Your First Wargame

Mik over at Miks Minis asked a simple enough question: What was your first Wargame? He got some good responses, and a surprising number of similar ones.

These are Wargame and RPG Dice. It ain't just sixes kids.

Since this is a miniatures focused blog, I'll pose the a similar question, but in three parts:

What was the very first wargame you ever played (board, strategy, or miniature)?

What was the first miniatures focused Wargame?

What was the first Wargame Army you collected and fielded as your own (painted or not, but your own)?

Bonus Question:

What has been your favorite Miniatures Wargame you have played?

Thanks for scratchin the ole brain pan Mik. Fun to think about my own personal start in this hobby.

Here's My Response to my own Questions:

What was the very first wargame you ever played (board, strategy, or miniature)?

As I think about it, I played RPG's first. Before almost anything. They just made sense to me. Red Book D&D Basic. Still am a Red Book and Blue Book Fan. And I know that D&D has its roots in tabletop miniature gaming, since Gygax and the band were heavy duty wargamers.

 But in the end I think it has to be Risk. I played endlessly, with my brother. And solo. And in high school we would play for hours, on two boards(one for ground and one for air power). It always resulted in a fight and almost always resulted in someone throwing board and the pieces going flying. Good Times...

We play online now on a game called Warlight. Its a flash version with some added subtleties and a whole bunch of different maps. Pretty fun and addictive. No board throwing. Check it out.

What was the first miniatures focused Wargame?

It was Battletech. The first version where everyone had just used all the Robotech designs, and the horrible(and glorious) soft plastic miniatures that came in that original set. I was a big model builder, but had never even seen sci fi giant stompy robots as little models. This blew my mind. I loved fantasy and military modeling, but this was something different and dear to my heart. I was hooked. It was a bit clunky, but man I loved those rules.

What was the first Wargame Army you collected and fielded as your own (painted or not, but your own)?

Eldar for Space Marine. The Baron had been on a trip to England. He brought back some glorious new toys in a big box that included little tanks, infantry, buildings, blast templates(revelation). It was awesome. It had org charts. And awesome toys. It was at this point that I completely forgot about RPGing. It had slowed to almost nothing, but at this point it would be over until about 5 years ago. He brought back Adeptus Titanicus. We soon had Space Marine.

I remember the wall of minis in blisters at my hobby shop at college. It was the golden age for Citadel and Games Workshop. I remember ordering my Eldar Titans from Mail Order. Ordering specific loadouts to give a real surprise for the Baron's Warlord Titans with 2 Corvus Assault Pod Arms and all his damn egg shaped drop pods.

All of that was why I started to nostalgicly paint 40k again and quietly collect what I could to go with what I had kept. It was a great game. I love it still.

What has been your favorite Miniatures Wargame you have played?

I would absolutely say that the funnest wargame I have ever played was out of a Wargames Illustrated numbered in the fifties I think. Its called 55 Days at Peking. It was a Boxer Rebellion game. You each were one of the countries legations in the European Compound. Waiting to be relieved or rescued. The Boxers were played by random chance and a quick set of rules by the GM. You were dealt a limited number of cards that had important resources like water, food, medicine, ammo on them. To put out a fire you needed a water card. To reload, you needed ammo cards. You had to negotiate with the other players for cards you didn't have. It was like playing go fish, screw your neighbor and draw poker in a miniatures game. My Bro In Law was a big Colonial Head, so he had everything. Even a purpose built Compound with each legation.The rules that were used are very similar to the way the spawn points work for Ambush Alley. It was great fun and I still remember fighting back tiger warriors on the wall with courage, pluck and a cannon.