comstarhpg | 14 Nov 2011 12:01 p.m. PST |
WW2 Naval using Navwars rules about 1974 and I was 5 at the time and this led me to get WW1 ships which I still own and use :) |
myxemail | 14 Nov 2011 12:03 p.m. PST |
The first game I played was AH's Blitzkrieg in '71. The first game I owned was Panzerblitz in '72. My first miniatures game I owned was a home brewed set of ACW rules written by a friend who lived near campus. Mike |
twowheatons | 14 Nov 2011 12:03 p.m. PST |
Avalon Hill's Gettysburg (1st Edition). |
flicking wargamer | 14 Nov 2011 12:08 p.m. PST |
Richthofen's War was the first real wargame I played. Panzer Blitz was the first one I owned. |
Timbo W | 14 Nov 2011 12:14 p.m. PST |
Operation Warboard WW2 rules by the novelist Gavin Lyall, very good for a beginner as the first half of the book was scenarios, explanations, examples of play and advice on building an army, then the second half contained the rules. er, circa '79 |
Pijlie | 14 Nov 2011 12:18 p.m. PST |
Wooden Ships & Iron Men. A custom made scenario about the Battle of the Medway somewhere around 1986. |
Doug em4miniatures | 14 Nov 2011 12:20 p.m. PST |
"Combat" with an intro by Sir Brian Horrocks: link about 1968. Enjoyed it so much that we made a version of our own with a giant, hardboard board,using Airfix models and incorporating infantry
Still got the pieces somewhere but not the box
:-( Doug |
Mikhail Lerementov | 14 Nov 2011 12:30 p.m. PST |
tough one. Bismark by AH in 63 was the first "real" one, but I got American Heritage Civil War for Christmas in '61 followed by Broadside then Dogfight (which we wore out). Not really sure the AmerHeri stuff qualifies as real wargaming though. I remember using a set of Marx Civil War soldiers my brother got for Christmas to play a game of Civil War I "designed" on a large checkerboard before that, probably in '60. Seems you could only have as many figures in a box as would fit without their bases sticking out into an adjacent box. Used cacti and big plastic rocks for terrain and you rolled dice to determine who got killed. I recall my mom being proud of it and having me display it to my aunt and uncle. Ahhh memories. |
eagleteacher25 | 14 Nov 2011 12:32 p.m. PST |
Looking over this list makes me feel old. My first wargames was a copy of Avalon Hill's Gettysburg (the 1958 edition). I got it from my parents at Christmas in 1960 or '61. Time flies, Larry |
Tommy Capper | 14 Nov 2011 12:33 p.m. PST |
First set of wargame rules I bought was Charles Grant's Battle from Jones's Model shop at Turnham Green c.1971. First boardgame was S&Ts War in the Pacific or something similar. The worst game a beginner could have bought as it refought the entire Pacific war in incredible detail on an absurdly small map. The stacks were horrendous and kept toppling over. Never got beyond 1st move. |
genew49 | 14 Nov 2011 12:53 p.m. PST |
Life Magazine game, then either AH Gettysburg or the American Heritage game. My father cut out the Life game board and all the unit counters etc. and mounted them on wood and sealed them somehow for my brother and me. I found a Union unit piece last month when going through some old things. Could still play with in today! |
Sysiphus | 14 Nov 2011 12:58 p.m. PST |
Battles with Airfix toy soldiers, using Joseph Morschauser's,"How to play War Games in Miniature". This was circa 1972. I still have a shoe box full of those old conversions, of WWI sets to Colonials, done long ago. |
Ed Mohrmann | 14 Nov 2011 1:04 p.m. PST |
First commercial wargame was AH's 'Tactics' (the original) First mini's rules were home-made, for Marx sets, C. 1952 |
Stephens123 | 14 Nov 2011 1:10 p.m. PST |
Avalon Hill "Tactics II" in 60s |
Ambush Alley Games | 14 Nov 2011 1:13 p.m. PST |
Starship Troopers by Avalon Hill |
Big Ian | 14 Nov 2011 1:24 p.m. PST |
Mine was the original Spacemarine game when i was 10 or 11. At the time i didn't realise they came in a larger scale. Remember having fun playing games with it though. |
Don Hogge | 14 Nov 2011 1:34 p.m. PST |
Luftwaffe followed quickly by Afrika Corps and Starship Troopers – all from AH |
cfielitz | 14 Nov 2011 1:36 p.m. PST |
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vojvoda | 14 Nov 2011 1:38 p.m. PST |
