"What were the first wargame rules you bought?" Topic

It's quite a long time ago – and to be honest I'm not 100% sure that I can accurately recall my first proper wargame rules purchases. I'm putting aside for now things like the rules in Donald Featherstone's books. What I'm talking about is a standalone publication of wargame rules – like WRG Ancients, or DBA, or Warhammer.

I'm pretty sure that my first few purchases were :

1. Sim-War WWII – this was a fun game using a series of colour maps marked out in different sized rectangles to reflect movement speeds across different terrain. Rule sets for differnt periods were available – I think Ancients, WWII and maybe horse & musket. Scale was 6mm – so this was bought to have something to use my Skytrex tanks with.

2. Skytrex Galactic Warfare rules – spaceship combat using lots of percentiles. It felt very scientific, and involved such niceties as refuelling during a long battle! As I recall it was slow…but it felt like a Hard SF novel !

3. Skytrex – SELWG Middle Earth rules. A strange set, a WRG anients like battle system, with an attempt to bolt heroes on top of it which didn't always come off all that well. In the end I dropped most of the hero part from the battle rules (apart from morale effects), but used the hero combat rules bit as a mini-skirmish set which actually worked quite well in my recollection.

4. Here's where we start to get a bit hazy, but I think it was Paragon's New Gladiator Rules – using Minifigs gladiators. This purchase was swung by seeing Dave Rotor's "colesseum in a biscuit tin" portable gladiator setup in the window of Minifgs-Skytrex. However, it may have been FGU's Dungeon exploring ruleset "Citadel", which came with floorplans and counters and everything you needed to get started playing – except dice !

It would have been back in the mid-late 60's for me and may have been some WW2 rules with logarithmic distances for ranges. Possibly by Bish Izwazko – spelling is probably miles out. Mostly I did naval with my own stuff and home brew rules so these were, I think, bought for a campaign that never got really started.

Col. Line and Square, early or mid-70's.

Sword and the Flame. Then Empire I think.

Early 90's. Armati.

For miniatures? AD&D Battlesystem. Never used it, wish I still had it.

Rally 'Rround the Flag

Still my favorite regimental level ACW game.

WRG 3rd(?) edition.
1776
TSATF

I am sure there were a lot of others, but those are the ones that lasted.
This of course does not include Avalon Hill or Strategy and Tactics boardgames that preceded my miniatures habit by 10 years.

The old "Rally 'Round the Flag" ACW rules. followed shortly after with "Angriff" WWII rules. It would have been late 70's.

My first historical rules were DBA 1.0. I think my first fantasy/scifi rules would have been Rogue Trader or WHFB 3rd edition.

Morshauser, HOW TO PLAY WARGAMES IN MINIATURE, around 1960

Angrif by Z&M Publishing from the old Wargamer's Digest. I bought a couple of others from there based on that was about all I knew existed.

Shire Publications "Discovering Wargaming" John Tunstill, early 70's.
Made my own average dice by gouging holes in the sides of a 6-sided pencil.

Operation Warboard, paperback edition. Before that I used the rules my older brother had written for our games together.

Don't think I've heard of Angrif – care to elaborate ?

I loved Operation Warboard – many an enjoyable and highly historically dubious (due to the available forces, not a comment on the rules!) game was played with them!

One Christmas my parents bought me WRG Armoured Warfare 1950-1985 and some micro armor M1A1s because that's what my dad drove in the Marines. I first purchased The Sword And The Flame.

Operation Warboard – Gavin & Bernard Lyall

Its a shame i never played the game, although i admit i was likely too young to appreciate what wargaming was all about and more entranced with RPGs at the time.

Like DM, Operation Warboard

Chainmail 1971.

Chainmail or Knights and Magic, got both the same summer.

The Complete Brigadier link

London Wargames Section ACW rules also those for Napoleonic. (Still have them)
John Tunstil Wargames
Also Dave Rotors galactic Warfare

WRG 4th ed

Angriff en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angriff!
Wow. There is a wiki for everything…

Brigade Fire and Fury

Operation Warboard by Gavin Lysle

Chainmail, 2nd edition I think. Yellow cover. Still have it.
Tricolor. Sadly, it's lost.

Rules for gladiatorial combat by the Paragon Wargames Group.

I believe it was called "Woods edge". Out of a comic book.

Plastic battle mat showing a town surrounded by woods all marked off on a square.

Two different colored cheap American WWII troops produced by "Giant".

Vince

Warhammer 40k 2nd edition, got my first summer job as a 16 year old so I could afford the boxed set.

Bruce Quarrie's Airfix Napoleonics rules. I read them over and over again, still have them on my bookshelf, but have never played them.

Featherstone´s Battles with Model Soldiers. Bought it with Christmas money, so I hope that counts. I was too young for it, I just looked at the pictures for the first two years I had it. Then I started reading the text, and something happened…

Tractics. Went in on it with a friend. Which reminds me, I need to get him the extra copy I have.

First boardgame was probably Third Reich.

@dragon6 – thanks. Can't believe I've never seen them before, but as far as I can recall I haven't !

IIRC Rules According to Ral, from Ral Partha.

Damon.

BattleTech in college. Warhammer 40K (3rd ed?) after college. Then moved on to many free sets (ShockForce, Full Thrust, bunches I've downloaded and read but never played)

Squad Leader, Cross of Iron in specific.

If it has to be Miniatures rules that would be "Command at Sea" by Metagaming. Never actually played. After that it would Harpoon or Command Decision – not sure which was first.

Mid 1970's Chainmail then WRG 4th edition

Johnny Reb I

Shockforce

For me, it would have to be J.E.B.!(ACW rules by Scott Bowden) or possibly Legion (Ancients rules by F.G.U.) in mid-70's, I think.

Tricolor, around 76 or 77 I think:
link
Bob

Squad Leader as a game, but first miniatures based game was a combo of WH40K Rogue Trader and Blood Bowl first edition.

Jack Scruby's rules, the name of which escapes me. I still have them around the house somewhere.

LT

I want to say either Napoleon's Battles or Johnny Reb 1 box sets.

P.

WRG 3rd Edition Ancients. Would have been 2nd Edition but they had sold out and the new ones were 3rd.

First miniature rules purchased would have been one of these: Chainmail, Tractics or Fire and Charge (Jack Scruby's Napoleonic rules).

I think the first stand-alone single period miniatures rules I ever bought were probably WRG 7th.

Before that, I had purchased an introductory sort of book with rules for a variety of periods from ancients to WWII aircraft. "Getting Started with Miniatures Wargaming" or something like that. Smallish trade paperback thing. I still have it around, but it's packed in an inaccessible box at present.

Before those, there were plenty of AH games, Task Force games, Steve Jackson games, home brewed rules for action figures, and so on.

Doug

Universal Soldier from RAFM in 1984 and WRG 1685-1845 also in 1984.

WRG 3rd Edition.

My first miniatures rules was probably Tractics , followed in short order by Swords and Spells and then Empire III. I probably bought Chainmail before S&S but we never tried to play it as a miniatures game. We did try Swords and Spells but didn't care for it much. Tractics and Empire were gaming staples for me for years.