- Joined
- Sep 4, 2019
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- First Name
- Andrew
Good afternoon all
So as some of you know I did a bit of wargaming in my youf - a bit 1/72 & 1/300 WW2, plus Warhammer Fantasy in quite a big way (none of the 40K stuff, as it didn't exist).
However, the one thing I really got into was board wargaming - usually the hex and counter variety - most of which were published by a US company called Avalon Hill.
In most cases, if not all, the Avalon Hill games also contain designer notes and some in-depth historical background info. Most are from their 'Bookcase Game' range, the idea being the boxes were small enough to fit on a bookcase and so take up less room than a lot of game boxes you see.
My mum is the process of downsizing and so all of my games have come down from her loft after 25+ years and are now back with me. I've thrown some of the cheap and nasty non-Avalon Hill games away though, Junior has shown a bit of interest and so we're playing one of the one-player games now.
I thought I'd share them along with a bit of background info in case you're interested.
All the best.
Andrew
----------------------
Panzer Blitz (PB), Panzer Leader (PL), Arab-Israeli Wars (AIW)
Rise and fall of the Third Reich & The Russian Campaign
These aren't part of a 'series' and used fixed maps of actual locations.
Third Reich, as it's name is recreation of the conflict affecting all of Europe, including well past Moscow, as well as the Middle East and the very top of North Africa. It's very much at a strategic level, covering air, sea and land - with unit's perhaps roughly equivalent to entire Army Groups. Neutral countries and Axis Allies are all catered for. Reinforcements are often determined by your countries production, which can be affected by things such as conquered countries and the effect of the U-boat wolf packs. It also has a political angle that, for example, can see Spain or Turkey join the war and France's north African colonies become Free French, rather than Vichy.
The Russian Campaign, I didn't play much but if I recall is a divisional level game - obviously set on the Eastern Front.
Below is the Third Reich map, along with the German, British and French counters.
Squad Leader
As it's name suggests was a small unit game - infantry squads, individual NCOs and officers, individual weapons and vehicles. It used used geomorphic boards upon which a hex nominally represents 40m. It was set on the Eastern and NWE 44-45 (US only). There were three expansions covering 1939-41 with full for UK and France at that time, as well as expanding the US, German and Soviet Orbats.
Advanced Squad Leader
As you may guess, the principle is the same as Squad Leader but completely rewritten, albeit it did reuse the boards from Squad Leader in some scenarios. You had to buy the rules on their own, which was unusual for Avalon Hill (£50+ at the time). You then either bough a nice little starter module (US Paras vs Germans in Normandy) or the Eastern Front set - full Russian and German Orbat, which is how I started. There are around around 15 expansions games covering various parts of WW2, of which I have four. To say the rules are complicated is an understatement and the come in a A4 binder so you could update them as necessary......
Below are some boards, along with some counters. Plus a box that contains nothing but counters.....plus the mammoth rule set
One-player
Avalon Hill published some one player games of which I got three. Junior and I are currently playing the B17 one, as it's pretty simply by Avalon Hill standards..
Napoleonic games (non-Avalon Hill)
The Napoleonic era was also a big passion and so I have a couple of games covering that. One for the Waterloo campaign and one for Napoleon's 1809 campaign on the Danube - not a small map at 2m long......
Statis Pro (American Football)
Not everything I got was war related. This one was their NFL American Football game. After each season they released the squads for that year and so I had 1986 - 1989 player rosters. As you can see I took it quite seriously and I'd keep a coloured coded play-by-play record for each game, so I could work out the stats at the end of the game.
So as some of you know I did a bit of wargaming in my youf - a bit 1/72 & 1/300 WW2, plus Warhammer Fantasy in quite a big way (none of the 40K stuff, as it didn't exist).
However, the one thing I really got into was board wargaming - usually the hex and counter variety - most of which were published by a US company called Avalon Hill.
