Grognards in the Attic

[Canuck_para]

I started in the late 70's. I played Ogre and Sticks and Stones (http://www.angelfire.com/ca/themav/mic.html).

Then I got into Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Squad Leader, Third Reich and many others. I still have most in my basement. Oh the money I spent. First computer game would have to be Castle Wolfenstein.

[mitessu]

First games were B2 & Midway for Apple IIe. Bought most of SPI paper & cardboard until they died. Favorite game system was SSG series. ACW, Battlefront, Europe Ablaze & Carriers at War all on IIe. I am still amazed at what SSG could do with 128k memory and 2 floppies.

[RicKhan]

First Wargame was Playing War with neighborhood kids.

We Made rules, brought our own playguns, threw "dirtclods", used Trashcanlids & sticks for Hand to Hand, and grew in size to around 20+.

My Dad taught me how to play chess during this time.

Played Risk.

During High School found the Chess and Wargame club. Run by our Math Teacher.

Battle for Midway was First Wargame.

Then Afrika Korps, Then SPI games...

Joined US ARMY and found like minded wargamers in all units served at, played Fulda Gap, Anzio and Squad Leader in the Wildflecken, Germany.

Still continue to play Board Games with Group on weekends, and of course SC on the computer. Also V4V series, WiR, Pacific War, Vietnam by HPS, Century of War.

I'm Retired so have lots of time.

Side note.

Dad, served with 45th Infantry Division during WW2.

Math Teacher, Dautless rear gunner Pacific Theather.

__________________

Courage is fear singing a hymn arranged for four voices.

Fear passes. But leaves a record of its stay.

You want to be brave. You also want to be.

But your greatest danger is from your fellow human beings.

[SeaMonkey]

1966 AH's D-day, from many AH games to SPI and then a subscriber to Strategy & Tactics, and on and on till death do us part. (maybe not even then)!

[Desert Dave]

As originally posted by SeaMonkey:

... and on and on till death do us part. (maybe not even then)!

LOL! I can envision a real determined game of "Go" with St Peter there in the deep shadows of the Pearly Gate, and if I win -- all! my sins will be forgotten as if they never existed! (... and, alas, that is a fairly long list... )

[Flatus]

What about War in Europe, the game that covered about 80 square feet with its map?

That game sat in my dad's basement for months at a time when I was in high school (80-82). My friends and I would pull all-nighters and get about 2 turns done. Playing as the Italians was punishment for being a geek back in those days.

Ahh the memories.

[rleete]

The list of titles here is like a trip down memory lane. Ah, the good times with those old AH boardgames.

The pocket games (Ogre, Sticks & Stones, etc.) were often played on the bus on the way to junior high school. I still have a large collection, but every time I get them out, it seem like too much bother with all the set-up, calculations and having to play both sides.

The first? Tactics II, one of the finest wqargames ever made. On to most of the other AH boardgames, with a sprinkling of some SPI titles thrown in for variety. I also rate Ogre as one of the best, and it was by far the one played most often. Actually wore out a map on that one, and had to buy another.

BTW,, does anyone remember playing by (snail)mail? Must have cost me at least a hundred dollars in postage over the years.

[BriantheWise]

Great Post...

Hubert has clearly catered to the grognards with this playable game of SC.

I started with Midway, then Battle of the Bulge, then PanzerBlitz, and then of course every single wargame I could find. Third Reich was my all time favorite, which may be why I am so fond of SC. Clash of Steel was my all time favorite computer game. I just like those global things.

[VictorH]

I originally began wargames with Feudal, Stratego and Risk. Then I moved onto Chess. My first "Official" Wargame was Avalon Hill's 1914, given to me as a gift by my grandmother in 1969! Shortly after that I ordered S&T's The Battle of Moscow that came with paper counters (that I mounted on cardboard) and a black and white map that I also mounted on cardboard and colored. That game was advertised in Boy's Life Magazine, yep I was a Boy Scout (Eagle). Then everything mushroomed, all my friends began buying and playing wargames and I have been at it ever since. By the way, I gave up Chess, Risk (dice war, game sucks) and Feudal.

