Five Games That Made Me The Gamer I Am Today

This is a bit of a thing at the moment, so here's my five games worth, although I've squeezed in a couple more for the hell of it!

1. Tank Battles in Miniature

This was my first 'proper' wargame and I had it on permanent load from the local library until I had to give it back. I copied out all of the main rules and charts onto file cards and continued to play games even when the book had been given up, using Heroics and Ros 1/300th scale tanks. I mis-read the rules and thought you had to actually play a turn in 60 seconds, so I had a stopwatch and used it every time an individual tank had to acquire, aim and fire at a target, with the results worked out afterwards. Absolutely seat of your pants gaming and very realistic in an accidentally historical way. This book first got me into solo wargaming, so hats off to Mr Quarrie!

2. Imperial Commander

A school friend of mine bought a copy of Laserburn from the local games shop (remember those?) in Plymouth, so I decided to get my own copy, except they'd run out so I grabbed Imperial Commander instead. I couldn't afford many figures so ended up playing with a handful of 15mm Imperial Troops and Red Redemptionists a side, so this was my first skirmish level wargame in many respects. It was lots of fun at the time, although I'm not so sure how it would stack up now, having loads of tables and charts. The blurb on the front page still makes me chuckle.

3. Cry Havoc

I absolutely loved this game when I was a kid, having ordered a copy after seeing the advert on the back page of Wargames Illustrated just on the basis of the box art and the blurb. It's still my favourite 'beer and pretzels' board game by a country mile and I do play it sometimes using a second hand copy that I found on eBay. I also loved Samurai Blades but the other Cry Havoc extension games like Siege were a bit of a disappointment, mainly due to the change in art work and unrealistic maps. I went on to study medieval history and archaeology at university, so perhaps this game is why I have been a history teacher for the last thirty years?

4. AK47

When I got back into wargaming about twenty years ago, this was the set of rules that fired my interest and inspired my first painted wargames army. I still think this is one of the most enjoyable and imaginative sets of rules that I have played, perhaps because it allows you to use your imagination  and creativity when developing your forces and the narrative for your games. I love this aspect of gaming, which is diametrically opposed to the competition 'min-max' mentality of a lot of rules systems. It's also still great fun to play after many years and loads of games at the club.

5. Bag the Hun

If I look at my blog posts over the years, this is the set of rules that I've written about and played more than any other, which is interesting as it's not everyone's cup of tea and has, perhaps, fallen by the wayside compared to other TFL rules of late. It was the first game I had played in which a card based turn mechanism was used and which was also based on the idea of formations and historical tactics. It was the set of rules that shifted my interest away from land warfare and towards air and naval wargaming, which are now my main areas of interest. It also led to my first publications as a wargames scenario designer, albeit only in the TFL Specials, and gave me a taste for umpiring which I really enjoy.

Special Mentions

Contemptible Little Armies in the Back of Beyond

To finish off I wanted to include the Back of Beyond supplement for CLA, primarily as it was the set of rules for which I organised and umpired my first club campaign. It's another example of the 'What If?' style of wargaming that I really love and also the unorthodox or obscure historical setting that I prefer to the 'bog standard' wargaming themes. I really enjoyed playing this at the local club, with three full multiplayer campaigns organised and umpired over the years, although I always seemed to come last! It's probably one of the things that has most influenced my interest in campaigning and 'Imaginations' style, not too serious fun wargaming.

A Fistful of Lead: Reloaded

A few years ago I mentioned on the blog that I was a bit fed up with the Old West rules and wondered if there were alternatives worth looking at. Jaye Wiley read the post and then sent me a free digital copy of the Fistful of Lead:Reloaded rules that he had just published, which was very nice of him indeed. I immediately loved the system and the style of wargaming that it reflected, with the deck of cards turn system being a really elegant and effective feature. It's now my skirmish rules set of choice and one of my all time favourite 'fun' wargames to play, especially with the kids.