In most cases, if not all, the Avalon Hill games also contain designer notes and some in-depth historical background info. Most are from their 'Bookcase Game' range, the idea being the boxes were small enough to fit on a bookcase and so take up less room than a lot of game boxes you see.
My mum is the process of downsizing and so all of my games have come down from her loft after 25+ years and are now back with me. I've thrown some of the cheap and nasty non-Avalon Hill games away though, Junior has shown a bit of interest and so we're playing one of the one-player games now.
I thought I'd share them along with a bit of background info in case you're interested.
All the best.
Andrew
----------------------
Panzer Blitz (PB), Panzer Leader (PL), Arab-Israeli Wars (AIW)
- PB started the series and is set on the Eastern front. Published c.1970.
- PL is NWE 44-45 (German, US & British/Commonwealth), with the rules increasing in complexity.
- AIW is the pinnacle of the series and covers all the major Arab-Israeli Conflicts (56, 67 & 73), meaning it covers everything from old WW2 surplus stock to the latest US tanks of the time. The rules are very complicated in comparison to PB and includes AT missiles, helicopters and jet aircraft. This is the game that got me started on board games, after a friend up the road got it and played it with me. The game was published in 1977 but intriguingly it had one 'what if' scenario set in the future......that scenario was a hypothetical Israeli invasion of Lebanon!!
- All games are platoon/battery/troop level games, where a hex nominally represents 250m of terrain. All use four generic geomorphic boards - which can be linked up with each other in myriad different ways
Rise and fall of the Third Reich & The Russian Campaign
These aren't part of a 'series' and used fixed maps of actual locations.
Third Reich, as it's name is recreation of the conflict affecting all of Europe, including well past Moscow, as well as the Middle East and the very top of North Africa. It's very much at a strategic level, covering air, sea and land - with unit's perhaps roughly equivalent to entire Army Groups. Neutral countries and Axis Allies are all catered for. Reinforcements are often determined by your countries production, which can be affected by things such as conquered countries and the effect of the U-boat wolf packs. It also has a political angle that, for example, can see Spain or Turkey join the war and France's north African colonies become Free French, rather than Vichy.
The Russian Campaign, I didn't play much but if I recall is a divisional level game - obviously set on the Eastern Front.
Below is the Third Reich map, along with the German, British and French counters.
Squad Leader
As it's name suggests was a small unit game - infantry squads, individual NCOs and officers, individual weapons and vehicles. It used used geomorphic boards upon which a hex nominally represents 40m. It was set on the Eastern and NWE 44-45 (US only). There were three expansions covering 1939-41 with full for UK and France at that time, as well as expanding the US, German and Soviet Orbats.
Advanced Squad Leader
As you may guess, the principle is the same as Squad Leader but completely rewritten, albeit it did reuse the boards from Squad Leader in some scenarios. You had to buy the rules on their own, which was unusual for Avalon Hill (£50+ at the time). You then either bough a nice little starter module (US Paras vs Germans in Normandy) or the Eastern Front set - full Russian and German Orbat, which is how I started. There are around around 15 expansions games covering various parts of WW2, of which I have four. To say the rules are complicated is an understatement and the come in a A4 binder so you could update them as necessary......
Below are some boards, along with some counters. Plus a box that contains nothing but counters.....plus the mammoth rule set
One-player
Avalon Hill published some one player games of which I got three. Junior and I are currently playing the B17 one, as it's pretty simply by Avalon Hill standards..
Napoleonic games (non-Avalon Hill)
The Napoleonic era was also a big passion and so I have a couple of games covering that. One for the Waterloo campaign and one for Napoleon's 1809 campaign on the Danube - not a small map at 2m long......
Statis Pro (American Football)
Not everything I got was war related. This one was their NFL American Football game. After each season they released the squads for that year and so I had 1986 - 1989 player rosters. As you can see I took it quite seriously and I'd keep a coloured coded play-by-play record for each game, so I could work out the stats at the end of the game.
They might be collectible now.
