There are some freebies from Dwarfstar Games, although they aren't strictly wargames.  They will give a decent feel for those, however, as they are hex-and-chit only much simpler.

I shed a tear of nostalgia for Advanced Squad Leader.

Nothing quite like playing the Stalingrad grand campaign.


I doubt I will ever get a chance to do that again.





And Star Fleet Battles. Mmmmmm....Cruisers, carriers, fighters, missiles--multiwarhead missiles!  So many counters.


I miss my beloved Killerhawk Romulan Superheavy Cruiser

Quote from: Doom;555667Hex-and-chit games are basically old school, and died out for good reason: it's so much easier to just have the computer do all that stuff, at least once you get past a certain complexity level.

They didn't die out just became a small niche hobby. There are still companies producing hex and counter wargames.

Quote from: estar;576061They didn't die out just became a small niche hobby. There are still companies producing hex and counter wargames.

Luckily, the internet makes it incredibly easy to find them.

Heh, the current events page hasn't been modified since 2011.

For ASL, go here:
http://www.multimanpublishing.com/Products/tabid/58/CategoryID/4/Default.aspx

Lol, wargames were always a niche hobby!

Hex & Counter are not "dead" by means, and there are actually more of them published and in print now than ever before.  It's a common misconception by non-wargamers or former wargamers who haven't kept up.

Consider this, in just the last 12 months, all of the following have been published:


Nuklear Winter '68
"The former German territory, transformed into a wasteland by the nuclear holocaust that ended the Second World War in 1946, is the hostile setting of a new conflict between old enemies clenched in a struggle for the future of mankind.

Surviving Nazi leaders and Wehrmacht forces resurface in 1968 from underground shelters to rebuild an empire from the ashes of the world. Oblivious of the climatic, technological and political changes inflicted by more than 20 years of nuclear winter, they are about to face the mysterious Black Hand - elusive, abhorrent masters of the wastes, and the combined might of the modern, highly mechanized and versatile NATO alliance."
http://www.locknloadgame.com/Section_Cat_Content_Detail.asp?SCAT=91&SID=33&ID=105




Heroes of the Gap
"Heroes of the Gap, is a complete Lock ‘n Load module (you need nothing else to play), which brings the Lock ‘n Load system to the environs of Eisenbach, Germany on the first day of World War III. No, this is NOT a World at War series game, but it does take place in the universe created by World at War. This is pure, impulse-driven, tanks vs. tank, squad vs. squad, leader vs. leader, RPD vs. M60, Lock ‘n Load system gaming."

http://www.locknloadgame.com/Section_Cat_Content_Detail.asp?SCAT=83&SID=33&ID=96




Forgotten Heroes

"Lock 'N Load: Forgotten Heroes Vietnam is a fast moving, fun to play, tactical level game of small unit actions in the Vietnam War. While players will find it to be an accurate depiction of squad level combat you won't have to wade through a hundred pages of rules to play. In fact, you'll be up and playing after reading less than a dozen pages of rules!"

http://www.locknloadgame.com/Section_Cat_Content_Detail.asp?SCAT=83&SID=33&ID=91




 Combat Commander: Resistance!

"Combat Commander: Resistance! (or CC:R) expands upon Combat Commander: Europe and Combat Commander: Mediterranean by adding partisans and their war behind the front lines. This fourth volume of the Combat Commander wargame series features special rules and components for fighting with Partisan forces against the Axis nations of Europe."

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-329-combat-commander-resistance.aspx




Fighting Formations Grossdeutschland Division

"Fighting Formations is a fledgling series of games, which will focus on several battles of various individual formations during World War II. The first title in the series is "Grossdeutschland Infantry Division." Future titles aren't yet set in stone but could be devoted to other famous divisions (Big Red One), Corps (Afrika Korps), regiments (442nd RCT), Commando troops, Ranger battalions, etc."

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-357-fighting-formations-gd-infantry-div.aspx




Next War: Korea

"Sixty years of tense, uneasy peace are shattered as the Korean Peninsula erupts in renewed warfare. One historically, ethnically, and culturally homogeneous people polarized and separated by superpower politics and economics hurl men, weapons, and material into the maelstrom of modern combat in an attempt to settle their arbitrary division once and for all.
From Pyongyang in North Korea to Busan in the South, the war rages. In a scene reminiscent of the first attack by the In Min Gun in 1950, the North Korean People’s Army surges across the Demilitarized Zone and penetrates deep into South Korea."

