Quote from: flyingmiceIf you replace "Since I got married" with "Since I moved to the suburbs" you have my past relationship with wargames pretty much nailed down too.

-clash

Yea, then having kids put the nails in the wargame coffin for me.  Once they are both school age, I hope to have time for the occasional game, but I don't see myself playing any huge games (EIA, F&E) until they're in college.

Quote from: NicephorusYea, then having kids put the nails in the wargame coffin for me.  Once they are both school age, I hope to have time for the occasional game, but I don't see myself playing any huge games (EIA, F&E) until they're in college.

I used to think that, but I was lying to myself. My boy Klaxon is in college and nothing has changed.



-clash

Huh. I  think it would be a bit easier for me to do wargaming these days than RPGs. At least provided I limited myself to stuff like microgames, scenario-type games, &c. Fewer people to coordinate, less prep, can even be done fairly easily online without losing nearly as much of the experience. But I've chosen to concentrate on RPGs for a while.

The one thing that RPGs have over wargames is that when it comes to meeting strangers (which is what I've had to do), I'm more comfortable in a group.

Quote from: flyingmiceI used to think that, but I was lying to myself. My boy Klaxon is in college and nothing has changed.



-clash

I just got married and am now an expectant father...don't harsh my mellow, man!  

Seriously, I have also encountered a growing lack of time to game.  It has been a downward post-college spiral, but it has meant that I am getting *very* picky about my gaming.

Like Elliot, I still mostly play RPGs, but the call of the lead is sometimes too strong to resist.  I have never been a big boardgamer, but I suspect that one advantage of miniatures is that you set them up, blow things up, and put your toys away.  It is easier than setting up a monster boardgame and trying to finish it before the cat walks all over it.  


TGA

Quote from: flyingmiceI loved Victory in the Pacific as a strategic level game. I created a number of board games which shall never see the light of day based on it's mechanics. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who is into war games any more, and thus they languish in the recesses of my closet, untouched.

-clash

Hey Clash,

Btw, what Age of Sail games have you enjoyed?  Do you usually use ship miniatures when playing In Harm's Way?


TGA

Quote from: The Good AssyrianI just got married and am now an expectant father...don't harsh my mellow, man!  

Seriously, I have also encountered a growing lack of time to game.  It has been a downward post-college spiral, but it has meant that I am getting *very* picky about my gaming.

Like Elliot, I still mostly play RPGs, but the call of the lead is sometimes too strong to resist.  I have never been a big boardgamer, but I suspect that one advantage of miniatures is that you set them up, blow things up, and put your toys away.  It is easier than setting up a monster boardgame and trying to finish it before the cat walks all over it.  


TGA

Well, it's more the "need to leave it out until it's finished" nature of wargames* than lack of time that impacts my playing time. I have plenty of time to run RPGs - I'm currently running one face to face and two IRC games. With RPGs, I just slip the sheets back in the folder and file it when the day is done. I don't need to keep the state live. If I had more space, that might be different.

-clash

* and lack of people to play it with, though if the space problem was solved, I could recruit...

Screw all of you chumps...

The Hunt for Red October on the Amiga is the ultimate naval wargame.

"Set course for America... engage the stealth drive."
"Aye sir!"
*Nothing happens for six hours*
"Aaaiiiiiieeee!  A battle ship!"
*submarine explodes*

Quote from: The Good AssyrianHey Clash,

Btw, what Age of Sail games have you enjoyed?  Do you usually use ship miniatures when playing In Harm's Way?


TGA

HoO, FASB, P&G, and SotL. I've never played a full game of any one of them, but I tried out portions of all of these and liked them.

I don't have any minis for ships - I generally use something of the right proportions or paper cutouts if needed. Then again, my most complex battle so far was between 2 ship sloops, a brig and a schooner on one hand (PCs) and a frigate and a ship sloop on the other, and the IHW:NN rules worked fine. OTOH I found minis so invaluable for playing Aces in Spades that I created 2 3D paper-cutout-and-glue planes for the game.

-clash

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalScrew all of you chumps...

The Hunt for Red October on the Amiga is the ultimate naval wargame.

"Set course for America... engage the stealth drive."
"Aye sir!"
*Nothing happens for six hours*
"Aaaiiiiiieeee!  A battle ship!"
*submarine explodes*

/me is an old Amiga hand as well - still have 3 of them, and the emulator running on my PC.



-clash

Clash & TGA, maybe we can try doing some naval boardgaming via one of the computer-assisted gameboards like Aide de Camp, VASSAL, or Cyberboard.

Even if not, I think one of the keys is to just not play the big games/scenarios. A one-on-one frigate fight in WS&IM is a brief affair and lots of fun due to the simultaneous movement rules. And if you can get your hands on any of the old Metagaming or SJG microgames, those are also single-afternoon affairs. Metagaming even published three naval games that I can think of: Fire When Ready (pre-dreadnought), Ram Speed (ancients, not sure if it also covers medieval/renaissance galleys), and Command at Sea (WWII Pacific; not the same as the Clash of Arms game). I didn't care for CaS, so I sold it (basically a miniatures game, which would be fine, but I thought it lacked substance and was too fiddly at the same time). The other two should be pretty easy to pick up and play quickly, though to be honest I've done no more than skim the rules.

I'd love to, Elliot!

-clash

Okay, check this out:

WS&IM
Victory at Midway (was published in Command Magazine, seems like a manageable carrier game)
War at Sea
Victory in the Pacific
Submarine

If you own any of those, we could use VASSAL. I like that as an option as I sometimes use a Mac, sometimes a PC.

Here are a couple of Cyberboard links: 1 2

I didn't see as many naval titles for Cyberboard. Note that the second page also has links for many other pbem systems, some free, some not.

Quote from: Elliot WilenClash & TGA, maybe we can try doing some naval boardgaming via one of the computer-assisted gameboards like Aide de Camp, VASSAL, or Cyberboard.

Thanks, Elliot!  I am willing to give it a try.  I have a Mac, but you mentioned that you also use one at least some of the time.  I'll PM you and Clash with my contact info and we can see what we can put together.  You'll also have to be patient with me as I have never played most of these boardgames.


TGA

Quote from: flyingmice/me is an old Amiga hand as well - still have 3 of them, and the emulator running on my PC.

Amiga? Feh - kids these days. Commodore 64 was the shiznit. Played Red Storm Rising so many times I wore the label off the disc from flipping it over so many times.

Ah, the good old days.

And Harpoon was my choice for tabletop (well, gymnasium-floor-top) and computer naval gaming for a long time. I also liked PHM Pegasus for the C-64, an early Lucasarts game.

Quote from: Elliot WilenOkay, check this out:

WS&IM
Victory at Midway (was published in Command Magazine, seems like a manageable carrier game)
War at Sea
Victory in the Pacific
Submarine

If you own any of those, we could use VASSAL. I like that as an option as I sometimes use a Mac, sometimes a PC.

Here are a couple of Cyberboard links: 1 2

I didn't see as many naval titles for Cyberboard. Note that the second page also has links for many other pbem systems, some free, some not.

Holy cow, I remember seeing all those AH games on the wall at the FIRST game store I ever gamed at, way back in the day.

Meeeeeeemereeeeesssss... light the corners of my miiiinnnndddd...