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SPI, AFTER THE HOLOCAUST (1977)
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is a hypothetical simulation of the economic, military, and political struggle that might follow the devastation and political dissolution of the United States after a nuclear war. AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is the second installment in the Power Politics Series of SPI games. It sprang from the fevered imagination of Redmond A. Simonsen and was published (much to the amazement of almost everyone who actually tried to play this monstrosity) in 1977 by Simulations Publications, Incorporated (SPI).
DESCRIPTION
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is a hypothetical (and highly abstracted) economic, military, and political simulation of events in the fragmented former United States, twenty years after a thermonuclear exchange with the (then) Soviet Union. The game is ten seemingly interminable turns long, and is designed for four players, each of whom controls a different region of North America and part of Canada. These regions are the Northeast, the Midwest, the Southwest, and the Far West.
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, in so far as it is a game at all, is primarily an economic struggle. It is a contest — apparently designed to bring out the secret Stalinist “central planner” lurking in all of us — in which each player attempts to increase his population, productivity, wealth, and territory until one player becomes economically, militarily, and politically powerful enough to unite all the regions under his (Bolshevik) control. There can be, and usually is, military conflict, but players will quickly find that wars are an expensive and surprisingly ineffective way to settle territorial disputes. Trade, diplomacy, farming, industrial production, and settlement of unoccupied territories will play a much more crucial role in most players’ plans than military operations. This is a strategic game in the worst, most unsatisfying sense of the term; and it is not simple to learn or enjoyable to play once it is learned. To win, a player must plan several turns ahead, forge advantageous diplomatic and trade relationships, avoid the waste or misallocation of resources, and, of course, prevail militarily if he gets embroiled in an armed conflict. One friend of mine, who was the only fan of this game that I ever met (and, not surprisingly, an economist), pithily described AFTER THE HOLOCAUST as follows: “It is like taking EMPEROR OF CHINA and having Joseph Stalin, J.P Morgan, Pancho Villa, and an audit officer from the IRS all take an equal role in redesigning it.” He thought he was being complimentary; but complimentary or not, I think that his description pretty well describes comrade Simonsen’s little creation.
The game turn begins with the random determination of the first player. Play then proceeds clockwise around the table. Each game turn of AFTER THE HOLOCAUST consists of five rounds. The first is the Production Round, which includes a basic production phase, a secondary production phase, and a mobilization phase. Second is the Trade Round. Third is the Consumption Round, during which a player expends food points, expends consumer points, calculates and declares social status, and provides military supply for any combat units under his control. Fourth is the Military/Political Round, which begins with the political placement phase, followed by initial military movement, secondary military movement, combat, and (appropriately) elections. The last segment of the game turn is the Finance Round, which includes the political disassociation phase, the stockpile/labor reallocation phase, industrial investment phase, taxation, the industrial capacity adjustment phase, the industrial labor reallocation phase, and finally, the — this is for real — depreciation and shrinkage phase. In addition, immediately before the fourth and eighth game turns, the Population Growth Cycle occurs during which the labor population of each region increases by 10%. The game’s designer, Redmond Simonsen (may his flocks sicken and die!), observed that his goal was to create a multi-player game in which the players were forced to seriously deal with each other in order to survive and win. What he ended up with was a complex, mechanically tedious, and mind-numbingly dull economic game that — for those of us who don’t actually harbor authoritarian fantasies — is neither informative nor even marginally enjoyable. Moreover, AFTER THE HOOCAUST is that true rarity among economically-driven games: an abstract economic simulation that, for reasons known only the designer, completely dispenses with markets. In fact, so complete is this gap in the game that even instructions on organizing simple exchange/barter arrangements between players are completely missing from the otherwise lengthy game rules. It is, of course, possible that my admiration for Mr. Simonsen’s talent as a graphic designer may have influenced my opinion of his game. Therefore, I leave it to others to decide if I have been too restrained in my criticism.
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST offers one alternative to the standard game: the Pre-Deployment or Recovery game, which begins fifteen game turns (years) before the regular game start. The game also presents several optional rules sets that can significantly affect the trajectory and flow of play: the Federal Reserve Bank rules set — really, I kid you not — which brings banking (an optional fifth player and yet more excitement) into the game system; and the Technological Improvement rules set, which introduces research, development and technological advancement into play. Although the standard game of AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is designed as a (3-4) multi-player game, the design also offers a solitaire, two-player, and five-player variant; as well as instructions — God forbid — for postal play.