Airfix miniatures and Panzer Blitz by Avalon Hill, VR James Mattes |
21eRegt | 14 Nov 2011 1:51 p.m. PST |
First wargame of any kind, either Stalingrad or Blitzkrieg by Avalon Hill in the late 60s. Unless you want to count chess, then early 60s. First miniatures game was "The Wargame" like so many others, using Airfix Napoleonics and Rev War figures, round about 1969 or 70. Good times
. Kind of neat to see Avalon Hill giving so many of us our start. |
laager50 | 14 Nov 2011 2:22 p.m. PST |
Mine was Charles Grants Battle. It was serialized in the meccano magazine. |
Cke1st | 14 Nov 2011 2:23 p.m. PST |
The first wargame I played was a home-brewed rule set I made up for my 1:87 minitanks in junior high. It involved a spinner with concentric bands of probability for various gun sizes at various ranges. The first "real" game I played was a microgame in S&T magazine back in 1977, USSR vs US, in the wargame club at my high school. I played the outnumbered US, fought offensively instead of defensively, and won anyway. The first game I owned was Tactics II. |
Eclectic Wave | 14 Nov 2011 3:40 p.m. PST |
Wow – Wasn't expecting such a response. Was not surprised by too many answers, I was surprised though by how many different answers there were. I don't think any one game got repeated more the three, maybe four times by different people. Fun question. |
Robert Burke | 14 Nov 2011 4:00 p.m. PST |
Chess (kindergarten) and then Blitzkrieg in the 8th grade. |
taskforce58 | 14 Nov 2011 4:51 p.m. PST |
Boardgame: AH Midway Miniatures: One of those Don Featherstone book. |
Ron W DuBray | 14 Nov 2011 5:04 p.m. PST |
AH seems to be the gateway into war gaming for a lot of us, would love to see that Company come back. |
skinkmasterreturns | 14 Nov 2011 5:08 p.m. PST |
Tactics II for boardgames. Empire III for miniatures.Its a wonder my part in the hobby survived it's infancy with that one. |
Stosstruppen | 14 Nov 2011 7:01 p.m. PST |
First wargame was Rands Hitlers Last Gamble. All downhill from there
. |
rankamateur | 14 Nov 2011 7:45 p.m. PST |
I first played the Milton Bradley Civil War game, then Dogfight followed by Broadsides. Avalon Hill came next with Stalingrad, then Panzer Blitz. Once I bought a subscription to Strategy and Tactics, I was hooked for life. I still have a large collection of games including the monster game War in the West in mint condition. Now I play easy games like Memoir 44 and Wings of War with my son. My 6 year old granddaughter helps us set up command and Colors and now she wants to learn to play . . . |
gamertom | 14 Nov 2011 8:09 p.m. PST |
Tactics II around 1967 – couldn't get any friends to play it with me because it was too complicated! First miniatures game was a set of home brew ACW rules I played at a plastic model convention in Asheville NC probably in late 1975 or early 1976. |
KSmyth | 14 Nov 2011 8:42 p.m. PST |
Jutland by AH in 1968. I was twelve and my Grandfather bought it for me at a toy store that was liquidating AH games, 50% off. It was six bucks. Damn I loved that game. My first miniature game was played with RoCo minitanks in my friend's basement in the summer of 1970. Used some homebrew rules. They were fun, but deadly. |
Allen57 | 14 Nov 2011 8:59 p.m. PST |
Dont remember the exact year. It was an ACW game in Life magazine at the start of the centennial so 1961???? Miniatures gaming didnt start until sometime in the 80s. |
Frederick | 14 Nov 2011 9:04 p.m. PST |
First wargame, Battle by Charles Grant using Airfix figs First boardgame, Afrika Korps by Avalon Hill Man – does that make me feel old! |
BrianW | 14 Nov 2011 10:20 p.m. PST |
My first boardgame was: Major Campaigns of General Douglas MacArthur from Research Games, Inc. I would have been about 9 years old when it came out in 1974, and I got it from my parents about then. My first miniatures rules were probably Heart of Oak, by FGU, so 1979 or so. I'm not counting D&D and other RPGs as wargames. BWW |
Desert Rat | 14 Nov 2011 10:45 p.m. PST |
WRG Infantry and Armour 1925-1950, 1st Edition. Back in 1984. My Grant knocked out a Tiger! |
Tarty2Ts | 15 Nov 2011 3:31 a.m. PST |
Tactics ll by Avalon Hill was the first board game. And Tractics WW2 with plastic kits and Airfix figs. |
