I Remember When...

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Lobster
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I Remember When...

Post by Lobster »

A war game was ink on paper.
Only a handful of player aides like terrain charts, combat charts and a chit on a column to keep track of turns.
The computer was the brain thing inside my head and a die or two to roll for results.
If you had cats or kids the entire existence of a current game hung by a tread at best.
Where a mishandled beverage could become a global disaster of biblical proportions.
The UPS man was Santa Claus in July.
The wife asked what you wanted for your birthday, christmas, whatever and the answer was always a new game and the reply was always 'why don't you ever get something different, that is so boring'.
Punching out new counter sheets could be an exact science performed as if a surgery with an exacto knife in an effort to avoid paper strings that could create counter stack disasters.
Orienting counters in different directions so I would know which had moved.
Setting up the game before I even knew how to play so I could admire it.
Having to actually read manuals before I could play. Some of them almost being the size of a novel.
Building a table large enough to play multi map games.
Building a kid/cat proof room to put the table in.
Building a special system of clear plastic sheets to put on top of the map and masonite sheets under the maps and using paneling clips to hold it all together to take down a multi map game, stick it in a specially made cabinet so it would be safe and able to be resumed later.

Ah, those were the days of true war gaming. [8D]
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MrsWargamer
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by MrsWargamer »

I got one for that list.

I tried to actually grow an opponent :)

Alas, he's a writer like me, and an artist like me, but not even remotely a wargamer like me.

Oh well, perhaps he can get someone to try and grow me an opponent. I'm too old for that notion now.
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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Lecivius
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Lecivius »

"Punching out new counter sheets could be an exact science performed as if a surgery with an exacto knife in an effort to avoid paper strings that could create counter stack disasters. "

Been there, done that [:D]

"I tried to actually grow an opponent :) "

Me too, but my odd growth is currently more determined to outdo my youthful activities rather than "some boring strategy stuff" [8D]
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
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Yogi the Great
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Yogi the Great »

Yes those were the days.

I remember using envelopes or better film canisters(something else that is almost gone) to hold all the counters with each labeled with the type of units inside.

I remember having a game in progress set up on a card table in a bedroom to find my two kids moving all the nits around and my 2 year old chewing on counters. (then had to worry about what was in the ink)

I remember waiting for each new Avalon Hill game to be released and sending off my order for it to be delivered. (was very hard to find the games in any store)

I remember mostly setting up my games to be played solitaire as finding an opponent to play in person was very hard and even if you did finding one who could take the time to get together for hours over a span of months while someone kept the game set up at their house was a near miracle.

Hooked Since AH Gettysburg
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IslandInland
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by IslandInland »

For me wargames are computer based only. I'm not that old.

:D

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Kuokkanen
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Kuokkanen »

ORIGINAL: IslandInland

For me wargames are computer based only. I'm not that old.
Dude, first war games I played were on computers (or on console if we count North & South). In past 15 years I have gone to analog with BattleTech and Warhammer 40,000. Latter game is also played by much younger folk than me.
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.

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Curtis Lemay
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Curtis Lemay »

Let's not forget "counter volcanoes": You put a stack of counters on a spot on the map were the paper is concave (depressed). But this is a time bomb. Eventually the map rebounds to convex and counters fly every which way like an erupting volcano.
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Rebel Yell
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Rebel Yell »

So many good memories. I still have a closet full going back to the 70's.

But I wouldn't go back for anything.
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Twotribes
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Twotribes »

Gave all my old games to slaackman he said he had a use for them. I hadn't opened one in decades
Favoritism is alive and well here.
Zorch
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Zorch »

ORIGINAL: Yogi the Great

Yes those were the days.

I remember using envelopes or better film canisters(something else that is almost gone) to hold all the counters with each labeled with the type of units inside.

