Date of publication (as given): July/August 1973
Some context. In July 1973: the Summer Jam rock festival featuring The Grateful Dead, The Band, and The Allman Brothers Band at Watkins Glen, New York, attracted an audience of 600,000, at the time the largest ever audience at a pop festival. General Juvenal Habyarimana was installed as president of Rwanda after a military coup d’état. Billie Jean King beat Chris Evert at Wimbledon for her 10th career Grand Slam singles title. In August 1973: Arab terrorists opened fire at Athens airport, killing 3 and injuring 55. The six-day siege at Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm after a robbery attempt, ended with a successful police action covered by tear gas. It was the first Swedish crime broadcast live on TV and the origin of the Stockholm Syndrome term. Gary Sobers scored 50 runs against England at Lord’s, his 26th and last Test cricket century.
Game included
The Fall of Rome by John Young. The Fall of Rome is a solitaire game in which you, as the player, try to keep the Roman Empire intact as best you can in the face of barbarian incursions, legion rebellions, and local uprisings. It has an area movement map, and counters representing legions, militia, barbarians, and raiding parties. There are five scenarios: 67 A.D, 247 A.D. 260 A.D., 332 A.D, and 420 A.D. For my look at the game, see here. For more information about the game, see here.
Articles
- Outgoing Mail – editors/publisher
- The Fall of Rome – Albert A. Nofi
- The Battle for Guadalcanal – Stephen B. Patrick
- Pass in Review (book reviews) – Albert A. Nofi
SPI Games Advertised
- Sniper! ($6)
- The Battles of Bull Run ($6)
- The Solomons Campaign ($6)
What’s That Coming Over the Hill?
From page 45 of the editorial (Outgoing Mail):
There was no joy in SPI-Land when we discovered that we’d finally have to do War in the East. It’s a godawful monster of a game. Well, you win some, you lose some.
On a Personal Note
SPI fumbled the initial release of The Fall of Rome game as the solitaire system needed subsequent fine tuning to make it work properly. My copy came – via the UK agent SIMPUBS (?) – with the errata included. That had two impacts. First, I was able to play the game without much difficulty. Second, I was introduced to the concept of errata and all that flowed from it. Another significant event.