Design Characteristics:
Game Components:
An alternative view:
Too bad you didn't like it. Providing a different perspective, it can also provide you real insight into how an economy actually works, as well as providing an "explanation" (without the necessity of listening to someone blather about their "opinions") as to why military expenditures act as a brake on an economy. Admittedly the economy represented is simplistic -- only Energy, Metals and Food as your raw materials -- but the modeling is exquisite and provides real understanding of some of the difficulties that an economy experiences. While I guess you could argue that it is "Stalinist" in its concept, I think there are enough variables to spoil your best five-year plan, and I didn't notice any pool for "forced labor" which a simulation of a Stalinist planned economy would need to have, wouldn't it? All in all, I would have appreciated a more balanced review and a little less snideness. Clearly the game wasn't for you, but then, from the sounds of it, you would have preferred something with the economic reality of Risk as opposed to something genuinely trying to model a complex, interactive system. MY one quibble with the game itself is that it should have had some kind of "market" system to permit you to buy and sell commodities and raw materials on the open market -- something like Greg Costikyan came up with in Trailblazer, for instance. And, if it were ever to be republished in today's world, making it a computer game would be ideal in that all that "tedious math" that so turned off our intrepid reviewer could be automated.
http://mapandcounters.blogspot.com/2...aust-1977.html
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is a hypothetical simulation of the economic, military, and political struggle that might follow the devastation and political dissolution of the United States after a nuclear war. AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is the second installment in the Power Politics Series of SPI games. It sprang from the fevered imagination of Redmond A. Simonsen and was published (much to the amazement of almost everyone who actually tried to play this monstrosity) in 1977 by Simulations Publications, Incorporated (SPI).
DESCRIPTION
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is a hypothetical (and highly abstracted) economic, military, and political simulation of events in the fragmented former United States, twenty years after a thermonuclear exchange with the (then) Soviet Union. The game is ten seemingly interminable turns long, and is designed for four players, each of whom controls a different region of North America and part of Canada. These regions are the Northeast, the Midwest, the Southwest, and the Far West.
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, in so far as it is a game at all, is primarily an economic struggle. It is a contest — apparently designed to bring out the secret Stalinist “central planner” lurking in all of us — in which each player attempts to increase his population, productivity, wealth, and territory until one player becomes economically, militarily, and politically powerful enough to unite all the regions under his (Bolshevik) control. There can be, and usually is, military conflict, but players will quickly find that wars are an expensive and surprisingly ineffective way to settle territorial disputes. Trade, diplomacy, farming, industrial production, and settlement of unoccupied territories will play a much more crucial role in most players’ plans than military operations. This is a strategic game in the worst, most unsatisfying sense of the term; and it is not simple to learn or enjoyable to play once it is learned. To win, a player must plan several turns ahead, forge advantageous diplomatic and trade relationships, avoid the waste or misallocation of resources, and, of course, prevail militarily if he gets embroiled in an armed conflict. One friend of mine, who was the only fan of this game that I ever met (and, not surprisingly, an economist), pithily described AFTER THE HOLOCAUST as follows: “It is like taking EMPEROR OF CHINA and having Joseph Stalin, J.P Morgan, Pancho Villa, and an audit officer from the IRS all take an equal role in redesigning it.” He thought he was being complimentary; but complimentary or not, I think that his description pretty well describes comrade Simonsen’s little creation.
The game turn begins with the random determination of the first player. Play then proceeds clockwise around the table. Each game turn of AFTER THE HOLOCAUST consists of five rounds. The first is the Production Round, which includes a basic production phase, a secondary production phase, and a mobilization phase. Second is the Trade Round. Third is the Consumption Round, during which a player expends food points, expends consumer points, calculates and declares social status, and provides military supply for any combat units under his control. Fourth is the Military/Political Round, which begins with the political placement phase, followed by initial military movement, secondary military movement, combat, and (appropriately) elections. The last segment of the game turn is the Finance Round, which includes the political disassociation phase, the stockpile/labor reallocation phase, industrial investment phase, taxation, the industrial capacity adjustment phase, the industrial labor reallocation phase, and finally, the — this is for real — depreciation and shrinkage phase. In addition, immediately before the fourth and eighth game turns, the Population Growth Cycle occurs during which the labor population of each region increases by 10%. The game’s designer, Redmond Simonsen (may his flocks sicken and die!), observed that his goal was to create a multi-player game in which the players were forced to seriously deal with each other in order to survive and win. What he ended up with was a complex, mechanically tedious, and mind-numbingly dull economic game that — for those of us who don’t actually harbor authoritarian fantasies — is neither informative nor even marginally enjoyable. Moreover, AFTER THE HOOCAUST is that true rarity among economically-driven games: an abstract economic simulation that, for reasons known only the designer, completely dispenses with markets. In fact, so complete is this gap in the game that even instructions on organizing simple exchange/barter arrangements between players are completely missing from the otherwise lengthy game rules. It is, of course, possible that my admiration for Mr. Simonsen’s talent as a graphic designer may have influenced my opinion of his game. Therefore, I leave it to others to decide if I have been too restrained in my criticism.
