Nine years and going strong

[btd64]

Pretty incredible how strong AE is after 9 years. How did everyone find there way to AE? For me it was pure luck. I was looking for the newest version of another game from a company that went under and saw the classic WITP. So I scooped it up and the rest is history. Who else has a story to tell?....GP

[pontiouspilot]

I played the original WITP when it 1st came out. Before that I played all the old board games...most of us did. I’m sure there are many old board gamers that never made the transition to computers.

[Chickenboy]

Happened upon UV back in 2001. Fell in love. Gladly migrated to WiTP and fell in love again. WiTP:AE was the natural progression and eagerly anticipated.

[Canoerebel]

Great game. Great community.

Back in '02, I was looking for something better than Fighting Flattops (a computer game that's still out there - do a Google search). I found UV and started playing. My opponents included Admiral Dadman, Miller, and John III, each of whom is still active. I bought WitP when it came out in '05, but it was "too big" - would take too much time. John III and I were involved in a UV match - he switched to WitP and left me standing at the alter, lamenting his departure. I eventually got involved in WitP around '07 and played several matches. John III kicked my butt early in one game but I got him by the short hairs in a December '43 invasion of Hokkaido that turned epic. I also played an epic match or two against Miller that included an invasion of the Kuriles in which Allied PT boats sank the four Kongos in one or two days (if my memory is accurate).

I finally ceased playing WitP, taking a sabbatical to concentrate on work. I ended the sabbatical when AE came out, starting with a match called "Shattered Vow" against Miller. Since then, I've played Q-Ball, Chez-da-Jez, Panzerjager Hortlund, John III and now Obvert.

I've been lucky to find such fun opponents - nice men all.

I used to say, "I can play this game for decades without tiring of it." How right I was. I still feel like I've got decades ahead, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

[IdahoNYer]

A road long and well traveled.....

Board gaming:
USN by SPI
then attempting SPI's War in the Pacific

then the computer age!

SSIs War in the South Pacific and the classic Pacific War

Then of course Uncommon Valor, WiTP and finally WiTP AE.

Been a great ride and it ain't over yet!

[Major Shane]

Blind luck in 2012...because it's better to be lucky than good.

[Anachro]

I played and loved Hearts of Iron 3, but "wanted something more in-depth." Eventually, I somehow or another heard references to Grigsby games and "grognards" elsewhere on the internet and, disheartened by Paradox's preview of Hearts of Iron 4 and being a big fan of the Pacific Theater, I made the plunge and bought WitP after being initially turned off by the price. Took me a while to learn the game and understand it (even if my understanding is still limited). Haven't looked back since. Nothing else compares.

[rockmedic109]

Way back when I was a boy walking to school {up hill, both ways} Santa brought me a game called Luftwaffe. Thus began a career in gaming with work to support my career. I came across UV in a store and bought it without knowing what it would become. Bought WITP when it came out. Bought AE when it came out....and I remember being worried that it would come out when I was in the hospital and wouldn't get it the moment it was out.

I now drive my girls to school {still up hill....both ways} and put up a fence to keep punks {read boys} off my lawn and continue to play AE. Best entertainment investment of all time. Unless AE 2 comes out, I imagine this will be the first game I load onto any new computer and never gets uninstalled.

[Chris21wen]

I came from Pacwar and migrated through UV etc. My real start however was before that, I played a board game called USN (still got it) got hooked on that and the rest is history.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Must be one of the few people around here who was too young for boardgaming before the PC era dawned [;)]. First encounters with the PTO through "Silent Service", "Destroyer" and "Guadalcanal" on the good old C64. When purchasing my first PC at a small-town hardware / IT services store which had only a handful of games to offer, of all possible games I stumbled across "Burning Steel II: Guadalcanal" aka "Great Naval Battles II". A fateful day! Got hooked and was soon looking for similar games. Found "Gary Grigsby's Pacific War" on a "20 Wargames Compilation", discovered the Matrix website and the rest is history - UV, WitP, AE.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

Way back when I was a boy walking to school {up hill, both ways} Santa brought me a game called Luftwaffe. Thus began a career in gaming with work to support my career. I came across UV in a store and bought it without knowing what it would become. Bought WITP when it came out. Bought AE when it came out....and I remember being worried that it would come out when I was in the hospital and wouldn't get it the moment it was out.

I now drive my girls to school {still up hill....both ways} and put a fence to keep punks {read boys} off my lawn and continue to play AE. Best entertainment investment of all time. Unless AE 2 comes out, I imagine this will be the first game I load onto any new computer and never gets uninstalled.

