The Start (1971-1973)

Wargame company collapses are nothing new to most boardgamers. An early version of these scenarios can be found in the story of the Simulations Design Corporation of San Diego. SDC started when Simulations Publications, Inc. had just begun impacting the wargaming scene, with the Dunnigan version of Strategy & Tactics reaching a circulation of 3500. his was a major improvement over the Christopher Wagner years, but not reallyenough to establish SPI as a permanent institution. Dana Lombardy originally founded SDC in 1971 to publish his Dunkerque-1940 game.

Kevin Zucker, according to his account in Moves 19, then persuaded Lombardy to also publish Conflict magazine. Conflict would offer high-quality graphics, color and mounted, die-cut counters. Since S&T used none of these at the time, SDC had a decent chance to compete successfully with SPI. Besides Lombardy and Zucker, other war-game luminaries such as Jack Greene, Lou Zocchi and J.E. Pournelle were involved with the company.

SDC announced its existence with a back cover advertisement in S&T 31 (March 1972). The ad offered Dunkerque-1940, made no mention of Conflict, and duly noted that SDC had no connection to SPI despite both companies using 'simulations' in their titles. Other early advertising efforts generated only about 400 subscribers for Conflict in a period when S&T was surging to 10,000. In effect, the SDC challenge was over before it even began.

Conflict #s 1 and 2 went out in 1972, but high production costs and low circulation wreaked financial havoc on SDC. Even Dunkerque, the raison d'etre for the company's existence, hurt SDC when manufacturing problems pushed its production costs beyond the $8 retail price. To make things worse, Moves 5 (October 1972) reported that SDC was bankrupt. The next issue retracted this statement with the welcome news that the company was still in business. Further clarification came when S&T 36 printed a letter from SDC. It attributed its delays to limited advertising ($700 worth), cash flow problems (solved by new investors) and personal troubles (Zucker had left after issue #2). More to the point, it announced that Conflict 3 and Dunkerque had been shipped. These types of problems would plague SDC throughout its existence.

THE MIDDLE YEARS (1973-1975)

SDC survived this period with Conflicts 1-3 selling out completely, the publication of #s 4-6 in 1973 and #7 in 1974, but finances never really improved. Publication delays kept potential advertisers and subscribers away in droves, and issue 6 was actually held hostage by SDC's printer until payment was received. Zucker's 1975 article estimated that 5000 Conflict subscribers would generate $50,000 in income, but each issue cost $9000 to produce. Thus, fulfilling a six-issue subscription cost SDC $54,0000. SDC probably never even reached the 5000-subscriber level. S&T reported that SDC sold 7800 games in fiscal year 1972-73 for $23,000 in revenues, and 10,400 games in 1973-74 for $32,000.

With advertising revenues questionable, SDC tried to ally with other small publishers. The company imported John Edwards' African and Russian Campaign games. in 1974, SDC announced its association with John Hill's Conflict Game Company. Hill's games carried SDC's logo and were advertised in Conflict and SDC literature. He also designed two games for the magazine. This SPI /S&T -style arrangement could have worked well for both parties, but it apparently CGC got nothing but grief as irritated Conflict customers complained to Hill. Eventually, Hill sold CGC to Game Designers' Workshop in 1975. GDW then routinely denied any GDW/CGC connection to SDC or Conflict . SDC may have been the third-largest wargame company in 1974, but it was fading fast. It first announced Conflict 's switch to a quarterly schedule, and then a suspension of publication for at least two years. Bushwhacker 6 (July 1975) reported rumors that GDW would acquire Conflict magazine, but this never materialized.

THE END (1975-1978)

If nothing else, the SDC crowd was resilient. Having dumped Conflict, the company announced that it would continue to publish war-games and offer a publications line consisting of Special Studies (contemporary military affairs), Historical Studies and Technical Studies. SDC could now produce more elaborate versions of Conflict's articles and games without dealing with the magazine's financial, scheduling and page limitations. Subscribers received credit slips in late 1975. The new SDC struggled on through 1977, reprinted two Conflict games, publishing two more and issuing three publications. It also announced the forthcoming publication of Kesselschlacht, a company-level Stalingrad game, in 1977. SDC even used the cover of the never-published Conflict 8 to wrap a twenty-page catalog. SDC material only took five pages of this, with the rest being used by an assortment of small game and miniatures companies, wargaming periodicals, military history journals and organizations and memorabilia vendors. In effect, the catalog was an advertising cooperative.

None of these ideas worked. Sales in 1975-76 fell to 3941 games ($15,000 in revenues), and then to 2043 ($16,100) in 1976-77. S&T did not publish figures for 1974-75, but they were probably fairly low. Kesselschlacht never appeared under SDC auspices, and other projects vanished. SDC news disappeared from wargaming news columns after 1977, and even S&T 's exhaustive gossip section did not note its passing. The company probably went under for good in 1978, with some games drifting to other companies.

