Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
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- jztemple2
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Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
... by me .
While I was checking out the newly released Victoria II: Heart of Darkness on Steam, something tickled my memory. I thought a little, scratched my head (or some other part of my anatomy) and realized that fifty years ago, in the spring of 1963, I played my first wargame. It was Tactics II by Avalon Hill, and while the game had been bought by my older brother, it soon became mine . I was a board wargamer for the next thirty years until I finally gave into the computer era. I sold most of my boardgames but I did hold onto my copies of Strategy & Tactics, The General and Moves magazines from the 70' and 80's.
Oh, and I figure that it's too late to redeem this coupon?
While I was checking out the newly released Victoria II: Heart of Darkness on Steam, something tickled my memory. I thought a little, scratched my head (or some other part of my anatomy) and realized that fifty years ago, in the spring of 1963, I played my first wargame. It was Tactics II by Avalon Hill, and while the game had been bought by my older brother, it soon became mine . I was a board wargamer for the next thirty years until I finally gave into the computer era. I sold most of my boardgames but I did hold onto my copies of Strategy & Tactics, The General and Moves magazines from the 70' and 80's.
Oh, and I figure that it's too late to redeem this coupon?
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
- silverjon
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Re: Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
It has an expiry date right on it, so I'd say you wouldn't have had a hope of redeeming it in 1982, even.
wot?
To be fair, adolescent power fantasy tripe is way easier to write than absurd existential horror, and every community has got to start somewhere... right?
Unless one loses a precious thing, he will never know its true value. A little light finally scratches the darkness; it lets the exhausted one face his shattered dream and realize his path cannot be walked. Can man live happily without embracing his wounded heart?
To be fair, adolescent power fantasy tripe is way easier to write than absurd existential horror, and every community has got to start somewhere... right?
Unless one loses a precious thing, he will never know its true value. A little light finally scratches the darkness; it lets the exhausted one face his shattered dream and realize his path cannot be walked. Can man live happily without embracing his wounded heart?
- coopasonic
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Re: Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
2 digit year, are you so sure which century was intended?silverjon wrote:It has an expiry date right on it, so I'd say you wouldn't have had a hope of redeeming it in 1982, even.
-Coop
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- Smoove_B
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Re: Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
Considering the magazine is still in circulation (albeit not under the same ownership as when that coupon was generated), you might contact them and include a copy of what you have. Perhaps they'll be amused...or possibly frightened. I think it's a pretty nifty piece of gaming history.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
- LawBeefaroni
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Re: Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
Wow, impressive! I think I'm coming up on 33 years of computer/console gaming. Maybe coming up on 25 years of "wargaming" if you count Ogre.
There's a bit of a market for those old S&T mags, not sure about the others. Nice stuff to have.
There's a bit of a market for those old S&T mags, not sure about the others. Nice stuff to have.
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"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton
MYT
"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton
MYT
- MonkeyFinger
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Re: Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
Let us not forget Ares! I've still got all of my issues for the magazines mentioned plus every dang wargame I've owned since I started with PanzerBlitz. Good Lord, that was 1970.jztemple2 wrote:I sold most of my boardgames but I did hold onto my copies of Strategy & Tactics, The General and Moves magazines from the 70' and 80's.
-mf
- Holman
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Re: Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
I date my gaming (and wargaming, since I started with Ogre) from 1979. Holy Cow, that's a lifetime!
Much prefer my Nazis Nuremberged.
- Godzilla Blitz
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Re: Fifty Years Of Wargaming...
We just moved, and I found a box full of my old S&T magazines with games, and I bet a lof them are unpunched. I came *this close* to chucking them in the trash, but at the last second put them in the Ebay/Craigslist pile.LawBeefaroni wrote:There's a bit of a market for those old S&T mags, not sure about the others.
I kept telling myself I'd play the games at some point, but I can't imagine fumbling around with stacks of counters, doing the math in my head, rolling the dice, and calculating line of sight now.