Darwin Posted July 24, 2000 Share Posted July 24, 2000 Those booklets were pretty cool, I had them for WWI fighters, battlemechs and medievil/fantasy fighters. The battletech series made the booklets much more complicated, I definitely preferred the simpler dogfight and hand to hand versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EScurlock Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Started with 285 scale miniatures. Used a rule set called "Tracktics." God awfull armor data. That's when I got into researching armor on my own. Didn't get into the infantry war until I finally got Steel Panthers, after being out of wargaming for years. ------------------ He who gets there the fastest with the mostest wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Molyneaux2 Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Ooo, Tractics, I remember spending hours in the huge basement of the apartment building we lived in playing Tractics on the floor with more Jadtigers than Hitler could have imagined lol. I started with Tactics II in the mid 70's and progressed from there to more cardboard and lead than I care to think about. I have boxes of boxed games and enough miniatures in varying stages of paint to supply a small army if melted into minie balls CM is what we were waiting for back then, finally. Wish my old gaming pard had lived to see it, he would have loved it. Still dig some of em out and play em, recently purchased an original NOVA version of Axis and Allies to replace the one I wore out years ago, hooowah internet auctions! Molyneaux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 My first game would have to be: SPI's Panzer'44, a tactical level Western Front boardgame with plotted moves - CMs granddaddy! On the computer, which was a C64, would be SSI's Kampfgruppe. Mace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galland0 Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Oh yea! Panzer Leader Panzer Blitz Squad Leader ASL Complete! Tac Air very good Arab Israeli Wars World in Flames BY THE WAY THEIR WORKING ON A COMPUTER VERSION!!!! Russian Front AH Gulf Strike Six Seventh and Fifth Fleet Luftwaffe The guys in my band used to shake their heads at all the maps laying around, but it was a good release from gigs and rehersals. Patton has been my favorite movie since age 5 or 6. Also loved that movie with Lee Marvin as Sgt. Steiner on the Russian Front, damn forgot the name, oh yeah Cross of Iron I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bad Ju Ju Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Started in about fifth grade (1973) with Tactics II. Soon followed with the usual AH suspects, Blitzkrieg, Bulge, Wooden Ships, Panzer Leader and Tobruk. Stopped just before ASL and only recently got into it. CM rocks! ------------------ "I didn't go to evil medical school for six years to be called MR. Evil." Dr. Evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 I started out with D-Day in the mid 60's. Been hooked ever since. I love the computer games today but you know there is still nothing like that thrill of opening up the box of a brand new board game and seeing the map and counter sheets. Don't miss having to read zillions of rules though. ------------------ March To The Sound Of The Guns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GI Tom Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Galland0: Also loved that movie with Lee Marvin as Sgt. Steiner on the Russian Front, damn forgot the name, oh yeah Cross of Iron I think...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Just for clarification...it was James Coburn. GI Tom ------------------ To a New Yorker like you, a hero is some type of wierd sandwich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldgamer Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 No one's going to admit to RPG's?? Started around '70 with Blitzkrieg. Progressed through probably 50% of AH's early stuff. A lot of Third Reich, SL, and ASL (still). Around '80 drifted into D&D, and still play occasionally. Recent passion is World in Flames. I still enjoy them all, but have to admit that having CM handle SO much of the detail is way cool. Nice topic - fun to remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micah Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Hello all, I have been lurking for quite some time but wanted to comment on this topic. I started out playing wargames with third reich when I was a kid. I was really interested in this type of game but could not find anyone to play it with me. Therefore, I used to play this game hours on end by myself playing both sides. Kinda funny. Anyhow, that's why I was so glad when wargames became available for the computer. Now I have someone to play against. