News from SPUK As mentioned in Phoenix 4, we have had a number of SPI games out at a local printer for quotations on various sized print runs, the object being to print in the UK and bring prices down. We have now had these quotations and happily, they are sufficiently attractive to merit taking our plans a stage further. The only hang-up is that we do not yet know what standard the physical quality will come up to and being a canny Scot I want to see what the printer comes up with before fully committing SPUK. The test case will be 'Outreach'. This job is with the printer now and the final go ahead for further UK prints will be given if I am satisfied that 'Outreach' comes up to the required physical standard. If it does not, then it's back to the drawing board. On the assumption that the test run is a success, I have ordered negatives for 'Minuteman' and 'Star soldier' to be printed in February and March respectively. Other new titles scheduled for UK production are 'Battlefleet Mars' (April) 'Fulda Gap' (May) 'Lord of the Rinqs' (August), 'Modern Battles II Quads' (September) and 'Road to Ruin' (October). In addition to these new games we plan to produce a number of released titles over a period of time. These will be the better-selling titles and they will be produced only when our stocks of imported games have been reduced to an acceptable level. It cannot be assumed therefore that the most popular game available will be the first to be produced. Further details will be given in future issues of Phoenix . New items now in stock are The Expansion Module for War in the West from SPI, Avalon Hill's 'Starship Trooper', 'Caesar', 'War At Sea' and 'Wargamers Guide to Panzerblitz' (œ2.25) and from TSR we now have 'Dungeons and Dragons' plus various supplements and 'Empire of the Petal Throne'. New games expected in stock by mid-February are - 'Wellington's Victory' from SPI, 'Airforce', 'Custer's Last Stand', 'Submarine' from Battleline Publications and Fire and Movement magazine. For details of the non-SPI products see our advertisement on Page S1. SPl's 'War in Europe' should be with us by early March. SPI have re-released a further 12 games (nicknamed The Dirty Dozen). Of these, we will be stocking 1918, Franco-Prussian War, The Marne, Year of the Rat, The Wilderness Campaign, El Alamein and Destruction of Army Group Centre (available late March). The other five games will not be stocked by SPUK. When re-subscriptions started coming in recently a number of you sent in sufficient to cover not only a sub to S&T but also one to Phoenix. Naturally, this vote of confidence was a great morale booster. However, we cannot accept the extra cash for Phoenix as we have already priced Phoenix into the S&T sub at 15p per issue. The reference to Phoenix subs on our renewal slip is intended for those gamers who have taken out a subscription to Phoenix but not to S&T. Now for the bad news. Game Designers' Workshop have recentlv appointed a UK agent and we can no longer buy direct from the States. This means we are not now in a position to control our GDW selling prices. The resultant increases (see price list on the centre spread) range from 15% to 50% depending on the title, most prices have gone up by around 35%. We still have a small stock of imported games and we will sell these at our old brochure price as long as stocks last, so if you are thinking about getting a GDW game, buy now! Once more we come to apology time. Outreach was not produced on schedule because the negatives required for platemaking got caught up in a mail strike in New York. (In fact, at the time of writing - December 5th, 1976 - the game has still not gone into production as the negatives arrived only three days ago). Moves 29 was also late going out as the ship that was to carry our shipment over the 'Pond' bounced off a dock in New York and damaged it's propeller. It went into dry dock for repairs and our goods came to us via Rotterdam with a resultant delay of 21/2 weeks. S&T59 will almost certainly be a couple of weeks late in going out. The last I heard it was due to leave SPI between Xmas and New Year. However, SPI are obviously under a great deal of pressure at this time of year and there is always the possibility that they will be unable to maintain the hitherto excellent service to the UK. Even if the shipment does go out on time, I have found from past experience that delays are inevitable in the actual transportation around December/January so I usually prepare myself for the worst. Apologies are due for any inconvenience caused. On now to 'Bover' time. In issue 3 of Phoenix, I printed two letters in an effort to illustrate the problems we face when vettinq non-SPI products with a view to stocking same. Both letters referred to Jagdpanther Products and both stated that the physical quality of certain of their games was less than acceptable. Since that issue, I have received several letters