I've heard that Wargaming is dying out, BS!!! Boys are still Boys, get your sons to play a wargame with you, they will love it and spread it to their friends. My 18 year old is playing GMT's Wilderness War with me right now, loves it and now wants to play a game of Totaler Krieg and get one of his friends to play too! It's also a great way for them to kick Dad's &%$ and get away with it.

[ September 29, 2002, 07:19 PM: Message edited by: VictorH ]

[JimR]

BTW,, does anyone remember playing by (snail)mail? Must have cost me at least a hundred dollars in postage over the years.

Yep, Diplomacy and then (a few years later) Hypereconomic Diplomacy. The last one went on for years -- and I only played Greece. There were lots of late nights at the typewriter.

[jmbunnelle]

Ah, nostalgia! I was twelve (1982) and walked into KayBee Toy & Hobby out of sheer summertime boredom. On the front tables, where all of the crap clearance items are piled up, along with the mechancial yapping dogs and what not, there were about five huge stacks of $3.99 Avalon Hill games: FRANCE 1940, PANZERBLITZ, STRUGGLE OF NATIONS, CIVILIZATION and TRIREME. The boxes looked cool enough and I had some curiosity about WW2. So I dumped down my lawnmowing money and took them home. I loved them all, but FRANCE 1940 and PANZERBLITZ were my favorites. STRUGGLE OF NATIONS was beyond my pre-pubescent grasp and it eventually ended up crushed in the bottom of a closet somewhere, along with Axis & Allies and that Roman Empire game released by MB at the same time. Shortly afterwards I got into DIPLOMACY and THIRD REICH. I took a long hiatus during college and afterwards (no time and all gaming friends went away to various schools) but got horribly addicted to SSI's PANZER GENERAL. From there, it was a downward spiral through EFII, WF, TOAW, and CMBO. Also IL-2 and EUROPEAN AIR WAR.

Like many here, I don't really play the boardgames as much as I used to but I would never dream of getting rid of them because they are true works of art. Say what you will about computer games and their AI and FOW, but there's an aesthetic beauty, an organic design, that went into the making of those slipcased Avalon Hill titles that no expendable jewel case can match. In fact, I've got the slipcased first-editions of PANZERBLITZ and FRANCE 1940 right alongside my rare, first-edition books, as I truly see them as being the highwatermark in wargame design and deserving of their placement beside ASK THE DUST, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY. Besides, that's the only place where the cat can't get to them!

[Jeff Heidman]

I started out with Squad Leader and Star Fleet Battles.

Went on to the usual suspects, ASL, 3R, etc., etc.

I still think ASL and SFB are two of the greatest wargames ever made. CM and its ilk are great computer games, but everytime I look at my ASL collection I am reminded at how far computer games still ahve to go before they can approach the complexity and design of board games.

I still await the Holy Grail of computer wargames:

I want Red Barricades on the PC...

Jeff

[aaa]

LOL,

My first wargame was also AH's Luftwaffe, also in the early 70's.

Still have it.

[arax3]

My first was Chess but in the more understood sense I ran into Gettysburg in Sears toy section when I was about 16, late 50s onward from there. No more board games after the cat wiped out my game of Drang Nacht Osten on the bed in the visitors bed room. My wife has been a real trooper about it but views it as a complete waste, however, cheaper than some hobbies and I am usually home and almost never in bars, etc. I have most of the games I ever bought and have been known to turn over rooms looking for a card board piece! I am not sure any of this is a blessing in any way. My wife is sure that it is not but it does give me something to while away the hours of my retirement with minimal stress (most of the time.) A3

[jmbunnelle]

Arax3, I know what you mean, I frantically searched for about six missing War In Europe counters in my living room. Of course, I cleverly disguised it as a cleaning frenzy and my girlfriend never knew.

