All Ye Olde Grognards!

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Brigz
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Brigz »

Computer and board games give us the best of both worlds. Like Big B I do miss not seeing the entire board at one glance when playing computer games but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It just gives me a different perspective when playing.

I've finally gotten around to buying a 21st century computer (a Pent IV 3gig to replace my ancient Pent III 450meg) and can now buy some of the newer games. Unfortunately my beloved Great Battles of Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar don't run on Win XP. Looking forward to buying Tin Soldiers: Alexander and Caesar. Heard nothing but good news about them. I'm also pretty active in converting my older board games to Vassal. I made modules of the old SPI Blue and Grey I and II quads and have been having a lot of fun playing them email with a friend of mine in another state. Forgot how much fun a simple beer and pretzels game can be.
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Terminus
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Terminus »

Well, there's always DOSBox, if you want to play your ye olde DOS-based wargames.
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Brigz
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Brigz »

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Well, there's always DOSBox, if you want to play your ye olde DOS-based wargames.
I appreciate the suggestion Terminus but I'm not sure DOSBox will help with Great Battles of Alexander. It's not a DOS based game but designed to run on Win95/98. I Did a search on DOSbox but it seems to only help with "ye old" DOS based games. Have you used DOSbox for any non DOS based games that won't run on Win XP? Anyone else know of anything that helps run Win95/98 games on XP?
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Hertston
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Hertston »

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs

Unfortunately my beloved Great Battles of Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar don't run on Win XP.


Yes they do. You need to set the installer program on the CD to Windows 95 compatibility, as well as the game executable once the game is installed.

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Brigz
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Brigz »

ORIGINAL: Hertston
ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs

Unfortunately my beloved Great Battles of Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar don't run on Win XP.


Yes they do. You need to set the installer program on the CD to Windows 95 compatibility, as well as the game executable once the game is installed.

Good news. I'll try that. I tried to install it several times but never noticed that. I used the compatability wizard in Windows Accessories and that didn't help. I can get the games to install and run the intro but then I get a missing .dll error notice.
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Terminus
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Terminus »

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Well, there's always DOSBox, if you want to play your ye olde DOS-based wargames.
I appreciate the suggestion Terminus but I'm not sure DOSBox will help with Great Battles of Alexander. It's not a DOS based game but designed to run on Win95/98. I Did a search on DOSbox but it seems to only help with "ye old" DOS based games. Have you used DOSbox for any non DOS based games that won't run on Win XP? Anyone else know of anything that helps run Win95/98 games on XP?

Sorry, my fault. I posted this before checking Great Battles of Alexander's OS. Follow the suggestion to change compatibility on the installer; sounds like that would be the ticket.
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Hertston
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Hertston »

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs

I can get the games to install and run the intro but then I get a missing .dll error notice.

The missing .dll rings a bell. I seem to recall seeing someone else mention that when I was trawling assorted sites trying to find out how to get the games to run. As I recall, it was a normal system file rather than a game one, and you could hunt it down on the internet without too much trouble.
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Terminus
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Terminus »

Yeah, that should be easily Googlable... (is that even a word?)
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Brigz
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Brigz »

ORIGINAL: Hertston
ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs

I can get the games to install and run the intro but then I get a missing .dll error notice.

The missing .dll rings a bell. I seem to recall seeing someone else mention that when I was trawling assorted sites trying to find out how to get the games to run. As I recall, it was a normal system file rather than a game one, and you could hunt it down on the internet without too much trouble.
Success!!! Couldn't find any Win95 option for running the install program but I did get bold and manually copied two .dll files, Wing32.dll and BWCC32.dll, from the install disk. Had to make a few attempts but WinXP mercifully directed me where to place the files in my Windows directory. The game runs great. Now to see if I can install Hannibal and Caesar and the Editor program. No reason why they shouldn't run also. But then computers can be very fickle. Damn, I'm a happy sonofabitch!

Thanks Terminus and Hertston. Couldn't have done it without you.
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Terminus
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Terminus »

Hooray!
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KG Erwin
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by KG Erwin »

Well, guys, my very first board wargame was AH's "Stalingrad", which I got in 1967 (at the tender age of 10). At the time, my best friend was also a miltary fan, so I had someone to play against (he usually got the best of me). As time passed, I got several more of the old AH games, including "1914", "Afrika Korps", "Midway", "Alexander the Great", "PanzerBlitz", and "Panzer Leader". In the early 70s, I also acquired some of the SSI games, such as Jim Dunnigan's massive "War in the East", the first and only "monster" game I bought.

