WHY did you start war gaming

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MrsWargamer
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WHY did you start war gaming

Post by MrsWargamer »

Ok so this is not about what was your first war game. Mention it if you must. But why did you even get that first war game?

It's all my dad's fault in my case. He was a toy salesman from Japan. Yeah how he met mom is a long odd story. Mom was a baker of Scottish decent.

I grew up with a lot of odd toys. I had epic battles on the floor with dad using army guys fighting attacks by the strangest of monsters (the other toys). It took a while, but eventually I was old enough that I wanted more serious battle games.

I miss those silly battles with dad. And yes Gojira is my favourite movie.

I was not very public with my interests when I was young though. I saw too much of what it did to dad. Only a couple of guys I grew up with ever knew I liked strange games. I rarely mention this hobby in person. Society can be really cruel.
Wargame, 05% of the time.
Play with Barbies 05% of the time.
Play with Legos 10% of the time.
Build models 20% of the time
Shopping 60% of the time.
Exlains why I buy em more than I play em.
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zakblood
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by zakblood »

49 years old this year and i was 12 and mad into pc, 286, 386, 486 dx 32 dream machines, and i loved my spectrum 48k and 128k, still own them both with all the games, i was lying in a hospital bed with meningitis at the time, when my gran came to see me with me mum and some grapes and a pc magazine, not my normal one btw but a gaming one, with a war game on the front, since then i've been hooked.

many things have changed over the years, but not the love of war gaming, something about counters and hexes that bring back happy memories and remind me of fun as that's what it's all about, not eye candy, pure fun[&o]
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Hertston
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Hertston »

I started at Uni in the mid '80s. I was a pen and paper RPGer, and it was tactical elements and add-ons in those that got me involved in the Wargames club, and historical games. The first I really got into was 10mm miniatures Ancients using the old WRG 6th and 7th rules. Wasn't really a boardgame fan at the time, although I played Starfleet Battles occasionally. I've mellowed a bit on that since, but now tend to stick very much with computer games.
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Neilster
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Neilster »

My Dad and two older brothers were both into history. I can remember watching The World at War as a small kid and not fully understanding it but seeing how interested the rest of my family were. Additionally, there were heaps of cool planes, tanks and ships etc. Then there were the usual 70s stuff like realistic looking toy guns, scale models to build and corny war comics.

Basically, I wanted to not just read about WW2, but to re-fight it. I saw this S&T magazine in a hobby shop one day and I was hooked. My next purchase was World in Flames. A bit of a jump up in complexity, but totally worth it [:'(]

Cheers, Neilster

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Yogi the Great
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Yogi the Great »

Too many years ago when I was 11 years old, my 16 year old brother bought a board game that was recommended for 12 years and up. He was hard up to find someone to play it so he asked me to play it with him. I won as the union at Gettysburg. This was the original Avalon hill square version. My signature explains the rest.
Hooked Since AH Gettysburg
aaatoysandmore
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by aaatoysandmore »

I think my interest in wargaming came from the toys I got as a little boy. I got Fort Apache first I think and fell inlove with minatures at that moment. Then as years went by I got other minature like wargame items like Lime Green army men and the 100 pack of army men from the nickel store as we called it. Was actually M.E. Moses. This one christmas though was the icing on the cake as I got a whole wargame event pak game with exploding bunkers and bazooka men you could fire little peas out of. That was the most fun game I got. I used to pretend Giant Robot invasion with my wind up robot and have it walk by the exploding bunker. Was so kewl.

My best friend introduced me to Avalon's Gettysburg, D-Day and Midway and Battle of the Bulge and I never looked back after that. Kaybee stores started popping up and they carried most of the latest Avalon Hill board wargames.
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Max 86
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Max 86 »

I was a big history buff at 11 or 12 and my older brother first bought me "The Encyclopedia of Military History" by Dupuy & Dupuy. He saw how I absolutely devoured that book spending hours and hours pouring over every page. I think that was for my birthday in July and then that Christmas he found AH 1776 and Squad Leader at a store and gave them to me. I tried to get him and my Dad to play but I guess it was too many rules and too much time for them. Same with my friends. I remember some years back my brother saw me play JT's Campaign Series games on the PC and was shocked to learn I still played wargames. He didn't know PC wargames even existed!
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monniker
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by monniker »

The reason I took the plunge was because my father was a tremendous fan of the Ken Burns' Civil War documentary- but contrary to my father the side I found the most fascinating was the Confederacy! Ever since I've been a big fan of RE Lee, faults and all. I found out my little brother was playing AGEOD games, and I took the plunge into their Civil War 2 and never looked back.

That was the gateway drug that led to just about every recent Gary Grigsby game made on WW2 except Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich. And to a small but fun collection of military history books.

