So when was your first time, and how old were you? And, if it's not too intimate a question, what did you do? Note: chess and diplomacy don't count. I mean historical figures games not using spring-loaded artillery.
In my case: 1974, 14, and, God help me, Airfix western desert.
1987, using Lego knights :D
I don't know if it counts, but I took charge of a couple of units in one of Dave's games in the early 90's, so I'd have been 11 or 12. I think it was a FPW game, and I got bored quickly and read a Dragonlance book instead.
:-[
Very similar for me Fierce. Airfix rules and early '70s so I must have been around 12 at the time.
First game: 8 years old - AD&D
First wargame: 9 years old - Warhammer (red box)
Battle Masters, back in the mid 90's.
Mid 70s aged about 9 using a set of rules my dad wrote on 1 piece of paper (not sure why he did as he has never been a wargamer!). The scenario was always a siege of Fort Sahara with Airfix figures from AWI, Napoleonics, ACW and Foreign Legion all mixing it
Mid/Late 70s - Charlie Wesencraft rules on semi-permanent loan from Marton library using Garrison figures
1989, 12 years old Starquest. And in my defence it was the first sort of SciFi Wargame in Germany.....
Quote from: goat major on 20 March 2013, 01:40:41 PM
...rules on semi-permanent loan from Marton library...
Is that the kind of arrangement where returning them involves a fee... ;D
First proper wargame was 1984 playing Empire III. Apparently it didn't scare me off miniatures!
I was 18 years old and saw an article in the local paper about a game store and there was a picture of guys playing a game. I dropped by, bought the rules and some minifig Napoleonics and have been playing ever since.
1978. I was 8 years old, and my sister's husband introduced me to board wargames: specifically Avalon Hill's Stalingrad. First miniatures game would be 1980 or 1981 (10/11 years old), using Charles Grant's Battle rules and Airfix plastic figures.
I'm not 100% certain of the chronology -- it was a long time ago!
There were lots of battles with Airfix figures, firstly 1/32nd using all sorts and then 1/72 which was more WWII - though not with rules.
I think AD&D first around 10, in the late 80s. Then within the next few years Warhammer (2nd ed in the red box, before codexes existed) and lots of WWII using Operation Warboard, and lots of plastic figures and tanks, airfix, esci etc, some even painted! And lots more AD&D.
I think......... about the mid sixties, aged around 12, Donald Featherstone rules for ACW using Airfix figures.
Mollinary
Quote from: fred 12df on 20 March 2013, 06:18:16 PM
of WWII using Operation Warboard,
oh yes - great book!
Hi
It was early sixties - Airfix Infantry Combat Group vs Cowboys, my tenuous grip on reality has struggled along ever since ;D ;D. We won't talk about the skirmishes fought with Britains lead figures before that :-[.
Cheers
GrumpyOldMan
Operation Warboard - late 80's, Airfix 1/72nds
97, when i was 12, played warhammer fantasy. year after came 40k and a second hand heroquest box. Had been collecting WW2 soldiers, but never had rules for them at the time.
about 76/ 77 i think world war two 1/72 airfix and others. it was a anything goes whatever you had made you used. the rules involved picking cards from a bag, red and black and numbered 0, 1, 2, and 3 one was a turret hit the other a hull. great fun then into WRG WW2 and modern. still have 93 T80s released before anyone knew what they looked like. they have square turrets like the challenger.
great times and great games. historically yuk though.
I think I was about 8 or 9 playing with my brother who had bought Donald Featherstones Miniature wargaming playing Ancient British vs Romans on the attic floor
1973 playing ACW with the inevitable Airfix plastics. I was 26 at the time and probably should have known better..... :D
1973 aged 11 using Donald Featherstone's rules for Airfix Napoleonics (bulked out with ACW figs) and WWII. As we "matured" we moved to Lionel Tarr's WWII rules and then metal microtanks, many of them pirated by a mate at school. Order for 10 Pz IVs Monday morning and 10 lumps of lead vaguely resembling said vehicle delivered at break time on Wednesday in return for 20p and some sweets :o
First serious game was in '72 I think, aged 25. Local paper ran an article on a wargames club in the area. Joined and first game 25mm Napoleonics. Everything seemed to use average dice then.
