Old Question - New Group

[Herr Straße Laufer]

04-29-2005

What got you into PC Wargaming?

5:30 AM finished off a couple scenarios and sent them off to my opponents. Now I have an empty in box.

(FGM)BlitzCanuck started a thread on the CM message board with the above subject. Thought I'd see what you guys think?

I started on my path to war gaming when I bought Avalon Hills 'Blitzkrieg' for
$3.00 from a friend. After I played it a few times I created my own maps to add new countries and I just loved to play the game solitaire. From there I bought Civil War, Waterloo, Panzer Blitz, Panzer Leader, and Afrika Korps. Along the way I got into miniature war gaming, mostly Napoleonic 25 mm.
Then SPI exploded on the scene with a new generation of war games. I really got into the Napoleon's Last Battles series. Loved the game system.
Avalon Hill was not to be out shown. I got into Squad Leader. Such an incredible game, until they ruined it [IMO] with all the Advanced Squad Leader stuff. What do you mean I can't play my 'old' Squad Leader, I need to buy new rules, etc.? Angry
I also got into Battlefront's/Jaquinto's 'Wings' and 'AirForce Dauntless', WWI and WWII individual airplane combat games.

Later Commodore 64 came out and a friend introduced me to a few titles. I was hooked. Now that I think about it C 64 cost me then about what I paid for my last computer. LOL! My audio chip has more power than the C 64. :grin:

Somehow I stayed with boardgames and miniatures. I even play every Friday night with a few friends. Modern titles are War Without Mercy by Clash of Arms. And Totaler Krieg.

A few years ago a buddy introduced me to Panzer General and then to West Front.
I talked the wife into letting me get a real computer.
I started waking up early and playing late into the night to enjoy both games.
Then I met on-line a guy from Florida who asked if I played EFII PBEM. We played for a few months, then his life took a turn and we stopped playing.
I needed my "fix" so I searched around the internet, joined one club, had a heart attack, did not report a game within the allotted time, and was purged from that club's boot camp.
When I got back on line I searched around and found the Blitz. Eek

I guess my opponents should have sent me turns?

What got you guys into "the game" on PC's?

Ed
_______________________
Interesting blast from the past. I was scrolling through the archives and found this. There are new members who were not around then?



HSL

[Wolfman]

Started on mini's at the age of 12, it was one of my school teachers that introduced me then got into SPI games, I was absolutely gutted when they folded, continued with mini's until I discovered the Commodore Amiga in the mid 80's - there were some great games on there Then when PC's started to come into fashion I went there, I think Talonsofts EF was the first game I bought - I still have the disc

[Boisforas]

I started out with table top Jutland(little minature ships)& then was turned on the Gettysburg in 1960(Yike!)by a friend. Then played all the other AH wargames until PB came along, then PB & AIW. I stayed with those 3 & started making DYS, lots of PBM & and played a few dedicated wargamers at home(whom I still play modified PL/AIW). I was the PL PBM custodian for a short while in the 90s, then I saw TalonSoft at Best Buy one day in 1999 & it was all I'd ever dreamed of for a computerized edition of the AIW/SL systems. I played solitair for another 5 years before I stumble into the Blitz. Looking forward to much more happy computerized gaming.

[Larry Reese]

My mom got tired of all my small plastic soldiers (I even had the Guns of Navarone set, kick ass for a kid let me tell you) and thought she could save space and money by buying me Panzer Blitz for Christmas. I was probably 9 or 10, I don't really know. She was a history buff and even played a few games of it with me (I especially remember playing the Kursk scenario). Then played this game with my friends. got a book on miniatures rules from the library at one point and played some of that, but was too expensive for the miniatures. At same time expanded into Midway, Afrika Korps, and eventually Squad Leader (while I liked this, it simply moved too slow, too much minutiae involved). Then got into computers (built first machine myself with friend). Games were super primative then. Lots of non-strategy games held my fancy on the computer, as well as role playing games, especially Traveller and D&D. Ran into Squad Leader again at The Citadel of all places. Then Civilization - holy cow how addicting that game was, first super out of control computer game I had. Loved M1 Tank Platoon too, for the POS machines then, the programmers did an unbelievable job with that game. Axis & Allies was in there too, probably most addicting non-computer game I've ever played. Lots of folks who wouldn't consider themselves war gamers, or gamers of any sort for that matter, played that because it was so much fun. Then a long time later, after a bad break up with a girl friend, I was nosing around in the games section of a Best Buy and saw East Front on the shelf.

