In the Beginning...
I bought my first 'wargames' in 1978, while on a family vacation to Florida. I was seven years old, and happened upon them in a discount bin in a "Kay-Bee Toy and Hobby" shop in a mall somewhere near Orlando. For $3.99 each I picked up Victory in the Pacific and D-Day, both by the Avalon Hill Game Company. I had somehow already become fascinated by history, and the promise on these boxes that they would allow "YOU" to decide how to pursue historical objectives and possibly change the outcomes was overwhelmingly attractive to my young mind.
Over the next few decades I amassed a collection of several hundred games, from various companies, many of them purchased at a local store called "Men at Arms Hobbies" on my native Long Island. I would save my 'allowance' for weeks, fervently anticipating talking my parents into the 20-minute drive so I could stand before the tall shelves filled with potential gateways to different times and places.
In what I believe is an all too common experience amongst those similarly inclined, especially those who started as early as I did, I spent most of my time setting up and playing these games by myself, on a card table in my bedroom. My friends generally weren't willing to read what, to them, were voluminous, complicated rules to re-fight some battle that occurred before they were born (though, in all fairness, as teenagers a small group of my friends spent many hours playing some of the simpler, flashier (component-wise) Milton Bradley games like Axis and Allies and Shogun. We also played all kinds of RPGs.)
My dad made several valiant attempts to play with me, but with the responsibilities of adulthood limiting the time he could spend, and his interests really lying with other things, it never became a regular thing (I still remember attempting to explain to him the difference between 'raiding' and 'patrolling' ship mechanics in VITP, and realizing that it would probably be better to just let him move his ships how he wanted if I wished him to keep playing.)
So, most of my wargaming time was spent alone, playing both sides of whichever battle or conflict I had decided. Contrary to how some people look at board gaming, I feel the hobby taught me several useful things, apart from the history: by middle school I knew a lot of European geography, having 'fought' over those countries, rivers and cities numerous times; I also had a decent grasp of some basic statistical math, especially percentages and ratios, as between figuring batting averages for my other main interest, baseball, and manually calculating combat odds, I had plenty of experience.
One of the main things I got out of my solitary gaming sessions, however, were the stories. While working out the most efficient answers to strategic and tactical problems was definitely part of the allure, what I think I really responded to was imagining the people caught up in these tabletop conflagrations. The heroic stands, desperate gambits or hopeless bumbling of subordinate units intrigued me no end. This, I suspect, is why I've never had the issues some gamers have with "the damn RNG." Having a regiment hold a hilltop position against a 10-1 melee charge or an HMG squad completely miss the stack of enemies moving across clear terrain two hexes away (or worse, having the HMG 'malfunction') because of the roll of the dice was a satisfying result due to story that it told about the resilience of human beings or the fickleness of fate. I would happily imagine what had caused such unanticipated results, and felt very little irritation at the consequences for my 'plans,' as that was all part of the fun. Of course, I suppose it helped that, since I was mostly playing both sides, I was always going to 'win' regardless. And, the more reading I did about history in general, and military history in particular, the more I came to learn how often pivotal events really did turn on such 'low percentage' happenings.
Obviously, the advent of computer wargaming has been a boon to gamers like me. Not only can we now play by ourselves without necessarily playing both sides, but we can experience 'Fog of War' and the uncertainties and chaos that represents, creating even more fertile ground for surprising and compelling stories. Thus, this incredibly long-winded post is meant as an introduction to what I'll be trying to do on this site: use wargames to tell some, hopefully, entertaining stories.
I don't generally have time or space to set up many board wargames these days, but with a PC on hand, I hope to be able to spin some nice yarns based on what occurs in these games. Because of the more personal level and 'cinematic' bent, I intend to begin with the Lock and Load Tactical system, as I think it lends itself well to generating these kinds of stories, but I plan to try it with other games as well.
If you visit this blog, I hope you enjoy the alternate realities created here as much as I do.
[Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of companies whose games may appear here as inspiration for these stories, and any images, unless otherwise noted, are from my own personal gaming sessions. I do not own the rights, except through a standard user license, to the settings, systems art or rulesets depicted, which remain the property the various authors, developers or publishers thereof.]
Over the next few decades I amassed a collection of several hundred games, from various companies, many of them purchased at a local store called "Men at Arms Hobbies" on my native Long Island. I would save my 'allowance' for weeks, fervently anticipating talking my parents into the 20-minute drive so I could stand before the tall shelves filled with potential gateways to different times and places.
In what I believe is an all too common experience amongst those similarly inclined, especially those who started as early as I did, I spent most of my time setting up and playing these games by myself, on a card table in my bedroom. My friends generally weren't willing to read what, to them, were voluminous, complicated rules to re-fight some battle that occurred before they were born (though, in all fairness, as teenagers a small group of my friends spent many hours playing some of the simpler, flashier (component-wise) Milton Bradley games like Axis and Allies and Shogun. We also played all kinds of RPGs.)
My dad made several valiant attempts to play with me, but with the responsibilities of adulthood limiting the time he could spend, and his interests really lying with other things, it never became a regular thing (I still remember attempting to explain to him the difference between 'raiding' and 'patrolling' ship mechanics in VITP, and realizing that it would probably be better to just let him move his ships how he wanted if I wished him to keep playing.)
So, most of my wargaming time was spent alone, playing both sides of whichever battle or conflict I had decided. Contrary to how some people look at board gaming, I feel the hobby taught me several useful things, apart from the history: by middle school I knew a lot of European geography, having 'fought' over those countries, rivers and cities numerous times; I also had a decent grasp of some basic statistical math, especially percentages and ratios, as between figuring batting averages for my other main interest, baseball, and manually calculating combat odds, I had plenty of experience.
One of the main things I got out of my solitary gaming sessions, however, were the stories. While working out the most efficient answers to strategic and tactical problems was definitely part of the allure, what I think I really responded to was imagining the people caught up in these tabletop conflagrations. The heroic stands, desperate gambits or hopeless bumbling of subordinate units intrigued me no end. This, I suspect, is why I've never had the issues some gamers have with "the damn RNG." Having a regiment hold a hilltop position against a 10-1 melee charge or an HMG squad completely miss the stack of enemies moving across clear terrain two hexes away (or worse, having the HMG 'malfunction') because of the roll of the dice was a satisfying result due to story that it told about the resilience of human beings or the fickleness of fate. I would happily imagine what had caused such unanticipated results, and felt very little irritation at the consequences for my 'plans,' as that was all part of the fun. Of course, I suppose it helped that, since I was mostly playing both sides, I was always going to 'win' regardless. And, the more reading I did about history in general, and military history in particular, the more I came to learn how often pivotal events really did turn on such 'low percentage' happenings.
Obviously, the advent of computer wargaming has been a boon to gamers like me. Not only can we now play by ourselves without necessarily playing both sides, but we can experience 'Fog of War' and the uncertainties and chaos that represents, creating even more fertile ground for surprising and compelling stories. Thus, this incredibly long-winded post is meant as an introduction to what I'll be trying to do on this site: use wargames to tell some, hopefully, entertaining stories.
I don't generally have time or space to set up many board wargames these days, but with a PC on hand, I hope to be able to spin some nice yarns based on what occurs in these games. Because of the more personal level and 'cinematic' bent, I intend to begin with the Lock and Load Tactical system, as I think it lends itself well to generating these kinds of stories, but I plan to try it with other games as well.
If you visit this blog, I hope you enjoy the alternate realities created here as much as I do.
[Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of companies whose games may appear here as inspiration for these stories, and any images, unless otherwise noted, are from my own personal gaming sessions. I do not own the rights, except through a standard user license, to the settings, systems art or rulesets depicted, which remain the property the various authors, developers or publishers thereof.]
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