Shaun Travers | 15 Nov 2011 4:04 a.m. PST |
WRG Infantry Action 1925-1975 in 1979 with 1/32 scale figures and WRG 5th with some 25mm figures But same year was heavily into Tractics with 1/72 plastics. And about the same time I was introduced to boardgaming and know I played Third Reich, AH Alexander and AH Caesar's Legions around this time too. So not sure what came first out of all of this – but think it was the WRG Infantry Action. And the only time I've ever played it! |
20thmaine | 15 Nov 2011 4:58 a.m. PST |
It all happened so quickly that it's a bit of a blur, I was buying figures, then I was playing wargmaes
probably SimWar WW2 – which you bought maps for with different sie squares for different terrain. Came with card counters which you could replace with 1/300th tanks as and when they got bought and painted. Although Galactic Warfare (Dave Rotor's starship combat game) may have just pipped it. With Minifigs spaceships and then Davco's weird Flash Gordon Resin ones. Then Lord of the Rings with the SELWG rules from Skytrex. Around the same time OGRE, and Metamorphes Alpha. And Citadel (F&FG) which I played many many times and always enjoyed. And Road to Richmond. Soon after WW2 with Operation Warboard. Even in that first 6 months I was very eclectic. Or a classic butterfly wargamer – which I have remained to this very day. |
Klebert L Hall | 15 Nov 2011 6:20 a.m. PST |
Feudal. If that doesn't count, my next was Flat Top IIRC. -Kle. |
Brian Bronson | 15 Nov 2011 11:27 a.m. PST |
The first wargame I played was U.S.N. by SPI. The first wargame I bought was Third Reich by AH. I still have them. |
Doerchele | 15 Nov 2011 6:45 p.m. PST |
My first wargame was 'Sandbox Wars' a homebrew game played in the backyard. My brother and I would make elaborate trenches and embankments for our plastic army men. It was a siege game using stones and acorns. I think you get the picture
. Then it was the Dungeons and Dragons basic box set and the rest is history. |
vtsaogames | 15 Nov 2011 8:23 p.m. PST |
Joe Morschauser's "Wargaming with Military Miniatures", back before we fessed up and called them toy soldiers. |
Katzbalger | 15 Nov 2011 8:33 p.m. PST |
Panzer Leader back in 1974 or 75 (don't remember which year)--got it for my birthday after pleading with my parents for several weeks. Something iconic about the cover design on that game. Of course, I had been playing with Airfix troops and 1/72 plastic model tanks before that
Rob |
Bye bye | 16 Nov 2011 9:11 a.m. PST |
Airfix plastic ACW and a copy of Charge from my local branch library – circa 1969 |
IUsedToBeSomeone | 16 Nov 2011 9:52 a.m. PST |
Little Wars by H G Wells and 4 boxes of 54mm plastic airfix Napoleonics. Mike |
COL Scott0again | 16 Nov 2011 1:37 p.m. PST |
There was a triumvirate of board games all from AH Squad Leader, Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Tactics II can't recall which we played first. But for miniatures there can be only one, "The Wargame" by C.S. Grant. I still will use some key concepts when tweaking a home brew rule or putting together campaigns. |
chrisbump86 | 17 Nov 2011 8:20 a.m. PST |
startd with the MB games, Broadside, Battle Cry and Dog Fight, I forget the name of the AWI game in that series. Had all of them except Hit the Beach. First AH game was Tactics II. Started playing with Britains figures around age 7 and Airfix a year or 2 later. Discovered Airfix Napoleonic rules in 1976 and finally had some structure to minis gaming. Airfix also sold a Waterloo wargame, I found in 1976, with hard plastic versions of their Napoleonic figures mounted on bases of various sizes representing unit strenghts. It had a large vinyl map of the battlefild and calipers for movement and artillery ranges. Loved that game. |
pbishop12 | 31 Dec 2011 1:07 a.m. PST |
I forgot about Milton Bradley's ACW, Broadside and Dogfight. Yeah, they were my first 'formal' wargames. Next came the Airfix Waterloo game described above. Bought that in 1977 in Wales and still have it. Great game. |
Bye bye | 31 Dec 2011 7:19 a.m. PST |
I started with Charge (or how to play War Games) by Young and Lawford and played games using my Airfix ACW figures circa 1968/69 |
Tiberius | 19 Jan 2012 5:15 a.m. PST |
Africa Korps from Avalon Hill |