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Games played at School Wargames clubs in the late 70s
David Seddon
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You may have played these at a school or other club in the late 70s, or maybe you played some others that could be added to the list.

My school was in Southport, near Liverpool, UK. We met several times a week, first in a science lab (dodge the built in bunsen burners) and then in an ordinary classroom.

As well as these games, a lot of miniatures got played (mainly 300th scale tanks and 1/3000th scale ships) with various rules. We also played a game called en-guarde (not the one on the list). This was set in medieval times and you got to be anything from a peasant to a prince at the start. You went around gaining strength and skills through duels and such like. Eventually, if you were clever, even an artisan could take on a knight. In a duel, you had to do things like stab, lunge and parry, and these were crossed indexed for a result (sort of advanced Paper, scissors, stone)...great fun! All from a little rule book, a piece of paper and dice.

Happy memories! Go ahead and add yours.
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Posted Sun Oct 10, 2004 8:50 pm
1. Board Game: Blue & Gray [Average Rating:6.42 Overall Rank:1624]
David Seddon
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This Quad got played a great deal. Many of the gamers in the club would play it from time to time.
2. Board Game: Jutland [Average Rating:6.55 Overall Rank:1356]
David Seddon
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This one was my favourite. I must have played it scores of times. With lunch-time being short, it was usually a battlecruiser skirmish. A very unusual wargame - no hexes or board, and it plays just like simplified miniatures.
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3. Board Game: Richthofen's War [Average Rating:5.69 Overall Rank:3291]
David Seddon
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Loads of people played this. I had one or two goes at it and thought it was ok, but it was never a favourite for me. The balloon-busting is fun, though.
1
Ron K
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04060708
This one really rocked in the campaign game -- managing your pilots added a nice twist.
4. Board Game: Midway [Average Rating:6.48 Overall Rank:1070]
David Seddon
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05060708
What can you say? A classic and not too difficult to play over two lunch-times, if you record the positions of the pieces in-between.
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John Di Ponio
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Played back in the mid 70's. Our teacher would allow us to keep the game set up!!!! Back then...no one would rip the game off...so leaving it set up allowed us to finish whenever!!!!
Robert Wesley
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050809
;) I did manage to get in some "gamings" of this particular one, while it also involved my very first 'distaste' OF "cheating" on my opponent's part as well! Afterwards, I insisted upon "recorded" MOVES-(in 'PEN-ink' no less, as there wasn't "erasible" kinds at the time), or else I'd stick with NON-"hidden" movement types for "gamings" with "the CHEATER"! HE t`weren't so "lucky" after this either, ha HA!
:laugh:
5. Board Game: Seelöwe [Average Rating:6.14 Overall Rank:3007]
David Seddon
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A really good game and not too hard to play over a few days.
6. Board Game: Seastrike [Average Rating:7.51 Overall Rank:2219]
David Seddon
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No-one played this at my school, but a friend says that they played it a lot at his and he has recently introduced me to it. Boy, was I was missing a lot! This is a great game. Easy and fun, and I like the card mechanism.
7. Board Game: Winter War [Average Rating:7.00 Overall Rank:1809]
David Seddon
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A really good one, that I didn't play too often, but saw a lot of others playing it.
8. Board Game: Spartan [Average Rating:6.39 Overall Rank:3486]
David Seddon
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Ah, one of the PRESTAGS series. I played this a few times, but I don't remember much apart from the fact that it was good and that there were some elephants that didn't behave, which got the whole room laughing. I recently acquired this for myself.
9. Board Game: Sniper! [Average Rating:6.15 Overall Rank:2205]
David Seddon
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05060708
This is not too bad to play quickly.
10. Board Game: Sinai [Average Rating:5.99 Overall Rank:2968]
David Seddon
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05060708
Lots of folks played this too. I played it once in a while.
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11. Board Game: Squad Leader [Average Rating:7.47 Overall Rank:138]
David Seddon
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05060708
Another that got a lot of plays. I think there was a whole group of folks who played this and not much else.
John Di Ponio
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Had a big crowd for this one....suprized at the type of people that played.....ALL TYPES..not just board geeks!
We had a regular club and even our teacher played!
12. Board Game: Dreadnought [Average Rating:5.98 Overall Rank:3149]
David Seddon
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05060708
I brought this in a few times. The beauty of it is that you can fight small battles over a a lunch-time quite easily.
13. Board Game: Kingmaker [Average Rating:6.34 Overall Rank:931]
I've never seen a flying hogfish. I saw one gliding once, but never flying, not actually flying.
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Wow, the first game I ever played, albeit in the early 80's. A group of us used to get together every lunchtime at our school in Durham (UK). One of the art teachers was a keen game player and had enough of a collection to keep us all going until we convinced our parents to buy us some games.

