RE: WHY did you start war gaming

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/14/2016 4:07:32 AM

operating

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Back to: "WHY did you start war gaming"

It had a lot to do with my interest in history. I'm basing my answer on computer games, as I think that's what you are referring to for the most part. The advent of having an AI opponent I found intriguing and a safe way to explore many game titles and historical situations.

(in reply to MrsWargamer)

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/14/2016 7:03:50 AM

MrsWargamer

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Prior to digital options, I don't think a lot of war gamers even realized solo play was a problem. I knew so many that were happy to just play the game solo as a study tool.

But eventually solo was not as thrilling and the advent of machine based games ruined the allure of just playing a board game by ones self.

I think ASL might have survived for me if playing solo had not been such a chore. But the design grew more and more complex to the point it was more about reading rules than pushing the counters.

I think a lot of the board games suffered from becoming just too much detail for detail sake. I prefer Advanced Third Reich over World in Flames as the former was just not as much reading. The main reason I bought the computer World in Flames is a lousy lack of self control. Then shortly after that the marriage died and the cash supply dried up and that was the end of buying overly expensive overly complex war games.

The odd part is if playing war games was just about the need for enough time, I'd be ok.
There's nothing fun about setting up a board game on a kitchen table that's no longer needed for eating meals in a home that's no longer a home because it's just you there. Too much silence and loneliness.

And then there's the voice in my head wondering what killed the marriage.

Be careful what you wish for boys. It's not always as thrilling as it seemed.

Today I find it hard to indulge setting up board games when a computer option can sit on a computer and disappear the moment you don't want to see it.
An opponent is not really an opponent if you can't have them in the room with you either.
I don't mind playing turns of Battle Academy with someone but it's just so brief a thing. Somehow though it's not the same if the person isn't there.

In the beginning I played Squad Leader against a person. But then my regular opponents moved away. I bought ASL faithfully until the day arrived when I just tired of lying to myself that I was going to fiddle with it 'eventually'.

Eventually never comes.

Today the only game I play with any sort of passion is Hearthstone. It's because it is against a person. I get irritated when I lose, but the thing is when I win it makes me all so 'you totally sucked' even if I'm only talking to a screen. The thing is I still beat a human.

That's also why I think Battle Academy rocks. The games actually finish. They're not so complex that they take forever. And the first few play throughs against the AI are actually not very easy either. I'm not saying the AI is bright, but it isn't easy the first few times.

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/14/2016 12:02:11 PM

wings7

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quote:

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

ASL was always so fun because win or lose the results were always so "how the heck did that even happen".

Only game I have played where winning was just a result.

The "result" is based on a calculated and realistic formula that has evolved over many years of testing and play.

Patrick

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/14/2016 3:02:06 PM

SeaMonkey

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Didn't anyone ever play by mail? Back in the sixties we'd play by using the last numeral in the closing of a stock price for the die roll. Yes, it was a lot of documentation, turns would take a week or two, but the anticipation of that coming move.

Wargamers were hard to find, face to face was great, I'm with waltero(we love SC), but when you moved away from your gaming buddy, US mail filled the bill.

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/14/2016 3:59:48 PM

berto

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Yes, I did a bit of play-by-mail, with my brother, c. 1970. An SPI PanzerBlitz-like game, France 1940 scenarios IIRC. I remember the stock price die roll mechanism. Whatever works.

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/14/2016 9:54:18 PM

tcarusil

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My interest in wargaming began in the early 60�s with the green army men, tanks and jeeps. Building bunkers out of twigs and grass in the yard was entertaining. There also were blue and grey soldiers for civil war battles. Those long muskets often ended up with curved barrels.

In addition I had a training rifle for the manual of arms. Not a working gun and never did learn the manual, but having a full size rifle as a kid was cool. My friends and I would load up our plastic mess kits with soda crackers and fill our canteens with water and set up a hidden camp in the trees or bushes. Around this same time came the Hasbro game Battle Cry. Loved it. This was soon followed by Dog Fight and Broadside.

It wasn�t until the 70�s that I discovered real board wargaming. I saw an ad in a magazine for a free copy of Napoleon at Waterloo and I was thus introduced to Strategy and Tactics Magazine. I collected years of board games from them. Trying to find a playing partner was almost impossible and setting up the games required space that no one would disturb. I remember trying to explain Oil War to friend, but their eyes just glazed over.

Come the 80�s, I still was boardgaming, but with a wife and child now the Mrs. did not appreciate me taking over the dining room table. I had purchased a large piece of clear plexi-glass to keep the pieces from moving around too much between sessions. Then came computers. I knew we needed an Apple IIc so the little one could play learning games and I could play wargames. If I recall Guadalcanal Campaign was my first computer game, followed closely by Gettysburg. The big one for me though was Kampgruppe. I played that one to death.

From there it has been a succession of games, too many to mention. Tigers on the Prowl, Steel Panthers Combat Command, War in Russia and The Operational Art of War. I have been caught up in TOAW for almost twenty years now. Hope there will be a TOAW IV someday, and also am looking for the next new great game.

TomC

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/18/2016 2:22:07 PM

wodin

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Love of playing Army and playing with toy soldiers when I was a kid..even then I wanted to be the Germans. Then as I got older a keener interest in military history and a love of computer games became a marriage. The only board type wargames or base don war I had when young was Escape from Colditz, Kingmaker, Star Fleet Battles and I suppose Car Wars oh and a old copy of Luftwaffe I bought second hand from a shop that sold RPG stuff along with computer games etc etc (Pre Games Workshop taking over everything, when White Dwarf wasn't a GW advertisement mag). I remember a friend of mine having Squad Leader but we where around 11 so made up our own rules.

My preferenece has always been tactical as I can become more immersed being able to imagine the scene better. I suppose the higher scales appeal to those who are more into the intellectual aspect where as those who prefer the lower scales the imagination\story creating aspect.

Funny enough I was never interested in joining the forces though. Was never fit enough anyway due to an illness\disability I was born with and wasn't diagnosed until my late twenties.I suppose that killed off any spark before one even formed.

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RE: WHY did you start war gaming - 2/18/2016 3:28:36 PM

CGGrognard

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Hey wodin, Star Fleet Battles was perhaps the most used board game I had back in the day. I went as far as to laminate the ship sheets and used "grease" pencils to allocate the damage. Car Wars was pretty fun as well and set me in the right mentality to watch the Road Warrior/Mad Max movies.

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