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looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 6:42:56 PM   
bean5671


Posts: 90
Joined: 5/12/2009
Status: offline 		he had a great history teacher last year that really turned him on to the ww II time period

any book/game idea ideas for a 14 year old. I was going to get him the world at war DVD set from history.com but dvds will not work as his mother is very anti TV
when I told her it was 22 hours long she said he is not allowed to watch more than 1 hour of tv a day so it would not be a good gift for him

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 6:53:58 PM   
junk2drive


Posts: 12907
Joined: 6/27/2002
From: Arizona West Coast
Status: offline 		I only remember a few books from all those book reports I was supposed to do.
Up Periscope
Battle for (of?) Battan
Bridges at Toko-Ri (Korea but good anyway)

1 and 3 were also made into good movies which I saw after reading the books.

In later years Cliff's notes were my M.O. lol

(in reply to bean5671)
Post #: 2
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 6:57:42 PM   
Hertston


Posts: 3564
Joined: 8/17/2002
From: Cornwall, UK
Status: offline 		On the assumption that as your Mrs doesn't want him watching too much TV she's unlikely to approve of much video gaming either, I'd suggest Axis and Allies Miniatures

(in reply to bean5671)
Post #: 3
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 8:01:16 PM   
hadberz


Posts: 1629
Joined: 5/11/2000
From: Moncks Corner, SC
Status: offline 		I remember when I was 14  What mama don't know, wont hurt her  I'd get the dvd's.

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Post #: 4
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 9:29:14 PM   
JudgeDredd


Posts: 8573
Joined: 11/14/2003
From: Scotland
Status: offline 		It would still be an excellent gift...it's probably the single most informative and watchable documentary series ever made about the conflict. I bought the VHS series many years ago at a cost of £100+

I'd say get him the DVD set. It'll only take him 22 days to watch them all...and he will be much the wiser for it.

(in reply to hadberz)
Post #: 5
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 10:57:06 PM   
V22 Osprey


Posts: 1593
Joined: 4/8/2008
From: Corona, CA
Status: offline 		I would recommend Sean O Connor's Firefight for a video game idea.Games usually play within 30 minutes or less, and it has alot of realism.Just download the game then burn it to a CD and give it to him.Plus he will never get bored of it because there are literally billions of different maps to play on, plus all the different countries.

< Message edited by V22 Osprey -- 9/7/2009 11:04:31 PM >

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 10:57:06 PM   
Adam Parker


Posts: 1848
Joined: 4/2/2002
From: Melbourne Australia
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd
It'll only take him 22 days to watch them all...


I was just about to say the same thing. That's how we watched it when it first came out on TV!

Three things:

1. The intro I think goes 2 hours, so get your wife on side for that. The beginning is extremely moving and educational.

2. Educate your son beforehand on the Holocaust as without prior warning, its graphical portrayal will shock and confuse.

3. The DVD menu is kind of quirky. So he'll need your help to navigate him around the series chronologically/by episode, as the interface does not always make it clear, which things follow the other.


That said, then go out and buy him a couple of those new huge compendiums of "Commando" and "War" comics! Straight from our childhood, they're awesome!

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 11:47:44 PM   
bean5671


Posts: 90
Joined: 5/12/2009
Status: offline 		not my wife my sister in law thank god
this is for my nephew I think I will just get him the dvds
still any more Ideas



< Message edited by bean5671 -- 9/7/2009 11:51:51 PM >

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Post #: 8
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/7/2009 11:56:50 PM   
junk2drive


Posts: 12907
Joined: 6/27/2002
From: Arizona West Coast
Status: offline 		Buy yourself the DVDs and have him over for a weekend.

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 12:18:44 AM   
E

 

Posts: 1247
Joined: 9/20/2007
Status: offline 		Can't go wrong with Sir Laurence! (Hell of a thing really. A documentary that is still as riviting today as it was over 30 years ago.)

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Post #: 10
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 1:06:10 AM   
Southernland


Posts: 2283
Joined: 11/19/2007
Status: offline 		the DVDs, a portable small screen DVDplayer and ear phones... never too soon for a kid to start learning to ignore draconian authority

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Post #: 11
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 1:25:29 AM   
bean5671


Posts: 90
Joined: 5/12/2009
Status: offline 		southern you do not know the half of it

she is a brit lawyer and a law prof at Princeton
they spend more time in england then the US
all the kid wants to to is go hunting with my dad, but she ships him to her parents in london every christmas

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Post #: 12
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 1:56:09 AM   
TAIL GUNNER

 

Posts: 1152
Joined: 4/27/2005
From: Los Osos, CA
Status: offline 		For books, I think anything about the Allies on D-Day is a good starter.

For games good for a beginner, I reccomend John Tiller's Campaign Series.

For DVDs, Band of Brothers is a great series.

good luck!