Used to play with airfix placcies as a kid.
Chad
Don't believe Chad - it was the 1930's!!!! ;D
Played on my own in early 60's with Airfix plastics throwing needles to gain hits and an old Britains gun firing matchsticks.
Middle 60's my school mate and I bought Hinton Hunt (can't believe how bad they were - but all we had then and we thought they were great). Painted them but never played a game!
1980's -found out a teacher I worked with played, painted and made his own so managed about 3 games with him.
First real wargame was in 1989 when I met Chad (the guy from Adler put us in touch with each other) and we've been gaming every week ever since!!!!!!
DaveL
QuoteFirst real wargame was in 1989 when I met Chad (the guy from Adler put us in touch with each other) and we've been gaming every week ever since!!!!!!
Wow :o! That's pretty amazing. I'm lucky if I get to game once a month on average. If I had a dedicated games room I could leave stuff up would help immensely!
Airfix WWII plastics in (date deleted)....But not with any proper rules...Just made those up as we went along.
Straight lines of sight ?...Nah..Our men shot bullets that had curved trajectories.
First proper historical game was in 90/91 ?....ECW...Just SO much fun.
That's not counting all the D&D games in the 70s and 80s....Plus Warhampster around the same time.
I truly envy you lot ! :)
Cheers - Phil.
Early 80s I was about 13 and it was Traveller (RPG) and Car Wars
Cheers
Craig
Tinyterrain modes
Aged 17, just over two decades ago, with 6mm ECW, using rules myself and a classmate made up.
I was pretty young and in Doncaster when I started collecting Airfix kits and figures. I'm not sure of my age but I was probably about 9 or 10, so it must be about late 60s. I was lucky to have a couple of like minded mates along the road and we soon started playing ww2 wargames using simple home-made rules. We played for several years and extended our games to include other mates in the area and had huge games.
I was mortified to find HMS Fearless and the Centurion tank weren't around in the second world war but generally we used ww2 stuff. I remember it got a bit daft once with one chap occupying an island with his Napoleonic Highlanders (probably landed by landing craft from Fearless) and I nuked 'em with my Phantom Jet. We had decided to use everything we'd got that day.
One day one of the lads said "D'yer nore wot, sum foke du this reight."
Unfortunately we never kept it up, I moved darn sarf when I left college and I didn't get into proper wargaming until about 9 years ago.
Interesting. My first proper wargame was in 1973, I was ten. A mate of my Dad's had a dedicated wargames room with what seemed to me a huge games table, must have been about 8ft x 6ft. Played Napoleonics with metal figs of unknown manufacture, but I think were 20mm. Used good old Donald Featherstone's rules.
heers,
Kev
Good question, FK.
I think it was about 1979, aged 8-9 and micro-tanks...never looked back 8)
My names Mark and I am a Wargames Adict (possibly should be Wargames Slapper) :d
It was approximately 1974 and I was 10. I Had read Peter Youngs Book "Charge or how to play Wargames".
I used Airfix 20mm Plastic Napolenics supported by ACW figures. I then typed the rules out on My Dads Typwriter and made a Roundshot bounce stick from a peice of beading and a Canister template from green gardening wire twisted together. I still have the typed rules and the bounce stick.
My main opponent was a boy from school called Edward Antoniak. We stupidly fell out over a ww2 game, no idea what happened to him.
Then it was "Battles with Model tanks" by Featherstone and Heroiics and Ros Microtanks from the wargames shop "New Model Army" in East Ham.
My Mum thought that when I got interested in girls I would stop playing with Toy soldiers. But quite a few girlfriends and one ex-wife, and a long term partner later the toy soldiers are still there.
Oh confesion is good for the soul. :)
Airfix when about nine, Warhammer at 11, then introduced to real wargames aged 13 by The Shrewsbury Wargames Society, managed a few 'reak' wargames before DBA came out, then it was ancients, Nam and WWII!
Airfix WWII. Refought the "Action on the St James Road" from Donald Featherstone's "War Games" when I was 11 or 12.
I had plastic Centurions for Shermans, and M48's for Panthers. The table was and old table tennis table, the roads were chalked on.
The figures were the old Airfix "Infantry Combat Group" and the first German infantry, the one with the sPzB 41.
So long ago.