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Roll Call! - 9/22/2002 3:14:32 AM   
Brigz


Posts: 1162
Joined: 1/20/2002
Status: offline 		Things seem a little dead around here lately so maybe I can start a thread that might entice some of you guys to write. How about a roll call and tell everyone a little about each other. I'll start.

I've been playing wargames since I was in 8th grade way back in the early sixties. That puts me at 52 years of age. I still have the mind of an 18 year old but hopefully a bit wiser and more experienced with life. My father was an officer in the US Air Force. He was a bombadier on a B-24 in WWII, again as a bombadier in a B-29 in Korea and flew as a navigator in C-130's during Viet Nam. Very proud of him. Consequently I was raised a military brat. Got to live in Japan for three years during my 9th, 10th and 11th grades at Tachikawa AFB just outside of Tokyo. An experience I've always considered extremely fortunate that gave me an opportunity to see the world from a different perspective. So for the first 18 years of my life I was around Air Force, Army, and Navy bases. Of course, after being associated with the military I really had no desire to enlist and barely escaped the draft during the Viet Nam war. My number was 207 and they called up to about 185 that year. I don't say that proudly and have nothing but the utmost respect for those guys that did go and especially those that didn't come back. Some were my best friends. I would have gone if called but was very glad and fortunate I didn't have to. Been married and divorced and nearly married two times since. I just like my freedom I guess. I have a BA degree in Anthropology with a minor in History and both of these plus my upbringing have helped fuel and widen my interest in things military. I also play drums and was active in a rock band in the late 60's through the mid 70's. My greatest claim to fame was playing opening band for John Fogerty just before he became world famous with Credence. I've been a Dental Laboratroy Tech for the last 24 years and hope someday to retire and spend all my time playing and messing around with wargames.

Now back to wargaming. Got Milton Bradley's Stratego and Battle Cry (ACW) for Christmas about 1961 and later Broadsides. Loved these games and though not really "wargames" they started me off. A friend got Avalon Hill's Bismark and that really opened my eyes. Immediatley I went out and bought Tactics II and then Afrika Korps. After that I was hooked and started buying every wargame I could find when I had the money. Of course back then, there were only about a dozen wargames available and at the staggering price of eight bucks each! And then SPI started publishing and that really opened the flood gates. So now, after all these years, I have a board wargame collection of 300 or so titles and about thirty computer wargames. I don't just like to play wargames but have as much fun altering and adjusting them to fit my own likes and dislikes.

My favorite computer wargames would include: Battles of Napoleon (SSI) by David Landrey, Tanks and Age of Rifles (SSI) by Norm Koger. Great Battles of Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar by Sierra. Steel Panthers of course, and all the John Tiller Battleground games by Talonsoft and the continuing Corinth and Napoleon's Russian Campaign series by John Tiller at HPS.

Guess that's enough. Anyone else want to bare thier soul?

_____________________________

“You're only young once but you can be immature for as long as you want”
Post #: 1
Yeah, Dave, I got somethin' I can bare for ya... - 9/22/2002 5:56:30 AM   
pasternakski


Posts: 6565
Joined: 6/29/2002
Status: offline 		If ya can bear it (okay, sorry, it's just been one of those days).

I am almost exactly the same age you are, and started in wargaming pretty much the same way. The old Milton Bradley games were fun, but kind of unsatisfying (I remember thinking that the "hit or miss" shore batteries in Broadsides were just silly, for example, and the "you hit me and I lose a mast" damage system as being childish - at my sophisticated age of 12).

I was a freshman in high school (about a month before JFK was assassinated, but that's another story) when a friend of mine came into study hall with an Avalon Hill catalog. I sat there studying it for half an hour, with a trembling feeling that I had finally found Katmandu, Angkor Wat, the Seven Cities of Cibola, Erewhon, El Dorado, and all other such silly-but-reported-to-be-fabulous places all at once. I didn't think of it in these terms then, of course, but I had some inkling that I was a creature of imagination caught in a post-World War II epoch of anti-communist panic.

Then Mrs. Hanley, the librarian, came and yanked the catalog out of my hands. She said, "Robert Davis, you march right down to the principal's office and explain to him why you're reading this trash when you're supposed to be studying!" My name was not then, nor is it now, Robert Davis. I meekly took the catalog and marched, not to the principal's office, but out the side door and across the street to the corner gas station.