Luftwaffe was my entry drug too. My father gave it to me for Christmas when I was 5. I got frustrated trying to figure it out and it sat on the shelf a few years until I simplified the rules so 10 year olds could play. Soon after that it was on to Third Reich, Squad Leader, and others. I remember back in the 80s trying to figure out with a friend how to computerize Flat Tops to make it more playable.

Bill

[LeeChard]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Happened upon UV back in 2001. Fell in love. Gladly migrated to WiTP and fell in love again. WiTP:AE was the natural progression and eagerly anticipated.

My story too.
So what comes next? [:D]

[Macclan5]

ORIGINAL: Major Shane

Blind luck in 2012...because it's better to be lucky than good.

+1 [8D]

While searching for replacements to my old 'Panzer General' games (hopelessly outdated and inoperable on a new computer due to Windows 7) I randomly read a number of threads, opinions reviews. Panzer General / Allied General / Pacific General were fine but I thought given the date there must be something with more 'depth' and breadth that is not a 'first person shooter'

"Other website" critic / review

Conclusion

Overall, I still consider War in the Pacific to be the best wargame ever created. The Admiral’s Edition makes the original game even better. It is by far the best wargame created for PBEM sessions. It isn’t for the faint-hearted or for those that want quick gameplay. It is for those that really like to micro-manage games, and it does that very well.

[jeffk3510]

I discovered WITP during college while looking for something that offered more than PTOII for SNES. I used to play PTOII nonstop as a kid. I don't recall that there was really anything else out there that caught my eye quite like WITP did. I was very hesitant at first, but it has been one of the best games I have ever owned. AE was the natural progression and very highly anticipated. I discovered Europa Universalis and WITP almost the same day in college. WiTPAE and EUIV are what I play if I have any amount of time to sit down and play either one. My kids are at an age now where we're never home, so I haven't really played AE for a few years. I don't see myself finding much time for a while.

[dave sindel]

I started with strategy board games back in the mid-60's. The original Gettysburg by Avalon Hill. My brother and I played most of the classic A-H games of that era - Midway, Bismarck, Stalingrad Jutland, et al. I played Afrika Korps and Battle of the Bulge by regular mail in the mid-70's through the early 80's. My first PC game was Silent Service II. I took a bit of a different route to AE - I never played the original WITP. Instead, I played War Plan Orange. When I tired of WPO, I found WITPAE, and it is the only game I play these days. I would say that AE by PBEM is one of my best game-play experiences through a long period of playing games.

[Dili]

It is the only game that attempts to have the 3 services : air, sea , land.

All others seem limited in comparison like if we play with one hand behind.

[Canoerebel]

Yes, and the funny thing about AE is that the ground war is pretty darned decent. It's not perfect by any means, but it works decently. The mods that installed stacking limits were a huge step forward.

[Trugrit]

ORIGINAL: Dili

It is the only game that attempts to have the 3 services : air, sea , land.

All others seem limited in comparison like if we play with one hand behind.

This is true. The game excels at recreating the confusing reality of total combat in the Pacific.

It has a wonderful FUBAR factor unmatched in almost any other game.

You can watch this video, which does a great job of diagramming the real Coral Sea battle.
Watch the number of missed searches, missed hits, lost and ditched planes and screw ups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5hH3ksvKE

The reality almost reads exactly like an WITPAE After Action Report.

You can almost hear the newbie WITPAE player screaming that this could not happen in real life and the game is borked.

[HansBolter]

As can probably be gleaned from my Avatar I started on the Matrix forums as an adherent of other of their games.
I own a large range of Matrix games, but got involved in the forums while playing the Command Ops tactical games produced by Panther games and marketed through Matrix.
I was a beta tester for Battles from the Bulge and did a very well received AAR on a beta test scenario on that forum.


Some where along the line I acquired Uncommon Valor and was hooked on the game engine.

I had owned PacWar and the older DOS version of GGs eastern front game.
I had played the heck out of the east front game, but was intimidated by PacWar as I had no idea what to do.


Playing UV helped me get over the "don't have any idea what to do with this game engine" syndrome and I graduated to WITP.

I had mastered the Allied side sufficiently and was playing my first Japanese scenario when WIPAE was released.

Nine years in and I am still playing the Allied side. That states volumes about this game, that I have not yet felt like I have sufficiently mastered the allied side with no desire yet to learn the other side.

Yes, its true, this rabid AFB was experimenting with the dark side.

[Miller]

Picked up UV for a few pennies off e-bay back in 2004, the rest as they say, is history.