Speaking of Grognards...

[Holdit]

"Played Napoleonic minatures in the 50's; made up my own rules involving a tape measure and dice."

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Ahhhh, Napoleonics; my other favourite period. Imagine that getting the CM treatment...drool...slobber... One thing I'm hoping to do when the full version arrives is to do the Waterloo battlefield. I don't know if anyone would be interested in actually using it but it would be fun to have; it might be good for an operation or something.

[Reckall]

Well, even if I live in Italy, we were quite lucky, because AH actually had an Italian division that imported and translated games. SPI was imported and translated too, by an independent company. I started at 10 with AH's Midway (I was high with the movie then ) and I played it solitaire - go figure! Next came Stalingrad, Wooden Ships and Iron Men, War of the Ring by SPI, Richtofen's War, Arab-Israeli Wars, Assault, Air Superiority the Third World War serie by GDWand, of course, Squad Leader (plus Cross of Iron - Eastern Front being my favourite theatre). In the eighties my gaming group was so creative that we even developed some rules to cross Richtofen's War with Wooden Ships and Iron Men (the biplanes taking off the "Santissima Trinidad" were very cool!!!) In the nineties I discovered tabletop gaming, and I played a lot of Combined Arms/Command Decision by Frank Chadwich, and of Harpoon. I was big with the Fleet Series by Victory Games too.

I admit that Role-Playing games took their toll in my wargaming activities, but you were always able to throw the occasional fantasy battle played with TSR's Battlesystem into the fray - and actually I'm planning one just now inspired by the opening battle in "Gladiator"!

Favoured game never played: Fire in the East/Scorched Earth. God bless TOAW for this!

Vincenzo Beretta

Milan, Italy

[Hakko Ichiu]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael emrys:

Just to fill out my biography:

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.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Commune, eh? Are you sure it was wood smoke?

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Ethan

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Das also war des Pudels Kern! -- Goethe

[Iconoclast]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MadDog0606:

I wish now that I had kept the games from the SPI magazine I use to get when I was a kid.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You and me both! I had a lifetime S&T subscription, even though it hurt to pony up the $300 as a high school student. When SPI went belly up 4-5 years later, I soured on them and sold most of my magazine games. I've still got 4-5 moving boxes worth of others, including little gems like an unpunched "Campaign for North Africa."

Just to get this thread back on topic, I wonder if anyone else ever played a tactical WWII game called "H Hour" mad I believe by Balboa Games. I got it at Origins II back in '74 or thereabouts. It featured 15 geomorphic maps at a scale of 2m per square (not hex!) that could be arranged in a variety of fashions to make typical European towns. Each building on a map section consisted of a number of squares complete with windows, doors, and interior walls. What was TOTALLY unique about this game was that it featured upper stories for the buildings as well! I found a way to mount these on soda straws that could be put on the map, and thus was able to create a TRUE three dimensional village complete with a seven story bell tower on the church.

It was visually awesome, even if it took several hours to assemble!

Jim

[Holman]

I have to admit to something strange in my gaming history, which is that I spent a lot more time reading board wargame rules and imagining scenarios than I ever did actually *playing* wargames. I guess I just never had a steady, ready opponent. My friends in the 80s were more RPG-oriented, and I played a lot of D&D with them, but we never got organized enough for ASL or Panzerblitz. (We did play a good deal of Star Fleet Battles, Car Wars, and Ogre/GEV, though...)

Somehow, though, I did own a lot of wargames, and I spent of plenty of time with the manuals. I would read the rules and examine the counter statistics even if I didn't know anyone who wanted to play. Such was life in the suburbs. (Unfortunately, many of these gems were ruined by water damage in my parents' basement some years after I'd quit revisiting them [the games, I mean]. I wish I still had the whole collection.)

As you can imagine, computer games were a godsend for me: a ready opponent anytime! I've been playing computer wargames since SSI's days as a developer for the Apple II. My first computer game was SSI's hex-based D-Day game around 1982, but I forget its name. "Kampfgruppe" and "Mech Brigade" were terrifc for their time.

In fact, for me one of the great pleasures of a new computer game, even now, is opening the box for the first time and reading the manual (the thicker the better). I guess it brings me back to my youth.

Of course, now the internet (and the appeal of CM) has the potential to bring it all full circle for me. I think I'm just about ready to try my hand at PBEM, which, believe it or not, I have *never* tried. Once I jump in, though, I guess my problems in finding an opponent will be over.

[This message has been edited by Martyr (edited 07-26-2000).]

[Guest Michael emrys]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hakko Ichiu:

Commune, eh? Are you sure it was wood smoke?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Heh. I'm sure that it's woodsmoke now that evokes the memory. Not much of anything else these days. It was mostly woodsmoke then too as it was our only way of keeping warm in the winter, although snuggling sure helped!

Michael

[Dweeb]

I always annoys me when boardgaming is discussed in the past tense only. Believe it or not, many people still play boardgames. Believe it or not, several companies still PUBLISH board wargames. Many of the newer designs are in fact superior to those from "the olden days". For instance, anyone who missed playing GMT's Paths of Glory missed the finest grand-strategic game in years, and certainly the best on WWI ever.

I understand that many people stopped playing boardgames due to lack of opponents. The internet makes this a lot easier. A post on the newsgroup rec.games.board or a web search for local game clubs may find you some new friends. I belong to EPGS (see http://www.epgs.org). Many people in this group play ASL "the old-fashioned way!"

[piekat]

I'm sorry but i can speak only in past tense, nobody around still playing boardgames with an old italian guy. Anyway I started with an old italian fantasy boardgame called "zargon lords" or something similar, then passed on Luftwaffe and Starship troopers. But the game i played most was Battletech (even if it's not a real wargame)

Luca

[Papa Khann]

I started with Wooden Ships and Iron Men, from AH. We used to play that thing over and over again. Loads of fun if you like fighting age of sail.

From there I went on to several miniatures games, ASL, and lots of computer games.

Papa

[WendellM]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Martyr:

I have to admit to something strange in my gaming history, which is that I spent a lot more time reading board wargame rules and imagining scenarios than I ever did actually *playing* wargames. [..] I spent of plenty of time with the manuals. I would read the rules and examine the counter statistics even if I didn't know anyone who wanted to play.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That sounds quite familiar. I enjoyed reading the rules of games like Russian Front and Pacific War, and playing around with a few "situations" to get the hang of the mechanics. It always amazed me how that could bring a better "hands-on" understanding of a given battle/war than many books on the subject. I had a few friends who liked to play, but usually not the more detailed games - mostly stuff like Axis & Allies.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>As you can imagine, computer games were a godsend for me: a ready opponent anytime! [...] In fact, for me one of the great pleasures of a new computer game, even now, is opening the box for the first time and reading the manual (the thicker the better).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Agreed. I just wish there were more hard data in the manuals as well as a better explanation of just how the rules work. CM is an interesting exception. The game data are real-world data and the rules are real-world behaviors (in theory).

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I think I'm just about ready to try my hand at PBEM, which, believe it or not, I have *never* tried. Once I jump in, though, I guess my problems in finding an opponent will be over.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I had only tried PBEM & networked games a few times before CM, with mixed results. I'm playing my second CM PBEM now, though, and it's very enjoyable (though slow). I'm glad to have the ever-ready AI for some quick action (or blatantly unfair situations no human opponent would want to touch ), but the game really comes alive when you're facing another real person.

Have fun!

Wendell