From a career point of view, my most significant project. Two points, Next War is many years before the V Corps system. Second, this topped the SPI best seller list for over a year. SPI made good me money on this one.
I purchased this bagged and placed in an Operation Moscow box at Park Avenue South offices in 1982 on one of weekend mornings I play tested. Honestly tried to play solitaire, it was too much even for a teenager.
I always liked the Liechtenstein rules where the ruler could flee to his texas ranch or his people would fight to the death to defend their postage stamps 😅
Played this twice (to a tipping point) with a large university team. Works well. I fabloned the 4" box top to reinforce it. The air war was quite a signigficant sub game!
SPI did a comparison of gloss vs. matte counters in one of their magazine games specifically to determine which would work better. The matte counters were found (by poll) to be easier to read. I don't know that they were ever tested for durability. That said, my experience with printed stuff would indicate that a matte finish isn't any _less_ durable than gloss. That game was very attractive to me, in part because I lived in West Germany in both the early and late '70s (USAF brat). In fact, I could point right at my home on the map. 8-) And IIRC, those games had a floating back-cover sheet that was shrink-wrapped in with the box, which is why there was no printing on the box bottom.
Thanks for the look at this classic! Growing up in the 70s/80s - this was a "grail game" for my high school friends and I and we (went together) and purchased it 1982 or 1983 and set it up on my friend's ping-pong table. We had a couple fits and starts of the campaign. IIRC we struggled some with the CRT and with WP divisions being able to "easily" break through NATO defenses and park themselves in NATO cities where they were very difficult to dislodge - seemingly making a WP victory pretty easy. But we may have been making mistakes with the rules and perhaps not employing NATO division breakdown correctly to cover the front and cities more successfully. Anyway, great gaming memories with this - thanks!
In the late 80’s, I came across this game for free. It was only about half punched out at the time. I never found anyone willing to play. Still have it to this day. And mine had staple rust when I got it. Lol
The DRM's for the ground CRT drove me mad and I thought the defender should have a greater ability to react to the active player but loved the game anyway. The un-conventional combination of movement & combat, an integrated air game and the extravagant use of color for all the different nations. Any time you can get Mark Herman on to talk about this game it will be a great show.
I didn't have this game, but I had NATO Division Commander, which seemed to be translating a lot of the same concepts/mechanics down to brigade/division-level fights. One of the illustrations in the scenario book was a photograph of The Next War map setup with the specific map area for NDC circled. It seemed like my copy was missing a bunch of charts and tables, but I might have just been too dense to read the rules correctly.
I enjoyed playing SPI's offerings, one of my favs was thier "Red Star-White Star" 1972 tactical combat (Platoon-Company-Battalion level) which was enjoyable to play
NICE video! To your question on the Central Front Series. This was the predecessor to that series. And the CF series is really an update of this game. As usual, Dunnigan with The Next War was looking for a 'better' way to simulate the combination of combat and movement. Thus this is one of the earliest versions of an effort doing away with the IGO-UGO stuff. The CF series tried to improve and streamline that effort. Thus, CF is influenced by NW, and NW is one of the groundbreaking influencers in Wargaming. Hope this helps. Great job on this video.
I missed out on this one. I think the local store which carried SPI games sold out of Next War a couple times and back then I never used mail order, so I never acquired a copy. Great to see an unpunched version.
It's easy to forget that the outcome of NATO vs. Warsaw Pact is very dependent on what year the hypothetical war was fought. I can't prove anything, but once the U.S. acquired the M1 Tank, the A-10 Warthog, and Ronald Reagan, our chances of successfully defending Europe got a lot better. But if Brezhnev decided to attack in, say, 1977, I think the people of Paris would be speaking Russian today. But who knows; whenever Russia (or the Soviets) actually get into a fight, they seem to prove they were previously over-rated. Maybe Jimmy Carter would have managed to get our troops to Warsaw and beyond. (I own the game NATO which simulates a mid-70s fight, but I don't like it as it's almost impossible to destroy an enemy unit without exchanging unless you can force a retreat into a friendly ZOC.)
My copy of this is now punched and clipped. I have played it a couple of times. As I recall when I bought it it was a very popular game. This seems to be born out by @markherman50's comment below.
Briefing book & maps very well done. Lots of counters -largest game I had ever played when I got it. I hated the naval & air icons & found the game system messy/complicated. As a result only played it a few times.
When released, played this one at home on sheet metal mounted to the wall, using Counter Magnets for the units. Bottom line... ran out of Counter magnets. 🤣
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
From a career point of view, my most significant project. Two points, Next War is many years before the V Corps system. Second, this topped the SPI best seller list for over a year. SPI made good me money on this one.
Lots of back story on this one if you ever want to discuss.
@@markherman50 I would love to hear the story Mark. This game was one of my favorites from back in the day.
Perhaps my all-time favourite single game. Bravo.
Do an interview video!
One of the first games I purchased back in high school, but alas, still mostly unplayed..
I purchased this bagged and placed in an Operation Moscow box at Park Avenue South offices in 1982 on one of weekend mornings I play tested. Honestly tried to play solitaire, it was too much even for a teenager.
1985: Under an Iron Sky (2018) was made specifically to update/replace Next War. Unless just collecting, why would you not buy that?!
I already have it.
