I found a menacing rubber spider in the bathroom, belonging to my naughty son, and I had the idea of making a simple game, inspired by those hilarious sci-fi movies of the 50s-70s that we all love. 

This is the background: "A metorite hits the countryside somewhere and reveals to be the egg of a giant Spider.  You are in command of an Army unit with a vital mission: kill it.... and save the Earth!"

The rules for "The Giant Spider From Outer Space" are as usual very short (less than one page) and you can download them from the Rules page.

You need a 60x60cm board, some terrain features and some Infantry, Jeeps and one Tank, ideally 1/300 scale. And of course, a Spider (or a Bug, a Scorpion... just change the name of the game!)

It is a fun solo game if you don't have any other intelligent thing to do; you can even play it with other people and make your own scenarios... will you defeat the monster Spider?

On September 1970, Syria invaded Jordania with an armored force, in an attempt to protect the Palestinians during the "Black September". The were countered by a Jordanian armored brigade with air support, while the Syrian air force did not participate to the invasion. The Jordanians were initially pushed back but with the help of severe airstrikes, they eventually forced back the Syrians.

This historical event inspired a simple solo game with the two-pages, Pz8 1950-75 rules. Here are the orders of battle (a tank fest...) and the scenario victory conditions:
SYRIANS (Green)

20 x T55
5 x PT76
3 x BM21 Kathusha
1 x HQ+Truck

JORDANIAN (Average)

16 x M48 Patton
1 x HQ + M1134 x Jeep + RCL
3 x Field Artillery (Off table)
2+1 D6 x Air-to-Ground Attacks

Targets of Air-to-Ground attacks must be at least 10” from Jordanian units.

Syrians must destroy at least 8 Jordanian units, losing less than 10 of their units. Otherwise it is a Jordanian victory.

In the first turns, Jordanian artillery and airstrikes destroyed two Syrian BM21 batteries (the third did not do too much during the game) and above all, killed the Syrian HQ, meaning that the other Syrian units could not rally when Disorganized or Suppressed. On the other side, the Jordanian guns remained quickly out of ammo.

Syrian PT-76 light tanks (in column along the road) boldy advanced but two platoons were destroyed by the Jordanians recoiless guns; the others decided to withdraw behind the hills, leaving the job to the heavy T55.

One Syrian tank battalion climbed a big hill and slowly advanced towards the village, meeting the fire of the Jordanian M48 from another hill. The green Syrian gunners were not able to inflict any significant casualty to the Jordans, and their advance was halted. 

The other tank battalion moved toward a wood and was targeted by the Jordanian RCLs, this time without success. The jeep rushed away from the wood and another tank battle begun. At short distance and on plain terrain, the Syrians managed to wreck two M48 platoons, but it was not enough. The Syrians had now 10 units destroyed, and this ended the battle.