons of games about 1990.  I recall one guy exclaiming: "Do you know how much these are worth!"  I said something like, "Yeah!  They are great games!"  I didn't want to rain on anyone's parade and say something like "Graphically, these are among the ugliest games of all time."   

  Strangely, I really don't miss them at all.  Just a glance at those Conquerors counters was enough to dampen any lingering enthusiasm, though I did enjoy the game at the time.

  These days games are so much better.  For example, I just got Nightfighter, which is a really hilariously cool set of graphical objects -- kind of New Wave Sci-Fi in a blacklight black box and the game itself is nicely minimal and endearingly nutty.

I can't really explain why, but when I think of AH or GDW, I think of games I really liked. 

When I think of SPI however, I think of their games I really despised. 

Agree, SPI's dull graphics and colors had something to do with it ( but GDW was not much better).  It is probably also that as a lad, I spent my hard earned money on some real SPI dogs...   Global War scarred me somehow....  http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6938/global-war

  It's kind of odd, but when I started thinking about SPI games I used to play, my first thought was "Those were fun!"....but then when I tried to recall the games I really liked, most of them were not SPI (or at least they were SPI as revamped by AH -- France 1940 and Panzerblitz).

   Except for the Conquerors, most SPI games left a dreary pang of disappointment and despair.  Mech War77 and the similar something 44 seem to have bee especially disappointing.

GroggyGrognard

Quote from: Nefaro on May 08, 2014, 11:41:24 AM
Quote from: Barthheart on May 08, 2014, 05:49:20 AM
Still have Air War... Very interesting game but almost unplayable.

Another favourite is Fortress America. Huge map stretching from Columbia to the Arctic Ocean and Alaska to Newfoundland.

Canadian and US troops try to fend off invader from the ESU, CSA and PAL. Hex and counter version of the MB Invasion America.

Many of those counters are worn on the corners from play.

I had Fortress America back in the day, but I didn't enjoy it near as much as the others in the series.  A&A and Shogun were superb but FA just left me kinda 'Meh' for some reason.

Not to side track the thread subject but...I have fond memories when I was a teenager in the late 80's of playing lots of games of Fortress America on many Saturday afternoons at our local gaming store.  I recall hovertanks being one of my favorite units.
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