It was that afternoon I smoked my first cigarette. I couldn't get the name Erwin Rommel out of my mind. I was transfixed by the magic of the numbers "7-7-10." I was hypnotized by the thought of a 2 3/4" long piece of glossy-paper-coated-cardboard with the name "Enterprise" on it. In a moment, all my thoughts had changed. I crossed over some sort of boundary that day. I've never gone back.

I'm a Vietnam veteran. I practiced law for 20 years. I quit doing that. Now, I am the director of a nonprofit veteran service agency. Soon, I will quit doing that, too. My life is filled with serious pursuits, much space, few people, and little law. Wherever I am.

_____________________________

Put my faith in the people
And the people let me down.
So, I turned the other way,
And I carry on anyhow.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 2
- 9/23/2002 12:38:08 AM   
pasternakski


Posts: 6565
Joined: 6/29/2002
Status: offline 		Well, Dave, I hope you don't get run over by the stampede of people rushing to be the next responder to this thread...

I thought it was a fun idea - but what do I know?

_____________________________

Put my faith in the people
And the people let me down.
So, I turned the other way,
And I carry on anyhow.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 3
- 9/23/2002 1:27:40 AM   
CCB


Posts: 4208
Joined: 3/21/2002
Status: offline 		I've been meaning to post on this thread, so here goes.

Will turn 35 next Friday, Sept. 27. I've never been married and have no children. I've held dozens of jobs, everything from dishwasher to data-entry at a bank, but currently found my niche as a forklift driver in a warehouse.

Panzerblitz was my first wargame, got it in 1983 when I was a sophomore in high school. Quickly bought a dozen other wargames including Panzer Leader, Squad Leader, and Panzergruppe Guderian (AH reprint of SPI). Met a guy who had SPI's War in Europe and we played the War in the East part, mostly because he didn't have room to set up the whole game! Then he graduated and the rest of my wargaming buddies drifted away too.

My first PC game was Kampfgruppe by Gary Grigsby (for the Apple IIe!) in 1985. That was followed a few years later by Electronic Art's Patton vs. Rommel. However I really didn't start to get into PC wargaming until 1996 when I got Panzer General. Now I have too many wargames (PC and board) to list. And I'm not done buying them yet either.

The best way to play is to make friends and either play face to face (board) or PBEM (PC). Solitare is ok, but h2h is much more fun. :)

_____________________________

Peux Ce Que Veux
in den vereinigten staaten hergestellt

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 4
- 9/23/2002 3:09:57 AM   
Brigz


Posts: 1162
Joined: 1/20/2002
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by pasternakski
[B]Well, Dave, I hope you don't get run over by the stampede of people rushing to be the next responder to this thread...

I thought it was a fun idea - but what do I know? [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah, you'd a thought more guys would want to log on and spill their guts.

Come on you guys, stand up and introduce yourselves. You don't have to write an autobiography. It can be something short and sweet like, "Hi - I'm Dave and I'm a wargamer." :cool:

_____________________________

“You're only young once but you can be immature for as long as you want”

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 5
- 9/23/2002 3:12:01 AM   
Brigz


Posts: 1162
Joined: 1/20/2002
Status: offline 		I don't know. Maybe it's my quote. I need a less violent quote.

_____________________________

“You're only young once but you can be immature for as long as you want”

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 6
- 9/23/2002 6:46:39 AM   
wulfir


Posts: 3091
Joined: 9/11/2001
From: Sweden
Status: offline 		Hi all!

I'm 25, and easily recognizeble because I'm the most handsome man in Sweden... (just kidding). :D

Once, when I was new around here, I thought I was among the upper layers when it came to age...

Anyway, I'm currently studying to become a teacher in Swedish (will finish by Christmas). Usually try to compensate for getting into a women dominated job by hunting, fishing and some other macho stuff like eating with my hands, leaving the toilet seat up etc..

Have no kids or wife and sort of dread the possibility... I'm far too childish for either.

