Are you a wargamer?

Miniatures, board wargames and computer games related to WWII.

How do you consider yourself when it comes to wargames?

What are wargames?
2
2%
I played a wargame once many years ago...
7
8%
Why play tabletop when you can play computer?
17
20%
I own a few tabletop wargames.
12
14%
I own many tabletop wargames and play often.
9
10%
I play tabletop wargames very frequently!
8
9%
I'm a full fledged wargame collector.
32
37%
 
Total votes: 87

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ijontichy
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Post by ijontichy »

I started out with computer wargames, the V4V and W@W series (which, in my opinion have never been surpassed in the category of operational wargames). Beer-and-pretzel games like Panzer General also took up an inordinate amount of my free time. But over time, three things took me away from computer wargames: 1) I spend all day looking at a computer screen at work, so I want to avoid the same when I get home; 2) Too much scrolling, screen sizes are still too small; 3) AI still sucks, and I don't see it getting any better.

With a bit of luck about a year ago I managed to get my hands on a solitaire boardgame, Raid on St Nazaire. I was hooked. Then I tried my hand at playing a 2-player game solitaire. To my surprise, I found that I enjoyed it a lot. And since then, that's the only gaming I do, playing 2-player board wargames by myself, in the dead of night. :D I have tried some face-to-face games, but I'm a solitary kind of guy, and so I prefer the solitaire experience. Here is a list of my games, I bought a lot early on, so there's still almost 1/2 of these unplayed, but I'm getting there:

A Victory Lost (MMP)
The Russian Campaign 4th Edition (L2)
Russia Besieged (L2)
Land Without End (DG)
Roads to Leningrad (GMT)
Bonaparte at Marengo (Simmons)
Von Manstein's Backhand Blow (GMT)
Red Star Rising (MMP)
Panzer Grenadier: Eastern Front (AP)
Drive on Stalingrad (DG)
Lost Victory (GMT)
Ardennes '44 (GMT)
Three Battles at Manassas (MMP)
Wintergewitter (AtO)
Champion Hill (MMP)
La Bataille des Quatre Bras (CoA)
Grant Takes Command (MMP)
Drive on Moscow (S&T)

It's so cool to see a great big map laid out on the table, counters and dice ready.
Arckitekt
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Post by Arckitekt »

I have played Starcraft for 7 years online with Blizzard fighting other players all over the planet. Its 3 alien races build an army and attack using strategies of neverending fun. In my younger days it was Risk :)
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Jason Pipes
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Post by Jason Pipes »

ijontichy, you and I seem to have a very similar background when it comes to computer wargames and boardgames. I used to play the V4V and W@W series all the time and I played Panzer General a lot until I realized how superficial it was. I too fell away from computer games after awhile for the same reasons you stated and I now am a full fledged and hard core board game player and collector.

>It's so cool to see a great big map laid out on the table, counters and dice ready.

I couldn't agree more!! :beer:
MadDog
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W@W/V4V

Post by MadDog »

The V4V and W@W games were truly outstanding - my all time favorites. I even beta tested the W2W games. Its too bad they didnt get released open source.

The most probable sucessor is Combined Arms from Matrix games. It has the same sort of simultaneous plot system (its in testing)

Mad Dog
Robert Rojas
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RE: Are You A Wargamer?

Post by Robert Rojas »

Greetings to Chairman Pipes, his august lieutenants and the community as a whole. Howdy Jason! Well sir, in reference to your introductory posting of Sunday - December 31, 2006 - 7:22pm, old Uncle Bob would simply like to state that citizen Doktor Krollspell is generally representative of my weltanschauung on the matter of old fashioned board wargaming as duly noted within his quite informative posting of Tuesday - January 02, 2007 - 2:41pm. Incidentally, there is also a thread over on the competing Axis History Forum where I go into detail with respect to my long term association with the hobby of board wargaming. The thread is aptly entitled as BOARDGAMES and it is located the MOVIES & GAMES section of that forum. The thread's author goes by the nom de plume of Wasa and its creation date was Saturday - May 29, 2004 - 11:45am. Finally, there was no real category for old yours truly to respond to under your poll entitled as HOW DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF WHEN IT COMES TO WARGAMES? I would have to say that I OWN MANY TABLETOP WARGAMES AND NOW RARELY PLAY ANY OF THEM is indicative of my present day wargame playing situation. Now you know. Well, that's my initial two Yankee cents worth on this board wargaming topic of interest - for now anyway. As always, I would like to bid you an especially copacetic day down by Baghdad-By-The-Bay.
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it" - Robert E. Lee
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Schultz
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by Schultz »