I remember having a game in progress set up on a card table in a bedroom to find my two kids moving all the nits around and my 2 year old chewing on counters. (then had to worry about what was in the ink)

I remember waiting for each new Avalon Hill game to be released and sending off my order for it to be delivered. (was very hard to find the games in any store)

I remember mostly setting up my games to be played solitaire as finding an opponent to play in person was very hard and even if you did finding one who could take the time to get together for hours over a span of months while someone kept the game set up at their house was a near miracle.
+100
I used pill containers to hold counters. Getting the labels off and putting my own on was a pain.
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Twotribes
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Twotribes »

I bought the containers that SPI used on their games when I could nice trays with slots.
Favoritism is alive and well here.
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JReb
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by JReb »

I remember the 'glazed over' look my friends and family got in their eyes when I tried to show and explain wargames to them! [:D]
My shrink says I have anger management and conflict resolution issues....and I'LL FIGHT ANYBODY THAT DISAGREES!
Zorch
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Zorch »

ORIGINAL: Twotribes

I bought the containers that SPI used on their games when I could nice trays with slots.
But the glue on the trays has failed! After only 40 years!
shaddock
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by shaddock »

I remember my first wargame. Photocopied from a book or magazine and played in the library when I skipped class back in the '80s.
I remember my second one, Panzer Armee Africa, loved that game :)
I got a few others as time went on and parents agreed to pay.
Then it was onto the computers, at last, an opponent who wasn't me!
Now I'm clipping Beyond Valor and Yanks (ASL if you don't know), then onto A world at War.
And before the year is done I hope to be clipping a re-done version of GDWs Third World War.

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HunterICX
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by HunterICX »

I remember when I had to learn how to work with DoS in order to play my wargames and that SSI was pretty much a stamp on a case that immediatly got my interest when it came to Wargames/Strategy Games.
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warspite1
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by warspite1 »

....I thought GRD would finish the Europa Series...[:(]

But on a brighter note, I also remember that feeling of opening a game for the first time - the smell of the box, the pristine maps and counters, the OOB's etc.

I am going to be reacquainted with that feeling soon too [:)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... y1Z8z-LJx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcqP5VbKqy4

I am moist with anticipation.....
Now Maitland, now's your time!

Duke of Wellington to 1st Guards Brigade - Waterloo 18 June 1815
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zakblood
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by zakblood »

i can remember when a mag came through the door and you inputted the code for a week or more, just to run your name in 3 or 4 basic colors flashing on the screen if you were lucky, eg miss prints happened alot and the mag came out each month, not week, so most of the time it could have been a month to fix at least, but mostly longer as i can remember.

i can remember going online and chatting on forums, which were a few lines of txt, but still took that long to get a reply to, you have forgotten the question and the answer was mostly meaningless.

you made and eat your tea while the pc was booting and warming up.

[X(][X(][X(][X(]

ah the good old days, when you bought a sx and your m8 got a dx so you fell out

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warspite1
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by warspite1 »

ORIGINAL: zakblood

i can remember when a mag came through the door and you inputted the code for a week or more, just to run your name in 3 or 4 basic colors flashing on the screen if you were lucky, eg miss prints happened alot and the mag came out each month, not week, so most of the time it could have been a month to fix at least, but mostly longer as i can remember.

i can remember going online and chatting on forums, which were a few lines of txt, but still took that long to get a reply to, you have forgotten the question and the answer was mostly meaningless.

you made and eat your tea while the pc was booting and warming up.

[X(][X(][X(][X(]

ah the good old days, when you bought a sx and your m8 got a dx so you fell out

Image

Image
warspite1

Yeah but there was always penicillin...
Now Maitland, now's your time!

Duke of Wellington to 1st Guards Brigade - Waterloo 18 June 1815
Zorch
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Zorch »

I bought a 486dx that turned out to be no better than a 486sx. [:(]
Major bummer. I couldn't wait for Pentiums to come out.
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Yogi the Great
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RE: I Remember When...

Post by Yogi the Great »

ORIGINAL: warspite1

I am moist with anticipation.....

[&:] That sounds better if your girlfriend says that.
Hooked Since AH Gettysburg
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