From: jrtracy@black_heart (J. R. Tracy)
Subject: Re: Classic games...
Reply-To: jrtracy@sbcoc.com
Organization: Swiss Bank Corporation
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 20:24:30 GMT

Hmmm...classic games, huh?  Well, in no particular order...

White Death (GDW) -- mentioned by an earlier poster, this one helped  
pioneer a variable length impulse-oriented turn.  Tense, but as noted  
before, needed rebalancing.

Tactics3/PanzerBlitz (SPI/AH) -- PanzerBush or not, this was state of the  
art for *ages*!  Wow, four factors on a counter!  And to think this used  
to define the high end of the SPI complexity chart!

SL/ASL (AH) -- Love it or leave it, this family keeps Avalon Hill in  
business.  To get the most out of it, it has to become almost the only  
game you play...but people make that decision and never regret it.

Bar Lev (Conflict?/Mayfair?/GDW) -- Two-map nail-biter of the '73 war is  
still my fave Middle East game.

Frederick the Great (SPI/AH) -- Gives a great feel for warfare in the Age  
of Reason -- AH added the balance the scenarios needed.  One of the better  
magazine games to come out.

Panzer Gruppe Guderian (SPI/AH) -- Another great S&T game -- this one  
represented the culmination of the move-fight-move system pioneered way  
back when with Kursk '73; a bit dated, but not a bad play today.

Korea (Victory Games) -- does anybody play this out there?  I never hear  
it mentioned, but Joe Balkoski's done some great work, and the player-turn  
in this game is perhaps his best touch to date.  This one keeps both  
players rivited to the table throughout the turn.

Up Front (AH) -- Despite a devoted following, doesn't get the attention it  
deserves.  Yeah, it gets boring after a few hundred playings, but how many  
games ever see *five* playings?  For all those who have avoided this  
because it has cards or doesn't 'seem' like a wargame, check it out --  
it's worth it.

Turning Point: Stalingrad (AH) -- takes the Storm over Arnhem system to  
its best execution to date -- Russians pray for dusk, German pray for dawn  
-- and no one knows exactly when the game's going to end.

Terrible Swift Sword (SPI/TSR) -- Hey, if Berg can keep this system  
chugging along for so long, it's gotta have something.  Once the errata  
took the M-16s away from Buford's cavalry, *both* sides could enjoy it!

Sixth Fleet (SPI) -- This, the old S&T game, gave the player a rare treat  
in wargaming -- a tough Italian navy!  Clunky in some ways, and with a  
treatment of subs that makes Das Boot look like a pleasure cruise, it was  
still innovative in air/surface/sub combined arms action.

WSIM (Battleline?/AH) -- Sure it has realism shortcomings, but there are  
few finer moments than dishing out a double-shot stern rake.

Napoleon's Last Battles (SPI/TSR) -- Took a simple system a lot farther  
than anybody expected it to go; command rules made the ancient Napoleon at  
War mechanics lively again.

La Bataille series (Martial/GDW/CoA) -- Command and control?  Who needs it  
when you can have wheeling regiments of heavy cav in historically accurate  
(maybe) colors line up and have at the Moscow Regiment of the Tsar's  
Guard!


Enough band width -- South Mountain, Empires of the Middle Ages, Dip, 3R,  
Desert Fox (another S&T game), Avalanche, Ambush, Butterfield's RAF -- all  
worth mentioning.  If any of this stirs someone into picking up one of  
these, I'm pretty sure that person won't be wasting their time or money.  
Happy die rolling!

J.R.
Newsgroups: rec.games.board