Twenty Years at the Blitz

[Mr Grumpy]

Great post...........

I have been at the club for 20 years also, my gaming history is very similar to yours, I always wanted to love those monster paper map, cardboard counter games, but time, space and lack of opponents always meant I experienced that same frustration to the point I gave up gaming for years.
However an article in a PC magazine reviewing Smolensk 41 made me realize that moving these hex based games onto a PC made it possible to indulge in my hobby again with my first purchase being Sicily 43.

I found myself agreeing with all your observations on the various aspects of these games, 20 years experience of PBEM gaming certainly does teach you a thing or two!! 

I will say that as far as teamgames go, if I am going to commit to a huge campaign I will only do so with players I know have a good grasp of the game system, of course players of differing abilities can really bring a teamgame to life and add an extra layer of intrigue, but really inexperienced players can also make some huge rookie blunders and a lot of time committed can again end in frustration.

As for the Blitz, yes you are correct that the forum traffic has dropped away sharply over the last few years, as Ian points out the fact that WDS now has its own forum and various social media platforms have splintered a small community looking for PBEM games, however lack of posts on forum should not be taken as a lack of activity regarding PBEM games, we are still experiencing a lot of games reported at the club and for those players who like the idea of registering their games and earning ladder points the Blitz is still one of the best places to interact with on the web for the last 25 years!