Military history is a big interest for me, especially the WWII period. In my younger days I battled it out with small toy soldiers sieze 1:72, today it's Steel Panthers.

ummm...what else... oh, yes, one of the things I like most with Matrix and these boards is 'meeting' all the diffrent nationalities. Believe it or not, but using English 'for real' to communicate and seeing it work gives me a big kick.

Some of my favorites; Muppets Tonight (TV show), Staropramen (beer), Prauge (capital), Christine Keenan (actress), Carmina Burana (classical music), Steel Panthers (game), and palt (food).

Have a nice day! I will! :)

_____________________________

Semper in Primis

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 7
- 9/23/2002 2:25:47 PM   
Drongo

 

Posts: 2205
Joined: 7/12/2002
From: Melb. Oztralia
Status: offline 		G'day all,

I like the idea of this thread as it gives you a chance to put virtual faces to names. I normally don't post in the main forums as it gets a bit political at times and I deal with enough of that **** as a freelance journo (it does make interesting reading, though).

I'm a 42 y.o. Aussie. I bummed around Oz till I was in my mid 20's (surfing, riding m/bikes, doing casual jobs) before settling into the IT field. I've taken a year off this year to go to Uni and get some journo accreditations to help make the switch to full time journalism. I tend to spend about 1 month a year freelancing stories in the Pacific (and doing SCUBA diving on war wrecks).

I've been fascinated by history since my teens and read whenever I could. History naturally exposed me to war literature. The more I read on war, the more I found I needed to understand, which led to further reading etc. to the point that most of my non fiction reading is almost exclusively military.

When I first heard of wargames in the early 80's, I naturally became interested but I've only known other gamers for about the last 12 years. We would meet about twice a month for board and (later) PC gaming sessions (plus military BS sessions).

This year, I went against my hedonistic instincts and finally committed to a "serious" defacto relationship with a young girlie. As it has virtually stopped dead my regular gaming sessions, I've decided to give PBEM's a try (starting with UV). If that doesn't work, I'm going to try a same sex relationship with a rich guy who looks decent in a dress (without me being too drunk), is prepared to look after a perpetual adolescent and hopefully prefers wargames to sex.

Cheers.

_____________________________

Have no fear,
drink more beer.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 8
- 9/23/2002 2:28:57 PM   
Drongo

 

Posts: 2205
Joined: 7/12/2002
From: Melb. Oztralia
Status: offline 		G'day again,
I just noticed that you can't say **** in these forums. Does that mean that ****, **** and ***** will be censored as well?:p

_____________________________

Have no fear,
drink more beer.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 9
- 9/23/2002 3:49:10 PM   
nyarlathotep

 

Posts: 169
Joined: 4/28/2001
Status: offline 		Hi

First comp wargame - Chris Crawfords Eastern Front on cassette!
*bee*boo*bee*boo*

Bye

_____________________________

That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.
H.P.L.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 10
- 9/23/2002 11:10:10 PM   
Les_the_Sarge_9_1

 

Posts: 4392
Joined: 12/29/2000
Status: offline 		Hi guys most of this might be redundant, but everyone contributes to my threads and so I want to help out here too.

Hmmm at 40 I ain't young or old.

Been married for 16 years (which makes me an odd statistic I guess). Got a wife that allows me to indulge my hobbies freely (she ain't one of those women you hear guys lamenting about all the time).

I have past military experience (but health...migraines... cut it short enough it's a meaningless detail).

My working years were mainly with furniture in some way. Making it enmass, custom, refinishing, delivery etc.
I say I am retired, makes it sound nicer than saying I am disable with fybromyalgia. Folks, people don't always have visible disabilities.

Been something of an ugly looking housewife since 93 hehe. God I wish I could even remember what working felt like....really.

Housework doesn't take long to do, especially as I have a wife that can do some of it as well. So I have a lifestyle that is entirely saturdays (that gets old real fast guys, don't retire till you are kicked out).

So I can post here on the forum pretty well when I danged well feel like it (which some I think have noticed in the past).

Gaming/hobby interests....

Hmm what came first the models or the wargames. Hmmm I have no idea anymore. Probably the models (were cheaper).

I have a copy I think of every tank worth mention in both 35th scale and 72nd scale. Planes tanks ships but it's always military. I have a massive collection of figures as well. And it's only about 25% done heheh (hope my son wants to build some some day).

