HoNoToGroABeMo Day Thirty-One: It Is Done
5 years ago
10:55 AM
My question to Joe Steadman prompted this piece. (the manly wargaming half of the duo of Joe Steadman and Tom Vasel, who publish and excellent podcast called THE DICE TOWER, all about gaming. I strongly recommend this program). I emailed a question to Joe, complaining about why there are no simple, low cost introductory wargames out there any more. He mentioned SERGEANTS! to me (see below), which I already had, and that got me to thinking about the subject. There really ARE more of these intro-level games than I first imagined!
I'm an unabashed fanboy of one of the older formats of boardgaming, the microgame. This was a type of game inaugurated by one of my favorite dead gaming companies, METAGAMING. They had three ranges of products; one or two larger boxed games (the original STELLAR CONQUEST, for instance), a small, trade-book sized (thin) box for products like DRAGONS OF THE UNDEREARTH (I think) and COMMAND AT SEA (a WW2 naval miniatures game, very rare and complicated), but it was their most prevalent format that I loved the most... the ultra small (smaller than a paperback book) MICROgame, in a small easily crushed box or ziplock bag, with strip cut one sided counters, a smallish map and a rulebook that never exceeded twenty pages of small print. I used to take these to class tucked into one of my notebooks. The vast majority of these games were fantasy or SF based-- the original OGRE, for instance, and GEV, and MELEE and WIZARD (which were the foundations for Steve Jackson's GURPS, much later on)... these were all 2.95 microgames in their earliest incarnations. There was, however, another category of microgame products, called MetaHistory games. These were games like ROMMEL'S PANZERS, STALINS' TANKS, and my two absolute favorites, RAM SPEED and FIRE WHEN READY.
The metahistories were great concepts... a wargame of middling to low complexity, playable within a lunch period, with a low complexity and miniscule counter count. The price alone made them almost disposable, even back in the early 80s. I never cared for the two Roger Damon designs-- the tanks counters are just awful, and the rules badly in need of development. However, RAM SPEED and FIRE WHEN READY I've played again and again, and I've bought extra copies whenever I could.. these will never be republished, that's for certain.
The micros of that era were particularly good for Play By Email play, with more modern methods of pbem such as Cyberboard. Here's a screenshot for a Pbem game I did with FIRE WHEN READY, using CYBERBOARD. The gamebox can be found on my Play By Email Gaming site, THE PLAY BY EMAIL EMPORIUM.
I've missed small format historical micros.. it seems like they had all but died out there for a while, until recent developments have caused a rennaissance in the genre! Here is a list of small format, cheaply priced historical games available in a recent time frame.. could it be that publishers are wising up to the decline in sales of wargames that average out at 59.95 SRP? Who knows? What is certain is that the 2.95 price tag has been done in by inflation. Nowadays, 19.95 is about as close as we can get to that price point. With that criteria, a host of new offerings stand out!
I'm an unabashed fanboy of one of the older formats of boardgaming, the microgame. This was a type of game inaugurated by one of my favorite dead gaming companies, METAGAMING. They had three ranges of products; one or two larger boxed games (the original STELLAR CONQUEST, for instance), a small, trade-book sized (thin) box for products like DRAGONS OF THE UNDEREARTH (I think) and COMMAND AT SEA (a WW2 naval miniatures game, very rare and complicated), but it was their most prevalent format that I loved the most... the ultra small (smaller than a paperback book) MICROgame, in a small easily crushed box or ziplock bag, with strip cut one sided counters, a smallish map and a rulebook that never exceeded twenty pages of small print. I used to take these to class tucked into one of my notebooks. The vast majority of these games were fantasy or SF based-- the original OGRE, for instance, and GEV, and MELEE and WIZARD (which were the foundations for Steve Jackson's GURPS, much later on)... these were all 2.95 microgames in their earliest incarnations. There was, however, another category of microgame products, called MetaHistory games. These were games like ROMMEL'S PANZERS, STALINS' TANKS, and my two absolute favorites, RAM SPEED and FIRE WHEN READY.