I was hooked. Looked like basically a computerized version of Panzer Blitz. Played solo for a while then started looking on line for opponents. Hooked up with Jim vK, Scott Cole, and others at a place called Lead Eaters. Lots of great gaming there, and email and even IRC/ICQ chats. Then I disappeared for a while, with real life. A few years later, ducked into The Blitz when it first opened up, then dropped off again for awhile. I kind of come and go as life permits. Still like the friends I've made and the gaming system, though I feel it could be so much better (but who has the money to throw into serious modifications/updates to a 15 year old game system with only a tiny following in the market?).

Still wonder where some of the old hands from way back are today. Made some good friends round the world through this place/game.

Take it easy all,

LR

[Kool Kat]

Gents:

I first started into PC war gaming when I purchased an Atari ST computer that plugged into a TV and used 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, back in the late 1970's. I remember playing a couple of WW2 games that dealt with battles in Europe and North Africa. The scale was division size units. Rudimentary graphics and audio, to be sure! Combat was simulated on screen by the divisions "vibrating" and "hitting" each unit with an accompanying audio noise that sounded like someone was striking sheet metal with a hammer! The louder the noise, the more successful was the combat result!

I remember the European battle game depicted the Normandy Invasion (D-Day) and also featured a couple "what if" scenarios. The alternate history scenario I found the most interesting, was one that had Rommel parking an entire SS armored division next to the Normandy landing beaches and watching the Allied invasion get stalled in its tracks.

Ah, the good old days?

I also "dusted off" this thread I posted back in June 2010... since it too addresses Ed's question he poses in this thread.


June 3, 2010

Gents:

I've read a few posts that have dismissed CS as a "mere game" and expressing bewilderment at why a player would be passionate about it.

On the surface, it is hard to explain the attraction for a 12 year old game engine with dated 2D graphics… non-stereo sound… and minimal system operating requirements… only 128MB RAM and 1.5GB free space on the hard disk drive!

There has to be more to it – right?

For me, who has always been interested in WWII military history… and combined arms… it was a “natural” progression from my early war game years of pushing cardboard counter stacks around in Avalon Hill’s Panzerblitz and Panzer Leader board games.

I “discovered” East Front 2 (under the Talonsoft brand) about 10 years ago while browsing the shelves of a local computer software store. I remember how bewildered I was on all the different units, capabilities, and intimidated by the 240 page game manual. In those early years, I played the AI exclusively. I got pretty good at tactics... or so I thought until I discovered the Blitz in 2006, joined and then tried my first H2H play! I got "killed" by my human opponent. Moves and tactics that worked wonderfully against the AI failed miserably against a "live" opponent. Playing against a human opponent, I had to "unlearn" nearly everything that worked well when playing against the AI. But, over time, I worked through it, It took a few more “painful” years of losing a bunch of PBeM matches… before the light bulb went off in my head… and I finally “got it.”

So, for me, I play CS for fun, and relaxation… being able to “explore” a historical era in a unique manner… through the mechanics of a game. But, it really is the fellowship and friends I have met and made over the years as a Blitz member that have made this game “special” for me. If it were not for the other players I have had the privilege to know and play against… I would have left this war game hobby years ago.

So… yes, CS is a “game” … but so much more then a “mere” game!

Play on!

[Von Earlmann]

Rats...I thot it was going to be a halftrack thread :-)
I started playing at a wargaming club in Bath and we had quite a few people then. We played something most every Wed nite and Sunday afternoons. First time I went we played EF by Columbia Games and I enjoyed it so much that when I heard they had a computer version I ordered EF and to my surpise it was a different game from Talonsoft. I hated it at first but then as I used it more I became another convert. All the guys I used to play at the shop with are mostly gone now and the only wargaming I get to do now is on the comp. Amazing how loyal the players are to CS and evn more amzing is the fact that I was so frustrated with it initially I almost threw it away.

Guess I'll keep it for a bit longer :-)

VE

[Warhorse]

I love this game so much, I guess because it's so similar to SL/ASL, which I went absolutely berserk with!! I still have ASL, 4 of each module at least, and upwards of 3-4 of each map, I used to play huge solitaire games with modified solitaire rules before they came out with solitaire rules, on a ping-pong table!!! I'll have to post some old pics of these monsters from the late 90's some time when I can scan them. After that, I used ASL rules for 1/285th miniatures, that was cool, then found EF, that was the end of looking for me!! Love modding this series, there is so much to do with it, hope we can squeeze many more years out of it!!

