Right then chaps - thinking caps on.
What was the first board wargame you ever played?
For me, it was AH's Afrika Korps. A friend brought a copy back from the US for me way back in the late 1960's, and it took me by storm. Up until then, it had been 1/72 scale Airfix mini's and home made rules, so this was a revelation, as I had neither seen or heard of this kind of war game (although I had a copy of Diplomacy - which aint really in the same class).
Over the years, my games collection had been sold off, rebuilt, sold off again and is now once more getting bigger, but I still have that original Afrika Korps, albeit the box disintegrated at some point, the board and all the components are still in good condition.
Not too long ago, I set it all up and started to play it, the first time for a long time, and my thoughts were, "This is totally crap", and I put all away again. How times have changed.
Probably the TSR stuff that came out in the 80's. Red Storm Rising, Hunt for Red October, A Line in the Sand or...crap, what was it called? Europe Aflame or something like that.
Found a beat up copy of Victory in the Pacific at a thrift store soon after that, and found myself actually making counters for missing carriers and the like. Eventually, a friend and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to buy Pacific War. And I very soon after realized that I have no interest in gaming anything at that big a scale. ;D
Well there was an American Heritage game called Dogfight that I remember a friend had. We were pretty young - maybe 4th grade.
The first time I really played a wargame and had any idea what I was doing was either Starship Troopers or Panzer Blitz. I can't remember which I bought first, but one of them is probably the real first game.
For me...
Panzer Blitz around 1979 or 1980. Shortly afterwards I got Von Richthofen's War. I actually still have both games complete with Boxes.
Me... it was AH's Luftwaffe. Saw it on a bookshelf of a couple I was babysitting for.... yes for money.
Spent what I earned that night on my own copy.
Then it was Squad Leader and then, and then........
I still own the original Luftwaffe, Squad Leader +, Africa Corps, Panzer Blitz etc....
Wonderful menories.... 8)
I was blown away the first time I encountered AH's Flat Top. It wasn't long before it became my first wargame.
Avalon Hill's Bull Run.
Quote from: bob48 on March 30, 2012, 05:17:25 PMWhat was the first board wargame you ever played?
Pretty sure it was one of SPI's Modern Battles quads with dad in the late 70s. Given that I was born in '72, you're right - I started early :)
I have no doubt he nerved down the rules for me, but it was still 'fun with dad'.
My son and I played his first 'game' of Heroscape together when he was 4.
I guess in many ways, AH were the people who kickstarted hex-and-counter wargames, whilst SPI then promoted it by the sheer volume of titles / topics that they produced. S&T was such a great way of expanding the hobby by introducing a variety of topics.
My lifelong facination with the ACW period began with the S&T 'Stonewall - Kernstown' game, although if memory serves, I think the 'Cobra' issue (65) may have been the first one that I obtained, a great game it was too.
Bear in mind I am probably much younger then most you guys and still "fairly new" to the wargaming scene. So I had limited exposure growing up to war board games.
If you don't count chess then probably Axis and Allies was my gateway drug.
There were probably two.
An english game that my dad brought back called Dover Patrol. It was Stratego in the English Channel, World War I. All the different ships, with pictures on the upright counters, sucked me in.
The first Avalon Hill game was one my older brothers got called UBoat. Up to three Uboats versus up to three escorts.
Very difficult with some amount of hidden movement. It was exciting for us kids because our father had been on a destroyer during part of the Atlantic convoy actions.
Does Risk and/or Twilight Imperium count?
If not, then it's your good ol' Axis & Allies.
A&A for me too. Then the TSR games that Arctic Blast mentioned. Wish I had hung on to those. They were pretty good.
First real wargame, not RISK? Tactics II. I wish I still had it.
Quote from: mirth on March 31, 2012, 12:24:22 PM
A&A for me too. Then the TSR games that Arctic Blast mentioned. Wish I had hung on to those. They were pretty good.
You and me both. Hunt and Red Storm combined made for a pretty fun day of strategy gaming.
My father being a American Civil War buff, bought a copy of 'Blue & Gray' from our local gaming store one weekend. I remember to this day that we both played it to death.