I find playing as the side who lost far more engaging- but that shouldn't be taken as a boast. More often than not I'm being whipped by the boys in blue!
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Zap
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Zap »

double post
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Zap
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Zap »

ORIGINAL: Zap

Around 1967 my older brother brought home 1961 edition of Tactics II. I remember when he unboxed it. I fell in love!. My senses were so strong I could smell the cardboard . I put my hand on the map just like you would a new car.I thought I was in heaven.
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Richie61
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Richie61 »

Great subject. I saw the movie Midway in 1976 and the military equipment grabbed my interest. Dad is and I am too into auto racing, so he wasn't any help with military stuff. So I started reading anything I could find or watch on
TV. There happened to be a place in town call The Toy Solider. I pedaled my bike there one afternoon and same nothing but war games and pieces of table top games [X(]

I like single vehicles and squads, so I picked up AH "Tobruk: Tank Battles in North Africa 1942" and AH Squad Leader. Well I was hooked. [:D] After that it was Panzer Leader/ Blitz, air war games and naval games till I
finished high school and then had nobody to play the games with. Combat Mission in 1999 brought me back [:)]
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timmyab
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by timmyab »

Girls wouldn't talk to me [:D]
Actually that's a true story [:(]

I used to make up games when I was a kid playing with Airfix miniatures. My first proper war game was ASL [X(] Talk about being thrown in at the deep end. I never really took to board gaming although I liked and played Russian front solitaire quite a bit. I much prefer computer war gaming.
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IainMcNeil
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by IainMcNeil »

I started when I was 3 with plastic soldiers and match stick firing little guns, before moving to dice a couple of years later :)
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Rodwonder
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Rodwonder »

Needless to say my love of history and military history at a very young age. The old "Milton Bradley American Heritage" games to my first true Wargame "Tobruk", miniatures and model airplanes and tanks. These would naturally move me toward PC games Like "Panzer General" and "Red Baron" and I would be lost forever in digital bliss...
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Kuokkanen
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by Kuokkanen »

My friend introduced me Civilization and Dune 2 when those games were new. I bought Civ from him with manuals and all, and copied some other games, including Dune 2 and Empire Deluxe (MS-DOS version). Since then it was one more turn... Then I read about Steel Panthers from computer & game magazines. I wanted it, I bought it, and I played it long and hard: one more turn. Since then Warcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Total Annihilation, and plethora of other wargames (shaddup grognards!) joined to my collection and experiences.
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aaatoysandmore
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by aaatoysandmore »

ORIGINAL: Rodwonder

Needless to say my love of history and military history at a very young age. The old "Milton Bradley American Heritage" games to my first true Wargame "Tobruk", miniatures and model airplanes and tanks. These would naturally move me toward PC games Like "Panzer General" and "Red Baron" and I would be lost forever in digital bliss...

I had those also, loved them especially Battle Cry and Dogfight and Broadsides. Never cared for that Hit the Beach one though.
aaatoysandmore
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by aaatoysandmore »

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

My friend introduced me Civilization and Dune 2 when those games were new. I bought Civ from him with manuals and all, and copied some other games, including Dune 2 and Empire Deluxe (MS-DOS version). Since then it was one more turn... Then I read about Steel Panthers from computer & game magazines. I wanted it, I bought it, and I played it long and hard: one more turn. Since then Warcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Total Annihilation, and plethora of other wargames (shaddup grognards!) joined to my collection and experiences.

Warcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Total Annihilation??? Wargames? Pahlease. [:D]
barkhorn45
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by barkhorn45 »

Saw Von Ryan's Express at the drive-in when it came out 66-67 when I was 10 was hooked on ww2 from then on.
Played ah Africa korps and D-day.
RichMunn
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by RichMunn »

ORIGINAL: aaatoysandmore

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

My friend introduced me Civilization and Dune 2 when those games were new. I bought Civ from him with manuals and all, and copied some other games, including Dune 2 and Empire Deluxe (MS-DOS version). Since then it was one more turn... Then I read about Steel Panthers from computer & game magazines. I wanted it, I bought it, and I played it long and hard: one more turn. Since then Warcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Total Annihilation, and plethora of other wargames (shaddup grognards!) joined to my collection and experiences.

Warcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Total Annihilation??? Wargames? Pahlease. [:D]

Many of us have "graduated" in wargames through exactly this path.

I now have WITE, WITW, WITPAE and DCB, and the love of my life JTCS, and CS. I can play some of these games. The first few mentioned I play a bit, mostly to confirm that they really are that complex, but I love these forums and am constantly interested in the AARs and exchanges by those who have the time and the desire to play them regularly.

I could tell you that before I got here I played Call of Duty, Far Cry, Fallout 3, Skyrim and its predecessor, and then on a more complicated (but nothing compared to the first-mentioned games!) the Total War games. Especially Empire, where I won the Peninsular campaign as Wellington, one of my few ever victories in any computer game, against the AI or not!

My greatest enjoyment, and frustration, is playing JTCS or the new Campaign Series ME, by PBEM. I've made friends who are my enemies. I'm pretty hopeless but I win sometimes.

I suppose all of us have a different route to where we are. I'm glad I'm here. These forums are brilliant.

Rich



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loki100
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RE: WHY did you start war gaming

Post by loki100 »

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

Ok so this is not about what was your first war game. Mention it if you must. But why did you even get that first war game?

It's all my dad's fault in my case. He was a toy salesman from Japan. Yeah how he met mom is a long odd story. Mom was a baker of Scottish decent.

I grew up with a lot of odd toys. I had epic battles on the floor with dad using army guys fighting attacks by the strangest of monsters (the other toys). It took a while, but eventually I was old enough that I wanted more serious battle games.

I miss those silly battles with dad. And yes Gojira is my favourite movie.

I was not very public with my interests when I was young though. I saw too much of what it did to dad. Only a couple of guys I grew up with ever knew I liked strange games. I rarely mention this hobby in person. Society can be really cruel.

great question - I guess like many its come from an interest in history and the ability of some games to allow you to explore that in more detail. Like a few here, I started via S&T, in my case the 'East is Red' was my first game (along with their old Napoleon at Waterloo), remember playing it to death to the stage where the map needed to be held together with tape.
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