Of course, after that I got a copy of Traveller and ran RPG sessions for a while, but Kingmaker was my #1.
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David Seddon
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Yep. In the late 80s, early 90s, I was doing a post-grad in Durham and I know the place really well. Lovely city and I had a lot of fun there. When I was there, we played a lot of Shogun (Milton Bradley) and Diplomacy. There was also a fair bit of Midway, Chess and Party Games.
Oliver Macdonald
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I did my undergraduate degree in Durham around 78-81 and remember playing Kingmaker in the University games club.
14. Board Game: The Punic Wars [Average Rating:5.83 Overall Rank:3641]
Robert Wesley
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050809
I didn't get to play THIS, but I did observe some Students playing IT in the Library one time, around late 1975.
15. Board Game: PanzerBlitz [Average Rating:6.34 Overall Rank:1073]
Iain K
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0405
Might have been the first board wargame I ever played. The amazing thing . . . I checked it out of my local library.

Just seeing the game board in this photo brings back memories . .
:D
16. Board Game: Rise and Decline of the Third Reich [Average Rating:6.67 Overall Rank:683]
Matthew Frederick
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0405060708
This is just about the only one we played. Time and time again.
Ron K
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I got this one off the shelf this past summer -- my 16yr old was bugging me to try out some of Dad's old wargames. I opened the box and pulled out the manual for a quick reminisce. One heft of the 64 page manual and back in the box it went --- How about a game of Conquistador or Panzagruppe Guderian (or Battle for Germany even). How I ever got through that manual enough to play is beyond me.
17. Board Game: Diplomacy [Average Rating:7.19 Overall Rank:171]
Derek H
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0507
For us, this was *the* game that took up all our lunchtimes. I remember making little square plastic boards with the "grid" version of the provinces on them, along with little plastic markers stuck on with "Prestik", so you'd have the whole game in your pocket for instant discussion. Helped pass many an otherwise boring lesson!
Eric Miller
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Same here.

My introduction to wargaming and my first Avalon Hill game ever. I bought Victory in the Pacific on the strength of this and the rest is just wargamer addiction history.
18. Board Game: Napoleon's Last Battles [Average Rating:7.17 Overall Rank:642]
Andrew Wright
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This game and Terrible Swift Sword represented the zenith of our multi-player efforts during high school. I am not sure the French ever won, but it was a very rewarding experience. In college, we graduated to Napoleon at Leipzig for those three day marathons.
19. Board Game: Gladiator [Average Rating:6.38 Overall Rank:1638]
Bill Wood
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Favorite lunch time wargame at Bayside High School in Va Beach. Could play it at the cafeteria table, and we did!

However, its not quite late 70s it was 1981 and 1982.
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Edited Mon Aug 6, 2007 8:08 pm
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20. Board Game: Ogre [Average Rating:6.86 Overall Rank:448]
James Hamilton
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0406070809
A game I played a lot at school. Not that many times at the wargames club as I generally played miniatures (WWII 1/72nd scale and Napoleonics) but I got in lots of games of this in study periods :)
21. Board Game: Car Wars [Average Rating:6.24 Overall Rank:1175] [Average Rating:6.24 Overall Rank:1175]
Lawrence Hung
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The original game is so fun and pure. Just race the car and shoot! We were so simple back in those days.
3 comments [Hide]
The Fiend
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040506070809
The sad thing is that I owned every one of these games but only retained Kingmaker from lack of opponents. I hope the kid I sold Seastrike to is enjoying it like I used to, I customized it a bunch. Games are like old golf clubs, once you get a newer set the old ones don't get much play.
David Seddon
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05060708
Well, I don't know. I still play the ones I have from this list - but I'm like everyone else here - I'd like to play games much more often than I do. There is never enough time or enough local opponents.

Seastrike is cool. My friend has built some extra ships too - aircraft carriers etc. What did you build? I am very interested in that because we've talked about adding some more ships for the next time we play. You should scan some and add them to the images for the game here.
Mike Siggins
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Cool list. We only got round to playing D&D, Waterloo and I think we set up Third Reich!
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