The first board wargame I ever played was Battletech with my cousin, I remember being confused about the hexes and wondering why they weren't squares.
^ Does BattleTech count as a wargame? If so, then that would actually be my first, as I was playing it a couple years before I even discovered Risk.
^ I would definitely count 'Battletech' as a sci-fi wargame--just without the historical accuracies that are usually attributed to alot of other wargames. On the one hand, 'Risk' is more of a strategic boardgame--but of course on the other, one could make a valid case and argument about 'Risk' falling into the 'wargame' category since it is about war in a very expansive context.
In 1975 my best friend called me to come over because he got this cool new game. Me and Tom and a couple of other friends in our clik would always sit and pick out WWII books from the school library before class. I show up and Tom has game called Luft-waffle or something like that. We glanced through the rules but just looking at the cool drawings on the little round playing pieces was neat. We eventually learned to play the game properly and not too long after, my grandmother took me to a 5&10 in the Dallas area and I picked out a game by the same company - Blitzkrieg. Later came Third Reich and then in 1977 came the mother of them all, Squad Leader. A couple of friends in our group split off and started playing Dungeons and Dragons which was now becomming a craze. Tom and I sat in on a couple of games and quickly decided to go back to 3R and Squad Leader. I was 11 years ago when Tom picked up that first wargame.
I've had Luftwaffe for years and never had the chance to play against an opponent.
One of these days I might have to try VASSALing the game with someone.
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I wonder if it would pbem very well?
Quote from: Staggerwing on April 01, 2012, 09:33:37 PM
I've had Luftwaffe for years and never had the chance to play against an opponent.
One of these days I might have to try VASSALing the game with someone.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi747.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fxx120%2FStaggerwing%2Fphoto.jpg&hash=5dc14c9b4f190d22fdc96a550a8539ac4c991c73)
I'd love to try Luftwaffe on VASSAL. Let me know and maybe we can try some time.
Quote from: GJK on April 01, 2012, 10:03:22 PM
I wonder if it would pbem very well?
Not sure how well it would work PBEM. I'll need to re-read the rules to see how it could be done.
Barth,
Let me re-read the rules and see if it would be playable over several days since I'd be lucky to get out a turn or two a day.
I haven't played enough VASSAL to see how a turn-swapping game would go as opposed to head to head.
Quote from: Staggerwing on April 02, 2012, 07:08:38 AM
Barth,
Let me re-read the rules and see if it would be playable over several days since I'd be lucky to get out a turn or two a day.
I haven't played enough VASSAL to see how a turn-swapping game would go as opposed to head to head.
We could always try live play with Skype. Only a turn or 2 at a time, spread over many sessions.
I need to re-read the rules as well.
Sounds good!
My first was Risk, my 2nd was AH's "Blitzkrieg" followed by AH's "Starship Troopers".
Quote from: bob48 on March 30, 2012, 05:17:25 PM
Right then chaps - thinking caps on.
What was the first board wargame you ever played?
For me, it was AH's Afrika Korps. A friend brought a copy back from the US for me way back in the late 1960's, and it took me by storm. Up until then, it had been 1/72 scale Airfix mini's and home made rules, so this was a revelation, as I had neither seen or heard of this kind of war game (although I had a copy of Diplomacy - which aint really in the same class).
Over the years, my games collection had been sold off, rebuilt, sold off again and is now once more getting bigger, but I still have that original Afrika Korps, albeit the box disintegrated at some point, the board and all the components are still in good condition.
Not too long ago, I set it all up and started to play it, the first time for a long time, and my thoughts were, "This is totally crap", and I put all away again. How times have changed.
Bismarck -- in about 1966 and long gone.
