What got you started on this hobby? (Full Version)

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Big B -> What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 12:19:05 AM)

Just for fun...

I started with Marx plastic soldiers in the early 60's (grade school) [:)], but what hooked me on war-gaming for life was Milton Bradley's American Heritage board game series by 1965, and the original classic Avalon Hill board games by 1968 Jr High School).

That, and watching TV shows like Combat!, The Gallant Men, 12 O'Clock High - during those formative Grade-School years. The funny bit - even at 11 years old I knew that - that TV series The Rat Patrol was just-so-fake... maybe that (unknowingly) urged me to become a game 'modder... I always hated 'fake garbage' [:D]

So what set you on course for this hobby?



dr.hal -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 1:28:18 AM)

Midway by Avalon Hill, I remember my first game... I quickly sunk three Jap CLs and then proceeded to loose all my CVs... so much for my nautical prowess. Nothing seems to have changed for WITP AE.



zuluhour -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 1:46:31 AM)

Tactics II followed rapidly by Panzer Blitz. Saw an article in my fathers Esquire magazine, can't remember the year.



jmalter -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 1:53:26 AM)

Avalon Hill's 'Kriegspiel', if you assume that Risk & Stratego don't count! Revell-type ship & plane models. A few WWII-era paperback novels from Scholastic Book Services - remember them?



BattleMoose -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 2:43:56 AM)

Grew up playing war games. But it seemed to climax playing the "Hearts of Iron Series" which, is pretty fantastic. But their complete failing in naval combat and limited air combat pushed me to look for something better. Which I found in WITP AE. :D



Jorge_Stanbury -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 2:59:51 AM)

Cronologically:

Eastern Front (Atari 800 XL, mid 80s)
Crusade in Europe (Commodore 64, late 80s)
Silent Service (Commodore 64, late 80s)
Panzer General (PC, mid or early 90s)
Task Force 1942 (early 90s)
The Operational Art of War (early 2000s)
Heart of Iron II (mid 2000s)
Silent Hunter IV (mid 2000s)



witpqs -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 4:10:28 AM)

quote:

What got you started on this hobby?

Friends. Evil friends. [:D]



rustysi -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 5:04:31 AM)

quote:

but what hooked me on war-gaming for life was Milton Bradley's American Heritage board game series by 1965


That's where I started. Always had a thing for history, especially WWII. Found a game on some out of the way rack in a department store called Mid Island back in the day. AH's Guadalcanal, next came D-Day (the old original). After that a lot of reading. What really happened? Many, many games later.. computers, yeah! Never looked back and don't want to. This hobby for me is a lifetime thing.



SierraJuliet -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 5:19:58 AM)

Avlon Hills 'War At Sea'.

Crazy times with the Italian Fleet breaking out into the South Atlantic, German Warships all over the place and in force plus a guest appearance by Graf Zeppelin boasting the speed of a Japanese carrier no less. The British trying to hold the line absolutely everywhere. Loved doing the roll to see if American and Soviet warships would grace the board. Every game there would be favourite ships put to sword!



Chris21wen -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 7:02:12 AM)

Pick up a Waterloo game which came with a map and plastic counters but I can't remember when or who made it. What I can remember is picking up S&T #29 (1971, I looked) and guess what was in it. USN.



[image]local://upfiles/5388/05AD8F69B5F5406ABBB280A908DD087F.jpg[/image]



RogerJNeilson -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 7:07:20 AM)

Airfix figures brought out, Brigadier Peter Young's book "Charge'. Began with miniatures but switched to boardgames with subscription to Strategy and Tactics after I graduated. Wrote a computer game for WW2 for the Spectrum...... just a month or two before Windows was released.....

