"Your favorite theater and why" Topic

I'm pretty sure we've had this thread before but heck why not give it an update. Perhaps your opinion/desires have changed. If so why or why are you still going for Burma? (As an example) This is pretty open ended. So feel free to cite things from the availability of models/scale/etc. to the specific tactical challenges, terrain, personalities, equipment, go for it.

For me it is still North Africa and I have extensive collections in both 15 mm and 28 mm along with terrain and other bits and bobs. I suppose it was shows such as the Rat Patrol and that movie about Rommel with James Mason and of course the classic with Humphrey Bogart "Sahara". I have always been fond of the look of the Lee tank. Plus from a war gaming perspective there is still considerable parity among the forces and some truly iconic kit.

Second and close runner up is the ETO, again because of all the movies as kid.

Eastern Front, because no one I know was involved.
And I get to use my movie Russian accent or my movie German accent.
"Urra! Comrades!"
"Ve have vays to make you speak."

Hurtgen Forest. I grew up there.

I like the Rose theater in London. The Kennedy theater in Washington DC is nice as well.

Don't make me stop this car, Matthew! 8)=

I think we will have to kill him now.

Oh and +1 vtsaogames.

The Home Front because I like Dad's Army.

I'm sorry. I've been copped up inside with 9 yer old boys playing mine craft while my AC gets redone . They have to fix all the ductwork. I am insane.

Please, shoot me now.

Give us the coordinates, no man should suffer such a fate. I will alert TAC and order the nuke strike. It's the only way to be sure.

I think I am aiding in the hijack of my own thread.

For the real answer, I enjoy the ETO and the Med. the Med would be first because it blends the Africa and Europe theaters together.

Speaking of the Homefront SJ has anyone every gamed a what if Hitler had been able to invade England??? (at some point this thread will get back…well on point.)

ETO and Med/NA

I prefer the PTO, really. Not a bunch of silly tanks banging around, just straight up infantry fights.

Eastern 43-44 front for the volume of tanks engaged in battle
The Bulge, again high volume

Ditto on the home front . Especially the what if, with German paratroopers, home guard, kreigsmarine landers, BUF. Second choice to East Africa. I liked it for the great war, and the second.

North Africa hands down!

France 1940 and Barbarrosa 1941. I can't decide which I like better. French tanks and Pz 38(t)'s are crack-cocaine to me but you gotta love BT's T-28's, T-26's, t-35's (all four that actually got into combat!) and ill-trained Soviet militia infantry troops. Great fun! Also, you can actually have a realistic appearing small tank battle on an 8'X6' table. The infantry have a chance of surviving encounters with tanks and vice versa. Everybody can get well stuck in and have a right good scrap! Umm-umm-good!
Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson.

East Front, followed by Burma.

North Africa always holds a sweet spot for me. Interesting forces and commanders, no SS, no politics. Sicily/Italy is probably #2. 1943 Eastern Front is fun.

Nothing else came close to matching the scale of the Eastern Front. It was where the war was won and lost.

It's also a bit like gaming the US Civil War in that I don't have much sympathy for either side.

ETO, specifically Normandy.

Northwest Europe, 1944.

It was my parents war.

Pacific, my Dad was a Marine

I like them all, but with a gun to my head I'd probably pick PTO. I have a dream some day to do the Guadalcanal campaign on both land & sea and I think that tips the scales.

Northwest Europe, American Armored Combat Commands are perfect balanced force for gaming!

My Grandad was in the Home Guard so Homefront stuff would be "Eagle has Landed" or "Went the Day Well" type of scenarios. For those of you who have not seen "Went the Day Well" it is a wartime British film about an unfortunate bunch of Brandenburgers who have the misfortune to arrive in a British village of, frankly, psychotic Brits. The scene where an old lady blinds one of the Germans by throwing pepper in his face then brains with the hatchet she used for chopping wood sticks in my mind.
Apart from that early war Russia up to the end of '42 and Battle of the Bulge have long been firm favourites of mine.

Lascaris if you need to play Wargames with a gun to your head you picked the wrong hobby! :-)
Though come to think of it might not be a bad tactic to get people at the club to try new rules! :-)

NW Europe (1940-45), or Italy/Sicily, or Eastern (Russian) Front -- but not the Pacific (except for Naval games).

I can't think of a single WWII theatre that I've studied that I wasn't interested in, some, I know very little about, but I'm sure that when I get round to them, I'll want to game them.

Most of my gaming over many years has been East Front. As others have noted the scale of games is quite engaging to me. I particularly like Barbarossa games, with so many odd bits of kit available: T-37s to T-28s to KV-2s! And I like to game Italians or Romanians -- really, if you want a challenge in your gaming … !

But I think that I am now more inclined to French North Africa, from the Torch landings at Port Lyeutey in Morrocco to the last gasps of Panzer Armee Afrika in Bizerte in Tunisia. I can play French (vs. Americans and British or vs. Germans and Italians), Americans and British (vs. French or vs. Germans and Italians), or Italians (vs. Americans or British or French). You can run everything from L3s to Tigers! I mean, how can you not love a theater where you can legitimately bring a company of M3 Lee tanks and be Godzilla (vs. Italian M14/41s) or an ant (vs. Tigers)?

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

North Africa is number one. So many combatants, so many different tanks and vehicles, raids and set piece battles and it covers a big chunk of the war.

Followed by Eastern front.

Eastern Front for scale.
North Africa because I love the Crusader tank.
1939-40 because early war tanks make me happy.

France 1940. First I fell in love with the weird French tanks, then I studied the war and the "strange defeat" and fell in love with French history and culture to boot. Now I happily drink Absinthe or Calvados and play the French whenever I can.

The Polish campaign is fun with the 10th Cavalry Brigade.

I still enjoy the Pacific theater, and would love to dive more into the Chinese campaigns, though would need to do a lot more research and build an army.

Normandy 1944 has gotten pretty boring for me. I'm finding more interest in the post Normandy and drive to the Rhine battles these days.

As for why I'm not interested in the Pacific theater: I'm mostly interested in tank-vs-tank combat.

East Front for the relative parity in Tank Combat.

Pacific because I grew up a Marine Corps brat with lots of uncles that fought in the Pacific. Also.. Corsairs and Zeros… Duh.

Europe, Med, and North Africa have never really grabbed my attention much. With the possible exception of Crete, but that is mostly due to one of my gaming buddies.

I think I know the most about The Pacific so I like playing that a lot. But I generally am running early war Eastern Front in 15mm or later war Western Front in 20mm. Hell, I pretty much like every theater when it comes right down to it!

Italy and Sicily. Fewer snakes than the pacific. Longer period of fighting for scenarios than NW Europe.

Malta and CBI in my main interest Air Wargames.

BEF in France, followed by North Africa pre el Alamein or Barbarossa period eastern front (Army Group South specifically) on the ground.

No particular preference for on the sea.

Fatman

Burma, though I struggle to get players. Most folk prefer N. Europe…though I did mange to bully a bunch into a Hong Kong game, which has to be fairly unusual.