Most liked posts in thread: Stop The Cavalry...

Another quality strategy war game here, fellas.

I've mentioned it before on the old Atari Sector but it's definitely worth a second shout and there are a couple on Feebay at the mo (one quite reasonable over on the French site).

Try:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodor...472887?hash=item56e14351b7:g:XqMAAOSw8RhfLD7X

and

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-Ga...430345?hash=item4dba70b509:g:z6cAAOSw2S1fcuzS

The one and only HARPOON:



Available on the Amiga and PC platforms (on 3.5" disk but can be hard drive installed, naturally. I'm not sure if it ever made the Apple Mac - it might have done - yes, reading below it did but I'm fairly certain it never made it on to the ST - a shame, I guess, for wargaming Atarians).

Here are some of the testimonials/reviews it's received over the years.

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Harpoon is a naval simulator that uses data reflecting real-world equipment and weaponry, based on a miniatures wargame. There are no preset battle algorithms that dictate combat outcomes, and no play balance between sides. The game includes a user's guide with an appendix on superpower politics and maritime strategies in modern warfare, a Harpoon Tactical Guide by Larry Bond, and a booklet by author Tom Clancy that deals with Russian destroyers. Clancy used the simulation to test the naval battles for Red Storm Rising, which he co-authored with Bond.

...
Reception:

Computer Gaming World's reviewer, a United States military officer, gave the game five stars out of five. He stated that "there is no question that Harpoon is the most detailed simulation to appear in the civilian marketplace ... a must-have for the serious naval gamer", and that he had learned more from six hours with the game than one year at the Naval War College. In 1990, Dragon gave the PC DOS/MS-DOS version of game 5 out of 5 stars. In 1991, they gave the Macintosh version 5 stars as well. The Amiga version received 5 out of 5 stars.

The One reviewed Harpoon in 1991, calling it a "combat simulation for purists", due to the lack of "flashy action scenes" or joystick controls. The One furthermore states that the game requires "careful" and "arduous" strategic planning, and express that "It's hard to fault the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the military hardware database which supports Harpoon, and it would be unfair to criticise the lack of more usual arcade-style sequences. The game makes no claim to be anything other than a realistic and heavily strategic representation of cold war conflict – as such it succeeds." The One concludes by expressing that "Even so, it's too dryly erudite to appeal to as wide an audience as most simulations."

In 1990, Computer Gaming World named it as Wargame of the Year. In 1994, PC Gamer US named Harpoon the 36th best computer game ever. The editors called it "probably the best known and most successful naval war game there's ever been. It's still selling today, even five years after its initial release, and military academies have been known to use the game as a training aid. Now that's realism!" In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Harpoon the 40th-best computer game ever released.


Like the guys say, it is NOT an action-packed joystick wielding arcade slam bang - it's a long-ish drawn out naval combat simulation strategy game featuring lots of stats and data on your weapon platforms and some dinky little animations and excellent sound effects when the action does hot up. Give it a go sometime, strategic retronauts!


ABOVE: Playing Harpoon back in the nineties, Baz tried to wire his Amiga up to
the weapons system on a destroyer berthed at Hull's King George dock.
He has only recently been released pending psychiatric reports...

 

The old ads...




The old game screenshots...


ABOVE: Played Johnny Reb to death for hours on the old Oric(!)

 

Andy, I hope you delete your Google Images search history after every browsing session....

p.s. think of the saddle sores!