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So...what were your first computer wargames?

Spectacle

Arcane
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art-of-war-game-screenshot.jpg

I played the death out of this game, especially since it came with a scenario editor.
 

circ

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Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Hmmm. I don't think there were any wargames on I... but that would be consoles. Ok um.. something early from SSI or Microprose. Conflict in Vietnam? Decision in the Desert? Forget the SSI stuff, sec, mobygameing... I remember playing USAAF a bit, Six Gun Shootout - a lot more. After that not much from SSI, stuck to strategy like Roadwar 2000. It wasn't until years later when I got an Atari ST and UMS II that I got into wargames again. UMS was a huge change from the clunky 8-bit stuff. After that, few years went by again until SSI started releasing their General stuff, which was again a big step forward. I don't wargame anymore except General stuff rarely because it seems wargames went backwards after that, instead of continuing forwards, even though graphics and resolutions have improved.
 

Deakul

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Feb 21, 2011
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Taxachusetts
I really don't recall.
It was on a Most Valuable Software game CD that my dad got from a computer show in the early 90s, that's about all I can remember.

It may have been a derivative of Panzer General.

I do know that the CD had demos for games like The Dig, Jazz Jackrabbit, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Sam & Max, Ken's Labyrinth, Alien Carnage, Dr. Riptide, and tons of others.
 

Gord

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Feb 16, 2011
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286px-Battleisle.png

Battle Isle series.
Played countless hours with a friend on his Amiga500 and later solo on PC.

After that the next hex-TB strategy I can remember is Fantasy General.

In between RTS (Dune 2)
 

tuluse

Arcane
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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Civilization 1 and a game called Global Conquest

Played both before I can remember, dad bought a computer in the 80s, and I've been glorious PC master race my whole life :smug:
 

Trash

Pointing and laughing.
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About 8 meters beneath sea level.
Wasn't 'Road to Moscow' basically going to be similar to what GG War in the East is?

So many unreleased wargames over the decades...

I believe it had some sort of phase turn system or possibly even something akin to the command ops system. It also had you delegating orders through a chain of command to AI leaders. That on a campaign map spanning the entire eastern front. It looked incredibly ambitious at the time and lo and behold, sank. Shame. Personally I'm still pissed at the the 82nd Airborne in Normandy. That game is still accepting pre-orders when it is painfully clear it has gone to ice years ago. Shrapnell should weep in shame for that one.

On a similar note, whatever happened to Lock 'n Load: Heroes of Stalingrad?
 

Trojan_generic

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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
If you don't count the fighter/helicopter simulators, the first wargame must have been Combat Leader (SSI) for C64. It was in real time as opposed to turn-based, which was a huge novelty at that time.
 

Trash

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On Lock and Load, Rutins says:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3180189

Add mandatory lump of salt.

Another game I was once looking forward to was Sean O'Connors' (of Firefight fame) 'Close Assault' which was going to be the new and improved version of Firefight released through Matrix. Vanished into thin air.

Yeah, liked that one as well. A lot of Matrix products vanished. Tom Proudfoot (Natuk rpg dude) also worked on Combat Leader which looked like an amazing JA/Close Combat/Combat Mission cross-over. Just went silent. Proudfoot then started working on Lock and Load. :)

Combat Leader site: http://www.matrixgames.com/products/284/details/


And I am really appalled that Shrapnel Games is still seling 82nd airborne on their site for over 40 euros a pop. The game has been dead for years with no updates since 2008 or so. At least Matrix pulls down the pre-order links when they turn vapourware.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/17/the-flare-path-vapour-and-vapidity/#more-94895

From a post made in 2011 on the Shrapnel Forum. With no response said:
I pre-ordered 82nd......in 1999. How do you go about getting a refund?

I sent in an email to Customer Support with no reponse.

Thanks.

Disgusting.
 

Fowyr

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Messages
7,671
First strategy - Civilization
First wargame - Fantasy General
 
Joined
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On Lock and Load, Rutins says:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3180189

Add mandatory lump of salt.