Wargames, hmmm if the title was every thought well of I have played it. I have a lot of games, almost as many wargames as models it seems. Never enough time to play them, always pursuing a different hobby (I have to many hobbies I think).

Books, hmm oh if you guiys could see my library.

Film, oh if you guys could see my documentary collection (would take you a full year day after day to watch it, assuming you eat sleep and do other things that are unavoidable).

Rolegaming, hmm played rolegames since the hobby existed (much like wargames). Currently I think the Alternity scifi based design can't be beat. But it depends on your players what is truely fun.

Anime, ok so I like looking at little girls with big breasts shorts skirts and a desire to show you their panties and occasionally a lot more.
I like sex, and I am not afraid to say it, that's all, but fear not, I prefer my wife like I should heheh.

If I had to say as a wargamer, what are the benchmarks of our hobby, I would have to say ASL for small unit, PanzerLeader for platoon sized (looking forward to the reborn Panzerblitz 2 though). Europa series for Divisional level, and Advanced Third Reich for Grand Stategy (with World in Flames behind just be a nose).

In computer wargaming, Steel Panthers is a hard act to improve on. It can do Panzer Leader scale as well. There are a lot of others out there, but I am only picking number ones.
I like the Operational Art of War for divisional level, but for grand strategy I will have to put in Civilization 3 simply because it is the only geo/political/economical/military game in my experience, that will fold spindle and mutilate you if you suck.

Hope this tells you guys a bit more about me.

Aside from saying I am obsessed with science, only read credible scifi from actual scientists, like a fantasy if it can stand next to Tolkien, and I am generally a veeeeeeery articulate highly self educated person that will support his opinion aggressively.

But I have been wrong in my life, and I am not so proud that I can't admit. But I will grind anyone into the dust if they come ill prepared to prove I am wrong heheh:)

I generally avoid politics and religion. I have found there is nothing more pointless, than debating a topic with a person, that had decided I was wrong long before I entered the conversation.

_____________________________

I LIKE that my life bothers them,
Why should I be the only one bothered by it eh.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 11
- 9/24/2002 2:12:28 AM   
scimitar

 

Posts: 301
Joined: 8/22/2001
From: Belgium
Status: offline 		Will turn 43 next month. Married since 20 years (I consider me as a happy man...), 4 childrens (19, 16, 12, 4 years old). I'm working for the Belgian railways. Have made my military duty in 1978 as a recce (gunner on CVRT's).
First steps in wargaming end of 1978; was one of the first members of the Belgian Wargamer's Federation. It was the time I discovered some boardgames like Napoleon's Last Battles, Airforce, Diplomacy. Have made a fanzine with a Belgian and two French friends.
When I bought my Amiga in 1988, I discovered SSI's computer wargames: Kampfgruppe, Gettysburg, and so on.
I've interrest for many, many things (I'm really eclectic:)
- computer games (my actual favourite one being SPWAW, of course - just hard to wait for Combat Leader!)
- model making: I like to build aircraft kits; with a preference for WWI period, but also for aircrafts who flew under Belgian cockades (actually working on a "Butin de guerre" Fokker E V)
- space, space exploration, SETI project, stars, planets and exoplanets, galaxies...
- like to read books, especially thrillers (I'm a fan of Jack Ryan) and good science-fiction (for me Asimov is the best of the best you can read!)
- making the family tree for my childrens. Very interrestive, but consuming lot of time...
- like to go to the cinema
- like to swim
- no smoker
- like to drink (with moderation; let say once per week) a good Belgian special beer.
- Fan of the British nonsense
- Music: rock, hardrock, country, folk, classic.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 12
- 9/24/2002 3:44:14 AM   
msaario

 

Posts: 245
Joined: 5/22/2002
From: Back in E U R O P A
Status: offline 		The story of my life in 200 words or so... ok, let's give it a shot.

I won't be posting often, because... My wife and I are having our first baby in two months (my second)... We've been married a year next Sunday! We won't have a big celebration due to her condition, though. I am 33 years of age, about 30 of that has been wargaming, models, toy soldiers, war books, military comic books and stuff. However, I am anti-military - but no politics here...! We are building a house outside Helsinki area and today the digger hit the ground for the first time, whohooo! During the days I work for a largish, multinational firm as an IT security specialist. During the summer I passed a professional exam (CISA) that kept me really busy last Spring.