At 12, I came home from the mall with a copy of AH's "Midway" tucked under my arm and went next door to my best friends house where we opened it and played for hours. After that, God knows how many AH wargames I bought, but it was a lot.
hmmm if risk is a wargame then I guess that one or dogfight
because stratego is not a wargame!
sez so right in the rules
first real wargame was blitzkrieg
first one I bought was gettysburg 64
I remember looking at AH's Bismarck in my local Kaybee Toys back in the day. I must have been about 14 and the game couldn't have been more than 8 or 10 bucks. Why I didn't buy it then I couldn't tell you. I probably bought a Super Soaker instead :(
heh - unless we're allowed bags of plastic soldiers, tanks and marbles ill go for risk, then a game called Blood royale (not flat out war - but there was some war (more CK2 really)) which i loved and spent weekends upon weekends playing. After that a game i think called conquest which was napoleonic and didnt have dice, then diplomacy, then axis and allies - then im afraid i fell foul of WH40k
a womans breat is the hardest rock the almighty GOD ever created....
for I can find no sign, nor mark upon it!
Eh?
Quote from: ken ellis on May 24, 2012, 06:08:42 AM
a womans breat is the hardest rock the almighty GOD ever created....
for I can find no sign, nor mark upon it!
im thinking kens first wargame was with some kind of boob simulator?!
If he found the game too easy, maybe he was playing with a bunch of boobs?
well I wanna get this boob game!
and it would be cool if it was your first wargame!
I was just remeniscing about the movie jeremiah johnson!
lets see, Busen Memo
here is the geek link, but alas it may not be a wargame
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6749/busen-memo
AH's "Starship Troopers". I bought it in 8th grade (1979) at a Gimbels' (department store here in Milwaukee). Still one of the best SCI-FI games out there and easily the best based on the source material.
Best,
Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)
Besides standing my Airfix miniatures I remember a milton bradley or parker brothers game that had tanks about 3-4 inches in size that you lined up on the board and somehow fought with. I was young and this was probably 30-35 years ago.... I think it was actually and simply called tank battle.
I remember also playing....Snits Revenge!!! HAHA
Yuk - Oh aye, Snits revenge was a hoot!
AH Midway in 1968. Had just moved to Hawaii while my Dad was doing his year in Vietnam (USAF gave dependents the option of moving there for the year so servicemember could get home on R&R) and saw it in the Pearl Harbor PX. Still have the game in a closet, though box and counters have seen better days.
bump
Ummm....and this shows my age, bigly....Tactics II, around 1966.
Quote from: Cyrano on June 05, 2012, 02:01:50 PM
AH's "Starship Troopers". I bought it in 8th grade (1979) at a Gimbels' (department store here in Milwaukee). Still one of the best SCI-FI games out there and easily the best based on the source material.
Best,
Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)
This was a GREAT game...."BUGS, Mr. Rico! ZILLIONS of them!"
I think the first board wargame I played was either Divine Right or Magic Realm. I joined the RPG club in junior high and learned about a weekend gaming club held at the local college so I went out there and met a bunch of burly rednecks who played 25mm Napoleonics and Ancients. Got way too into minis but I wanted to do something fantasy based so the rednecks (I'm sure gladly) pointed me towards the guys who were playing the aforementioned board games.
The first boardgame I bought with 2 months of newspaper money was SPI's StarForce Alpha Centauri. Trying to make sense of the rules broke my 13 year old brain. I never did play it.
Magic Realm for me as well, though I can't recall if it was that one or Luftwaffe.
My first war-game was Midway. My mom bought it at a garage sale and brought it home because I liked games and I was interested in WW2. I still remember "50 cents" written in big black magic marker on the box. I was probably 11 or 12 years old at the time. Battleship had already become boring to me, but Midway took that to a whole new level.
Victory in the Pacific was one of my first wargames. Still have it in the collection.
Tactics II was also my first wargame.
Either Gulf Skrike or WWIII Southrn Front was my first.
Quote from: OJsDad on September 26, 2017, 08:22:16 PM
Either Gulf Skrike or WWIII Southrn Front was my first.
nice!
