"Did Avalon Hill Introduce You to Wargaming?" Topic

Airfix go me into figures and AH Waterloo got me into wargaming.

No Milton Bradley Games, Battle Cry, and several others. Then I got into AH Blitzkrieg.

Yes. 1972- Kreigspiel, then Afrika Korps, D-Day, Bulge and Stalingrad, then homemade rules for Bandai 1/48 tanks.

Wait…… no, Milton Bradley Broadsides around 1969, if that counts.

Spi with Sports Illustrated or Time? advert.

Yes.

Early games included Africa Korps, Blitzkreig, and Waterloo. I can still remember eagerly waiting for the release of Jutland and Anzio.

Rick

Yes. December 26th, 1972.

Dave down the street got Midway.

Then I bought Tactics II

Then he bought Battle of the Bulge. (His Dad fought in it)

Then I bought Panzerblitz.

No, I saw an ad for S and T in my fathers Playboy. So SPI was my company of choice. I did not get an AH game until two years later.

Yes D-Day, circa 1961

I was 6 or 7, late 80s. Dad starts me on a silly game using my plastic army men where 6s hit. We then transition to afrika corps, and yaquintos french foreign legion. there was no looking back from there

Great topic! A big yes for me too. Panzer Leader, followed by Luftwaffe and Squad Leader. I still have all three of them.

First miniatures were actually 1-2400 Naval for Seekrieg. A group of us gathered fleets and used Victory in the Pacific (more AH) as a campaign map. My fleet was the Japanese. The only restrictions was no carriers outside of the first ones built. So AH was a major part of my first campaign as well!
Larry

Yes. Afrika Korps in 1971. Still play it.

Tactics II and Blitzkrieg. Who could forget the Great Sandy Koufax desert?

1967, Jutland. I saw AH games in the department store. They were twelve bucks and more than my twelve-year old wallet could handle. My grandfather and I were out walking past a hobby shop in his small town. It had a 50 % off sale on Avalon Hill games. He gave me my choice and I went for Jutland. We played it on his floor that night. I never looked back.

No. Airfix and issue #1 of Wargamers Digest.

Dave

Yes, Squad Leader

Charles Grant and Airfix figs was my intro to wargaming. AH was probably my intro to wargaming with board games.

Yes. Summer of 1967, I think, a friend got Blitzkrieg. We played it till our fingers bled that summer!! I've never looked back.

ALthough it took until about 1981 or so that I got bit by the mini bug.

Yes – Gettysburg and Battle of the Bulgge

Milton Bradley. Broadsides, Dogfight, and Battle Cry. Then AH's 1914. Bit complicated, got Tactics II to get the hang of it. Gettysburg, Blitzkrieg, and many others, including SPI and Yaquinto, followed.

I played with soldiers all my life.

What got me to actual wargaming was Bob Bard's book, Making and Collecting Military Miniatures. It had a chapter on wargaming.

AHs were the first board wargames I played. I started with the original Gettysburg with the very nice map with squares, not hexes.

So my historical miniatures wargaming and my map board wargaming were fairly close together, but the miniatures happened first.

Tom

Technically it was Risk, Airfix figures and Legos; but yes! 😁

Yes, Bismarck when I was 6 or 7. I often beat my father as he could not comprehend my erratic logic (Bismarck fo was just a game of hide and seek with cool ships in o fight if I got found). What ride for Uboat too. First game of my own: Richthofen's war.

No, Marx did. The Alamo, Battleground, Iwo Jima, Desert Fox and Knight & Viking playsets were my entre to wargaming followed by Airfix. My first board wargames we're Tactics II and France 1940 by AH and Napoleon at Waterloo by SPI.

Yes. First two games were Battle of the Bulge and Waterloo. Owned quite a few titles at one point before I sold off the majority.

No, as others have said it was the inexpensive WW2 Airfix figures and Rocco tanks. That did eventually lead me to AH and S&T board games but playing with miniatures as always been my first and greatest hobby love.