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-306-next-war-korea.aspx




Red Winter

"Red Winter: The Soviet Attack at Tolvajärvi, Finland, December 8-12, 1939
It is the winter of 1939 and the Soviet Union has just declared war on Finland. Bombers unleash a downpour of destruction on the Finnish capital of Helsinki. In the David and Goliath struggle that follows, the Russians
swarm across the border and push back the Finns in victory after victory. The future appears grim for Finnish independence."

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-270-red-winter.aspx






I didn't bother to list all the Hex & Counter expansions printed this year, any such "magazine games", all the Hex & Counter games to be released before the end of the year, or even any games from any other companies besides LNL & GMT!  

Wargames of all sorts are doing better now than ever before.



Also, for a new player, I'd recommend:

Manoeuvre and Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear are wargames with some more casual boardgame sensibilities.

Battles of Westeros brings tactical gaming to George Martin's Game of Thrones setting.  The game uses figures as well as counters, but the difference is purely cosmetic, it's the same kind of game.

Nations At War: White Star Rising Is a very simple version of the more "hardcore"-type of wargame.

These are all newer, easy to get, and should give a good taste of what this style of game offers.
I could make better recommendations if I new what type of conflict interested you more and if you preferred Tactical or Operational games.



If you are looking for other wargamers, your best options are:

BoardGameGeek
ConSimWorld
Meetup.com
VASSAL
Facebook (Yes, really.  There are dedicated pages for specific games.)

ooo, I think I want that Daum Jeonjeng one!

I can put all the time I spent studying the CONPLANs to some good use then lol.

I dunno. I was just at Heat of Battle, a WWII games convention held at the National WWII museum in New Orleans (even ran a Tide of Iron game and gave a presentation).

Lots of greybeards, a good amount of miniatures. This is a very well run convention, and there were certainly games being played, even had reps from Wargaming.net there.

Whole convention had 2 chit board wargames set up. They were big'ns mind you, but also nobody was playing them, just set up so someone could.

That doesn't prove it's dying by any means, but if you're hard pressed to play a hex-and-chit game at a WWII gaming convention, with Squad Leader being the 500 lb poster boy for games like that, I just can't believe that genre  is thriving.

It does seem to be almost purely online these days (mostly via VASSAL).

I don't really know why.

Quote from: SJBenoist;577414It does seem to be almost purely online these days (mostly via VASSAL).

I don't really know why.

As a translation of the play-by-mail tradition of the (wargaming) hobby, maybe?

In any case, I want to play some wargames again. Hex-and-chit, AND miniatures.
I'm actually considering building my own custom sand table right now.

re: gamessquad forums
these are the most important ASL forums, alongside being a reasonable spot for other games.

ADD: IMHO Panzer general is NOT a wargame, but a puzzle game.

Quote from: Benoist;577424As a translation of the play-by-mail tradition of the (wargaming) hobby, maybe?

In any case, I want to play some wargames again. Hex-and-chit, AND miniatures.
I'm actually considering building my own custom sand table right now.

Probably.

If Operational games are your thing, with VASSAL, you don't have to have a secure chamber to keep the map & hundreds of counters safe from Cat, Child, & Wife from week-to-week while we play the game on Sundays.  Nor does it take 20 minutes to setup.  PBEM is pretty good here.

For Tactical games (specifically, Tactical with Opportunity Fire) VASSAL plays real-time, and with Skype, it's pretty close to a face-to-face experience.

There is also the rise of truly "solo" wargames in the past 8-10 years.  By that I mean games actually designed for just one human player (as opposed to the old way of playing both sides to the best of your ability).  I don't suppose you would see those guys anywhere but home.

It could also be people moving away from each other.  My two most regular opponents started as FtF, but both now live 60+ miles from me now.  We still play, but only online.

Lastly, I've seen a real change in the current generation of wargamers (still typically 30+ in age) in that the love of history doesn't seem to be there, it's more about the game now.  With historic minis games, like DBM or FoW, waning badly, a lot of guys just go to regular boardgame conventions to play, IME.

One big change is the lack of (varsity) wargaming clubs.