Quote from: mirth on May 22, 2012, 07:52:57 PM
I remember looking at AH's Bismarck in my local Kaybee Toys back in the day. I must have been about 14 and the game couldn't have been more than 8 or 10 bucks. Why I didn't buy it then I couldn't tell you. I probably bought a Super Soaker instead :(
I feel lucky that i played so many crude games back when all games were pretty crude. i can't imagine trying to figure out the rules to more complex (and good!) games such as are around these days without a background in decades of crude games like the first Bismark or Gettysburg (first of a dozen or so Gettysburgs). I think the first reasonably well-designed games were Jutland (1967?) 1914 (1968?) and France 1940 (1970?). Panzerblitz was probably okay, but my brother and I revised it (and we had four copies of it -- long gone) so much I have no idea what the game was really like. In our version the ultimate weapon was infantry riding on Armoured cars and the ultimate manoeuver was to overrun back into town (ideally with infantry to jump off and close assault etc.)
I think it was AH Battle of the Bulge with the pink Germans.
AH: Tobruk: Tank Battles in North Africa 1942 and then Squad Leader followed :D
Quote from: Ubercat on September 26, 2017, 08:49:51 PM
I think it was AH Battle of the Bulge with the pink Germans.
That was my second game. I played it solo many times. Since I would be out of school for two weeks over Christmas, sometimes the date of the battle would be the same date that I was playing it, only 30 years later.
the real first board (abstracted war) game was the German wide spread "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" ^-^
of course Risk, Stratego and "Schiffe versenken" (Battleship) and a little Chess too
i also can remember that a school friend introduced me to 'a play' with what could be called a table-top variant with miniatures
like having groups of (tin?)soldiers , makeshift obstacles and simple D6 dices for combat results, and a folding ruler to check movement allowance of units in march or rush order and range of shots... but played on the floor not on a table.
more like kids play then real table top
the first real board game i bought was Squad Leader, but at a time were i had already a C64 and 'Kampfgruppe" so kind of already giving in to a kind of retro feeling thing at that time.
I always liked in the early days: let the computer do the math and enforce the rules and i can concentrate on the tactical or strategic aspect of the situation. so it was V for Victory, Close Combat, Combat Mission such things ...no board needed
and i didn't know about solitär board war games (if those even exists then?) and liked to have at least an AI opponent instead of commute to a friend to maybe set up a game after finally finding a fitting time-slot in two peoples tight schedules
I believe mine was either Hunt for Red October or Red Storm Rising by TSR
AH Panzer Leader, back in 1983, followed by AH Rise and Decline of Third Reich a couple of months later. :smitten:
Quote from: JudgeDredd on September 28, 2017, 12:31:32 AM
I believe mine was either Hunt for Red October or Red Storm Rising by TSR
I played RSR on my Commodore until my fingers bled. I have also read the book at LEAST a dozen times.
Quote from: DennisS on October 01, 2017, 08:11:13 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on September 28, 2017, 12:31:32 AM
I believe mine was either Hunt for Red October or Red Storm Rising by TSR
I played RSR on my Commodore until my fingers bled. I have also read the book at LEAST a dozen times.
NATO Commander was my first computer (Commodore 64) war game :)
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AH France 1940
Did people really like Starship Troopers? I just remember the non-bug guy building a killer stack and just obliterating the bugs as soon as they popped up. Of course we could have been playing it wrong :)
Starship Troopers was one of my first games. I remember my dad and one of his officer buddies playing it a lot. The game is great because its scenarios follow the book. That's one of my favorite books, though.
AH Luftwaffe, followed shortly by AH Third Reich
Pretty sure it was the combo Red Storm Rising and Hunt For Red October spread across both sides of a ping pong table. :)
Combo of both? How did that work?
A friend of mine had HFRO (if you mean the TSR version, right?) back in the day and I remember we gave it a try a few times. Never did try RSR. If they're the TSR games, I do have A Line in the Sand, which I think is the same combat system.
Quote from: BanzaiCat on October 07, 2017, 01:07:38 PM
Combo of both? How did that work?
A friend of mine had HFRO (if you mean the TSR version, right?) back in the day and I remember we gave it a try a few times. Never did try RSR. If they're the TSR games, I do have A Line in the Sand, which I think is the same combat system.
Yep, both were TSR. The two could somewhat integrate. Basically, american reinforcements in RSR were affected by how intact convoys were when arriving in Europe from the States. You could also swap squadrons of like aircraft between the two games. There may have been more than that, but it has been a while. :)
I also had A Line in the Sand. Loved the diplomatic pouch stuff, and we really got into the fiery speeches full of rhetoric. Shit, I might still have all of this at my parents place. I should go take a look.
