So...what were your first computer wargames?

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I inititally started with tabletop wargaming. SPI's WW2 European Theatre and Pacific Theatre of operations, World in Flames, and god knows how many others I still have lying in their boxes.

Growing up, moving on, and moving about the world has quite successfully destroyed any easy possibility of getting another group together...

So, we turn to one of the main reasons for my wanting a C64 in the first place...no, it actually wasn't for CRPG's...but for wargames.

The initital wargam purchases I made were;

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dreadnoughts actually played this game until the disk wore out...

http://www.mobygames.com/game/europe-ablaze touch dry, but ramped up the further along you played.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/battle-of-the-bulge-tigers-in-the-snow Simplistic, yet enjoyable.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/bulge-battle-for-antwerp a fun diversion. Possibly the earliest 'realtime' wargame.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/battlefront the real start of my love affair for all things SSG. An excellent game, easy to learn but hard to master, bought all the additions in this series, and created god only knows how many scenarios. Was quite pleased when my 'Malaya' and 'Singapore' scenarios were printed in the SSG run five magazine and included on the 5 1/4 floppies that came for subscribers....

http://www.mobygames.com/game/carriers-at-war-1941-1945-fleet-carrier-operations-in-the-pacifi more SSG loving...though I much prefer the second iterations on PC, especially CAW2 (there is currently a third iteration....).

http://www.mobygames.com/game/russia-the-great-war-in-the-east-1941-1945 and yes more lovin...like the battlefront games, I still play this one today. It isn't Gary Grigsbys War in Russia, but it is incredibly fun, easy to play, and incredibly difficult to win as the Germans (easy as the Russians though...).

http://www.mobygames.com/game/kampfgruppe when I felt all technocratical, this is the game I played back in the day...armour facing? check. Proper OOB and unit stats? check. Gun calibres, range and penetration? check. Another few hundred details to go with it. This is one of Grigsbys early games, and it shows. Even at this early age, his games were all about mass detail, and fiddly UI's. Once mastered though, it is a treat of a game.

Well, there were others, but the above were the standout initial titles I purchased for my wargaming needs.

What were yours?

 

[PorkaMorka]

For the Apple IIe.

I might have been as young as 6-8. I really loved the noise that troops armed with sub machine guns made.

 

[Trash]

Apart from some fascination with Axis and Allies I never ventured far into tabletop territory. Computer wise I think it was Clash of Steel that was the first real grand strategy one. I always loved strategy stuff but wargaming wasn't something I knew a lot about back then.

 

[Telengard]

Patton vs Rommel on the C64. A fairly small game, but it allowed for cracking a troop's morale, which hooked me on the idea of wargaming - the entities of the game having multiple traits, instead of just everyone having a power level (like Risk).

I played a lot of Empire (a kind of precursor of Civilization) before I got my second wargame though.

 

[Gregz]

1986 on my IBM XT

 

[mondblut]

Some ZX spectrum game about Anglo-Zulu war. The niggers always tore my redcoats to shreds, and I swore to myself I'll never touch those "hardcore military simulations" again. It took Panzer General to bring me to terms with the genre somewhat, but I still shudder to touch anything with turn number limits or point victories.

 

[octavius]

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.

Apart from some fascination with Axis and Allies I never ventured far into tabletop territory.

Same here.

 

[Baron]

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Breakthrough in the Ardennes (?)
I remember playing something with Ardennes in title. It looks familiar.
http://www.lemon64.com/games/details.php?ID=3840

Tigers in the Snow - played it just for a moment.
http://www.lemon64.com/games/details.php?ID=3440

Legions of Death
I remember liking this one a lot.
http://www.lemon64.com/games/details.php?ID=1511

Laser Squad - one of my favourite wargames ever. I love it's graphics and sound and special effects.
http://www.lemon64.com/games/details.php?ID=1479&title=laser squad

IIRC I had them all on one cassette.

 

[Father Walker]

Panzer General II, X-COM, Close Combat. Actually Close Combat III was the first "wargame" which I've played a lot. I was totally sold when I got my hands on Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord.

 

[Keshik]

Gunship 2k, F-19 Stealth Fighter (And F--117A Nighthawk). Left me with more familiarity with US/NATO weapons than I should at age 10.

Also played some wargame, forget the name, has an MLRS on the front and took place in the desert - sucked horribly at it.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Gunship 2k, F-19 Stealth Fighter (And F--117A Nighthawk).

These are flight sims, not wargames.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargaming

 

[titus]

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines

 

[spectre]

Panzer General and Fields of Glory were the first I remember.
However, it all started with Civilization, which barely qualifies as a wargame imo.

 

[Marobug]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peOXXRQuFqU

Never really cared for the american civil war but fuck, this game was awesome.

 

[Cassidy]

Total Annihilation, if it can be called a "wargame".

Otherwise, Fantasy General.

 

[Luzur]

earliest i remember is Tigers in the Snow.

next one is Warcraft 1

 

[Karmapowered]

Operational Art of War.

Awesome memories.

I still remember quite vividly my first rush through the Ardennes with my Panzers, and to date it remains probably the most realistic (and satisfying) simulation of 'Fall Gelb' for me.

 

[Nigro]

Warcraft 1 and 2!

 

[sser]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peOXXRQuFqU

Never really cared for the american civil war but fuck, this game was awesome.

Yup. West Front, East Front, and the Civil War Generals series pretty much threw me into PC gaming. All been downhill since then, too. (Socially, physically, game quality...)

 

[GreyViper]

Jagged Alliance 1 and Warcraft 1. Maybe Reunion altough itsa mix of everything.

 

[laclongquan]

Deadlock 2 Shrine Wars. Play on my friend's computer.

 

[UncleJimb0]

No real grognard fare here, but...

First 4 games on pop's 386:

Can anybody guess which game this screenshot is from?

I'll give you the following:

 

[Trash]

Ain't that Microprose's M1 tank platoon? Pretty much every sim worthy of notice in those days came from them.

 

[UncleJimb0]

Got it in one. Never played a combat sim that I enjoyed more than that.