With the coming of the 80s and the beginning of the PC revolution, I got a C64 and some of the early SSG classics ("Battlefront", "Decisive Battles of the ACW", and a few others).

At this point the old boardgames were relegated to the closet, and I've never looked back, even though I've kept almost all of them.

I have a feeling of nostalgia for the boardgames, though, as the beauty of some of the maps, and the tactile sense of handling cardboard counters, can't be replicated in a PC game.

PS I was happy when PC games began to take on a "retro " feel, with games like "The Ardennes Offensive" and Schwerpunkt's "Russo-German War", and John Tiller's "Battleground" series. These have contributed to the new Golden Age of Wargaming (1995 to now) , partially by harkening back to the First Golden Age (1963-1975?). The 80s were a time of transition, in my view, from the paper maps to the computer screens.
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Hauberk
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Hauberk »

My first board game was "Devil's Den".The truly difficult part was finding someone to play it with.
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Hertston
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Hertston »

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs

Success!!! Couldn't find any Win95 option for running the install program but I did get bold and manually copied two .dll files, Wing32.dll and BWCC32.dll, from the install disk. Had to make a few attempts but WinXP mercifully directed me where to place the files in my Windows directory. The game runs great. Now to see if I can install Hannibal and Caesar and the Editor program. No reason why they shouldn't run also. But then computers can be very fickle. Damn, I'm a happy sonofabitch!


Hoorah!

For the record (and on the off chance anybody digs this up again) you set W95 compatibility as for any other file, "explore" the CD, right click the file, select properties and then the "compatibility" tab. Its a useful tip for any early Windows game - everyone thinks to try it on the actual game executable, but not on the installer.




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Grognard
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Grognard »

Started with AH Gettysburg - still have it. Favorite was GDW's Avalanche. But then that was trumped by Victory Games "Gulfstrike". Best rules for a complicated subject I've ever seen.

God bless Avalon Hill.......
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plasticpanzers
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by plasticpanzers »

Been around for a long time. First started playing
board games in the 60s with AHs Tactics II and the like. Went thru the just about all the old boxed
and bagged games available back then (hundereds of
different games and companies back then!). Started
computer games on the Commadore64 to Apple IIc and
onto the PC. Still play boardgames and minatures.
PC games make it easy for solitare and are colorful
but its was fun to have 10 people playing the old
Drang Nach Osten on a 4 x 8 tabletop with 3000 plus
counters!
Tim
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Zap
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Zap »

I liked 3Riech. I play only computer games now as a preference.
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RocketMan
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by RocketMan »

I used to play board games all the time when I was younger, but with a wife and three kids it is pretty much impossible to set up one that would not be destroyed in a few minutes. Also, it is almost impossible to find the time for the multiple sessions it takes to finish even a moderately complex board game, even if you could find an opponent who wanted to play.

PC games on the other hand, are easy to set up, easy to save and easy to find an opponent for, because the opponent can be anywhere in the world.

Even the VASSAL engine will not make playing board games as easy as it is to play PC games because most board games require multiple decisions to be made by each player during a turn. So again, to play even a moderately complex board game on the computer will require multiple sessions where each player is available at the same time, or it will take forever just to complete one turn.

However, even with all the limitations board games have, they are almost always better games than PC games are.
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Brigz
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by Brigz »

ORIGINAL: RocketMan

Even the VASSAL engine will not make playing board games as easy as it is to play PC games because most board games require multiple decisions to be made by each player during a turn. So again, to play even a moderately complex board game on the computer will require multiple sessions where each player is available at the same time, or it will take forever just to complete one turn.
Not necessarily. You are correct if you are playing with Vassal by email. However, the beauty of Vassal is you can play live online for free and play your game almost as if you had an opponent sitting across the table from you. What ever you do, your opponent sees it immediatly and can interupt you to respond. Very easy to do.
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33Vyper
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by 33Vyper »

AH War at Sea....god the hours spent trying to have Italy rule the waves

AH War in the Pacific....still have that one in the closet somewhere.

AH Lufftwaffe....hours and hours.....and yes...hours spent bombing trying to bomb the Reich into submission.
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RocketMan
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RE: All Ye Olde Grognards!

Post by RocketMan »

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs

Not necessarily. You are correct if you are playing with Vassal by email. However, the beauty of Vassal is you can play live online for free and play your game almost as if you had an opponent sitting across the table from you. What ever you do, your opponent sees it immediatly and can interupt you to respond. Very easy to do.

Thats why I said -
ORIGINAL: RocketMan

to play even a moderately complex board game on the computer will require multiple sessions where each player is available at the same time
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