Date of publication (as given): January/February 1975
Context
- January 1975: John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and Robert Mardian are convicted of Watergate crimes. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat Minnesota Vikings 16-6 in Super Bowl IX at Tulane Stadium, New Orleans. The musical Over Here! by Richard and Robert Sherman closes at the Shubert Theatre in New York City after 341 performances.
- February 1975: Billy Herman, Earl Averill, and Bucky Harris are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Edward Heath is beaten by Margaret Thatcher in the leadership contest for the British Conservative Party. Linda Ronstadt tops both the US singles chart (You’re No Good) and the US album chart (Heart Like A Wheel).
Game Included
Sixth Fleet by James F. Dunnigan is an operational level game about naval warfare in the Mediterranean Sea in a hypothetical scenario in which the Cold War goes hot in the late 1970s, pitting the forces of the NATO Alliance against those of the Soviet Union.
For more information about the game, see here.
Articles
- Outgoing Mail — editors
Ever since we’ve been conducting Feedback surveys, we have found about 1% of our subscribers are women. Additionally, from time to time, we have had women gamers come by SPI. Usually just to buy games. In addition, one of our female staff members is a gamer. There are any number of reasons put forward as to why the composition of historical gamers is 99% male and 1% female. We would like to hear the viewpoint of the women gamers. We appreciate hearing from women gamers, either in writing or, if you’re in the New York area, in person. Since the subject matter of historical games affects all people, male and female, we would like to explore ways in which we can make historical gaming more accessible to women.
- Sixth Fleet; US/Soviet Naval Operations in the Mediterranean in the 1970’s — David C. Isby and James F. Dunnigan
One thing that is certain about any future naval struggle in the Mediterranean is that the main destroyer of ships will not be other ships, but aircraft. As in the Second World War, ship-to-ship combat will only take place when environmental or tactical conditions prevent one side from placing aircraft in the area. The fact that airpower controls the seas was demonstrated in 1939-1945 and it is even more decisive today.
- Global War; The War against Germany and Japan 1939-1945 — Martin Campion
There is no telling what Germany might have produced if it had not been for the Allied strategic bombing campaign. Speer guessed that, while the damage done by bombing in 1943 was nil, the loss in 1944 was in the neighborhood of 30 to 40%. In spite of this, while the Allied bombers wrecked more and more factories, German war production went up. In July, 1944, when nearly 100,000 tons of bombs were dropped on German-held territory by Allied strategic bombers, German war production hit its peak at a level that was more than three times the rate of production in 1941. Even at the end of 1944, armaments production was still at a level higher than it had been at the beginning of the same year. Strategic bombing dealt a death blow to the Geramn war effort, not by destroying the ability to produce weapons, but by wrecking Germany’s transportation system and ability to produce synthetic oil. So, the tanks and planes that were still coming out of the factories at the end of 1944 could not be delivered to the troops and could not be run very much anyway.
- SPI 1974 Annual Report
- Briefings — Short reviews of new games and books
SPI Games Advertised
On a Personal Note
This issue was the first advert for the PRESTAGS (pre-seventeenth century tactical game) series: Chariot, Spartan, Legion, Viking, and Yeoman. I cannot remember why, but this generated no interest with me. Like 95% of the times when I decided to pass on a game, it was a mistake.