GDW: WWIII

[Skybird]

A correspondence chess partner just emailed me this site(s), asking if these were the wargames I mentioned and recommended in a recent disucssion we had on old tabletops and wargames. They were! ;) Boy, these games were ma favourites of all wargames I had, they did such a good compromise between complexity, playability and detail: not oo much, and not too little, just about right to handle it.

http://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=300719

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Third_World_War_series

I did not know that they are so much sought for, and that so many people seem to agree how great this series was in the genre. There were bigger monstre games, yes, but only att he price of making running the game a really painful affair. VG's Gulf Strike and Aegean Strike has more tables than even a masochist can find pleasant to handle.

My other favourite from that time was VG's 2nd Fleet. I also liked GDW's Assault series.

I still have all that stuff, and some other cosims as well! And no, I do not sell them, so do not even ask.

[Skybird]

Nice action report of the big game they had at a convention in 2008:

part 1: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/334199/monster-gaming-at-the-2008-wbc-part-i

part 2: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/334230/monster-gaming-at-the-2008-wbc-part-ii

[krashkart]

This is one of my favorites: Silver Bayonet (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7994/silver-bayonet-the-first-team-in-vietnam-1965). I lost a lot of sleep for it during high school.

[raymond6751]

My fave game is/was Global War by SPI

[Castout]

Looks too big for me. I'm settling for Twilight Struggle from GMT games :DL for cold war theme.

Very good customer service too. They sent me the errata cards via mail without charges even when I didn't buy directly from them. Well it was a 2 something dollar expense but still I must say I'm impressed that they bothered to send these out worldwide upon request free of charge.

[TarJak]

I tried Avalon Hill's the Longest Day full Campaign game once. OMG it was a monster with an estimated playing time of 5400 minutes!

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5651/the-longest-day

The modular scenarios were more manageable and quite fun to play but I gave up on the full blown campaign after about 30 hours of playing. It was just way too biig to be serisously managable for just 2 players and with more the coordination of who was managing what got very complex as well. Shows what a masterpiece of management the actual campaign really was.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

I've always wanted to play a full campaign of this:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/254/empires-in-arms

I'd even take Turkey!!!

EDIT: oops, I strayed off subject

[Raptor1]

I've always wanted to play a full campaign of this:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/254/empires-in-arms

I'd even take Turkey!!!

EDIT: oops, I strayed off subject

There's a computer version of it developed by the same people who are now making the computer version of World in Flames.

[Jimbuna]

I think I've still got Gulf Strike up in the attic somewhere.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2076/gulf-strike

[sergei]

I think I've still got Gulf Strike up in the attic somewhere.

I had that too.
Me and a friend tried to play it once.
Ended up getting lost in a ream of tables and charts.

I had quite a few of those games when I was younger.
I always really liked the idea of playing them.
But with the amount of bookkeeping involved it always ended up as more of an exercise in frustration.

[Oberon]

The only Wargame I've played was:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3027/battle-of-britain

[tater]

I have a huge collection of old wargames. A bunch of science fiction ones, too. (Advanced) Squad Leader was always cool, too.

For you traveller geeks, I always loved 5th Frontier War due to the interesting nature of the turns planned many turns in advance do to communications delays. Fun stuff. I have loads of little "beer and pretzels" minigames, too (Ogre, etc).

[sergei]

(Advanced) Squad Leader was always cool, too.

Now that is a good game.
And if you don't add all the expansions to it, manageable too.
Used to really enjoy playing that. :yep:

I have loads of little "beer and pretzels" minigames, too (Ogre, etc).

I'd forgotten all about those.
Used to play OGRE, GEV and Car Wars a lot.
With a case or 2 of beer.
Happy days :DL

[Skybird]

I think I've still got Gulf Strike up in the attic somewhere.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2076/gulf-strike
That was a very good design, it held its ground for quite some time - but I found it very difficult to handle. even the samller odule Aegean Strike" was difficult to be run with two players. As boardgamegeek says, the design was good enough that it correctly predicted certain strategies and force compositions of the conflicts that later arrived in the region.

Looks too big for me.

