"What's the Most Enjoyable Session you Ever Had" Topic

What was the most enjoyable session of a game you've ever had? Just one session that really sticks in you mind as an exemplar of why you love playing?

Was it the rules? The company at the table? Something else entirely?

I wasn't sure where to put this so I am cross posting to a few categories.

It has been too long ago to remember a specific time but I am sure it was a combination of a "beerandpretzels" game and good company playing it.

A commando raid played solo with 1/32 figures in my parent's garden in August 1983.

Everything just worked like a movie and I've never been able to replicate the conditions that made it so good.

An RPG lite game of Larger Than Life. About 15 people around the table, and minis everywhere.

Player 1: "I shoot at those guys", rolls dice.
GM: "Looks like 2 of your henchmen are dead, but since your character is a star, you can't die. So tell us how you escape."
Player 2: Has to come up with a good story on the fly.

Good times.

Still sorting it through in my mind, but ALL the contenders are old 30mm CLS games, somewhere between 1969 and 1983. I can't tell you how much was the system, how much my age--teens and twenties--and how much it's that period being my most active It takes me about five years now to get in as many games as one year then.

All the contenders involve big colorful castings, rules I understood and either an opponent I liked and respected (in a one on one) or a team I liked on my side of a larger battle.

Any one of a number of one on one games with my friend Mike involving adult beverages and cigars and some great ACW games with the Old Houston Crew.

Any game that included Mark. He always made any game a good time.

a war hammer fantasy campaign game Undead vs Dwarves. He deployed at back edge saying dwarves never run. 1st volley of screaming skulls artillery he failed to make a roll below nine and routed off board took longer to box up army than play game. I LOVE arrogant opponents!!!

A WRG 6th edition Ancients game, where my Alexandrian Macedonians trounced their opponents by a flank march which arrived just when the enemy was disordered crossing difficult ground!

You mean that one with the good friends, an intriguing scenario, a beautiful table, a great meal, and fine whiskey and cigars?

Too many to count; more to come.

One.

Above all others, one.

It was at a mini-con in Columbia Maryland many years ago. Not surprisingly it was a Duke Seifried game. Fairly small for Duke, maybe 10 players on a modest Rorke's Drift table. 1/1 for the defenders vs. 200 Zulus that cycled thru over and over.

As ever, the scenics were incredible. The hospital had a thatched roof that was made from grass, (ostensibly) gathered from the lawn at Rorke's Drift. All the figures in the hospital were recognizably unique, including Maxfield, actually cast into the bed.

I ran the hospital evacuation. We were hip deep in Zulus outside from turn 1. They were dicing to break down the doors. We were dicing to reinforce them, which included stacking, the amply provided, furnishings against the door.

We also had to dice the chopping between the rooms. The thick pressboard walls had punchouts you could remove.

When the room was clear the defenders had to try to make a break for escape. More than once we had to abandon flight and return to holding the doors. We were never more than one or 2 dice rolls from catastrophe.

Room by room we retreated. Duke had recorded the audio from the movie and was playing it. The Zulu player rolls a 4 against the door, I roll a 5. "At 100 yards, volley fire, present…" The sick and wounded retreat toward the wall cut. Its 9". The figs roll 3, 5, 5, 6 and 7." OK, we'll have to hold the door a bit longer. "Usuthu!"

Room by room we retreated, until the last viable figure escaped out the high window. Thankfully we weren't also having to contend with flames. "Redoubt rank, fire!"

I lost Maxfield and 3 others. On the whole, a pretty clean getaway.

It was, and remains, my most intense gaming experience, bar none, ever. Enjoyable? You bet your sweet bippy.