The metahistories were great concepts... a wargame of middling to low complexity, playable within a lunch period, with a low complexity and miniscule counter count. The price alone made them almost disposable, even back in the early 80s. I never cared for the two Roger Damon designs-- the tanks counters are just awful, and the rules badly in need of development. However, RAM SPEED and FIRE WHEN READY I've played again and again, and I've bought extra copies whenever I could.. these will never be republished, that's for certain.
The micros of that era were particularly good for Play By Email play, with more modern methods of pbem such as Cyberboard. Here's a screenshot for a Pbem game I did with FIRE WHEN READY, using CYBERBOARD. The gamebox can be found on my Play By Email Gaming site, THE PLAY BY EMAIL EMPORIUM.
I've missed small format historical micros.. it seems like they had all but died out there for a while, until recent developments have caused a rennaissance in the genre! Here is a list of small format, cheaply priced historical games available in a recent time frame.. could it be that publishers are wising up to the decline in sales of wargames that average out at 59.95 SRP? Who knows? What is certain is that the 2.95 price tag has been done in by inflation. Nowadays, 19.95 is about as close as we can get to that price point. With that criteria, a host of new offerings stand out!
Joe Miranda's
series of MILLENIUM WARS modern conflict games (all using
the same system) are quite good. The games in the series are Kashmir,
Korea, Ukraine, America,
Iraq, and an expansion Air War system to add on as a layer to the rest
of the games. Each is boxed individually in a small System 120 sized box.
The components are a mix-- the counters could have been done better (instead
of having a white counter with a tinge of color on the bottom edge, I
would have prefered a solid color througout), but the maps are all uniformly
excellent (if somewhat futuristic).
SRP: 19.95 Publisher: One
Small Step
Lost
Battalion Games (Craig "Yaquinto"
Taylor's new company) is really going gangbusters these days. They are
hip to the fact that a lot of wargamers just don't have 80 dollars burning
a hole in their pockets in this economy, and publish a series of very
affordable, almost disposable wargames. The latest is SERGEANTS IN THE
SAND, part of the SERGEANTS! series.
SRP: 7.95!! Publisher: Lost Battliaon Games
The original SERGEANTS game,
Sergeants on the Eastern Front, is amazingly well-supported
on the Lost Battalion website (see link, above). I mention this one separately,
because the folks at LBG have put out dozens of scenarios since the games
initial publication date. VERY nice way to build customer loyalty, folks!
Here's their SCENARIO
page for Eastern Front
SRP: 7.95!! Publisher: Lost
Battalion Games
Lost Battalion offers up a FREE micro wargame of their
own, BATTLESHIPS IN ACTION! Which I have several copies
of, since they give it to me every time I buy something from them at a
show, which has been fairly often. Nothing too complex, but a reasonbly
fun little game that rises above Battleships.
SRP: Free with purchase, 5$ shipping if bought by itself
to cover S&H. Publisher: Lost Battallion Games
Avalanche
Press is
jumping into lower cost games series with both combat-booted feet. Here
is the first in a series of low cost (for these days) medium to low complexity
wargames in a small backpack-totable format: DEFIANT
RUSSIA.
SRP: 1995 Publisher: Avalanche
Press
Alsace 1945 covers
the American offensives of November and December 1944 and the desperate
German counterattack in January. Uses the same system as the relatively
more expensive America Triumphant system. Four Scenarios, one
22 x 17" map, 140 pieces.
SRP: 19.99, Publisher: Avalanche Press
Gazala
simulates the critical battle in the summer of ’42 that led to the
fall of Tobruk and the arrival of the Axis armies at the gates to the
Nile delta. Three scenarios, 22 x 17 map, 140 pieces.
SRP: 19.99, Publisher: Avalanche
Press
Read Robert Gamble's thorough REVIEW of Gazala on Consimworld
In addition, at the World Boardgame Championships, Multiman Publishing was GIVING AWAY a cute little freebie called SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS (which was originally a magazine game published in Japan, about the Arnhem Campaign). A very nice development!
So I guess there's hope for a cheap guy like me, especially if I can convert some of these acquistions to Cyberboard.
