| Warspite1 | 02 Jul 2023 2:38 p.m. PST |
Sea Strike was a naval/air war set in the 1970s and 1980s. Designer Robin Wyatt produced a fast and simple game which was uncanny in its prediction of the Falklands Conflict. YouTube link A great gaming system with some unusual mechanics. We have seen the Colditz escape game and Kingmaker re-released… bring back Sea Strike! Barry |
DisasterWargamer  | 02 Jul 2023 4:30 p.m. PST |
Ariel Productions did a second version in 1977 according to BGG |
 McKinstry  | 02 Jul 2023 6:32 p.m. PST |
Fun, fast and easy to teach. A reissue would be a great idea. |
| Warspite1 | 02 Jul 2023 10:23 p.m. PST |
@DisasterWargamer:
Yes I was aware of that version, it was boxed while the original came in a yellow cardboard folder. @McKinstry:
I could not agree with you more. B |
| Trierarch | 02 Jul 2023 10:52 p.m. PST |
The copyright date on the original envelope is 1973 |
| Warspite1 | 02 Jul 2023 11:05 p.m. PST |
@Trierarch:
Same as my copy in the video.
B |
| Martin Rapier | 02 Jul 2023 11:46 p.m. PST |
I still have my copy, including the original chinagraph pencil! Yes, it was a great game. |
| Warspite1 | 03 Jul 2023 3:19 a.m. PST |
@Martin Rapier:
Would you like to see it come back on the market? B |
| Warspite1 | 03 Jul 2023 3:26 a.m. PST |
Being a curious soul I made another attempt to check up on Robin Wyatt's whereabouts. Sadly reports from 2015 rather suggest that he went missing while delivering a yacht from Hong Kong to Subic Bay. link The report says that the yacht's emergency beacon went off in its last known position (believed to be in a typhoon). A later update on the same page says that oil, debris and a body were spotted. I did a LinkedIn search and found that a Robin Wyatt had attended Southampton University and worked in the marine industry. The LinkedIn profile appears busy in the past but with no recent updates from him. A report in The Guardian newspaper confirmed the name and confirmed there was a typhoon at the time which killed others in the area. link So, unless anyone else can contradict me (please do!) it looks like we have lost the talented designer of a very good game. Barry |
| Martin Rapier | 03 Jul 2023 7:20 a.m. PST |
"@Martin Rapier:
Would you like to see it come back on the market?" I think it was a very good modern naval wargaming system and miles better than 'Harpoon', so yes. Having said that, given I already own it, I'm very unlikely to buy it again. |
| UshCha | 03 Jul 2023 7:36 a.m. PST |
I bought it soon after it came out. It was OK but not really to my taste. To be honest its probably better than most for the dilettante but not for serious history based war gamer who wants to study the period in detail. |
| Kropotkin303 | 03 Jul 2023 12:28 p.m. PST |
As a teenager with a love of British navy ships in the 70s I loved this game. No dice, groovy cards and chinagraph pencils. Would buy it again. Perhaps substiture Navwar vessels and keep the flat counters as tracking devices. |
| Warspite1 | 03 Jul 2023 1:34 p.m. PST |
@Kropotkin303:
Pretty much what I did, I used NavWar, used Robin's designer notes and created my own plastic-covered counters to tick off with a chinagraph pencil. B |
| khanscom | 03 Jul 2023 5:58 p.m. PST |
I played the (I think) WRG version of this a few times; The Society of 20th Century Wargamers published a variant without the cards or counters using dice. This was great fun using the 1/2400 CinC or GHQ naval minis. Title of that version was "Go In and Sink". |
| colkitto | 04 Jul 2023 1:13 a.m. PST |
I've seen "Go In and Sink" but have only ever heard about the other elements of Seastrike, which has always sounded worth exploring. So yes, I'd be interested. That's a sad story about the designer, though. I have no idea what the copyright position would be – perhaps his family would hold any remaining rights? |
| Warspite1 | 04 Jul 2023 2:44 a.m. PST |
@colkitto:
As a retired journalist I am familiar with copyright. As Robin Wyatt was a UK national and it being published in the UK, it would be subject to the 1988 Copyright Act which brought us into line with Europe that year. Basically the family can claim copyright for 70 years after his death unless he had sold or assigned the rights to another, such as Wargames Research Group. The last I heard was that WRG was winding down so the question becomes, does anyone knowhow to get in touch with them? Barry |
| Martin Rapier | 04 Jul 2023 3:55 a.m. PST |
WRG contact details on the website: wrg.me.uk/WRG.net/index.html I haven't seen Phil and Sue for a couple of years now but afaik Sue is still active. |
| Warspite1 | 04 Jul 2023 8:49 a.m. PST |
@Martin Rapier:
Thank you!
I have just emailed them.
B |
| Elenderil | 04 Jul 2023 12:52 p.m. PST |
Played an awful lot of Sea Strike back in the1970's and bizarrely found a copy of the second edition for sale in a barber's shop in Hull! One of my all time favourite games to play with a few mates over a beer or three. I also thought it was uncanny how well it predicted the nature of naval combat in the Falklands. In most games AirPower was the main initial threat so air defence frigates were usually the first surface assets on the shopping list. My copy went missing in a house move twenty plus years ago and I still miss it. |
| Warspite1 | 04 Jul 2023 10:47 p.m. PST |
@Elenderil:
Agreed.
The Falklands similarity is quite uncanny. B |
