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The Golden Years
Posted 24 Oct 09 at 14:28 by nescaff
For me at least, the golden years of board wargaming were from 1979, the year I first discovered board wargames and probably 1991 when the bottom fell out of the board game market.
I believe the writing was on the wall for the hobby with the advent of Dungeons and Dragons in the late seventies and early eighties. This spawned a number of other fantasy type games and some companies sprung up that further enhanced the fantasy role play genre such as Games Workshop. I have to admit that the fantasy genre does not interest me in the slightest and it is hard enough to get people to accept that at 60 I still play wargames without adding that I am interested in playing an elf or dwarf etc and fight dragons.
The first major casualty was SPI who, after many years of producing great and not so great games and challenging the best namely Avalon Hill, became bankrupt in 1982. I have such fond memories of SPI and own a couple of their classic and much sought after games namely Next War and Art of Siege. These have given me a great deal of pleasure down the years and it is sad that companies like SPI are still not around. Also Avalon Hill eventually sold out and after that the hobby went into freefall.
I suppose in some ways the demise of board wargaming meant that I saved myself money as there were so few retailers around especially near where I live in east of Scotland and eventually these few outlets also closed. When I attend conventions such as Claymore it is mainly miniature gaming on display and although these are esthetically pleasing I personally do not have the space or time to devote to miniature gaming as it is even more expensive and the effort taken to have to paint model armies is just not for me.
Over the past few years I believe the boardgaming industry is beginning to revive and I am pleased to see that some of the old timers from Avalon Hill are now with GMT Games notably Roger McGowan. GMT are without doubt my favourite company now and I have bought a few of their titles such as 3 Days of Gettysburg, Men of Iron, Borodino and Wellington, all of these are very good quality and the sales service is second to none. Also of note is an increase in quality boardgames from a number of independent companies such as Worthington Games, Decision Games and Clash of Arms to name a few so the future is now looking brighter however, my bank account and visa bill are starting to take on a rather worrying aspect. I suppose it’s not too much to pay for the huge amount of pleasure the games give me also it keeps me out of mischief and keeps my failing mind active.
I do hope that the revival is not shortlived as I intend to be around for a long time yet.
I believe the writing was on the wall for the hobby with the advent of Dungeons and Dragons in the late seventies and early eighties. This spawned a number of other fantasy type games and some companies sprung up that further enhanced the fantasy role play genre such as Games Workshop. I have to admit that the fantasy genre does not interest me in the slightest and it is hard enough to get people to accept that at 60 I still play wargames without adding that I am interested in playing an elf or dwarf etc and fight dragons.
The first major casualty was SPI who, after many years of producing great and not so great games and challenging the best namely Avalon Hill, became bankrupt in 1982. I have such fond memories of SPI and own a couple of their classic and much sought after games namely Next War and Art of Siege. These have given me a great deal of pleasure down the years and it is sad that companies like SPI are still not around. Also Avalon Hill eventually sold out and after that the hobby went into freefall.
I suppose in some ways the demise of board wargaming meant that I saved myself money as there were so few retailers around especially near where I live in east of Scotland and eventually these few outlets also closed. When I attend conventions such as Claymore it is mainly miniature gaming on display and although these are esthetically pleasing I personally do not have the space or time to devote to miniature gaming as it is even more expensive and the effort taken to have to paint model armies is just not for me.
Over the past few years I believe the boardgaming industry is beginning to revive and I am pleased to see that some of the old timers from Avalon Hill are now with GMT Games notably Roger McGowan. GMT are without doubt my favourite company now and I have bought a few of their titles such as 3 Days of Gettysburg, Men of Iron, Borodino and Wellington, all of these are very good quality and the sales service is second to none. Also of note is an increase in quality boardgames from a number of independent companies such as Worthington Games, Decision Games and Clash of Arms to name a few so the future is now looking brighter however, my bank account and visa bill are starting to take on a rather worrying aspect. I suppose it’s not too much to pay for the huge amount of pleasure the games give me also it keeps me out of mischief and keeps my failing mind active.
I do hope that the revival is not shortlived as I intend to be around for a long time yet.