A LARGER ISSUE?

The demise of any wargaming company is cause for sadness, especially when it usually produced a quality product. Besides this, SDC's fall raises an interesting issue. As mentioned before, after closing down Conflict SDC sent its subscribers credit slips good for its merchandise. While subscribers could complain about losing their subscriptions, it should be noted that the perennially all but bankrupt SDC made an effort to fulfill its obligations. While not perfect, it was something.

Compare this approach with the TSR takeover of SPI in 1982. Subscribers received nothing, thereby generating much hostility among war-gamers towards TSR and dooming that company's efforts in the board-gaming field. Consider this: TSR inherited SPI's inventory which it eventually sold off at firesale prices at subsequent Gencons. Suppose that TSR had instead followed SDC's example and simply given SPI subscribers credit slips for SPI merchandise? TSR could have (1) kept its best potential customers somewhat happy, (2) cleaned out its inventory quickly, and (3) probably sold some other stuff as well. This approach could have made the TSR wargame adventure viable, especially considering its distribution system. This, in turn, may have meant a stronger hobby and an independent TSR today.

SDC PUBLISHING HISTORY
Conflict Issue	Magazine Date	Contents: simulation/designer; variants; major articles
1	1972	Guerre a Outrance/Lombardy Jutland variant 1940 Campaign in France, Napoleon in Egypt
2	1972	Minuteman/Zocchi, Luftwaffe variant, The Fall of New France, The Japanese Navy at Guadalcanal
3	1972	Assassin!/Macintyre, Goodrich, Gaines (Time Travel Game), Weserubung {sic?} (Norway 1940) Airborne History, Anatomy of a Failure
4	1973	NORAD/Lombardy (1960s Soviet air attack on USA. nuclear war), NORAD variants, Zombie! (Assassin! variant) Soviet Air Power, The Confederate Navy, 1861-1865, French Armored Divisions, 1940
5	1973	Khalkhin-Gol/Lombardy, Ramsey, BEF variant for France, 1940, Nomohan: The Forgotten War of 1939, Xenophon: The Amateur General, The BEF
6	1973	Dien Bien Phu/Hail, Battle for Hue/Hill, NORAD variants, Siege at Dien Bien Phu, Tet Offensive, 1968
7	1974	Rifle-Musket/McDonald (American Civil War tactical), The Alamo!/Barna, Khalkhin-Gol variants, Rifle-Musket: American Firepower and Tactics, 1861-1865 Campaign for Forts Henry and Donelson
8	1974	never printed. cover used as catalog cover. expanded versions of Cromwell game and Hussite Wars article issued separately.
9	1975	never printed. cover image used for brochure. Jerusalem! game published separately. Conflict also included book, game and museum reviews, wargaming essays and a lively letters column.

Games Published
Date	Title	Designer
1972	Dunkerque-1940	Lombardy. bookcase boxed
1975	Jerusalem!	Hill. Mayfair Games did a second edition in 1982.
1976	Cromwell	Lombardy
1977	Khalkhin-Gol	2nd edition of Conflict 5 game.
1977	Battle for Hue	2nd edition of issue 6 game. Mayfair released it as Hue in 1982. The last four games were issued as Pouch Games (i.e. ziplock) with numbers corresponding to the Conflict issues in which they appeared or were slated to appear. For example, Crom-well was listed as Pouch Game #8. Dien Bien Phu was sold to Flying Buffalo who reissued it in 1977. NORAD was not reprinted by SDC, but they still had copies of Conflict 4 for sale in 1977.

Games Announced but Never Published

Title Notes

Sinai battalion-level game of 1967 War
Loophole economic/business/beat IRS
Parlement reprint of Charles Well's game on political party and coalition politics
The Knights Move convoy warfare
Kesselschlacht company-level Stalingrad. published as Streets of Stalingrad by Phoenix Games in 1980

Conflict Game Company

The following CGC products appeared with the SDC logo and were advertised in SDC materials: Bar-Lev, The Brotherhood, Kasserine Pass, Overlord, Verdun.

GDW released second editions of all of these. The GDW/Conflict line later included The Fall of Tobruk and Yalu . Kasserine Pass was redesigned as Bloody Kasserine and released with the compatible Race to Tunis in 1992.

SOURCES

Kevin Zucker, "Cliff Hanging by Subscription," Moves #19 (February/March 1975):25, 29; is an invaluable account of SDC's first years. It should be required reading for anyone thinking of doing wargaming as a business. SDC received frequent mention in S&T, Moves, The General, and Military Affairs. Information can also be found in SDC, Flying Buffalo, GDW, JagdPanther and Zocchi materials. Fire & Movement sometimes publishes reviews of classic war-games and has done reviews of SDC and CGC games on occasion.