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juardis Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Panzer Leader and SL. Last summer I bought PL again in hopes that I could interest my then 9 year old in the game. Alas, it was too frustrating for him so I've had to put it aside. But I also bought Victory. Great game to introduce the young'uns to. However, youth today want more instant gratification, so I have to kick him off of CM so I can play it . I am playing hot-seat against him though. ------------------ Jeff Abbott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 I'm only a young 'un... I started out with Harpoon and Combined Arms. Went downhill from there... Actually, I got into those via my interests in scale military modelling, for which I blame my dear old dad... NTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Played Napoleonic minatures in the 50's; made up my own rules involving a tape measure and dice. First "rigorous" stuff was AH's Tactics II and Getteysburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grognard Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 I'm so old that my first wargame was Tactics II, when that was the only wargame available. I played it primarily with one friend. Since we were both in late grade school I am sure we didn't play it correctly, but we had fun anyway. I didn't play wargames during most of my teen years (teens don't always have much sense) and early twenties. I returned to the hobby somewhat by accident in 1978, and was overwhelmed at the number of titles available since the days of my youth. I purchased basic Squad Leader, and have been playing wargames ever since. I played ASL for years (though no longer), and many other games. I have played most of the wargames Avalon Hill ever published. I enjoy the block games by Columbia, and have been playing Victory lately. I still play a board game nearly every week, and some friends gather for a multiplayer game once a month or so. Combat Mission has captured the spirit of the original Squad Leader, and is no doubt the best computer wargame ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudeLover Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 My story is like a few others here: started with Avalon Hill's Kriegspiel, a very intro-level game, and progressed through D-Day, Tobruk, Richtofen's War, eventually ended up with a shelf full of Squad Leader stuff. When ASL came out I just couldn't imagine starting over and gave it all up. After several years of D&D and other RPGs, I discovered girls and other distractions. As some have said, CM is the extension of Squad Leader I always wanted, without the little cardboard pieces and rules. (Mind you, I have warm feelings for those little cardboard pieces, just not sure how they'd fit into my current life...) Hope they're able to make CM2, 3, 4, so I can fire up a Matilda II or a Polish 7TP and pick off those pesky Pzkw IIs again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted July 25, 2000 Share Posted July 25, 2000 Family often chide me "What would you do if computers weren't around?" And I always have to remnind them go back to reading rules books and playing wargames... Los Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iconoclast Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joe Shaw: Actually my first "wargames" were probably Milton Bradley quasi wargames. I remember one about WW1 Air Combat that used cards for manuevers. Joe<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'd forgotten all about that old gem--didn't it have plastic airplanes (with spinnable propellers) you put on stands reflecting each plane's elevation? Sure brings back old memories... I'm not sure if I discovered that game before or after AH's Tactics (that was the one with the cards for attack and defense options right? I seem to remember the "hold at all costs" card with the little guys shaking their fists at the giant general in the background.) Another oldie from the late 60's was "Feudal"--a kind of cross between chess and a wargame. You had an army, deployed your forces behind a screen for hidden setup, and then 2-4 players went at it. Pretty much fun for a bunch of ten-year olds. What a stroll down memory lane... I wonder if my own son will wax nostalgically about Doom and Jedi Knight 30 years from now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Iconoclast: I wonder if my own son will wax nostalgically about Doom and Jedi Knight 30 years from now? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> With the speed at which computer technology and game design improves....they'll wax nostagically about a computer game a week after it's release! Mace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadDog0606 Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 This topic just made me look in my closet. I had forgotten all about the old SPI games I had in there. I'm a pack rat and I keep a lot of stuff that I can't bring myself to throw away. I found about 13 old SPI games in there, still in their plastic and cardboard containers. The games are Legion, Viking, Seelowe, Kursk, Breakout and Pursuit (The Battle for France 1944), The Ardennes Offensive, USN War in the Pacific (my favorite way back in the early '70s), Operation Olympic (The Invasion of Japan), Korea, Sixth Fleet, NATO (Operational Combat in Europe in the 1970's), Red Start White Star, Year of the Rat (1972 Spring Offensive in Vietnam). I also found a couple of Avalon Hill games called France 1940 (I played this a lot), and