Well, anyway, I am going back the history sort of the wrong way, but it seems easier like that. I spent two and half years outside Los Angeles (Thousand Oaks), first studying in a college (CLU) and then working for a year or so. Got a great deal of friends around the world and have since visited a lot of them. That brings me to my other passion (not very active right now as you might guess from reading above) - travelling. I have had the opportunity to go around the globe a bit. In addition to the usual European travels (too many to even remember, 30+?), I've been in the States say 10-15 times for business or pleasure, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Namibia, Australia, NZ, Fiji, Japan, China, HK, South Korea a couple of times (once for a wedding at the Seoul Naval Academy), Singapore & surrounding areas and so forth. I have friends in almost all these countries.

I started my gaming with some funky pong game who knows when in early 80s or late 70s. Ever since I've had dozens of machines from Mattel Intellivision to Apple IIe to 286 PC to C64 to Atari XL to Amiga to Atari ST to.... well, you get the point. I've always been playing wargames. The first ones were Midway Campaign on Apple, maybe something on Mattel, too. Gary Grigsby is no 1 and there is no competition. Close Combat and some other games are great, but Gary somehow always pulls it off. WWII flight sims are great too, I am currently playing IL-2, even though I am not particularly fond of it (great sim, but lousy game). Microsoft Combat Flight sims are my favorites, too.

I only have one buddy who also likes wargames, but we see each other quite seldom. He wasn't too impressed about UV but wants to wait for the WitP, so maybe then we can arrange some gaming sessions. I doubt I can play PBEM as my schedules are so irregular that I never know when I have the time or energy to do another turn (or maybe I am just scared of having my bu*t kicked).

I brought a Mustang with me from the US (you know we have a ridiculous car tax here - got my car tax free but the law has been changed since). We have an active community of people driving American cars in Finland and our club is one of the biggest, I am just stepping down as I have no time to continue being an active member. We arrange meetings in cruising nights, go for a weekend drive etc. I also have enjoyed taking my car to the track for some road racing. It's fun, fairly safe and you don't need to race on the streets! I used to do that when I was younger and we were hitting 200+ kmh almost every weekend. Luckily we had no big accidents and have grown up ever since.

I also like to read and browse war books. I have a sizable collection of WWII books - Finnish wars against the Russians, Germans in different theatres, Japanese in the Pacific and so forth. I also collect good war movies, however, they are hard to find and I hate the DVDs being so expensive (overpriced). I lay my hands on every decent movie about the Romans, too.

--Mikko

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 13
- 9/24/2002 7:31:06 AM   
Brigz


Posts: 1162
Joined: 1/20/2002
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by msaario
[B]

However, I am anti-military - but no politics here


[/B][/QUOTE]

Good point. It's always been interesting to me that regardless of political persuasion (left or right, hawk or dove) we gamers all seem to have the same interest in wargames and things military.

And congratulations to you and your wife on that first baby. Girls are nice but boys are more likely to want to play wargames when they grow older. ;)

_____________________________

“You're only young once but you can be immature for as long as you want”

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 14
- 9/24/2002 3:17:48 PM   
msaario

 

Posts: 245
Joined: 5/22/2002
From: Back in E U R O P A
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dave Briggs
[B]And congratulations to you and your wife on that first baby.[/B][/QUOTE]

Thanks. Many opportunities await me to play UV during the long sleepless nights...

[QUOTE][B]Girls are nice but boys are more likely to want to play wargames when they grow older. ;) [/B][/QUOTE]

... I am counting on that :) My wife wants to take him riding, but I can live with that.

--Mikko

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 15
- 9/25/2002 11:32:40 PM   
Dan Bozza


Posts: 800
Joined: 3/28/2001
From: Mount Tabor NJ USA
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by CCB
[B]I've been meaning to post on this thread, so here goes.

Will turn 35 next Friday, Sept. 27. I've never been married and have no children. I've held dozens of jobs, everything from dishwasher to data-entry at a bank, but currently found my niche as a forklift driver in a warehouse.

