Board wargamers

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Heh, I've posted stuff in the Games/fitness
forum about these, but realized that this
is the area most likely to contain anyone
who play(ed/s) these. I haven't for a few
years, but they were my major obsession.

If anyone else cares to reminisce about them,
I'd enjoy.

man I could go on for ever...

I used to be part of a gaming circle made up of Boheme types, we could play all night, went for 18 hours once.
Risk, Axis and Allies [the original Civilization, chess set and a pair of turntables... if that counts]
Now I like Attack, but the old circle has all grown up and I hardly get to play, it's a pity because I found having some sticks and stones on the ground to play with while talking with people made it easier, I felt like I had friends almost.
It's funny like, I love to play games, I like the challenge, but I am not actually very competitive and I lack that killer chi, do you know what I mean?

I like other types of strategy games too, the Europeans have some quite different ideas in regard game mechanics and quite simple systems can prove to be truly awesome fun.
I own a 2 player tile game called 'Hellas' [Rio Grande Games] - it is really deceptively clever, simple to learn but harder to master, takes about 15 - 20 minutes a game [makes it great for best of 3...5...9..... ]...
Another really clever game is Java [same company] 2-4 players, reasonably smart and adaptable and up, awesome challenge [but maybe thats my brain?].
Like I said I enjoy having sticks and stones to play on the floor with while we talk...
peace j

The european games are interesting,
kind of in the mode of the old 3M games.

I remember introducing Civ to the old
wargaming clubs I was in, and people
looking at it with distaste, but then falling
in love with the trading. Settlers of Catan
is kind of a smaller version, but the trading
is less intense.

Was reading up on the demise of AH and SPI
recently, really kind of brought me back.

Civ and Risk are the only two I really got into.

Never realized how big Civ's audience was.

Francis Tresham was a genius.

I liked it a lot, so did my father, and my cousins Tim and Mark.

Just been getting into board eurogames recently, although we struggle to find the time to play them. It's nice to have something to do with my wife that we can talk while we do.

Anyone ever play Steve Jackson's classic "Ogre"?

He also put together the 18xx rail games series.
Different flavor, but another classic. I'd suggest
AH's 1830, if you can find a used copy. Really
brutal economic game. Settler's of Catan is
sort of a lighter version of the old Civ (to me
at least), taking MUCH less time. It's hard to
find a group of 7 people with 8 or 9 hours
to kill.

Yeah. Most don't make great two player games though.
My wife and I played a lot of the Mayfair crayon-rail games.



Heh. Used to play that in lunch, in HS. Seemed like the ogre player
didn't have a lot to do though. GEV was a more interesting expansion,
but I prefer games with components that don't end up in your drink, when
you sneeze.

We seek out the good 2 player ones. Carcassonne is wonderful for that, albeit a bit time consuming.
I'm actually in the process (albeit on a long hiatus since we got a dog and my free time evaporated) of writing an RPG based on the Ogreverse, should be a lot of fun if I ever get it finished.

I have a bunch of old Avalon Hill games. But I haven't played them in years.

'Twas a sad day, when AH finally went down.
I was always more an SPI/VG fan, but that was
really the end. Ah, I think The Gamers are still
around, and I love the stuff that AWE put out
(even if the rules translations were horrible),
but yeah, that was the big nail in the coffin.

I think I would have enjoyed them. One of the draw backs of being raised in a very rural setting. Dad and I played a lot of chess and I learned young. Again no kids to play chess with, probably just as well. I don't play games for blood anymore. Huum, most games, lol. I do remember how.

It's funny. I can remember devising
something similar to the wargames
back with my toy soldiers, on the beach.

My dad used to like playing a game where
we'd shoot them with a dart gun, but
I made kinda a system where they would all shoot
one another. It was pretty lame, but 'twasn't
too much later that I discovered some of the
older ones.

Settlers of Catan is reasonably fun.

In college I played Blitzkrieg,Star Fleet Battles and a few more that I can't remember. People who play them now are not so easy to find everybody wants computer games with graphics.