Panzer Blitz. Some of these games are pushing 30 years old and I still got them. I wish now that I had kept the games from the SPI magazine I use to get when I was a kid. I started getting these games when I went to a 'We Carry Everything' kind of store in southern Oregon when I was a kid (a long time ago in a place far far away). Damn I'm old! [This message has been edited by MadDog0606 (edited 07-26-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 IN case any of you guys have been living under a rock, there is an outstanding site with a great discussion board, articles links etc here: http://www.consimworld.com A lotta old SPI games being remade (i.e. Wacht Am Rhein) and spiffed up and lots of talk about the old classics and the new classics. Los Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syntes Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Oldgamer: No one's going to admit to RPG's?? Around '80 drifted into D&D, and still play occasionally. Recent passion is World in Flames. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I played a lot of RPG's around the eightes - AD&D, Stormbringer, Traveller, Rolemaster... My first boardgame experience was Panzer Blitz. After that we played a lot of boardgames such as: * ASL/SL * Diplomacy * Adv Civ * Axis and Allies * World in flames (I am looking forward to the computer version - scheduled for relase later this year) * Brittania ... and a lot of odd ones such as: * Kings and Things * Gladiator * Elric * Guns of August (WWI) * Titan / Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Henri: When I was living in California, there was Hobby Shop at the San antonio shopping Center in Palo Alto that had every wargame ever published, I wonder if it still exists. When I went there, I was lke a kid in a candy store. Henri<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ah man! You just blew my mind. From the middle of 1972 to early in 1978 I used to go in there every week. I was living on Page Mill Road up near Skyline Drive and I would hitchhike down into town to see what had come out. I must have bought all the issues of S&T during that period and about a hundred games. Although I began gaming in 1964 with Stalingrad, those were my Golden Years of wargaming. BTW, the last time I was in that hobby shop was almost exactly 14 years ago, and they were still going strong then. What a great store. I've never seen another like it. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by IntelWeenie: Did anyone ever play the game called "Ace of Aces"? It was WWI fighter combat played with 2 booklets. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yeah, it was a gas. I even got the second set of books. Never saw the WW II set though... Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Heidman Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 I think my first must have been Star Fleet Battles. Saw that in a hobby store when I was 14 or so. Bought the Commanders Edition, played that and up through Doomsday Edition. Went on to SL, and ASL. Did the obligatory stint at Tactics, PL, Flight Commander, etc. I have always come back to Star Fleet Battles and Advanced Squad Leader though. I guess I am a sucker for overly complex rules. Jeff Heidman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted July 26, 2000 Share Posted July 26, 2000 Just to fill out my biography: As posted earlier, I began with Stalingrad in 1964. I was sitting in the Quiet Games Room in the Student Union at UCLA when a guy walked in with a copy and I knew that this was what my life had been leading up to. So I went out and got my own copy. A year later I got Battle of the Bulge and then Africa Corps. The latter was something I had really longed for because I had read The Rommel Papers at the age of 12. But I was ultimately disappointed with it because it was such poor history. And I began to notice that was the case with most AH games. So I went off wargaming for that and other reasons for a few years until I found that hobby shop in Mountain View in 1972. I was living on a commune in the mountains, and now whenever I smell woodsmoke I immediately think of Panzerblitz. My greatest revelation of that period was SPI. Here were some guys with an attitude pretty close to my own. I wanted games to be fun, sure, but for me a lot of the fun was in accurately recreating history, and I was never interested in games where the history had been jimmied to balance gameplay or because the designer was just either too lame or too lazy. For me, a game like Wacht am Rein is close to the apex of game design. And there are others. GDW's Europa series (now taken over and refurbished by GR/D), and Operation Crusader, which is got to be the absolutely greatest game I've never played. Yaquinto made a couple excellent games, Flat Top (subsequently picked up by AH) and Bomber, a vastly underappreciated game of the 8th. Air Force. They made three well thought out Panzerblitz/Tobruk style games as well, more like miniatures with cardboard. I could go an and on (and probably will)... Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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