Panzerblitz was my first wargame, got it in 1983 when I was a sophomore in high school. Quickly bought a dozen other wargames including Panzer Leader, Squad Leader, and Panzergruppe Guderian (AH reprint of SPI). Met a guy who had SPI's War in Europe and we played the War in the East part, mostly because he didn't have room to set up the whole game! Then he graduated and the rest of my wargaming buddies drifted away too.

My first PC game was Kampfgruppe by Gary Grigsby (for the Apple IIe!) in 1985. That was followed a few years later by Electronic Art's Patton vs. Rommel. However I really didn't start to get into PC wargaming until 1996 when I got Panzer General. Now I have too many wargames (PC and board) to list. And I'm not done buying them yet either.

The best way to play is to make friends and either play face to face (board) or PBEM (PC). Solitare is ok, but h2h is much more fun. :) [/B][/QUOTE]

CCB, our paths are strangely similar... Turned 35 this past Aug (23rd) Started wargames about the same time as you, only with Panzer Leader. Found that I loved to buy games as often as possible, even when there were no opponents (which was most of the time) So solitare play became a big thing for me. As soon as the C64 came on the scene, it was Halls of Montezuma, Strike Fleet, Patton vs. Rommel, Wargame Construction Kit, you name it. Getting a "real" PC only made it worse. Now, it's really an issue of finding time, what with the wife and kids. I'm hoping my sons (or at least one of them) will have an interest so I can drag my games out and let them see the light of day again. Because you're right - H2H IS a lot more fun. Cheers!

_____________________________

"Why do you keep using that word? I do not think it means what you think it means."

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 16
My Life and Other small Furry Animals - 9/27/2002 10:16:18 PM   
sprior


Posts: 8596
Joined: 6/18/2002
From: Portsmouth, UK
Status: offline 		I am now 41 1/2 having forst seen light during an earthquake in the British Militiary Hospital in Dekhalia, Cyprus. Due ti having an armt father lived for 2 1/2 years, Aldershot, Camberley, Hameln in (then) West Germany and finally Nottingham (YEs, I'm a Brit).

Started playing wargames of my own devising using maps and Airfix soldiers at 12 (email for the rules!) before joining the Royal Navy at 16. Found my first wargame in an abandoned locker - France 1940. The following year joined HMS Galatea and found a cell of wargamers there - I distinctly remember playing Richtofen's War in the IFF room and being introduced to Squad Leader there too.

Anyway, I spent 16 years in the RN most of the time on SSBN's. Lived in Glasgow, played monstare games mainly before the advent of children.

Now living in Chicago, married to Amy and working as an IT consultant. I have 5 kids, 2 in the Uk with their mother, 2 living with us now aged 9 and 3 and a son who passed away last year aged 4 months. It may make you uncomfortable knowing this but that's part of who I am too.

Apart from wargaming, both computer and board, I also enjoy cricket and have recently been rereading the Molesworth books (advanced, forthright, signifficant).

Thankyou for reading thus far!

_____________________________

"Grown ups are what's left when skool is finished."
"History started badly and hav been geting steadily worse."
- Nigel Molesworth.



(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 17
- 9/28/2002 5:28:02 AM   
Huskalator

 

Posts: 212
Joined: 5/17/2002
From: Kansas
Status: offline 		I am 21 years old and I am a student at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. My original home is in Kansas City which I go back to in the summer. Here at the university I live in the Sigma Chi house, of which I am currently a member of. I am majoring in Accounting. My previous major was Biology but it took way too much of my time. I didn't like spending the majority of my day in the lab doing tedious experiments. I play lots of intramural sports, lift weights, and of course I play lots of computer games. Like every college student I love to drink and party it up. In fact, tonight we are having a large party at the house! :cool:

I love playing games on the computer and I often have friendly arguments with my roomate over whether consoles suck or not. The only thing that consoles have on the computer is better sports games. I love war games but I also like other genres as well. My favorite wargame is Uncommon Valor and other games that I enjoy are Day of Defeat(HL Mod), Europa Universalis, Baldurs Gate 2, IL-2 Sturmovik, and the UT 2003 Demo. My first game was Tie Fighter and second was X-Com. I also rate those as my two favorite games of all time. I am a big fan of the good old days.