Roger



Rising-Sun -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 8:20:10 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

Cronologically:

Eastern Front (Atari 800 XL, mid 80s)
Crusade in Europe (Commodore 64, late 80s)
Silent Service (Commodore 64, late 80s)
Panzer General (PC, mid or early 90s)
Task Force 1942 (early 90s)
The Operational Art of War (early 2000s)
Heart of Iron II (mid 2000s)
Silent Hunter IV (mid 2000s)


That almost what got me into as well, missed the good ol' days back then when I was teenager playing wargames and boardgames, it was fun.



btd64 -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 12:47:19 PM)

About 1970 or 71 bought Avalon Hills Panzer Leader. Loved it. But something was missing. So I bought Panzer Blitz. Still missing something. So I bought some Hex sheets and blank counter sheets, Copied some sheets of preprinted counter and made 8 24"x 48" interchangeable map boards. Then produced enough unit counters to field a complete Corps for the Allies and Germany. Then I took a step back and said, this is good. I had produced my first MOD. Then I bought Third Reich, Sixth fleet and all of it additions. And of course War in the Pacific. Gulf war and all the mods. Game Designers workshop had a great WWIII game. with all of the addons to this game, I needed a bigger piece of plywood.[:D], Then computers. First game was an M1 Abrams tank game. Later some of Tillers early work. During this time I also Purchased my first Harpoon game. Loved it except that amphib landings were assumed. no real ground action. Then it happened, I saw that War in the Pacific had just been released. 2005ish I think. Bought it and played it against the AI. Didn't like the need to send TF's out to a point and then redirect them, Because it didn't have the WayPoint system. Then, Yes wait for it.........AE was Born.[8D], The rest, as they say, it History. Now I am hopeless addicted. Oh, Got to run. The local chapter of WITPAE Anonymous starts in an hour.[:D][:D][:D].

Gents, Lets not forget those who fought and died for our freedom so we can play these games. And for all of the vets, Active and Retired, Thank you for your service....GP

Side note; 2 weeks ago I had the privilege to meet a gentlemen who was having his 91st Birthday. He was a Ball gunner on a B-17 in Europe. He has invited me and my brother to go and see the restoration work of a B-17 being done at a field in Urbana, Ohio. I will post details when I now them. Anyone in this area can meet us there when the day is set.



Delaware -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 1:08:42 PM)

Avalon Hill's Gettysburg, bought in the visitor center in 1980, or so. Also loved B-17 Flying Fortress from AH. Still have it. A solo charts and dice recreation trying to get one bomber to 25 missions.



m10bob -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 1:32:36 PM)

Chess,(an original wargame), then AH's Midway (when they released it)...Then in 1960 Milton Bradley produced American Heritage's The Civil War (for the centennial)..

While serving overseas in my own wars and adventures, I met a guy who was selling off his AH games..I bought a couple, maybe 2 bucks apiece?...I DEROS'd a bit later and have been involved ever since, to include a stint with those naval and armor miniatures..



bigred -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 1:39:14 PM)

Moved from Selma to the big city w parents in 73 at age 13 and discovered Afrika Korps.



oaltinyay -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 2:09:28 PM)

Born 1970

pre-1982s , drew and played my own military wargae on "squared - that's what we call them in Turkey - u know with squares on pages " notebooks using a normal dice. made up our own rules to hit / miss etc...

Arheim , Desert Rat , Vulcan ( mid 80s, Speccy and Amstrad )
Silent Service, Kampfgruppe, Battlegroup, Panzer Strike, Typhoon of Steel, Battlecruiser (Commodore 64, late 80s)
688, Carrier Strike, War in the South Pacific ? Falcon and may other titles from SSI ( Early - Mid 90s , PC )
Veilikiye Luki and rest of W@W series from atomic ( Early - Mid 90s , PC )
Panzer General (PC, mid or early 90s)
Steel Panthers ( Mid 90s to mid2000s , PC )
Uncommon valor, Combat Mission Series ( early 2000s to this date , pc )



Chijohnaok2 -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 2:14:17 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

Cronologically:

Eastern Front (Atari 800 XL, mid 80s)
Crusade in Europe (Commodore 64, late 80s)
Silent Service (Commodore 64, late 80s)
Panzer General (PC, mid or early 90s)
Task Force 1942 (early 90s)
The Operational Art of War (early 2000s)
Heart of Iron II (mid 2000s)
Silent Hunter IV (mid 2000s)


Eastern Front (1941) on an Atari 800 (@ 1983 or so) was also to blame for the start of my computer gaming addiction.
My 2nd computer war game was Carriers at War (I think that was the title) by GG



pmelheck1 -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 3:04:51 PM)

I got started WAY back by ordering some sort of game from the back of a comic book that consisted of a thin plastic sheet that was attached to a table with a sponge and played with little plastic ships held together with rubber bands and you hit them with a metal ball which caused them to "explode". Followed by a pair of zip lock sci-fi bag games by taurus games I think. Followed by panzer blitz and many Avalon Hill games and later on by many more games by SPI and a subscription to Strategy and Tactics.



