Posts: 12121
Joined: 1/28/2002 From: Ottawa, Canada OR Zakynthos Island, Greece Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake
AH's Afrika Korps. A really fun and simple game.
I wanted a good carrier game with secret searches so much I built one myself by making a box out of 1/4 plywood and driving in a 20 x30 matrix of upholstery tacs over a map of Midway. The non-phasing player denoted the postion of his TF's by clipping alligator clips on the tacs inside the box. Then the searching player used a probe on the front of the map to search the matrix elements he was permitted to search (withouth the other player looking of course). When he touched a tac with an alligator clip attached, the circuit was completed and a flashlight bulb illuminated. The discovered TF composition had to be disclosed up to a certain percentage. I do realize it sounds a bit geeky.
I could never get the "AI" to put on the alligator clips though
I still have Panzer Armee Afrika.
What was the PC game which modelled the naval race between England and Germany? One apparently could design a build dreadnoughts then employ them in a campaign and tactical mode. Maybe 8 years ago. Never found a copy to try. Loved the idea.
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Yammas from The Apo-Tiki Lounge. Future site of WITP AE benders! And then the s--t hit the fan
Posts: 289
Joined: 4/30/2004 From: London via Glos Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake I do realize it sounds a bit geeky.
Noooo not at all
I wrote a map game based on the X-craft going after IJN crusiers in a 'far eastern port' not unlike Singapore (btw if IJN gets Kaitens I want X-craft) - players had to have a cardboard box on their head and so could only see a bit of the map and chart by looking staright down and could only take it off when at periscope depth/surfaced.
And they had to dead reckon on the chart (hmm did the player brief really mis-state that five kt tidal stream as two kts? Where did that sand bank come from..)
That's geeky - cardboard technology , beats a pentium everytime.
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Twinkle twinkle PBY Seeking Kido Bu-tai Flying o' the sea so high An ill-omen in the sky Twinkle twinkle PBY Pointing out who's next to fry
Hi, There are many games that if they were remade for current PC would be best sellers in my opinion.
Colonial Conquest SSI. Was never made for PC. A new version that allowed for online multiplayers would be very popular.
Battles of Napolean. SSI update would only require a new graphis and a Campaign that tracked unit status from one battle to the next. Large strategic map for movement between battles.
Warship and it's WWI companion game. Just needs graphics upgrade. And campaign with large maps.
(Come to think of it most SSI titles that were brought up to date would sell at least as many copies as they sold the first go around)
Definitely would get my attention. Trouble is most of the supposed "updates" end up being crap because they try to make a RTS out of them. Or they are not anything like the original - Squad Leader comes to mind.
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Quote from Snigbert -
"If you mess with the historical accuracy, you're going to have ahistorical outcomes."
"I'll say it again for Sonny's sake: If you mess with historical accuracy, you're going to have ahistorical outcomes. "
Posts: 1944
Joined: 8/3/2004 From: Midwest USA Status: offline
Hmmm. Mind is too fogged by time to recall for sure what was "first," but "early" would include AH Russian Campaign, War at Sea, Victory in the Pacific, several of the SPI quads, Winter War and probably others.
Played (well, in many cases started) many of the monster games; War in the West/East/Europe, War In the Pacific, Highway to the Reich. A buddy bought The Longest Day (I think that;s the right title) but we never got around to it.
Other favorites included Flattop, the Napoleon game with the wooden blocks (where you rotated the blocks for step reductions), Panzergruppe Guderian, and a number of the other AH & SPI games.
Posts: 4013
Joined: 2/25/2002 From: Salida, CA. Status: offline
My first two wargames were AH's Gettysburg (the one with the oversized counters) and Luftwaffe. My father had picked them up and found them too involved, so he tossed them in my room and my addiction was born. I couldn't afford to buy many games in those early years, so I improvised and developed games using a large peg board. My brother and I also developed a naval system using dominos once.