For old Advanced Squad Leader fans like myself try this.

http://www.vasl.org/


Schultz
"There ain't no sanity clause" The Damned
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dtarmee
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by dtarmee »

oh yes, my favorite is hearts of iron 2 ! Great Hoi2 Mod : http://hsr.deutsche-armee.com
http://www.deutsche-armee.com - Blog about the german Wehrmacht - Videos, pictures and articles
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jerijerod
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by jerijerod »

I play Warhammer 40K... i know not a WW2 game but... I collect Imperial Guard Steel legion. The models look like Fallimscrimjager with gas masks and long coats, all mine are painted field grey (Except my HQ guards in black and my Caesar company painted feldblau.) with all my tanks and APC' painted with Iron Crosses. Its almost a German army of the future.
Where i used to play i was told there was something natural about fighting guys with iron crosses and killing Germans!

Also a friend of mine has told me there's a new table top world war II game just come out, they did all their research here at the IWM. I'll dig out the website and post it here on the thread.
Happy x mas!
"War ist die Royal Air force???"

"Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you over estimate their chances!"
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Whiterook
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by Whiterook »

I am a full fledged wargame collector....own many wargames, specifically started with the old Avalon Hill games in the 80's, and currently I have been acquiring Avalance Press games. I love boardgames more than computer games, and have a vast Axis & Allies Miniatures OOB.
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Mike Higgins
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by Mike Higgins »

Whiterook wrote:I am a full fledged wargame collector....own many wargames, specifically started with the old Avalon Hill games in the 80's, and currently I have been acquiring Avalance Press games. I love boardgames more than computer games, and have a vast Axis & Allies Miniatures OOB.
Nice to see you here Whiterook. Don't let WR soft spoken demeanor fool you, the man is the Guderian of war boardgames. :D
rattler
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by rattler »

I cast my vote.

I am not much interested in WWII wargaming, my interest lies in the naval side (Harpoon) or on modern (Cold War and younger) combat, there I play TacOps. Platoon level upwards is just fine for me.

In general I am not so much into savy graphics, the grade of abstraction and the accuracy and consitency of the underlying model is what is important for me (i.e., I want a wargame to provide me with good results if I do everything right if it were RL, and to punish tactical flaws). Tacops in this respect has proven for me to be the best one all around.

FWIW,

Rattler
"Tactics" describes what to do when something has to be done. "Strategy" describes what to do when nothing has to be done... (Savielly Tartakower)
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ijontichy
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Re: W@W/V4V

Post by ijontichy »

MadDog wrote:The most probable sucessor is Combined Arms from Matrix games. It has the same sort of simultaneous plot system (its in testing)
Heheh, you posted this almost 3 years ago, and Combined Arms is still in development. If I'm lucky I'll be in a nursing home by the time it gets released. At least then I'll have plenty of free time to play it! Not sure about mental capacity, though. :wink:
MadDog
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by MadDog »

Its been a while. I beta tested it a while back. Supposedly they are still trying to get an AI done.

Mad Dog
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ijontichy
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by ijontichy »

It's not easy getting an AI done, especially for a game that is not centred on a particular battle or scenario. I hope they can succeed.
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PanzerHummel
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Re: Are you a wargamer?

Post by PanzerHummel »

Always had a major interest in military history, especially WW2. I have started wargaming relatively recently. I play either Flames of War in 15mm which in my opinion is a cracking system and also 28mm Rules of Engagement. Models background and battles are excellent and is really good fun
Germans need to be beaten ten times before admitting defeat and even then the will to win persists.
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