Another game I was once looking forward to was Sean O'Connors' (of Firefight fame) 'Close Assault' which was going to be the new and improved version of Firefight released through Matrix. Vanished into thin air.

Yeah, liked that one as well. A lot of Matrix products vanished. Tom Proudfoot (Natuk rpg dude) also worked on Combat Leader which looked like an amazing JA/Close Combat/Combat Mission cross-over. Just went silent. Proudfoot then started working on Lock and Load. :)

Combat Leader site: http://www.matrixgames.com/products/284/details/


And I am really appalled that Shrapnel Games is still seling 82nd airborne on their site for over 40 euros a pop. The game has been dead for years with no updates since 2008 or so. At least Matrix pulls down the pre-order links when they turn vapourware.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/17/the-flare-path-vapour-and-vapidity/#more-94895

From a post made in 2011 on the Shrapnel Forum. With no response said:
I pre-ordered 82nd......in 1999. How do you go about getting a refund?

I sent in an email to Customer Support with no reponse.

Thanks.

Disgusting.

You have to be kidding...1999...

Well, let us hope he learned his lesson about pre-ordering...

Yes Combat Leader. That and Close Assault were initial kick-off efforts from Matrix after their first 'free' releases (SP WaW, WIRme, WitPme). I remember heading over there after the demise of the Club SSI forums.
 

Trash

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Well, let us hope he learned his lesson about pre-ordering...

It sure shows to the entire wargaming community what kind of a business Shrapnel Games is. That they haven't bothered with the game since at least 2008 but still have the pre-order up is unforgiveable. That they don't even respond to angry customers is, well, I don't even know what to call it.

The amount of dead projects in gaming and especiall wargaming is disheartening. Then again, sometimes we get hit from a corncer by unexpected incline like Panzer Corps or Decisive Campaigns.
 

Behelit

Augur
Joined
Sep 26, 2012
Messages
102


&



&

Doom & X-COM

Though technically I couldn't play Doom because of nightmares and X-COM for its complexity. However it didn't stop me from watching my father play. X-COM I distinctly remember since dad inadvertently taught me a few curses.
 

Sputnik

Educated
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Divinity: Original Sin
Doomdarks' Revenge:

_-Doomdarks-Revenge-C64-_.jpg


by Mike Singleton. May he rest in peace.

I guess I haven't spent that much time on any game since that. I still have somewhere the map of the game world that I drew on grid paper during the countless playthroughs (and still the map has blank spaces, I guess one more playthrough is in order...)

Lords of Midnight
I always thought it was a shame that not more strategy games used the first person view, as it made for a very different and more immersive experience.

QFT. I'm still wondering why no-one else ever made a game like these...

Sadly the third game in the series was apparently crap. Lords of Midnight and Doomdark's Revenge are still playable as heck, and my inner graphic whore cannot but wonder how beautiful they still look (yeah, games released almost 30 years ago).
 

octavius

Arcane
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Bjørgvin
Doomdarks' Revenge:

_-Doomdarks-Revenge-C64-_.jpg


by Mike Singleton. May he rest in peace.

I guess I haven't spent that much time on any game since that. I still have somewhere the map of the game world that I drew on grid paper during the countless playthroughs (and still the map has blank spaces, I guess one more playthrough is in order...)

Lords of Midnight
I always thought it was a shame that not more strategy games used the first person view, as it made for a very different and more immersive experience.

QFT. I'm still wondering why no-one else ever made a game like these...

Sadly the third game in the series was apparently crap. Lords of Midnight and Doomdark's Revenge are still playable as heck, and my inner graphic whore cannot but wonder how beautiful they still look (yeah, games released almost 30 years ago).

The third game in the series was supposed to be Eye of the Moon, using an enhanced version of the "engine" used in the first two games. In stead we got the real time clusterfuck that was the Citadel.

I actually played some Doomdark's Revenge a few months ago, using a Game Boy Advanced version with automap. Sadly it's slightly buggy.
But Mike Singleton and Chris Wild were working on newer remakes of the old games and there were even plans to finally complete Eye of the Moon. Let's hope Chris Wilde can complete the project. These games don't deserve to fade into obscurity.
 

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