AFTER THE HOLOCAUST offers one alternative to the standard game: the Pre-Deployment or Recovery game, which begins fifteen game turns (years) before the regular game start. The game also presents several optional rules sets that can significantly affect the trajectory and flow of play: the Federal Reserve Bank rules set — really, I kid you not — which brings banking (an optional fifth player and yet more excitement) into the game system; and the Technological Improvement rules set, which introduces research, development and technological advancement into play. Although the standard game of AFTER THE HOLOCAUST is designed as a (3-4) multi-player game, the design also offers a solitaire, two-player, and five-player variant; as well as instructions — God forbid — for postal play.
Design Characteristics:
- Time Scale: 1 year per game turn
- Map Scale: 190 kilometers per hex
- Unit Size: cadre/division
- Unit Types: armor, militia, supply, industrial plant, political control marker, good/poor control markers, social state indicators, unemployment/starvation indicators, farm sector indicators, metal/fuel sector indictors, industrial sector indictors, transport and trade sector indicators, game sequence of play indicator, and game turn indicator
- Number of Players: 3 or 4 (assume once the game breaks up that you will never see any of the other players again, ever!)
- Complexity: above average
- Solitaire Suitability: surely you must be joking!
- Average Playing Time: 3-4 hours (but it seems longer; a lot longer)
Game Components:
- Two 17” x 22” hard-backed hexagonal grid Map Boards (with Turn Record Track, Terrain Key, Four Regional Sets of Six Economic Sector Tracks, and Abbreviated Turn Sequence incorporated)
- 400 ˝” cardboard Counters
- One 8˝” x 11” Rules Booklet (with Scenario Instructions included)
- Four 11” x 17” back-printed, folded combined Charts and Tables Sheets (each with an Initial Resources Chart, Food Table, Secondary Production Costs Table, Trade Transport Movement Point Cost Chart, Strike Table, Political Control Table, Subversion Table, Terrain Effects Chart, Combat Results Table, Unemployment Table, Starvation Table, Stockpiling Cost Chart, Investment Chart, Corruption Table, Depreciation Table, Shrinkage Table, R&D Table, Tax Table, and photocopy masters for — I swear, you can’t make this stuff up — “Form 1040” and “Schedule D” Tax Forms
- Eight 8˝” x 11” perforated, back-printed sheets of Game Money (144 pieces)
- Two small six-sided Dice
- One SPI Game Catalog (1977)
- One 20 compartment plastic counter tray
- One 9” x 12” x 2” bookcase-style Game Box
An alternative view:
Too bad you didn't like it. Providing a different perspective, it can also provide you real insight into how an economy actually works, as well as providing an "explanation" (without the necessity of listening to someone blather about their "opinions") as to why military expenditures act as a brake on an economy. Admittedly the economy represented is simplistic -- only Energy, Metals and Food as your raw materials -- but the modeling is exquisite and provides real understanding of some of the difficulties that an economy experiences. While I guess you could argue that it is "Stalinist" in its concept, I think there are enough variables to spoil your best five-year plan, and I didn't notice any pool for "forced labor" which a simulation of a Stalinist planned economy would need to have, wouldn't it? All in all, I would have appreciated a more balanced review and a little less snideness. Clearly the game wasn't for you, but then, from the sounds of it, you would have preferred something with the economic reality of Risk as opposed to something genuinely trying to model a complex, interactive system. MY one quibble with the game itself is that it should have had some kind of "market" system to permit you to buy and sell commodities and raw materials on the open market -- something like Greg Costikyan came up with in Trailblazer, for instance. And, if it were ever to be republished in today's world, making it a computer game would be ideal in that all that "tedious math" that so turned off our intrepid reviewer could be automated.
http://mapandcounters.blogspot.com/2...aust-1977.html