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Post #: 13
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 3:46:32 AM   
Fallschirmjager


Posts: 6793
Joined: 3/18/2002
From: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Status: offline 		He is 14 and still have rules like that? I imagine in college he will 'break out' a little his first semester :)
Or maybe I was just raised differently. At 14 my parents were leaving on 10 day trips and I was getting myself up and taking myself to school and cooking for myself.

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Post #: 14
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 4:00:53 AM   
Gil R.


Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005
Status: offline 		Not that I have kids, but "Band of Brothers" is not appropriate for a 14-year-old. My guess is that any mother who limits TV viewing to 1 hr./day would be especially upset by that scene involving the young fraulein, but there's also the problem of a lot of stuff being over the head of someone that young.

I'd think that movies like "Patton" and "Bridge Too Far" would be the way to go, if not for that time-limit. Great movies can lead to great interest in learning more through reading. As far as books go, maybe a set of the old Time-Life WWII books would do the trick -- lots of great pictures, and it's really pictures that bring home what that war was like.

(Since when does Princeton have a law school? Must be part of a pre-law program...)


(in reply to Fallschirmjager)
Post #: 15
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 5:45:09 AM   
ijontichy


Posts: 68
Joined: 10/10/2006
Status: offline 		14 is not that young ... youth these days are either neglected or mollycoddled. Get him that World At War DVD set, and one of those WWII Atlases. Boys love poring over maps. A different suggestion is to get him an introductory WWII board game that you can play with him. Quality time with the kid, you know.

(in reply to Gil R.)
Post #: 16
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 6:22:02 AM   
Cmdrcain


Posts: 1161
Joined: 8/21/2000
From: Rebuilding FLA, Busy Repairing!
Status: offline 		Book wise, At dawn we slept, Time For trumpets or Costellos "pacific war" are good books

Not sure if their still in print through but worth checking for.

Second is about Battle of Bulge, First is about pearl harbor


Their not fiction books.

I'd also go with the DVD... might point out to Sister in Law theres a difference between "TV..TV" and a Documentry Dvd set that teachs about history... which isn't "Tv"

Likely the TV limits on  "TV" as in plain old TV programs that melt the mind

But a Historical Documentry.... is history in video format






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Post #: 17
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 8:46:47 AM   
jackx

 

Posts: 353
Joined: 7/8/2009
From: Germany
Status: offline 		He's only 14... so I'd say no to any war movie recommendations. They're either too gory, or glorifying war, or a mixture of both (or white-washing the Wehrmacht, but I guess you're clear of that danger, being in the US...).
Probably shouldn't be alone watching some of the documentaries, either, better if he can talk to someone about it, and if he's really curious about/interested in WW2, he'll have a truckload of questions...

The WaW dvds seem a good choice, and you could probably use them as a starting point for a responsible/educational media use debate... probably better to get the parents on board, than to circumvent them via the portable DVD player...

I guess it just comes down to using your judgement as to what the kid can, and cannot handle.



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no truth - no justice
all false belief
blinded by morality
there shall be ... no peace

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 1:04:00 PM   
bean5671


Posts: 90
Joined: 5/12/2009
Status: offline 		not sure what she teaches I live in ohio and have never been to their house in NJ
from what my wife tells me she is someone of note at the university though
never marry into a rich family

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Post #: 19
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 6:04:14 PM   
TonyE


Posts: 1551
Joined: 5/23/2006
From: MN, USA
Status: offline 		Carriers at War is a quick intro to WWII naval action and might fit into a one hour time-slot per day. It isn't gory either .



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Harpoon (HC, HCE, HUCE, Classic) programmer
HarpGamer.com Co-Owner

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 7:16:45 PM   
dooya

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 6/4/2009
Status: offline 		Does the boy play chess? If not, buy him a chess board and a good introduction. Best wargame ever.

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 7:22:57 PM   
bean5671


Posts: 90
Joined: 5/12/2009
Status: offline 		chess

I am a member at icc and my son plays there as well, not sure if my nephew does or not
that is a good idea

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Post #: 22
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/8/2009 10:54:36 PM   
JudgeDredd


Posts: 8573
Joined: 11/14/2003
From: Scotland
Status: offline 		bean5671

Just wanted to thank you for reminding me about this series. I have it on VHS, but they're in the loft and too "bulky" to have downstairs, so I've now bought the DVD set for £27.

Happy chappy and bring on the best, most informative WWII documentary ever made (and with an awesome narrator also!)

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Post #: 23
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/9/2009 12:05:46 AM   
kaybayray

 

Posts: 424
Joined: 6/1/2007
Status: offline 		As a Father of 6 kids that controls internet access and TV time I recommend getting the History DVD's. Unless his parents are mindless anti-American lemmings orbiting Neptune they wont whine once they realize that the series is about the Real World History. The graphic story of how we came to still have Freedom, Liberty and Justice in this world. The story of how a generation refused to be put in a box and crushed and rose up against murderous facisim.