Yeah A Line in the Sand is a great game. We had a full 7 player game that lasted about 14 hours. The diplo pouch was stuffed with in character gold. Didn't hurt we were drinking beer the whole time. O0
We're gong to try and get another game going this Jan. at the annual winter meet up.
Quote from: Barthheart on October 09, 2017, 05:27:57 AM
Yeah A Line in the Sand is a great game. We had a full 7 player game that lasted about 14 hours. The diplo pouch was stuffed with in character gold. Didn't hurt we were drinking beer the whole time. O0
We're gong to try and get another game going this Jan. at the annual winter meet up.
Nice. O0
I had a similar experience, though we only played with five. The diplo pouch was more often than not jokes and insults, but highly entertaining nevertheless. The only thing I remember from the game is the Iraq player conquered Diego Garcia. THAT was quite a pisser for the U.S. player. ;D
My first actual Hex map & counter wargame was VG's Vietnam 1965-1975.
Go big or go home, I guess. :nerd:
I'm not as old as some of you gomers. Was only 10 or 11 years old, maximum, when I bought it with money I accumulated doing summer work.
Took a lot of time, running through the game to finger it out. But I eventually got a handle on it.
Had been gorging on D&D rules for a year or two beforehand, among others things, and turned out I kinda enjoyed the challenge of learning such game rules & theory. Even at that age. Was lucky to occasionally be around a few older kids who had gotten into all of the above, which piqued my interest.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on October 09, 2017, 02:46:54 AM
Quote from: BanzaiCat on October 07, 2017, 01:07:38 PM
Combo of both? How did that work?
A friend of mine had HFRO (if you mean the TSR version, right?) back in the day and I remember we gave it a try a few times. Never did try RSR. If they're the TSR games, I do have A Line in the Sand, which I think is the same combat system.
Yep, both were TSR. The two could somewhat integrate. Basically, american reinforcements in RSR were affected by how intact convoys were when arriving in Europe from the States. You could also swap squadrons of like aircraft between the two games. There may have been more than that, but it has been a while. :)
I also had A Line in the Sand. Loved the diplomatic pouch stuff, and we really got into the fiery speeches full of rhetoric. Shit, I might still have all of this at my parents place. I should go take a look.
If I don't have all of them, I have a couple of them. But I'm pretty sure I've got Red Storm Rising, The Hunt for Red October and A Line in the Sand in the loft.
Crap. Still kicking myself for getting rid of RSR and Hunt for Red October.
Well hot damn, they ARE still over at the folks place! :D
^you lucky basturd
HFRO has specific rules for integrating with RSR. Seems like it was built that way which is suggestive of how awesome some of those fellows were burrowed deep in the belly of TSR.
I BROUGHT LITS to Origins with the vague notion of getting a group game going, but, yeah, Origins happened.
Quote from: Cyrano on October 11, 2017, 09:41:22 AM
I BROUGHT LITS to Origins with the vague notion of getting a group game going, but, yeah, Origins happened.
you should've known better
I thought Brant was the only one that worked at Origins, while the rest of y'all played and drank and left him to sweat in the slave mines of Central Command? ;)
Quote from: BanzaiCat on October 11, 2017, 10:54:28 AM
I thought Brant was the only one that worked at Origins, while the rest of y'all played and drank and left him to sweat in the slave mines of Central Command? ;)
pretty close. Vance does a couple of things, but other than that, it's about right.
I could have sworn I already replied to this thread....
Anyway...AH Gettysburg back in about 1966, followed quickly by AH's Battle of the Bulge, D-Day, Stalingrad, Africa Korps, Waterloo, and Guadalcanal.
Pretty sure my first game was AH's "Air Force," which was not an auspicious start.
Victory in the Pacific.
War at Sea is a good one too. O0 I like VitP better though.
Played together is a good time as well. O0
I had War at Sea at one point, too. I still have that VitP, which illustrates which one I liked more...