Journey back to the Golden Age of Wargaming

It can be reasoned that we are now experiencing the Golden Age of Wargaming, with the advances made in quality and quantity of games being released, and rapid-fire online communication direct with publishers and designers (no more submitting your rules questions by post and phrased for Yes/No answers). As much as this is the case, the original Golden Age of Wargaming definitely influenced the wargame designers of today (many of whom who were actively designing games some four decades ago). When one considers the sheer number of board wargamers at the time (SPI had 30,000 S&T subscribers alone in 1982) and number of units sold (in the many of thousands), I think it’s hard to shake the moniker that the hobby was HUGE back then and fitting of the Golden Age title.

Case in point. we have recently witnessed game designers from that period actively taking up game design again, such as Jonathan Southard and Bruce Maxwell (both who designed games for Victory Games).

Well, let’s take this stroll down Memory Lane…by watching this infomercial produced by SPI in the 1970’s.

What happened to SPI you ask? Well, for those not already familiar with the story, here you can learn about the demise of SPI as told by Greg Costikyan. With the demise of SPI in 1982, so ended the Golden Age of Wargaming.

“SPI Died for Their Sins”

Where do you fall on the Golden Age spectrum? Is it happening now, or was it the 1970s-1980’s?