Jim

Yes- AH's "1914". "Waterloo" and "Jutland" were next. Figures followed a few years later.

No – Jack Scruby's Quonset hut back in 73, followed by Airfix figures. I did love Richthofen's War. Still play that.

My cousin introduced me to Risk. Then he showed the microgame Ogre and Warpwar. I was hooked. The first wargame that I purchased was Russian Campaign that I bought at ToyRUS for $10. USD I remember saving up for that magical amount of 10 dollars and everytime I did, I got a new wargame. However, none of my friends were interested in wargames so I ended up playing them solo.

Phil

I know I had played Dogfight and Risk against my siblings 1st but Tactics 2 and Afrika Korps from the local RX started the major downfall into wargaming with an A.R.E.A group which in turn lead to D&D and GDW monster games. They had me hook line and sinker ever since 1975

100% yes

Yes – started with Panzer Leader and then WS&IM followed by Squad Leader.

I collected Rocco tanks and Airfix figures before games(still have them). But in high school around 72 or 73 I discovered Richthofen's War and Tactics II. Then my first wargame of my own was Blitzkrig. Then an SPI subscription. In 80 I discovered the ships for Star Fleet Battle Manual. Never got the game but did get Star Fleet Battles.

Risk and Stratego were in the 70's too.

Yes, Panzer Leader and Afrika Korps

Yes, DDay

As others have said, it was Airfix.

But board games of this type did well at university in the 70's and were more user friendly for people away from home with limited space. They were an acceptable substitute.

Seastrike, Decline and Fall, Kingmaker, and Richtofen's War got a lot of usage as I recall.

For me it was Risk, Axis & Allies, Conquest of the Empire, then graduating to Avalon Hill games from there.

I discovered SPI and AH both about the same time.
I don't remember which ones I actually played first.

Yes. Gettysburg, Tactics Two and Jutland.

Technically it was Battle Cry, Dogfight, and Hit the Beach. Then PanzerBlitz was introduced to me. It was another six years after that when I was introduced to miniatures

My first Wargame that I actually played was the game enclosed in the Life Magazine's Civil War centennial series that came out in 1961.That's over 50 years ago.

It was a small board game type game that covered both Eastern and Western theatres. You moved armies and fleets and was easy to play which I did with friends until it fell apart.

Shortly after I discovered Airfix Plastic figures found some rules in a copy of Featherstone's Newsletter that I got a Local Hobby Store and I was into miniatures

Airfix and Roco minitanks introduced me to wargaming (thanks to my brother), first board wargame was "Dreadnought" from SPI

AH was certainly was one of the first that got into wargaming …

So many memories thinking back to those more carefree days. Probably AH and Risk, followed by Airfix. So many different games with different friends, I still have my original Risk and Tactics II.

Back then I did not regard Stratego, Broadsides or risk as board games. So I have to change my answer to Stratego with wood pieces back in 1965. Also the version of Battle Cry with the hard plastic stackable pieces about 1963.

Yes--Panzer Leader.

And then a couple of years later I found a booklet titled Chainmail…

Rob

Yes, Squad Leader (SL), and its supplements, in the late 1970's. Was introduced to 1e AD&D in 1980. Played Luftwaffe! for several years, in High School (1979-1983), when I could find someone to play it with me, but AD&D was my primary gaming interest. Got introduced to both historical and fantasy miniatures gaming around 1992.

Haven't played SL since around 1980. Still playing 2e AD&D, 2e BattleSystem (2e AD&D-based mass battles miniatures game), and 2e BattleSystem Skirmish (2e AD&D lite, combat drastically simplified, but solidly a miniatures game, with a veneer of RPG). Cheers!

Chess and checkers, followed by MB's Dogfight, followed by AH's Kriegspiel and the rest of the AH line, followed by SPI and GDW…now mostly Decision Games, GMT, and Compass games.

Yes, Midway was the first of many.

yes

No. My gateway drug was TSR with D&D First Edition.

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