One of the few 'big' SPI games i played to completion along with Atlantic Wall and Market Garden
I always liked the Liechtenstein rules where the ruler could flee to his texas ranch or his people would fight to the death to defend their postage stamps 😅
My brother and I subscribed to SPI back in the day, and the quality of the games, and the insight into history provided by the games were first class!
Played this twice (to a tipping point) with a large university team. Works well. I fabloned the 4" box top to reinforce it. The air war was quite a signigficant sub game!
SPI did a comparison of gloss vs. matte counters in one of their magazine games specifically to determine which would work better. The matte counters were found (by poll) to be easier to read. I don't know that they were ever tested for durability. That said, my experience with printed stuff would indicate that a matte finish isn't any _less_ durable than gloss.
That game was very attractive to me, in part because I lived in West Germany in both the early and late '70s (USAF brat). In fact, I could point right at my home on the map. 8-)
And IIRC, those games had a floating back-cover sheet that was shrink-wrapped in with the box, which is why there was no printing on the box bottom.
I never had a SPI matte counter "wear out."
Thanks for the look at this classic! Growing up in the 70s/80s - this was a "grail game" for my high school friends and I and we (went together) and purchased it 1982 or 1983 and set it up on my friend's ping-pong table. We had a couple fits and starts of the campaign. IIRC we struggled some with the CRT and with WP divisions being able to "easily" break through NATO defenses and park themselves in NATO cities where they were very difficult to dislodge - seemingly making a WP victory pretty easy. But we may have been making mistakes with the rules and perhaps not employing NATO division breakdown correctly to cover the front and cities more successfully. Anyway, great gaming memories with this - thanks!
In the late 80’s, I came across this game for free. It was only about half punched out at the time. I never found anyone willing to play. Still have it to this day.
And mine had staple rust when I got it. Lol
The DRM's for the ground CRT drove me mad and I thought the defender should have a greater ability to react to the active player but loved the game anyway. The un-conventional combination of movement & combat, an integrated air game and the extravagant use of color for all the different nations. Any time you can get Mark Herman on to talk about this game it will be a great show.
I didn't have this game, but I had NATO Division Commander, which seemed to be translating a lot of the same concepts/mechanics down to brigade/division-level fights. One of the illustrations in the scenario book was a photograph of The Next War map setup with the specific map area for NDC circled. It seemed like my copy was missing a bunch of charts and tables, but I might have just been too dense to read the rules correctly.
Those 400-unit counter sheets are an exact fir for the SPI ""flat-box."
I enjoyed playing SPI's offerings, one of my favs was thier "Red Star-White Star" 1972 tactical combat (Platoon-Company-Battalion level) which was enjoyable to play
NICE video! To your question on the Central Front Series. This was the predecessor to that series. And the CF series is really an update of this game. As usual, Dunnigan with The Next War was looking for a 'better' way to simulate the combination of combat and movement. Thus this is one of the earliest versions of an effort doing away with the IGO-UGO stuff. The CF series tried to improve and streamline that effort. Thus, CF is influenced by NW, and NW is one of the groundbreaking influencers in Wargaming. Hope this helps. Great job on this video.
played this one ..one turn thou with my buddy(his copy)n 79' just picked up a copy last year loved this one a classic!
the polish in black ala SS is classic.
in a weird way.
Great concept for a series. I'm looking forward to more archeological digs.
I missed out on this one. I think the local store which carried SPI games sold out of Next War a couple times and back then I never used mail order, so I never acquired a copy. Great to see an unpunched version.
It's easy to forget that the outcome of NATO vs. Warsaw Pact is very dependent on what year the hypothetical war was fought. I can't prove anything, but once the U.S. acquired the M1 Tank, the A-10 Warthog, and Ronald Reagan, our chances of successfully defending Europe got a lot better. But if Brezhnev decided to attack in, say, 1977, I think the people of Paris would be speaking Russian today. But who knows; whenever Russia (or the Soviets) actually get into a fight, they seem to prove they were previously over-rated. Maybe Jimmy Carter would have managed to get our troops to Warsaw and beyond. (I own the game NATO which simulates a mid-70s fight, but I don't like it as it's almost impossible to destroy an enemy unit without exchanging unless you can force a retreat into a friendly ZOC.)
I loved that game back in the day.
And by the way, this was one BIG game and BIG seller for SPI.
Beautiful copy of the game. Thanks for sharing.
I have a lot of those tiny dice from APBA and Strat-o-Matic sports games. I don't know if they are exactly the same size, but they are close.
My copy of this is now punched and clipped. I have played it a couple of times. As I recall when I bought it it was a very popular game. This seems to be born out by @markherman50's comment below.
Briefing book & maps very well done. Lots of counters -largest game I had ever played when I got it. I hated the naval & air icons & found the game system messy/complicated. As a result only played it a few times.
My copy of Objective Moscow also has that pebbled texture on the bottom box, so I guess there might have been a period when they used those instead.
Hex 1324 from the map that you opened...my home from 77-82
When released, played this one at home on sheet metal mounted to the wall, using Counter Magnets for the units. Bottom line... ran out of Counter magnets. 🤣
That is a great idea
those counter colors are sexy.
I support minimal intermittency for this series :).
Classic graphics
It's 45 years old...box is great.
I paid $75 for mine
This was about half again that, but I have no complaints.
my was about 100$ total with shipping punched and somewhat abused still good shape I'm happy thou. thanks for the vid.@@ardwulfslair
🎉on my bucket list