I think their major objection to a lot of TV time is the mindless programmed crud that is pandered by the popular media as "Entertainment". TV programming like, American Idol, MTV and the remainder of Human Debris that is paraded across our living rooms in the form of "Reality TV".

Just my thoughts but from my perspective I would be absolutely flaberghasted to walk into my living room and find one of my teens actually watching anything about History that wasnt produced by the MTV crowd. So get them for him. Who knows, he may just start taking notice of Grandpa and Grandma and ther rest of his family of that generation and start asking some questions. OMG he might actually learn how to us the "T" word... Think..

Later,
KayBay

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If you dont mind... It dont matter

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RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/9/2009 12:01:09 PM   
killroyishere

 

Posts: 639
Joined: 4/23/2008
Status: offline 		Memoir 44 is better than Axis and Allies. If I were a kid again that's what I would want.

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Post #: 25
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/9/2009 12:02:18 PM   
JudgeDredd


Posts: 8573
Joined: 11/14/2003
From: Scotland
Status: offline 		Seconded Memoir '44 - great little game.

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Post #: 26
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/9/2009 1:19:57 PM   
Adam Parker


Posts: 1848
Joined: 4/2/2002
From: Melbourne Australia
Status: offline 		Hi Bean,

Looking at all the advice here has actually let me wonder what I would do in your position or would want if back at the age of 14. This is really a fine age when the mind is expanding - and pretty much like a sponge, will start to soak up anything and everything conceptually with ease.

I remember at this age being given a Tamiya model catalgoue by my parents. It was a life changing moment. These were the days when the catalogue was written pretty much like an encyclopedia. Each tank or model had a wordy history written about it and the amount of detail just oozed itself into my cranium. I couldn't get enough. I just wanted to read and read as much fine print as I could. Those were great days.

Anyway, what I've concluded is that at your Nephew's age, any book you buy can become the basis of a life long love in military history. So I would lavish him with something special or unique in this regard:

Book Recommendation: Panzer Truppen Vol 1 and 2 - Jentz, the foremost exposure to the make up and role of the German Panzer forces around. Heaps and heaps of minutae to endulge in, lots and lots to direct further reading towards and a coverage of every area in the European Theatre of Operations.

Book Recommendation: Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Shirer, a book to treasure through life. Maybe a challenging read to start with at 14 but why restrict potential? A wonderful way to begin a study in the geopolitics and strategies of WW2, a real page turner.

Board Game Recommendation: Memoir 44 - Days of Wonder, as others have suggested. Just start with the basic game and add modules for future celebrations. Its a real gem covering the whole war now.

PC Wargame Recommendation: The new Operation Barbarossa to be released this week by Matrix, looks to be an exciting, easy to learn, hard to master goer for someone wishing to witness the Russian Front. I'm sure to be expanded into the West later.

So I hope all this, together the W@W DVD suggestion helps you some more.

Best wishes,
Adam.

(in reply to JudgeDredd)
Post #: 27
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/9/2009 2:04:54 PM   
junk2drive


Posts: 12907
Joined: 6/27/2002
From: Arizona West Coast
Status: offline 		I've played Memoir 44 too and my nephew bought it because he had a young son. Not a bad game for adults IMO.

You just might turn out to be that weird uncle that saves him from the dark side, lol.

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Post #: 28
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/9/2009 2:42:06 PM   
105mm Howitzer


Posts: 447
Joined: 8/9/2007
From: Montreal, Quebec
Status: offline 		Hi Bean, if he's got a computer, get him the WaW dvd, he can still view them from his pc. Memoir 44 and expansion packs, great for those together times a well. My cousin's hubby went to P U School of Law. Doing fine in NTC now, the bum .

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Post #: 29
RE: looking for a gift idea for a 14 year old - 9/9/2009 6:28:25 PM   
jackx

 

Posts: 353
Joined: 7/8/2009
From: Germany
Status: offline 		I'm a bit worried about anything that is big on technical detail/minutiae, and thus also fairly clinical and detached. Mainly because it's addictive, and over that addiction, it's easy to forgot the wider context of the war in which that equipment was used, and its effect on human beings. That's a balancing act for anyone, and probably really tricky with a kid.

I have a half-brother, who's only 12, but really into WW2 submarines and planes, and it's a tough job to decide what he should, and shouldn't be watching/reading yet. He has seen "Das Boot" (TV/stereo only, so not that scary), which I thought was a bad idea, but it might've just been the right thing to give him a basic idea that those things weren't just fancy toys and pieces of engineering, like those steam locomotives he's also in love with...


not much of a suggestion I'm afraid, just some general thoughts/rant on the subject based on recent personal experience. My apologies.


_____________________________

no truth - no justice
all false belief
blinded by morality
there shall be ... no peace

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