My favorite times where back in the mid 80's, I had a wargaming buddy for a roommate and we put 2 - 4x8 sheets of plywood together in the living room resting on sawhorses. We had huge games of World in Flames and Empires in Arms to name a few with 8-10 gamers over every weekend.
We even did a double blind game of Terrible Swift Sword once down the street at the guys house who published the Grenadier magazine (Jeff Tibbets?). There were three games set up at once. The two opposing teams were connected by phone to the moderator who received moves and fire orders and only divulged what info about the enemy he felt was merited. Amazing feel for FOW in a board game.
To date I have a collection of a few hundred board games and 300 or more PC games, having amassed it over 25+ years of gaming. I feel sorry for whoever has to deal with it all when I finally bite the dust. Unless he's a gamer of course.
Posts: 8683
Joined: 3/24/2002 From: Olympia, WA Status: offline
For me it was AH's Afrika Korps in '69. My dad and I went to The Toy Shoppe in Richmond, VA looking for Britains miniatures so we could try out HG Wells' rules in Little Wars. As we walked down an aisle at the store there was a selection of Avalon Hill classics. We decided on AK and I have never looked back. Dad quit playing the games early (complaining that he needed a calculator to play - Afrika Korps??!!), but I never did. I have lost over half my collection over the decades (and continent crossing moves), but not the love.
My first computer game was Carriers At War. Seeing that box in a store was what made me decide to have my first computer built (a 386 with 8 MB of RAM - boy how things have changed in just ten years!).
As far as boardgames to be translated to computer, my greatest desire is for the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series (Stonewall Jackson's Way, etc) to be put on computer. My favorite of those is Road to Richmond (probably only because the house I grew up in is shown on the map), but the original, Stonewall Jackson's Way is likely the best balanced.
Posts: 23184
Joined: 11/15/2002 From: Southern California Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: strawbuk
quote:
ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake I do realize it sounds a bit geeky.
Noooo not at all
I wrote a map game based on the X-craft going after IJN crusiers in a 'far eastern port' not unlike Singapore (btw if IJN gets Kaitens I want X-craft) - players had to have a cardboard box on their head and so could only see a bit of the map and chart by looking staright down and could only take it off when at periscope depth/surfaced.
And they had to dead reckon on the chart (hmm did the player brief really mis-state that five kt tidal stream as two kts? Where did that sand bank come from..)
That's geeky - cardboard technology , beats a pentium everytime.
Wow...I feel better now Good Lord what if someone outside the Grognard world had come over...you might have been committed. A box OVER your head?
Posts: 23184
Joined: 11/15/2002 From: Southern California Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
We even did a double blind game of Terrible Swift Sword once down the street at the guys house who published the Grenadier magazine (Jeff Tibbets?). There were three games set up at once. The two opposing teams were connected by phone to the moderator who received moves and fire orders and only divulged what info about the enemy he felt was merited. Amazing feel for FOW in a board game.
Jim
Wow...that sounds liek a blast. Plenty of time for brewskis and BS'ing too.
Posts: 245
Joined: 5/22/2002 From: Back in E U R O P A Status: offline
So what did I have a long time ago in a galaxy far far away??
I had that Avalon Hill Midway game, with nice 40x25 or so "graphics"...
I had was it War in the East board game? And the Pacific War board game, too. I had a chance to play them like once as they were too big, physically.
Then there was Guadalcanal Campaign, TAC from Avalon with the awesome HiRes "graphics".
Dnieper River Line and some other hybrid computer and board games.
I loved Microprose's Knights of the Desert(?) and that DDay game (still have them someplace). I think they still are the best combination of accuracy and playability. Simply gems!
