TOP 10 Board Games by SPI / Are These SIMULATIONS PUBLICATIONS INC’s BEST Games?
Legendary Tactics
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SPI or Simulations Publications Inc, was one of, if not THE the most prolific board game companies in the 1970s and 1980s. But, if you had to narrow it down to 10 games, which ones would YOU say are their most influential, their most important, and their most worthy of commemorating? Here is our list of their most highly regarded games. With 380 games to choose from, we know we’ll miss some great games, so please add your own top 5 or 10 SPI games in the comments. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!
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TWITTER:
PATREON:
INSTAGRAM:
DISCORD:
EMAIL: [email protected]
__________________________________________________________
#spigames
#spi
#avalonhill
Founded by Jim Dunnigan in 1969, SPI was a publisher of board wargames during the 1970s and early 1980s, when it went bankrupt. SPI also published several magazines, including Strategy & Tactics, Moves and Ares.
Several SPI titles have been republished by Decision Games (I), who are also the current publishers of Strategy & Tactics magazine.
=CHAPTERS=
0:00 SPI Games
0:54 Honorable Mentions
1:43 #10
2:16 #9
3:00 #8
3:40 #7
4:18 #6
5:16 #5
5:50 #4
6:35 #3
7:23 #2
8:03 #1
9:05 Bonus Title
01.09.2024
Loved the tribute and the recap! You had a different perspective, bringing Redmond Simonsen's fantasies up front. I did a term paper on Operation Cobra in high school and consequently PGG and Cobra were my all-time favorites. It is worth noting that when it came to do a "SPI revival" magazine, after PGG, Winter War was the next (and final installment) in that series.
I should say that in HS, we played "War in the East" with team play, with various players responsible for different fronts, etc. I was truly changed by SPI wargames and considered many issues from tactical and strategic viewpoints!
I am really surprised that Empires of the Middle Ages did not make the list! A grand strategic game covering some 700 years total (circa 700AD to the early 1400s); with sub-games based on specific time periods. Instead of Armies, players manipulated entire POPULATION GROUPS (differentiated by Language/Religion). You struggled against your fellow players Politically (war/military was merely a subset of politics!), Economically, and in the development of your level of Civilization. The goal was to become the biggest/strongest/richest/most long-lasting empire in Europe. Probably the best multi-player game SPI ever made.
I too loved Jutland though we only ever played 3 games of it(and I still have it) , we ( my buddies in jr and high school) played dozens of games of Midway- one of my all time favs, and a number of games of Bismarck. A super fun game I didn’t see is U-Boat, and we played loads of War at Sea. On land my fave is Dip- still playing it at WBC, and Bulge and D-Day and Africa Korps. Started playing AH games about 1963 and still own quite a few and play when I get a chance.
Computer– War and Peace is in Kickstarter/Steam
This was a horrible Top Ten. Sorry, but there it is. 1) Way too fantasy heavy. 2) You said the TSR version of Terrible Swift Sword had "a beautiful map". That destroys your credibility right there. The "Peptol Bismol" map for that version of TSS (along with the butchered counters) is possibly one of the UGLIEST eyesore maps ever, for ANY company, let alone SPI (which as a TSR product, wasn't really SPI, was it?). 3) You neglected to mention that Battles for the Ardennes has both the 1944 Bulge campaign … AND the 1940 Sedan game and '40 scenario. 4) Although I agree with including Panzergruppe Guderian, it was NOT the first game with Untried Units. I believe those honors go to Invasion: America or Objective:Moscow, one or the other. 5) You didn't mention either The Next War or the Central Front Series. One of them would appear on a Top 10 List worth its salt. 6) Moving honorable mention "To the Green Fields Beyond" might have helped the credibility of this list, but you left it on the bench.
Boo. Try again.
Kharkov….was my favorite SPI title.
In the 21st Century Richard Berg submitted a War of the Ring design in competition with the version that was eventually published. I was a playtester and it was probably one of his best efforts in his late period.
This list is largely garbage
What no 'Freedom in the Galaxy'???????
Fast carriers, Stalingrad
I would also have voted for War of the Ring, a game I have owned 4 copies of, at one time all 3 of the available versions at once.
I've found myself really leaning toward these off the beaten path games lately. Castle Itter and the other Valiant Defender games from DVG, SPI games, Sea Evil from Emperors of Eternal Evil and one of my grail games Magic Realm from Avalon Hill. Love this stuff and so glad to have discovered this channel. Subbed.
My copy of TSS does not have the fancy colored counters or map. Somehow it survived four decades.
“To the Green Fields Beyond” involved the introduction of tanks in World War I, not WW 2.
I had your #10 and #1 games at one time. Dumped SNIPER in favor of SQUAD LEADER and WotR when I got heavily into D&D. Sorry you didn't include WOLFPACK in your honorable mentions. It was/is a very good operational depiction of the battle of the Atlantic…I still have it!
death maze,and war of the ring,my favoritos
Gotta give a vote to Frederick the Great. The first game that broke the mold of the move-and-shoot sequence of play by adding a reaction movement feature for the defenders because combat was resolved. It was revolutionary at the time and helped inspire such games and Avalon Hill's War and Peace as well as OSG's Napoleon at Bay.
Too many fantasy games, for the top ten of a company such as SPI which, as you pointed out, focused on historical board games.
thank you
I really like your content, but I must say this video had several cringe moments for me. I subscribed to S&T for many years, and still have about 60 of the 'pocket games' that came with the mag. Not one single one of these games ever excited me, and although I tried most of them, not a single one was ever revisited by me. They tended to be yawners, imho.
I love the game Dawn of the Dead, very fun and easy. But putting it on a list of ' their most influential, their most important, and their most worthy of commemorating?' is a major cringe. Excluding games like CNA, Next War, Operation Typhoon in favor of pocket games and beer and pretzel games like Dawn of the Dead. Sorry, this just had me shaking my head. CNA is EASILY the most influential game, possibly in the history of wargaming. It represent the ultimate high-water mark in simulation. The problem with a steam poll is that the VAST majority of steam users werent even alive when SPI was a thing. It's like polling high school kids on who is the greatest rock band of all time, and then they vote 'Imagine Dragons'! War of the Ring? That game basically forced you to follow the books exactly or you didnt stand a chance. I owned it and played it quite a bit back in the day, but in retrospect it was more because I was a fan of the books than because it was a good game. I'm willing to bet that it got so many votes because it's all the polled recognized.
Sorry to be so negative here. I really love your content. I'm just saying that it took me a couple minutes to get the 'um……wow…..really?' out of my head. IMHO, no game in the history of wargaming was more influential (and less played) than CNA
A very surprising list indeed, at least to me, which I guess is a reflection of each wargamer approaches SPI in a very different way; I have arrived late at hex wargaming. My own list (so far), in order: World War 3, Sixth Fleet, October War, USN, Year of the Rat, Raid!, with on the list to play when I have more time, War in Europe, Cityfight, Air War (which I have played) and Next War. But there are undoubtedly many great games not on my list (yet) too, including many mentioned below. BTW I do think the suggestion that we Europeans do not enjoy refighting World War I and II over and over again is incorrect – it's just that we tend to do it mostly with miniatures.
Wow, these games look incredibly well-designed, especially the war games. The Dawn of the Dead looks like so much fun and the names of some of those stores had me laughing and sound like something out of a Grand Theft Auto game. I grew up playing AH games in the late 70s and 80s, and although I was aware of SPI Games, I never saw their games in any hobby shop or department store in Rhode Island. Did they mainly stick to the west coast since AH was an east coast company?
Kharkov.
My brother had War in the Pacific, but we never found the space to play it! Did play War in Europe though. We took Polaroids of the board so if it was knocked over. What about 'Mech War 77?
War of the Ring and Creature get my vote
No love for Battlefleet Mars? Boo.
I still have my copy of War of the Ring!
Cambrai wasn’t the first battle fought with tanks and it wasn’t fought in WW2. There, I said something persnickety, like a true 1970s wargamer. Thank you for the moment of nostalgia.
Great video!! Very minor correction—#1 (modern version) came out around 2004, not 2011. Second edition may have been 2011, but there are only minor differences between the editions.
Overall though, thanks for the list!
I didn’t play many SPI games but I liked Freedom in the Galaxy
Panzergruppe Guderian was their best game ever!
My Dad and I liked playing Red Star White Star. Miss the games with him
Ney vs Wellington and exclude Wellington’s Victory?????? Very disappointing.
There is Conquistador. This is from a time when colonization was acceptable. Frederick the Great told me a lot about pre twentieth century strategic warfare. Napoleon's last battle was not that hard, but I played Airwar a lot. Actually, it is called sniper/patrol, because we consider it one game. It is also a skirmish game. Tactical games are Squad leader or Panzer Grenadier.
Yeah, Sniper! Those parallelogram buildings left a deep impression upon me and it was one of the childhood memories that somehow I could never forget.
Preferred Avalon Hill games but SPI Publications was a short walk from my high school. Loved dropping into see what new games they had for sale. They always seemed to have a huge table with a game of TSS ongoing. Never had the time or enough crazy friends to play it.
I loved Dreadnaught
I was a huge fan of the Quadrigames. But you left out a couple of fascinating and ahead of their time Sci Fi games. StarFleet Alpha Centauri where starship movement and combat was done by Psykers who could teleport the ship across space and even use that power to toss opposing ships out of a star system. Then there was Battle Fleet Mars. A near future civil war between Mars and Earth. it had a 3D map board system and a solar system map when all the inner planets moved and a mearuing system to determine transit times between the planets. Lastly you did not mention the excellent games that competed with PanzerBlitz. Combat Command for WWII, Red Star/White Star for the Warsaw Pact invasion of Germany, and The East is Red the Soviet Invasion of China. OK two more. The One SPI game I still own CA, Cruiser actions of WWII, Frigate a very good system but a half inch cardboard counter did not do it justice. OH Oh and I loved Chariot, Spartan, Legion, Viking and Yeoman.
well beyond brilliant … massive Thankyou's !!!
Napoleon's Last Battles "complex". No way
War in the east was my favorite
My most played SPI game was Onslaught…D-day to the Rhine. Relatively simple buy very solo friendly because of the randomly alternating activations and turn ends.
They had a game out that was a cold war turning hot and the 1st player that launched nucular weapons lost .. had it !!
How did you leave out Sinai, Red Star/White Star, Firefight, War in Europe, or October War? I didn't like ANY of the games on your list.
Also, the series of games that included Fulda Gap. I don't know what guided your choices, but I purchased NONE of the games that you listed.
SPI and GDW were better than AH in many respects i think.
I loved Red Star/White Star (the original, not the remake). It was accurate, but uncomplicated. You had to fight with combined arms, and Scenario 10 was awesome! Leading two U.S. battalion task forces and an air assault battalion through a fixed Warsaw Pact defense system to capture two towns. If you lost your infantry, you lost the game.
For me, the most special one will always be Modern Battles, especially Wurzburg. That's because it was, I think, one of the few released in Brazil back in the 70s as part of a wider collection of board games not related to wargaming ("Todos os Jogos"). This collection also included another game made by SPI (whose original name I can't remember now) renamed "The Battle of Four Hours", and a rip-off of Chinese Farm (also part of the original Modern Battles package) renamed "The Yom-Kippur War" which were my first contact with board wargames ever.
World War Three (1976) was my first SPI game. Invasion America and the Modern Battles 1 Quad are my favorites.
Started with AH, in the 70's, but my gamers' group moved to large games that we would play as teams for extended times, 4 to 8 weekly sessions. Cigarettes, cigars, alcohol, late nights, tolerant but aggravated wives…The Longest Day, War in the East, Korsun Pocket, Highway to the Reich, Panzerarmee Afrika, to name a few. SPI made most of the big games back then. As families grew and space became limited, we all had stopped by the late 80's. I still have fond memories…