Spearhead 1998 Tank Sim

[RetroGamer]

I just ordered a new shrink wrapped copy of Spearhead. Box, CD, Manual, etc. brand new from eBay. I’m going to travel back in time to 1998 and immerse myself in this tank game when it shows up in the mailbox tomorrow.

It’s always good to have one or two legacy desktop PCs around for running Windows 98 games with 3dfx! My PC HDD has had a thorough Scandisk check, is defragmented and waiting to install this classic obscure simulation.

I remember in this forum a while back (might have been almost 20 years ago…) there was a “Spearhead Marathon Weekend” or tournament, or something. Somebody organized forum members to play the game over the weekend and post results. This is assuming I’m remembering correctly. If anybody knows about this, please point me to those old posts, I’d love to read them!

Back in the day, I bought iM1A2 and couldn’t get into it. I then bought iPanzer’44 and it didn’t really do it for me, either. When Spearhead came out, I played the demo, enjoyed it, but didn’t buy it because I felt like I’d already spent too much money on games it turned out I didn’t like.

It’s time to give Spearhead another chance! I’ve played M1TP2 a lot now and have grown a little bored with it. Same with the Armored Fist games. I’ll be honest, I’m bored with all of them.

If anybody likes this game and has anything to say about it, I’d love to hear from you. Maybe we can do a “Spearhead Marathon Weekend II” around Veterans Day or something if you guys are still playing it.

Thanks!!

[RetroGamer]

UPDATE:

Ok, I found it! There was a Spearhead revival back in 2000. Did anybody here participate in that?

http://www.tanksim.com/spear_revival.htm#spear_contest

I’m just looking forward to installing and playing this game. These YouTube gameplay videos are somewhat fun to watch.




https://www.youtube.com/live/VfOFSUHZSus?feature=shared

[RetroGamer]

Wow - I mis-remembered what this game was like. I only played the demo back then and I must have been in software mode instead of D3D or Glide.

This game is good!

I got it running in Windows 98 and XP. I’ll give fraps a try and see if I can come up with gameplay videos. The ones on YouTube don’t show what this game is about sufficiently, IMO.

[agathosdaimon]

i liked it, it though is perhaps the last 90s tank sim that i am yet to get working in in windows11. everything else, even m1tp2 i have eventually figure out or found a work around to get workign but not spearhead


none of the wrappers or emulation programs have worked yet for me

[RetroGamer]

Originally Posted by agathosdaimon

i liked it, it though is perhaps the last 90s tank sim that i am yet to get working in in windows11. everything else, even m1tp2 i have eventually figure out or found a work around to get workign but not spearhead


none of the wrappers or emulation programs have worked yet for me

I hear ya…trying to get old games to run properly is almost like a game itself! I have a few PCs that people just gave to me that run Windows 98 and XP.

Spearhead runs on both. I’ve been testing it all weekend and it runs the best on an old P133 with a Trident 3D Blade PCI card in Direct 3D in Win98. It looks great with my Voodoo 2 PC but there’s an artifact that shows up and bugs me,

I’m so sick of the old stuff that Spearhead is really cool. I just did all the tutorials. Looking forward to the campaign.

[RetroGamer]

I’ve been playing Spearhead for a few weeks now on a Windows 98 desktop and would like to upload some gameplay videos.

Fraps seems to only work in XP.

How does one capture 3dfx gameplay on an old machine?

As a last resort, I could upload some clips from a different PC running XP. On that machine, the direct X install is played and Fraps should work. Spearhead looks best with my voodoo2 card.

Any help is appreciated.

[RetroGamer]

This particular topic is DEAD but what the heck. Maybe somebody will read this 30 years from now.

I’ve been playing the Spearhead campaign for a while and discovered one, possibly two un-winnable missions.

Single Mission:
Lesson6_MAP_SKILLS

No matter how many times I play this, there’s no “Mission Accomplished” ending. Even after destroying everything and leading my platoon to both assigned checkpoints.

Campaign Mission:
Campaign08: Carthage 1High Speed Road March

Hah! There must be a bug in this one. I’m a pretty good gamer and I’ve played this one about 100 times now…. It abruptly ends with “Mission Failed” no matter what I do. I’m going to keep at this one and see if I can determine what’s triggering the bug. I sometimes shoot one of the buildings in order to clear the line of fire to an enemy tank hiding there and sometimes that triggers the “Mission Failed” message.