Posts: 245
Joined: 5/22/2002 From: Back in E U R O P A Status: offline
The fondest memories I had were from Gary's original War in the Russia on the Apple. I used to press ctrl-c to crash the game and it created an empty Pz Corps that needed no supplies and I sent it to cut the russki rail lines in Siberia. Even if it moved one hex at a time, it really confused the computer :)
ORIGINAL: Dunhill_BKK I was one of the few people that purchased The Campaign for North Africa. It was a boardgame on the level of WITP, and therefore unplayable in paper form, by any less than 10 people. It was a monster, and really should have been sent to War College as an advanced course in logistics. They had rules for evaporation in it,as well as the Italian preference for pasta in a desert campaign. This game probably requires a new category above "Grognard" for anyone who actually played it.
But the advantage of the boardgame format was that yiou could easily design-your-own, smaller, campaign: I had a one-map game with Italians running all over the Brits - I followed Al Nofi's advice, gave the Italians a LOT more motor transport, and watched what happened. (He said that if you doubled the initial supply of trucks the Italians would spend the first Xmas in Alex. I believe he may have been right.)
I love playing with games in that way.
Steve.
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"Nature always obeys Her own laws" - Leonardo da Vinci
I still have 300 or more Board wargames, they cover a wall in one of our empty bed rooms. I have sold a few and gave some away over the years. The two I enjoyed the most over those 25 years- was two later titles. DAK and Pacific War. This Hollowed Ground wasn't too bad either.
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"Before Guadalcanal the enemy advanced at his pleasure. After Guadalcanal, he retreated at ours".
Posts: 1408
Joined: 5/8/2004 From: Johnstown, PA Status: offline
Mine was Kriegs Spiel, -5 for spelling, followed by many, many others. Sorry about the spelling; I never claimed to be able to speak German. I devestated my opponent in my first game. He had played wargames many times; I had played only once. He never played me again - my loss. After that, I was hooked.
My one was Russian Campaign from Avalon Hill about 24-25 (?? forgot...) years ago. Still in my collection and recently planning to teach my son in this Christmas. So good my son love to play wargames, just teach him Napoleon (Columbia), Victory in the Pacific (AH) and Naploeon Last Battles (TSR) in his summer holidays.
I can't remember which was my first, because I was pretty young. I think one of these two was my "First" wargame.
Ancient Art of War or Patton vs Rommel
I really really really loved Ancient Art of War, and the follow up Ancient Art of War at Sea. I had no idea what I was doing in Patton Vs Rommel, but I generally won.
The only board games I have played is Warhammer, and ya its technically not a "wargame", but give Imperial guardsman a garand and paint him green and its close.
Posts: 289
Joined: 4/30/2004 From: London via Glos Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake
quote:
ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
There were three games set up at once. The two opposing teams were connected by phone to the moderator who received moves and fire orders and only divulged what info about the enemy he felt was merited.
Jim
Wow...that sounds liek a blast. Plenty of time for brewskis and BS'ing too.
A blast indeed. That kind of multiplayer is the best thing. In UK there are a bunch of Grongards who run 'mega games'. And for a while one of them had a an 'in' at what was then the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Wanna run Market garden as a game? Or Kirovgrad? Give very division a team of two-four , every Corps HQ a team, air force commanders , a cameo role for someone to be the dutch resistance fro MG, a bunch of umpires, a good telephone net but NO leaving your seperate room without an umpire escort (one 'German' comnad player got caught speaking sneaking off to speak to another unit who were technically 50 miles way and he was put into quaratine for 30mins (which was how long a one game turn took) due to to 'being strafed by allied fighters'). So fast and furious your team had to break down into COs, G2s, QM roles or you just got buried.
I was supposed to have a team of four to run the TacAir - only one turned up and I have NEVER worked so hard, to fly resupply , keep a CabRank up over 1AB stuck in arnhem and with 30 Corps shouting at me a lot. God it was fab.
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Twinkle twinkle PBY Seeking Kido Bu-tai Flying o' the sea so high An ill-omen in the sky Twinkle twinkle PBY Pointing out who's next to fry
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