from the Jagdpanther people complaining about victimisation and demandmg a retraction etc, etc. Obviously I cannot retract another man's opinion. If a gamer thinks a game is poor then he has a right to say so, far be it from me to put a gag on him. Bearing in mind the fact that Phoenix was produced as a forum where UK gamers could express their opinions, it would be pointless producing same if we must stop printing gamers' views because they upset game publishers. Surely said publishers should note the criticism and take steps to put right the flaws commented on. I would however like to make it clear that I had no intention of picking on Jagdpanther. There are numerous wargames that I will not handle because I am not happy with the physical quality. Amongst these are the five re-released SPI games 'Bastogne' 'The Flight of the Goeben', 'The Battle of Moscow' 'Flying Circus' and 'Lost Battles'. These five games can be very enjoyable but they have only black and white maps and they do not come up to the physical standards that gamers have now come to expect. I did not print letters about any other publishers' products because I just did not get any and I am not about to start making them up to smooth a couple of ruffled feathers. Having made it clear that I do not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in the letters I must point out that of four game samples sent by Jagdpanther only one (Spanish Civil War) was of sufficiently high physical quality to be stocked by SPUK. I expect to announce availabihty of this game in Issue 6 of Phoenix. Hopefully, the above will put this episode into perspective. Climbing deftly from my self-built Soapbox, I will now turn to happier things. Due to the success of SPUKORGY'76 we are making arrangements to hold two Orgies in 1977. The first will be held April 29th - May 1st inclusive. This falls between the Easter and Spring bank holidays. The second wlll be held in mid October, final dates still to be fixed. Details of this event can be found on the booking form in this issue (see centre spread). More pleas from the pleading customer service. Please do not use your completed feedback card for queries. If you send an enquiry with an order, make sure this is on a separate sheet of paper. Write your query in such a way that allows a 'yes', 'no' type of answer where possible and remember that stamped self-addressed envelope. SPI game parts: please note that these have been increased in price by 20%. Also, please note that spare parts for War In The East are not obtainable at present and that situation is likely to last until the Summer of 1977. As an economic measure, we will not be producing a new brochure until about the middle of the year. Instead, we will print an updated order form and insert this into the present brochure. Brochures will no longer be sent out with S&T. In its place we will put an order form into the centre spread of each issue of Phoenix. We will be cutting down the exhibitions attended by us this year to the following - Southern Mili aire 1977 (to be held at the Post House Hotel, Southampton - 2nd and 3rd April), The National Convention and Northern Militaire. Details for the latter are not yet to hand. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our customers the very best for 1977. Phoenix 3 feedback results. SPUK service received an average rating of 7.2 out of 9 (that is somewhere between average and e cellent) with 74.86% rating it between 7 and 9. 48.13% considered our service to be improving whilst 50.8% felt it was steady. After sales service got an average rating of 6.97% with 30.43% say in the service was improving against 6.8% who said we were slipping. Of the seven new non-SPI titles feedbacked, only 7th Cavalry received a 15% 'Yes stock it' response. The others fell below therefore we will not be stocking any of these titles. Questions 12-23 were game ratings: Title % played Accept. rating Foxbat& Phantom 29.5 5.63 Mech War'77 31 6.87 NATO 32.5 6.35 Panzer'44 27 6.59 Sniper 35 6.67 Sorcerer 45 6.00 Starforce 38.5 6.30 WWII 41.5 6.11 WWIII 37 5.74 Sinai 62.5 6.70 Seelowe 55 6.30 Normandy 41.5 5.71 Based on issues 1-3, 91.5% of you would subscrito Phoenix, 5% wouId not. 41.45% would do so on merit, 8.29% to support a UK magazine, 39.90% both. 60% felt issue 3 was an improvement on issue 2, 25% did not agree. Overall visual presentation was rated at 6.22, whilst News from SPUK was given 6.68. The ratings on contributors articles will not be published for obvious reasons. S&T 57 feedback results Rank article UK Rating US Rating 1. Panzergruppe Guderian 7.09 7.23 2. Outgoing Mail 6.70 6.95 3. Battle of Smolensk 6.89 6.87 4. Rolling Thunder 6.19 6.52 5. Game Ratings 6.38 6.48 6. Briefings 6.13 6.46 7. Invasion-America 6.16 6.31 8. Russian Civil War 5.91 6.21 This issue (overall) 6.98 7.01 75.15% felt issue 57 was better than 56 and 86.98% felt that S&T57 would make you subscribe.