If I’m having this much trouble, the casual gamer probably turned his Spearhead CD into a coaster pretty quick back in the late ‘90s. I can see why the game failed because that’s unreasonably frustrating. I’d like to continue the campaign. There’s no way.

If anybody's completed the Spearhead campaign, let’s hear how you did it! Even if it’s 20 years from now!

I’m also running the game on a period correct legacy Windows 98 PC.

Armored Fist 3 also has an un-winnable training mission. It’s the last training mission. No matter what anybody does, it can’t be completed. What’s up with programmers doing this?

Maybe they quit midway through the project and just shipped the game out incomplete….it’s beginning to look like that’s what happened.

If I can’t beat the campaign soon, I guess I’m done with it.

It’s still a really cool 3dfx tank sim….a little frustrating right now, however.

[Polak2]

If I can’t beat the campaign soon, I guess I’m done with it.
It’s still a really cool 3dfx tank sim….a little frustrating right now, however.

You have pretty much tested thoroughly 3 older TankSims so far:
M1TP2
Armored Fist3
Spearhead

So which one out of those 3 is your choice so far to be the best?
And the next question: what next?

[RetroGamer]

Originally Posted by Polak2

You have pretty much tested thoroughly 3 older TankSims so far:
M1TP2
Armored Fist3
Spearhead

So which one out of those 3 is your choice so far to be the best?
And the next question: what next?

Hello Polak2! It’s good to hear from you again!

There’s no doubt, M1TP2 is the best. There are several campaigns, more vehicles, different terrains, different tank camouflages, videos, etc. That big manual, too!

Spearhead is somewhat “M1TP2 - Lite”:

One basic terrain - desert,
One camo scheme for vehicles - desert tan,
One campaign - and you’re hopessly stuck if you cant complete a mission.

Armored Fist 2 and 3 are almost the same game. AF2 is USMC based and is a DOS sim. AF2 has the Marines using Bradleys. I don’t think the USMC ever had Bradleys but I could be wrong. I always thought their Bradley IFV/CFV equivalent was the LAV-25. AF3 is US Army based, has smoother graphics, but is essentially the same. I’ve beaten both AF2 and 3 but I don’t enjoy them as much. You can’t manually track targets very well like we can in M1TP2, Spearhead, and Steel Beasts. I consider the AF series an exercise in proper use of terrain and avenues of approach.

AF1 is a different story. One CAN track targets with a joystick with a hat switch! I’ve beaten all 47 AF1 missions many times. That sim will always hold the #1 spot for me.

What’s next? Helicopter sims. I’m taking a break from tank sims. Steel Beasts Pro PE does not sound fun to me. World of Tanks is ok but I don’t consider that a tank sim.

I’m enjoying Comanche 4 right now and am repairing my son’s old xBox 360 (replaced several leaking capacitors) so I can play “Apache: Air Assault”. I haven’t given Gunship! A chance yet but that’s in the future.

What are you playing?

[Polak2]

What are you playing?

ARMA: Cold War Assault.
As you perhaps know it is the ArmA#1 that is re-release of Operation Flashpoint by Bohemia Interactive.

I decided to revisit most if not all of the titles in Arma Series with special focus on relearning the mechanics/tactics/strategies of the Arma games and custom mission creation/planning with emphasis on the combined arms infantry and mechanized/tank operations.
I realize that although 1st Arma is a pretty ancient title by today's standards, it has still many elements of gameplay, custom tools, and mods worth revisiting.

I admit that despite my reservations I found this title is great fun and here is why:

1. this video shows what to expect in tank handling and combat
Mission 10. "Commander"



2. few shots showing tanks:




3. and finally 2-part Video Tutorial for creating custom missions - as for now perhaps the best of all(!):

OFP/ArmA: Cold War Assault Editor Tutorial - The Basics (1 of 2)


OFP/ArmA: Cold War Assault Editor Tutorial - The Basics (2 of 2)

[RetroGamer]

ARMA! I’ve heard of it but never investigated what the series is about. It looks good! Hey, I like old stuff so I might hunt down the original Operation Flashpoint game and start there on my hand built Windows XP desktop.

Thanks for the heads up, the game looks great!

FWIW - I just completed the Spearhead difficult mission 8, “high speed road march”. It only took 3 months and 100 tries. It turns out there were tanks hidden everywhere and you have to know where everything is to take them out in time. The only way to accomplish this is repeated replays.

Was it worth it? Yes.

Here’s another example of Tank Game frustration….

https://steamcommunity.com/app/13514...5580597236771/

It turns out this training mission might be doable but it’s going to take time.