Gregg -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 4:10:26 PM)

Fletcher-Pratt's Naval Miniatures rules and Tactics II back in the early 1960's, quickly followed by Africa Corps, Midway and AH's Classics. Anavaco's Sea Powers Rules and SST's games in the later 1960's. War in the East was my first "monster" game, then War in the West. Was part of the group that merged War in the East and War in the West to create War in Europe, and finally on to War in the Pacific. Then my first PC in 1978, a Tandy Model II and AH's computerized versions of their board games. Quit playing board war games by end of the 1970's, been 100% computer since then. Flight combat sims, and naval combat sims have been my biggest interest since then. Really like the "down in the dirt" tactical sims more than the high level strategic sims.
Gregg



crsutton -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 4:48:24 PM)

This.. A lot under the water since.

[image]local://upfiles/8095/331428F7B89F4647B06C1C064D6B9F1C.jpg[/image]



Symon -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 5:50:39 PM)

Started with the usual Tactics-2 thing. Didn't care much. In Texas, Scotty Bowden got me to paint up some 15mm Russians so he'd have somebody to play with. There was a 1/1200 naval game group at the gym at UTD. Always liked to play conflict simulations. Always had fun. Always knew it wasn't real. Ciao. JWE



Feltan -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 6:23:00 PM)

France 1940 by AH, circa 1972?

Followed by Panzer Blitz and then the monster games to include TSS and Wellington's Victory that lead into War in the East/West.

More hours on these games than anything else except perhaps sleeping.

Regards,
Feltan



Trugrit -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 6:32:13 PM)

Big B,

Same as you, I started with Marx plastic soldiers then played American Heritage Civil War with a neighbor kid until his dog chewed up the playing pieces.

Played Avalon Hill Kriegspiel in high school and that finally hooked me on wargames for good.
I think I still have it around here somewhere.

Kriegspiel was not a popular game at the time but I liked it. No dice and it had nuclear combat.
http://home.earthlink.net/~pdr4455/krieg.html

When I saw your post I thought you might be a long lost twin but I checked your website
And looks like you still have all your hair – so that rules you out as my brother.


[image]local://upfiles/49386/4EF78BEA4DAD4CAEAA059EA48422863B.jpg[/image]



Lokasenna -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 6:52:01 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: dr.hal

Midway by Avalon Hill, I remember my first game... I quickly sunk three Jap CLs and then proceeded to loose all my CVs... so much for my nautical prowess. Nothing seems to have changed for WITP AE.


I have their Guadalcanal release. I wish I still wanted to play it, but.... AE is just like it on steroids.



geofflambert -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 8:05:57 PM)


This isn't a hobby. This is WAR!



spence -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/25/2015 11:05:33 PM)

Xmas presents of Waterloo (kid across the street) and UBoat (me) by Avalon Hill along with American Heritage Civil War (me) when I was around 12. Unfortunately it has seemed that the number of available opponents decreased as my age and number of wargames I owned increased for many years. Discovering play by email has been the greatest thing since sliced bread (over the last 10-12 years).



sbetsa -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/26/2015 1:06:47 AM)

Pacific Theater of Operations for Nintendo NES, loved that game



Chickenboy -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/26/2015 1:26:02 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Big B

So what set you on course for this hobby?



Heroin, Nicotine, Alcohol and Absinthe weren't addictive enough. I apparently had way too much time on my hands. My career and family weren't a sufficient draw. God help me.

[;)]



Lowpe -> RE: What got you started on this hobby? (5/26/2015 1:28:12 AM)

Kids grew up and I stopped drinking so much. Only way I could find time to play this game. But, I am now reconsidering the drinking part. Might improve my play.

Risk/Stratego to Avalon Hill to C64 to DOS games to now.



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