My family has a history of military service. The greatest of which is probably my grandfather on my dad's side. He was a navigator on B-24s in the Pacific and then in Korea. He finished his military career at Offut AFB in Omaha as a Major General in the Air Force. Ufortunately he died of lung cancer when I was 6 and I didn't get a chance to ask him about his experiences. :( My grandfather on my mother's side was a cook on a ship in the Pacific and two great grandfathers served in WW I.

And thats all I'm telling you strangers. :)

_____________________________

SW Episode 2:Good movie, bad love story

Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 18
Re: My Life and Other small Furry Animals - 9/28/2002 5:53:18 AM   
Brigz


Posts: 1162
Joined: 1/20/2002
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by sprior
[B]
Now living in Chicago, married to Amy and working as an IT consultant. I have 5 kids, 2 in the Uk with their mother, 2 living with us now aged 9 and 3 and a son who passed away last year aged 4 months. It may make you uncomfortable knowing this but that's part of who I am too.
[/B][/QUOTE]

I am so sorry to hear about your son. Losing a child, especially one so young, has to be the most difficult thing anyone could ever experience. My condolences and warmest wishes to you and your family. If it is indeed true that time heals all wounds, I sincerely hope time has and will be kind to you and mercifully ease your pain and hurt.

_____________________________

“You're only young once but you can be immature for as long as you want”

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 19
- 10/2/2002 2:49:26 AM   
AbsntMndedProf


Posts: 1780
Joined: 7/6/2001
From: Boston, Massachusetts
Status: offline 		I discovered the world of wargaming way back in December of 1974, when I received Avalon Hill's Kriegspiel for Christmas. I've played many board and miniature games, including 'Jutland', 'Drag Nacht Ost'(sp?), 'Panzer Blitz', which my friends and I called the 'Pink Panzers', as the German unit counters were all pink. The AH sequel to Panzer Blitz, the name of which I can't remember, but it also began with Panzer. :D Napoleonic miniatures, usually as the Russians or Prussians. WW II miniatures, Diplomacy, and many more.

In high school I played at a 'club house' a group of gamers set up in a building we rented for our games two days a week. In college, I discovered a game club at MIT, where I played for many years. (I also played D&D for many years.) I recently found the website for the club at MIT, and to my surprise, I'm still listed as an active member, although I haven't been there in years! :rolleyes:

I took a hiatus from gaming, mostly because I lost contact with anyone else who played from the mid 1980s until I discovered SP:WaW and Matrix.

My father was a navigator in the B-17s, then in the B-29s during WW II. However, he never made it into combat, as the Germans capitulated around the time he finished his B-17 training, and the same with the Japanese while he trained in the B-29s. The closest he got to facing the dangers of combat was when an engine on a bomber his crew was training on burst into flames, and they had to bail out over Texas.

That's about it for me. (I think.) :rolleyes:

Eric Maietta

_____________________________


(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 20
Ok... - 10/7/2002 4:05:39 AM   
Psycho

 

Posts: 7
Joined: 10/2/2002
From: Haapavesi, Finland
Status: offline 		Alrighty then...

Well, it seems to be that im a junior here... I am 20 years old guy from Finland. Wargaming... Well, as kid we always played with little plastic war figures at the sandbox. Cant really say it was a game, we just blew them up with firecrackers... And then about 6 months ago, a miracle happened... I started to play Steel Panthers: World At War v4.5! Actually, i had had the game for about a year. It came with Pelit-magazine, i tried it, didnt get the hang of it, and threw it in the drawer...
Last year i was in army for about 3 weeks, but had the drop out cause of my health... But ill try again after two years, though... I was in the logistics company (Is that correct in English, i dont know...)
Ive played rolep playing games too, mainly Dungeons&Dragons and Cyberpunk 2020, but all my playing buddies have either moved away, or "grown to adults"...
Ive always been interested in history, especially WW2 and the Nazi-Germany. I even have a Wehrmacht coffee cup from 1939.
My grandfather fought in the Continuation War, and got wounded in the "bottom"(couldnt write ***, you see...) and right arm. They had to amputate the arm. And one bullet hit his stomach, but was stopped by a clip for the Suomi-mp. The squad ran away. Then the enemy pulled back, probably they thought that there was more Finns, and it saved my grandpa. So, he ran back to the lines alone... The other guys were pretty embarrassed, they had told that he died out there...
Well, what else... I play the "doghouse fiddle". Not in a band yet, though... And i think that psychobilly´s the best music there is...
Well, i cant think of anything else to tell...