[wbs]

From Rickhan:

Side note.

Dad, served with 45th Infantry Division during WW2.

Math Teacher, Dautless rear gunner Pacific Theather.

Hey Rickhan, This is a little confusing to me. It looks as though you're saying that your Dad served with both the 45th Infantry Division AND was a Dauntless rear gunner during the war.

I suppose I'm missing something, but in EITHER case I'll bet he had some interesting stories, and if this post is accurate then please give us more details about his interesting WW2 career.

[RicKhan]

Dad and Math Teacher are 2 different people.

sorry bout the confusion.

[wbs]

Did either of them pass on any interesting "first person" accounts about their experiences?

[dgaad]

Awakening : Tactics II, around 1973, followed closely by Third Reich (1974) and Gettysburg.

Digital Awakening : "Civilization", 1991

Side notes :

1. Grandfather, US merchant marine 1943-1945. Uncle #1 at Attu, 1943 and Bulge, 1944 (yes he was shipped from Alaska to Europe!), Uncle #2 at the Bulge 1944 (they never saw each other).

2. Why do large wargames on the floor or on beds look like litter boxes to cats? My copy of SPI's War in Europe was the site of several evacuations of my cat's bladder and bowels during a weekend getaway. War in Europe : victory went to the Giant Cat after the Bowel Movement Offensive of 1940 destroyed most French and German divisions in France.

[ October 15, 2002, 04:40 PM: Message edited by: dgaad ]

[Melchett]

My first "not so abstract as Risk or Ploy" boardgame was TacticsII in the mid 70's, followed by Panzerblitz (my first "based on a true story" game). Over time, I ended up buying almost every boardgame in Avalon Hill's catalog and became expert at the art of picking up a single counter from a board without knocking over all of the 6-high stacks surrounding it. At one point in 1983 I had 2 months of free time and I actually played Avalon Hill's "The Longest Day" SOLITAIRE for 50 turns (this was the one with a board nearly 5x5 feet and thousands of counters, designed to be played "optimally" by 5 to 9 players). Nowadays they have medication to control these sorts of things.

[Les the Sarge 9-1b]

I really don't think any wargame for me predates my playing Tactics II.

Got experienced with hexes in games like Afrika Korps, and learned about guile with games like Midway.

Favs, well I play Advanced Third Reich if I play it at all.

I like it to much to be able to suffer with that worthless computer version.

My hat's off to ya if you can actually bear playing that attrocity.

And of course Advanced Squad Leader (although original Squad Leader is where most of my memories harken from).

Panzer Blitz/Leader as well as Arab Israeli Wars.

Man I can't wait for the release of Panzerblitz II (yes I said Panzerblitz II, they are rebuilding are beloved classic folks, and it won't be a @#$%^&&*(% computer game either, but a genuine board game).

And more divisional level games than anyone wants to read through. Lets just say if the game has made a name for itself, I have a copy of it.

[Grotius]

Great thread. I'm an old fart too. My first wargames were AH's "Gettysburg" and "D-Day"; I played both as a kid in the late 60s or early 70s. Then on to AH's "Luftwaffe", "Third Reich", "SquadLeader", "PanzerBlitz", "PanzerLeader", "Wooden Ships Iron Men", "1776", "Tactics II", a WWI game whose name I forget, plus a few titles from publishers other than AH: "Sniper," a Vietnam game, a couple others. I played all these in the 1970s.

Then a decade-long hiatus until I became an ASL fanatic in the early 1990s. Played ASL for years, competed in AvalonCon once (went 3-2, not bad for a newbie), played ASL by IRC and FtT, bought every module, went nuts. (What I would give for a real computer port of ASL!) Then computer wargames and computer games arrived, along with kids, and I found it easier to manage silicon units than cardboard counters, which attract the destructive hands of toddlers. And the PC offers an always-ready AI opponent.

Oh, and I beta-tested Third Reich PC (don't blame me if you didn't like it!) and Operation Crusader.