not for Games Day, but...

[winterbadger]

My friend Jeff latched onto my mention of War in Europe and suggested that it might be possible to set up the game in my basement (all the attractivness and airy light of a Todt bunker, but relatively safe from cats) and play it over a couple of weekends. Anyone else interested? It would probably take a couple of us...

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2802
http://home.earthlink.net/~mrjohngilbert/WARINE.html

Comments

[vikingcat.livejournal.com]

Talking to N. about this today, it turned out that she'd never seen the inside of a proper wargame (the air combat stuff taped to my wall being far from representative of the genre), so I showed her the old SPI World War I folio game, which was kicking around my office as a result of our Cyberboard discussions. She was wary but not exactly horrified (I was admittedly hoping for a bit more enthusiasm since she actually teaches classes on the causes of that conflict, and it's a gentle kitten of a wargame, but I think she's predisposed to doubt our sanity in this area). Then I explained that the game your post referred to setting up in your basement has a board 18 times larger and uses 36 times as many counters--but of course, that's like trying to visualize the federal debt, it's inconceivable until you see it stacked up in front of you in nickels. (Maybe I should have translated the size of a 88x90" map into basketball court equivalents?) Meanwhile in another northern Virginia basement, a couple of Europa enthusiasts who work down the hall from us are slogging their way through Fire in the East.

I was about to conclude by saying "Sooner or later she will be assimilated," but (a) she's pretty stubborn and (b) she doesn't recognize Star Trek references, so I won't.

[winterbadger]

Talking to N. about this today, it turned out that she'd never seen the inside of a proper wargame (the air combat stuff taped to my wall being far from representative of the genre)

From her description of it, I think that's correct. :-)

She was wary but not exactly horrified

I think that even hexes may be a bit weird for the uninitiated.

I was admittedly hoping for a bit more enthusiasm since she actually teaches classes on the causes of that conflict,

Well, keep in mind the subject's basic predisposition to glaze over at the mention of any sort of history. Something *modern* may be the only thing that really grabs her.

Modern, straightforward (i.e., not wildly complex but with enough detail to be interesting and seem realistic), with an elegant design and infinitely replayable so that her competitive instinct and her desire to play the game at least until she's figured out the best strategy ("how it works!") have room to stretch. I'm guessing they may seem a bit tame to you, but I'm sorry there isn't a two-player version of Hornet Leader/Apache Leader.

she's pretty stubborn

Sir, you are a master of understatement. :-)