Toni

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 21
- 10/7/2002 3:21:17 PM   
ananias


Posts: 141
Joined: 10/5/2001
From: Finland
Status: offline 		You´re not the only junior here, Toni. I´m 19, and I think there are even younger guys in here.

So, let´s see...I was born in 1983. My father´s a farmer, my mom´s a housewife. I have two brothers and a sister. Neither of my grandfathers fought in the wars (both were too young). Their fathers, however, did fight, the other in the Civil War and the other in the Winter- and Continuation War.

The first turn-based wargame I ever played was either X-com or Panzer General on PC. I never played any table-top wargames (I live in the finnish countryside, so there really aren´t much of those around).

I still think fondly of both of the games. Other favourites were Civilization 1&2, Colonization, Red Baron, Dune2 and The Settlers.

The first SP-series game I played was SP3, and I fell in love immidiately. I guess I woudn´t have to add that when I got my hands on SPWAW, I was ecstatic. It was, by the way, version 4.5 from the Pelit-magazine cd-rom. God bless them.

Currently I´m studying english in Huittinen for a few months. After that, I go to England for a month and soon after returning to Finland I´m supposed to go to army. And after that, I don´t have the faintest clue.

_____________________________

"Man shouldn't have to live on carbohydrates alone, complex or otherwise." -Spike.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 22
- 10/8/2002 9:27:41 AM   
Drex

 

Posts: 2524
Joined: 9/13/2000
From: Chico,california
Status: offline 		I'm 55 years, was a air force brat like Dave Briggs. I was in Tripoli, Libya from '59 to '61 and played with my toy tanks and soldiers in the same sand that Rommel might have trod on (Wheelus AFB used to be an Italian base). That laid the ground work for my love for wargaming. Started my first wargames with SSI's board games then sswitched to computer games to be able to overcome the ton of rules to remember and the space to play. I played solitaire until 1999 when after a bout with cancer forced me to sit at the computer day in and day out , I ventured online and discovered forums ,pbem and a whole new computer life. My real life is great but online just gives it a new dimension.

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 23
- 10/8/2002 6:30:25 PM   
Marek Tucan


Posts: 758
Joined: 6/1/2000
From: Kladno, Czech Republic
Status: offline 		Hello!
I am twenty and a month and I have already started the Czech Technical University in Prague, dept. of Electrical Enginering (see [url]www.feld.cvut.cz[/url]) and I live in Kladno (30kms west from Prague, for those who are interested in WWII and Europe and who know the fate of village Lidice, it is in the middle between Kladno and Prague Airport).
My first wargame was the Dune, then Command & Conquer, X-Coms and so on - one of my favourites was the Task Force 1942 - night battles near Guadalcanal, or Carriers at War. And then I`ve seen Steel Panthers for the first time and have fallen in love with it;)
I have found that the most exciting in SP series is altering data to be more realistic, adding some nknown units and so on - and I`m doing it just now with SP3 - I have moved the timeline - 1950 in SP now means 1980 in real - and I`m adding new units such as JSF and Comanche and T-95 and Merkava 4 on their correct place in time. And it`s very interesting... When you expect that the computer uses SSI units and then (playing, say, US vs USSR in 1989) you`ll find out that T-72s have the same armour and that your aircrafts are downed by some new type of SAM (the SP-SAM Tor - very interesting, trust me) or when you can send F-117s on the Iraqi positions...
And most of all - I have classed some airplanes as Attack helos, because I think that on 20*16km area the A-10, Harrier or Su-25 should be on-board...
And what else? Well, if someone wants two maps of REAL mid-european terrain, please, leave me a message at [email]tuccy@seznam.cz[/email]
First map covers area between Kladno and Ruzyne intl. airport, Prague, and the second area south from Kladno, near river Berounka and the city of Beroun. Both maps are created according to 1:50000 scale military maps and especially the second one is very hilly and complicated to move through.
Ehm... A bit too long, isn`t it< I shall better end it. Bye!

_____________________________

Tuccy

(in reply to Brigz)
Post #: 24
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