I believe these simulations are good for mental sharpness (I’m getting old and need to exercise the mind and body hard) so keep on gaming!

[RetroGamer]

I’m still “fighting” through the campaign. I’m on mission 20. According to someone who reviewed this game 20+ years ago, there are 23 missions.

I made a pretty silly mistake on one of the missions and failed it repeatedly.

Because I DIDN’T READ THE BRIEFING!! LOL!

As soon as I realized what I was supposed to do, I won.

Pretty funny. “Failure to folllow instructions”!!!

[Skybird]

ArmA is a great concept featuring a terribly lousy AI. Back then (the original ArmA and then ArmA 2) I played it a lot in SP, but had to micromanage every single soldier. I set up the biggest island with randomized enemy patrols and garrisons, scattered ammo and equipment crates, also randomized and then roamed freely as lone wolf or squad leader and survived as long as I could. It was great fun, but the lousy AI finally killed my interest in it. The vehicles I always avoided, the game is for infantry what Steel Beasts is for tanks. But Steel Beasts kind of sucks for infantry, and so does ArmA for vehicles, all sorts of.

For Multiplayer it probaly is a sandbox paradise. They should have sold it from all beginning on as MP exclusive maybe. There are plenty of videos from real world groups of players with real military experience who coop-play ArmA against AI. To watch these guys using real world drills, comms routines and procedures in the game, is quite impressive.

I recently bought 6 Days of Fallujah in the Steam christmas sale. The roadmap says SP gets AI fireteam bots in Q1 24, thats what I wait for, right now the game is probably the most lethal game experience in SP I have ever experienced in the past 30 years LOL. Fantastic - I say again: FAN-TAS-TIC - sound suite, first time hearing the LAV (or was it a Striker) in my rear letting go with his autocannon made me jump up so hard that I almost got stuck with my head in my room's ceiling. The gameplay is not only lethal, but makes it almost a scarejump game. Really nasty stuff. Brutal, unforgiving, and tough.

[RetroGamer]

It’s been a lengthy campaign! I’ve been playing off and on since Sept 2023.

I’m on the last battle. I’ve got to race to a nuclear reactor before the enemy destroys it as part of their “Scorched Earth” philosophy. I almost beat it this afternoon.

Wow - I wish I’d given this a chance back when it was current. Steel Beasts (the original game), M1TP2, and Spearhead all share the same concepts.

1. Find the target
2. Track the target with your joystick, keeping the target smoothly in the reticle.
3. Select the appropriate round
4. Laze the target

The Armored Fist 2 & 3 series does not have good manual tracking and firing. It’s “auto-lock” which I guess simulates the gunner finding the target and reporting to you. You can manually track enemy targets in the AF games, but it’s jerky and it’s obviously not meant to be played like that.

You can play 1994’s AF manually, with a hat switch however. Playing like that is not how I believe the designers intended so mastering the game that way is really fun! It’s gonna be the 30th anniversary of Armored Fist in October. Perhaps I’ll replay all 47 missions to celebrate.

Now to finally beat Spearhead. After that, I’m going to try to build some custom scenarios with the mission builder.

[RetroGamer]

I just beat mission 23 of the campaign and got a “Campaign Complete” screen that read “ Winning IS Everything! Even in Tunisia!”.

Awesome!

Then, the enter campaign setup screen came up with my completed campaign missing!

The program deleted my campaign record once I completed it! There is no record of my campaign remaining on my PC! LOL!

I can understand why Spearhead didn’t take off. That campaign got hard pretty quick. Some of those missions were incredibly frustrating. Now to finish it, only to have the whole thing automatically deleted! I just have to laugh.

I beat that sucker! I’m actually considering uninstalling it, doing a fresh reinstall, to make sure the game didn’t get corrupted and beating it again. This time I might manually save the campaign record file, ( *.cam) in the campaign folder right before mission 23. In the interview below, the producer talked about 40 missions….that didn’t happen. Some games and movies just don’t sell and that’s the end of them. Spearhead is one of them. It’s kind of sad. It seems everybody abruptly ended work on it and went to something else.

http://combatsim.com/memb123/archive.../spear_int.htm


Playing M1TP2 and Spearhead remind me of Dec ‘90 and Jan ‘91 when my M3 Bradley CFV crew and I were at the range and in the simulator, taking this stuff VERY seriously. I recall my gunner advising me over the intercom to keep the reticle just under the horizon so it doesn’t get in the way of a potential target.

Playing a tank sim brought that buried memory back…..wow. Keep on tanking!!!