For me, a WWII skirmish game…paratroops dropping in late war to take a bridge. Rules were homemade beer and pretzel variety with lots of dice rolling. Umpire allowed for hidden movement. Paratroop drop was simulated by standing with back to the (large) table and tossing the individual paratroopers (Airfix plastic) over your shoulder. Managed to regroup a platoon out of sight in a hedgerow, and the German commander sent out a half track up the road to scout. We fired off two bazooka rounds at short range from cover, only to have both bounce and send the half track scurrying back home. The Germans had three squads of highly motivated SS troops in foxholes behind the bridge and several Strafbataillon squads in forward positions on our side of the bridge. As we advanced, the players commanding the penal squads tried to fall back to what they perceived would be strong positions across the bridge…only to have their own SS squads open fire on them (a special scenario rule enforced by the umpire). Was a bloody fight, but we eventually took the bridge. Great fun.

Probably an Empire Napoleonics game taken from a magazine scenario. The Spanish and Russians(!) were fighting the French and Bavarians. A desperate fight with the French and Bavarians clinging by their fingernails until the Spanish had to test a divisional morale and failure started a stampede. While I was the Spanish player it just felt right and various odd rolls all game just played to our biases and notions of the fighting. We still laugh about it 15 years later.

Way back when I first started wargaming…it was an Empire III game at Bob Schram's house. He had a giant table and this particular game we played 15mm. naps. I actually painted some Prussians and as it turned, played a key role in stopping the French.

It was a wonderful game made that much better because I played with my toys. We had a wonderful group. Stan Berry (a gifted painter) actually made an honor streamer for my standard bearer after the game. Still have it.

Chess with an old high school friend, back in my early 20s. She said "let's make this interesting. We remove a piece of clothes each time we lose a non-pawn."

We both were naked soon and never actually finished the game.

Points to Shagnasty and Thomas O. All the short-listed games involve Rick either as opponent or co-belligerent.

Hard to decide which of several games come to mind,
but I'll mention a game run by the old Minifigs NY
group at a very early Historicon (1985?).

Based upon the exploits (on land) of one H. Hornblower,
it featured some delightfully hilarious comments
and happenings.

I cannot remember the rules used (which were probably
a mix of Limeys and Slimeys and similar rules) but
boy do I remember the great time we had playing that
game !

Hammerin' Iron ACW naval at Guns of August (2012??). The players were involved and gave as good as they got. No mobile phones, no loss of concentration. Superb! Thanks Ralph, Sam, Andy and to those other men of Iron!

In a wargames class in the 70's, me and another guy were pitted against another in a WW2 Buna-Gona board game. We took the towns with 2 counters of Japanese paratroopers. The Allied player threw everything he had against them (ground units, all his aircraft) and shockingly lost them all. We then advanced and took Port Moresby without opposition. The teacher tsked-tsked us, as we were only supposed to hold Buna-Gona. Don't remember the grade we got or exactly which game it was, but it was a good stompin'!

I am truly blessed that there are too many starlets in the line-up of my memories from the 1970s to present day to say which one was most enjoyable. They include:

-surprising a game designer with the actual tactics used by the force I was playing

-getting so completely into a game of StarForce:Alpha Centauri that the four of us didn't realize that we'd stayed up all night playing

-the time when a convention RPG was running late and the players asked me to give them another two hours right then in open gaming to finish the scenario

-the scenario I wrote and refereed that got the players so engaged that they were actually groaning when they off-table support went wide, and when an exposed command unit was suppressed with heavy casualties

Not tonight's game – that's for sure

I don't have a "most enjoyable" game, but there are a few that stand out in my memory:

The first few times I went to Historicon I played the Midnight Massacre games (Fire & Fury 1st ed.), and those are actually what got me into ACW gaming in the first place. The Dutch Courage house rule set the tone for the whole game (+1 in melee if you drink a shot). Some parts of the battlefield were more drinking contest than wargame, and there was just a lot more camaraderie and conviviality than in normal wargames. I think it was just hard to take it too seriously, which helped lighten the mood.