Mike

[Otto von Blotto]

I've always had a thing about German armor of WWII, I used to have many models and diorama's when I was young sadly over the years they got lost in moves or broken but I still have a 1:16 scale remote control tiger that fires little yellow plastic projectiles and a little die cast metal panther and King tiger on my desk by the computer to inspire me as I play.

I was a avid player of Axis and Allies and Avalon hills, Rise and decline of third Reich and also Gettysburg and a few other counter and chip games but I never really got into Panzer blitz, Squad Leader, or ASL for some reason but was doing a lot of ADD at time.

My first computer was a ZX spectrum in the 1980's and played RT Smiths games of Battle of the Bulge, Arnhem and Vulcan.
Got my first pc in the mid 1990's and dabbled with quite a few games mostly the first panzer general and the computer version of third Reich both of which I played to death many times over.

Then when PGII was just about to come out 1997 I saw an advert for a game called East Front, I had messed around with JT bulge and civil war games a few years before but hadn't quite clicked with them for some reason but this game looked and felt different so I took and chance, got it and was hooked, it has a lot to answer for as I have been playing it's successors ever since.
Like most I started against the AI but after a year or so it started to wain and lose it's luster but in 2000 I joined the frontline pbem club when it started and was hooked afresh and have been playing ever since sadly the frontline club has now gone although I think a few of the old crew are on here. (I went under the name von Helsing and did the handing out of the uniforms and medals for a while you can still see my old uniform page here: http://www.vampire-bat.co.uk/panzer/uniform/lt108.htm ).

I also did some pages about German division deployments that are still knocking about on the web :
http://www.vampire-bat.co.uk/panzer/Panz...isions.htm

I joined the Blitz club in 2008 after being invited by my good friend and long term sparing partner on the frontline Boisforas.

[Scud]

My older brother, Mike (General Lee Ensayne), and I first started wargames with Avalon Hill's Gettysburgh. I remember the two of us wishing there were a way to play it and have all the pieces move automatically. Same thing with Strat-o-Matic Hockey. We actually played the entire 1977-78 season and kept stats. What idiots. I think we finished in just under 10 years. The Islanders won, those b*stards.

In the mid-nineties or so we discovered a PBEM game about the US Civil War from Sierra games. It was pretty good, but would mysteriously bomb and corrupt the games. Sierra's support was typically bad, so we gave up.

Then, near one Christmas in the late 90's we found Talonsoft's East Front II. Just East Front II, wasn't even the whole series (that came later). We started playing each scenario in order. My brother, as always, kept stats. We found a couple of friends to join in, then found warfareHQ.com (now gamesquad.com) and started playing others. I was known over there as Gnrl Confusion, since that site had a limitation on username characters. We added WF and RS and are still working on playing all the stock scenarios. Not sure why anymore, but since we started, well...

When the owner of Gamesquad stopped giving CS much support, we found the Blitz. Mike doesn't come around much, but you might still bump into him in the odd tournament.

That's pretty much it.

Dave

[Big Ivan]

Blitzers

Cut my teeth on Panzerblitz and Jutland back in 1970. Use to setup my Jutland games on the pool table in the basement but found that the scale as provided with the game was not realistic so I made the turn and range template as suggested in the game to real scale and graduated to the basement floor! Blasted the hell out of the High Seas Fleet and Grand Fleet many many times!!

AS for Panzerblitz it was the soul silouette of the Mk-IV that caught my eye and I was hooked since then. Read the rules and played a couple of scenarios against myself. I then told a buddy of mine in Cleveland, OH about the game and he said, lets try it. He was on cloud 9 after our first encounter and we played every scenario in the game at least 8 times I think!! Then much to our chagrin in early '74 I think, PanzerLeader came out!

You thought it was the second coming of the Lord Almighty!! We use to stay up all night playing that game. Eventually we added a couple of friends and 20+ sets of PanzerLeader maps and counters and even interchanged the counters and maps from Panzerblitz for these monumental macrogames on divisional and corps level over months that would quite frankly rip the heart out of any ordinary man! This was circa 1975/76!
From there garduated to SL and ASL which are excellent in their own rite but still a cumbersome board game with counters and house cats that knock them over. Bummer!

But in '98 or '99 EF by Talonsoft on the computer came out and I never looked back to board wargames. "all the fun on an electronic box, quick, convienent and compact at my fingertips, awesome! Truely awesome!!

God help me I do love Wargaming! I do love it so!

Ivan the Big:smoke2::smoke: