Game testing for SPI back in the day

[vtsaogames]

Tales from the crypt at SPI https://corlearshookfencibles.blogspot.com/2024/05/working-part-time-at-spi-in-far-away.html

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[General Slade]

I loved reading about your time with SPI.  Theirs were the first board wargames I ever played and I somehow  managed to persuade my parents to get me a subscription to Strategy and Tactics when I was eleven.  The first magazine I received was the one that included Wolfpack, a solitaire game of submarine warfare in the North Atlantic.  Happy days!

[vtsaogames]

Wolfpack? That’s one I missed. How was it? I might look to see if anyone has a copy for sale. My maternal grandfather and my father both served in the merchant marine during WWII. Each made the Murmansk Run twice, not on the same ship. My grandfather wasn’t pleased that his daughter married a sailor.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[General Slade]

vtsaogames wrote:

Wolfpack? That’s one I missed. How was it?

I enjoyed it when I was eleven but I don’t know how well it has stood up to the test of time.  Also, bear in mind you are playing from the point of view of the Germans so you will be trying to sink your father and grandfather, which might not be the experience you are looking for!

[vtsaogames]

If I sink my father, will I disappear?

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[General Slade]

vtsaogames wrote:

If I sink my father, will I disappear?

I don’t remember that possibility being included on the Combat Results Table but I guess there is only one way to find out . . .

[Mike Headden]

vtsaogames wrote:

Wolfpack? That’s one I missed. How was it? I might look to see if anyone has a copy for sale. My maternal grandfather and my father both served in the merchant marine during WWII. Each made the Murmansk Run twice, not on the same ship. My grandfather wasn’t pleased that his daughter married a sailor.

Hats off to them!

My father’s oldest brother was in the merchant navy and made the run there and back once and swore he’d never run it again. Not because of the U-boats, Stukas or the Tirpitz but because of the constant need to hack chunks of ice off the upper-works of the ship to stop it becoming top heavy and turning turtle.

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[vtsaogames]

My father only told me one story about the war. He was in Murmansk when a German plane flew over at high altitude. The Russians produced a very large AA gun and shot it down. He was impressed.

My grandfather’s one story was about the convoy under attack at night. He was a cook and was in his bunk trying to sleep amid the noise of explosions. He got up in the morning and prepared breakfast for the crew. Taking the scraps to the stern for disposal, he realized the ship behind them in the formation was gone.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[vtsaogames]

Mike Headden wrote:

…My father’s oldest brother was in the merchant navy and made the run there and back once and swore he’d never run it again. Not because of the U-boats, Stukas or the Tirpitz but because of the constant need to hack chunks of ice off the upper-works of the ship to stop it becoming top heavy and turning turtle.

 

The Norwegian film War Sailor depicted the sailors in New York in 1944. Military Police deployed to keep them from jumping ship. That’s how they found they were bound for Murmansk. It’s one harrowing film.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[Author]

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