I'm not a sci-fi gamer, but I have a weak spot for the SJ Games Ogre universe, and one of my favorite Ogre games was played with miniatures on a hex grid at a local convention. I got conscripted to be the C-in-C (didn't step back fast enough…), but I ended up having a very good time. The rules are easy, so even the new players were thinking about tactics instead of rules mechanics within a few turns, and the turns played quickly, which gave the game a frenetic pace and kept the grand tactical situation very fluid. I kept extremely busy directing the actions of the 3 players on my side and feeding in reinforcements, and it was ironically the most I've felt like a "general" in any game I've ever played. I had no tactical distractions at all, just logistics, dispositions, general management decisions, and a bit of morale boosting.

I played an ACW game at Historicon without a turn sequence. Each player had a hand of cards; each card would let you do some action with one unit (move, shoot, charge, reload, etc., some with a bonus for the die roll); as soon as a player ran out of cards he shouted "OUT!" and the round ended (no more cards allowed). Everybody played your cards as fast as possible, trying to track their own casualties and give some to their enemies. It was sheer pandemonium, and the closest I've ever seen any game come to the chaos of real battle – nobody had any idea what was going on outside his own immediate vicinity until each turn ended and we could all look around for a few minutes while the cards were reshuffled and dealt. Genuine surprise was a common occurrence ("Wait, is that an ENEMY UNIT?!?! How did it get on my flank…?"). I was exhausted when it was over. I no longer remember what that game was called or who ran it; if anyone else here does, I'd love to know.

- Ix

A Zombicide black plague mission with my ten year old grand daughter as the party leader.

The first time I visited Historicon, I had flown in from CA. I was hanging out in the room full of Colonial battles and was given the opportunity to join in by Mr. Larry Brom. I was honored. I am sure that there were. Other notable in the room also, but I do not recall who. It was quite a long time ago, but it cemented my love for colonials.

Two stand out;

The first historical miniature game I ever played was in 1985(?) with Ed Mohrmann, Larry Brom, Doctor Bob and Mike Miller among others. 25 or 30mm Nappies, I had a huge wave of Austrian cav coming down a hill and crashing into the Frogs. Only had a 40% chance of completing the charge, but my lads had no fear and went crashing into the Imperial Guard and won the melee. I can't remember if Mike swallowed his cigar or not, but that charge was a thing of beauty.

Much more recently, at one of the big east coast cons I played a 25mm Indochina game called Mobile Group 100. It was a small game with great terrain and it went down to the final dice roll. Even though I lost it was a great game with some great players. Even posted on TMP about it.

Two Fire & Fury games. The first was when I used to belong to a club and there were always a couple of opponents you would really relish beating given half the chance. One evening I got my chance. I was Union and everything I threw went my way, whereas my opponent couldn't throw anything good to save his life. I pushed him back further and further, wiping out most of his force as I went, until he was pinned against the board edge with nowhere to run to, but still wouldn't concede defeat (they never do) and I was just about to deliver the killer blow when my opponent's mate, who had been keeping one eye on our game, decided it was time to pack up 10 minutes early thus saving my opponent from being completely slaughtered. Me happy? Oh no.
The other time was at a friend's house using F&F again where I decided upon the very risky tactic of riding my entire (large) Reb cavalry force across the face of my opponent's entire artillery and several infantry brigades in order to strike at his opposite flank. I rolled and moved, his face took on a look of surprise, and then glee, before changing to stunned disbelief as with 22 points firing he rolled a 1. My cavalry joyfully unscathed redeployed on his opposite flank. I think we stopped using F&F after that, can't think why.

All these lovely miniature game memories and a game of chess is easily the the best one!

Coyotepunc, the strip chess you mention sure sounds like hoot!

Some Charles Grant rules, unpainted 1/72 plastics, and a bounce stick and a canister cone.

It was when I was on R&R in Bangkok, I was on the table with these two – opps, wrong discussion group.

Wolfhag

Wolfhag for the win.

I don't know about "most enjoyable", but here are two that I still fondly remember:

1- Saurian Safari, with my wife, kids, best friend and his kids. That was A- company, and B- rules.

2- A "Sack Troy" game at Historicon, eons ago. Also A- company, and B- rules.

And both games had good scenery and well-painted miniatures. That matters at least a bit, to me.

Dave