What's the tie to old SPI game?

[Widi]

Hiya.

Am kind of curious if there is a direct tie to the old 'War in the Pacific' hex game by SPI? True, the subject matter of the two are the same but how much of the old hex game is actually a basis for this new computer game?

I bought the old hex game some 24 years ago shortly after it was released. Marvelous game but so huge (7 fold out maps and thousands of counters) that it was near impossible to play due to space and time constraints. Still have the old game and hope to pull it out some day and challenge my son.

Also, I am now waiting on a copy of UV. Am new to Matrix and only heard about UV a little over a week ago. From what I've seen on the website, UV looks alot like the old SPI game 'USN' which covered the same time period and region. Coincidence?

Anyway, looking forward to both of these games. Hope to be able to challenge a few of you in the coming weeks/months.

-Widi

[Spooky]

Originally posted by Widi
Hiya.

Am kind of curious if there is a direct tie to the old 'War in the Pacific' hex game by SPI? True, the subject matter of the two are the same but how much of the old hex game is actually a basis for this new computer game?

I bought the old hex game some 24 years ago shortly after it was released. Marvelous game but so huge (7 fold out maps and thousands of counters) that it was near impossible to play due to space and time constraints. Still have the old game and hope to pull it out some day and challenge my son.

Also, I am now waiting on a copy of UV. Am new to Matrix and only heard about UV a little over a week ago. From what I've seen on the website, UV looks alot like the old SPI game 'USN' which covered the same time period and region. Coincidence?

Anyway, looking forward to both of these games. Hope to be able to challenge a few of you in the coming weeks/months.

-Widi

If there is a tie, it is an indirect one

WITP is rather the heir of Pacific War - a ten years old Gary Grisby game (check the forum !)- while UV could be seen as the heir of "Guadalcanal Campaigns" - a mid eighties Grisby's game.

However, it is possible that GG's inspiration for these first games came from the SPI games ...

Edit : there is also a "War in the South Pacific" released in 1986 by SSI but I don't know exactly what was covered by this game

[pasternakski]

Originally posted by Spooky


there is also a "War in the South Pacific" released in 1986 by SSI but I don't know exactly what was covered by this game

WITSP is the direct ancestor of Uncommon Valor. While vastly simpler, the scale is similar and the general objectives the same.

[byron13]

Other than the direct subject matter, I don't think there is any connection at all. As Spooky and Pasternakski state, WitP is the next generation follow on to Gary Grigsby's Pacific War. UV is WitP's older brother and a test bed for the larger WitP. Having played these and the boardgame War in the Pacific, I don't see any ideas that were grafted from the board game. The units are different (e.g., a/c in the boardgame were generic naval air; a/c in all of the computer games track individual models of a/c and their individual strengths and weaknesses), production is completely different (at least through UV). In short, there just isn't anything that I've seen that's been borrowed. While some things in the new WitP, such as possible alterable production, may be more similar to the boardgame, this would merely be a result of evolution.

Regardless, if you liked the boardgame, I think you'll love the new WitP computer game.

[Ranger-75]

Now if Game Designer's Workshop had done a title for the Pacific like they did with Drang Nach Osten & the Europa series, there would have been counters for every type of A/C and every different ship, etc, much like PacWar has.

But then again it would have been even more impossible to play than DNO was

[Bulldog61]

I liked DNO!:)

[Caranorn]

Well, GRD has a Pacific War project ongoing using a variation of the Europa game design. So that would be the analogy to GDW's DNO. Though I'm not sure GRD is getting along in their designs. It took them 2 years to publish their second WWI game after it was opened for pre-order (and they rarelly update their website anymore etc.).

Marc aka Caran...