ED'S WARGAME MUSEUM
Finding ourselves local and not among those who had made the trip to the Historicon Convention last week, a friend and I decided on short notice to get together and "do something." Not having the time to pull out and configure a miniatures game, this presented a golden opportunity to revisit some good ole hex-and-counter play. This provided me the opportunity to pull out some likely suspects from my collection and revisit them. Life interrupted, unfortunately, and our gaming session did not come to pass. What I did get to do, though, was organize the bits more, download some good supplemental material from board game geek, and revisit these games in general. You may note that they are all from another time--from the pre-activation roll/activation card mechanic era. I do have some contemporary wargames, all of them with activation systems of one stripe or another, none of which I want to play (I wish it were otherwise: I tried!). Such are my preferences. But I digress.
Of course, this collection may look like a display from a wargame museum (if such a thing existed), where perhaps I should also be on display, my OSG Napoleon At Leipzig tucked under arm. The plaque might read, "Hex-and-counter grognard--among creatures known to have actually played Drang Nach Osten/Untenschieden. Now believed extinct."
For the curious or the nostalgic, here's a rundown of the games in the above: Torgau, Crimea, 1815: The Waterloo Campaign, Hundred Days Battles, Friedland, 1807, The Battle of Saratoga, The Battle of Lobositz, The Battle of Prague, The Battle of Dresden, 1813, Eagles, Waterloo, Napoleon's Last Battles. Back in the day, our group used to engage in many enjoyable sessions of these sorts of games--in addition to miniatures (we were a more inclusive lot back then). One of my hobby aims is to get in touch with my hex-and-counter self again: there's plenty of play left in these old hounds!
Excelsior!
An enjoyable trip down memory lane. Look out for Compass Games, they are bringing a number of titles back into print by working with the original designers who still hold the rights to games.
ReplyDeleteI recently picked up the classic 'The African Campaign' (by John Edwards) and The Russian Campaign should be out later this year under the GMT label.
Compass Games’ remake of a Red Star/White Eagle has been tempting me.
DeleteThanks, Norm. I'm always interested in new possibilities. I'll keep an eye out.
DeleteYou have some classics, Ed. Although I have not played HDB in decades, I bet I could pick up the game again quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhile I did not play DNO/UNT, I have played their successors FITE/SE. That should raise one to grognard stature too.
I agree, Jonathan--I'll make room for you in the grognard display next to me :)
DeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Although I dumped my original collection along the way (sometime in the late 80's or early 90s) with a career change and coincident rise of the internet I began to re-acquire these favorites through sources like ebay, board game geek's marketplace, and the reseller Noble Knight Games.
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