Not really, keep in mind that usually you played the modules one at a time, and then map sizes were reasonable and counter number managable. I ran even the fully combined camoaign repeatedly, and it was great fun. I would not rate TWW as a typical "monster game" - Gulf Strike was, or the 12 parts-series by GDW (I think) on WWII. TWW's game system was very user-friendly, easy to handle but still reflecting a good ammount of detail. Gameplay went smooth of the hand. I think that is the reason why it still is so popular.

[Raptor1]

or the 12 parts-series by GDW (I think) on WWII.

If you mean the Europa series, yes.

Does anybody know a good WWI operational wargame that's still in print? Been wanting to get some new board games for a while but never really got around to it.

[Jimbuna]

Any of you Brits play cricket dice when you were younger? :DL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R00CLoA4qqw

[Skybird]

Any of you Brits play cricket dice when you were younger? :DL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R00CLoA4qqw
Cricket - the reason why man has two brain halves. One is an empty slot for programming Cricket's rules into it - but only if the host is found to be worthy. :88)

In other words: either you understand Cricket, or you're 50% a dud. :D

[Oberon]

Cricket - the reason why man has two brain halves. One is an empty slot for programming Cricket's rules into it - but only if the host is found to be worthy. :88)

In other words: either you understand Cricket, or you're 50% a dud. :D

:haha::up:

[Jimbuna]

Cricket - the reason why man has two brain halves. One is an empty slot for programming Cricket's rules into it - but only if the host is found to be worthy. :88)

In other words: either you understand Cricket, or you're 50% a dud. :D


LOL :DL

[krashkart]

I have a huge collection of old wargames. A bunch of science fiction ones, too. (Advanced) Squad Leader was always cool, too.

For you traveller geeks, I always loved 5th Frontier War due to the interesting nature of the turns planned many turns in advance do to communications delays. Fun stuff. I have loads of little "beer and pretzels" minigames, too (Ogre, etc).

Did did did you just say... Traveller?? :o

:sunny:

I never could get anyone to play that with me. Invested probably a hundred bucks into it. :-?

But I did create a lot of nice ships and vehicles with Fire, Fusion & Steel (pssst... And a 40mm sniper rifle). :yeah:

[tater]

Did did did you just say... Traveller?? :o

:sunny:

I never could get anyone to play that with me. Invested probably a hundred bucks into it. :-?

But I did create a lot of nice ships and vehicles with Fire, Fusion & Steel (pssst... And a 40mm sniper rifle). :yeah:

I still have every single GDW traveller product in boxes in my closet. Every little black book, every JTAS, all the games. Heck, I even helped on some of the new stuff (I was not a virus fan, but the gearhead stuff (brilliant lances, etc) was intriguing).

[Skybird]

Traveller...? I still have the original German rulebook somewhere...

[krashkart]

I still have every single GDW traveller product in boxes in my closet. Every little black book, every JTAS, all the games. Heck, I even helped on some of the new stuff (I was not a virus fan, but the gearhead stuff (brilliant lances, etc) was intriguing).

Sounds like your collection is far, far greater than mine. My shelf is holding seven books right now, and I might have a couple more stashed away in a box somewhere. FF&S, Pocket Empires, Starships and the rulebook all have a few loose pages in them. :up:

Which parts of the new stuff did you help out on? :DL


Traveller...? I still have the original German rulebook somewhere...

When you say 'the original' do you mean the first 1977 edition? I came across one that had been printed sometime early-80's IIRC, but opted for the T4 rulebook instead.

[Skybird]

The first German version of the rulebook available I mean: 2nd unchanged edition, German release 1986. Not the later Traveller rule expansions.

[tater]

A few of use (rec.traveller types) helped on Fire, Fusion, and Steel and some other "gearhead" stuff.

Was funny, we started out liking the Brilliant Lances feel of "submarines in space" with trying not to be detected being important...

Then we did the math.

Space combat then became easier since hiding in space is basically impossible with the assumption of ships using many megawatts of power (since all of it must be radiated or the ship becomes an oven). Even with ridiculously efficient, directional radiators, traveller ships are "naked-eye" bright objects in IR at some large multiple of engagement ranges.