From: edandavi@well.sf.ca.us (Ed Allen and Avi Rappoport)
Subject:  Re: Games that belong on every gamer's shelf...
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 21:10:00 GMT



Here's my top ten list of boardgames or their close relatives:

1. ASL
2. One of the Kevin Zucker designed Napoleonic campaign
games: Napoleon at Bay, Struggle of Nations, The Emperor Returns, or
1809.
3. Ace Of Aces Handy Rotary and Powerhouse books,
 or Wings - Yaquinto WWI air combat, same topic, different format,
a much more detailed treatment
4. Air Superiority/Air Strike or The Speed of Heat - prefereably
each in its next edition, to get the second edition system rules
into the former, and the typos and errata out the the latter.
5. WizWar with expansion
6. Up Front with expansions
7. Turning Point Stalingrad
8. East Front or Rommel in the Desert - a Columbia wooden
block game
9. A House Divided or Vom Kriege - my homebrew descendant
of A House Divided that does the same sort of thing as Soldier
Kings, only bigger, better, and more flexibly, designed when I
couldn't find a copy of Soldier Kings.
10. SeaStrike (the old WRG
edition c. 1973 with the separate islands, not the later Ariel one
with the islands printed on a map) - a hybrid miniatures/boardgame
covering 70's era modern naval combat between rival mythical banana
republics in an archipelago.  Or Greece vs Turkey could be a model,
where the islands are contested between two non-superpower
continental states.  The components include top view counters of
ships and installations with schematic symbols identifying weapons
mounted, of the same size and shape as you would use for base stands
for ships of maybe 1/1200 scale if they were miniatures instead.
These have slick laminated surfaces, so you indicate damage by
slashing through the weapon, fire control center, or funnel with a
grease pencil or overhead pen. Combat is resolved by cards drawn
from a specially designed deck that is used to determine
serviceability of aircraft assigned to airstrikes, weapons function
and lock on for ships, to hit and damage resolution, etc.
   The scenarios are set up in a really neat way.  First you lay out
the islands on the playing surface, at least a 4' by 4' area, up to
as much room as you have for playing miniatures on.  Then each side
picks out an envelope from the secret mission envelopes.  Inside is
an orders document listing a budget for purchasing forces and a
mission with victory conditions.  You only know what your side's
specific victory conditions are.  The first side to complete or be
unable to complete its victory conditions annnounces the win or
loss.   A summary card is also in the envelope with the same
information at less detail. Two special rulers are included, one
handles movement of ships, the other handles ranging of fire (a long
transparent strip marked with crosshairs and the weapon type icon
for the max range of each weapon).
    The game plays very fast and has lots of ups and downs of
fortune, and rapid carnage.

Honorable mentions to Dune, Cosmic Encounter, Imperium Romanum II,
The Siege of Jerusalem, The Campaigns of Robert E.Lee, Flat Top,
Star Fleet Battles, Ironclads, Eurorails, Boggle, Chess,
Triplanetary, Snit's Revenge, White Bear and Red Moon, Armor/Panzer,
Close Assault, original Sniper/ Patrol

For RPGs:
1. Original three booklet 1974 edition D&D.
2. Runequest
first and second editions
3. GURPS
4. Bushido 2nd ed. with some
rules borrowed from Aftermath
5. Creeks and Crawdads
6. Hero
7. Paranoia
8. Pendragon
9. Homebrew
10. Call of Cthulhu

For miniatures rules:
1. Command Decision
2. DBA
3. WRG Renaissance 2nd.
4. Empire Napoleonics
5. Warhammer 40K (first book only) or Starguard or homebrew SF
6. Knights and Magic or homebrew fantasy derived from Chainmail
7. I haven't settled on a ACW set, have several, haven't played them
all enough to judge. Probably Stars and Bars or Fire and Fury
8. General Quarters for WWII naval, but I'd
like something better if I could find it, maybe the upcoming Larry
Bond game based on Harpoon.
9. The Colonial Skirmish Wargame Rules
with homebrew mods
10. Space 1889 Soldier's Companion - pretty good
colonial rules, with add-ons for Wellsian/Vernian SF

Ed Allen
edandavi@well.sf.ca.us