Do I have a life?
I've always been pretty much a reclusive nerd. Although I'm rapidly approaching 40, I still am interested in geeky stuff like wargaming, role-playing games, Star Wars, astronomy etc. This goes back a long way, back into the teenage ooze of my mind, remarkably unharmed by over 20 years of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Will I ever grow up? Probably (and also hopefully) not.
I came to this realization when chatting recently with my good friend, Tony Bochicchio, when I brought up the subject of wargaming, specifically manual wargaming, without a computer. Tony was always a big Avalon Hill Squad Leader fan, and I mentioned that I used to play an Avalon Hill game called Richthofen's War, which was a WWI aviation wargame. We agreed that one point where computers do have an advantage is in the area of flight simulation, which is tricky on a two-dimensional board, as you have to keep constant track of the altitude and attitude of each plane. It is akin to manual air traffic control. The one problem that folks like Tony and I always had (and have) is finding like-minded souls to sacrifice their free-time simulating the what-if scenarios of the past.
One board game that I suggested to Tony is Avalon Hill's Battle Cry, a relatively simple yet elegant US Civil War game. The official site for this game is here, and another good site for Battle Cry can be found here.
Another comrade, Kevin Brocker, once commented that these games really are bored games, which may apply to more frivolous pursuits such as Monopoly. These simulations, however, are a way of looking at history to see how the warmakers made their decisions. Ken Madison, retired ISU history professor, actually required us to wargame the pivotal Battle of Hastings in his proto-class on Ancient and Medieval Warfare in the early 1990's.
I came to this realization when chatting recently with my good friend, Tony Bochicchio, when I brought up the subject of wargaming, specifically manual wargaming, without a computer. Tony was always a big Avalon Hill Squad Leader fan, and I mentioned that I used to play an Avalon Hill game called Richthofen's War, which was a WWI aviation wargame. We agreed that one point where computers do have an advantage is in the area of flight simulation, which is tricky on a two-dimensional board, as you have to keep constant track of the altitude and attitude of each plane. It is akin to manual air traffic control. The one problem that folks like Tony and I always had (and have) is finding like-minded souls to sacrifice their free-time simulating the what-if scenarios of the past.
One board game that I suggested to Tony is Avalon Hill's Battle Cry, a relatively simple yet elegant US Civil War game. The official site for this game is here, and another good site for Battle Cry can be found here.
Another comrade, Kevin Brocker, once commented that these games really are bored games, which may apply to more frivolous pursuits such as Monopoly. These simulations, however, are a way of looking at history to see how the warmakers made their decisions. Ken Madison, retired ISU history professor, actually required us to wargame the pivotal Battle of Hastings in his proto-class on Ancient and Medieval Warfare in the early 1990's.
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