The Game Box

Consider this the welcome thread.

One post is necessary for certain features to be unlocked and all (I think),
so it's a good idea to put something like this here. Plus, it's nice to know
folk who use different names elsewhere - or whatever. Things can get
pretty chaotic if people start changing their profiles.

BGG sucks. CSW Social sucks. Do it to me.   ;D

I discovered calandale about a year ago and I've been hooked ever since!
Without sounding like a FANBOI, I enjoy his play-throughs and reviews very, very much. I find him insightful, intelligent, knowledgeable about the material, and generally a helluva a guy!

Now, about me...
I'm old, college educated, married for the second time, have 3 children-all boys, ages 4,5, and 16.
I love wargaming and reading military history. I have a large wargame collection and library of Military History books.
I also play boardgames... mostly FF and things of that nature.
We have a gaming night every weekend, and I also solo play a lot of wargames like calandale does.

Questions?

I'm a long time gamer - started out with Origins of WWII, and began trying to
make real wargames because of that design: without knowing IT was derived from
real wargames. It, the MB Heritage games (Skirmish was my first there), 3M stuff,
some weirder family games - they all caught my attention. My family always gamed
though - Monopoly, Risk, card games.

Found my first wargames at a tail gate sale. Picked up seven used S&Ts in the late
70's (for about $5!). I was totally hooked at that point. Searching for more SPI games
got me into AH, GDW, and even D&D. From their, I branched across all of adventure
hobby gaming.

When my ex-wife gave me the boot, I ended up going back to school, and didn't
have time or space for games. A good four years in school, and about that many
working, all without what had always sustained me. Different things took their
place (spamming, computer games, dancing). I had a couple of my games here,
and ordered a few more, but nothing was really getting me excited about the
hobby the way I once was.

Then, someone online suggested Imperial, and I tried it online and loved it.
Ended up ordering a few very good euros, some CDGs, and other newer designs,
and was back into gaming big time. When I did a video DAR of the Seven Days
(three game series of CWB games by The Gamers), I saw that people actually
wanted to watch solo plays - so I started what's been a continuing habit of
posting a lot of vids. They moved from just playthroughs, to including rules
intros and even final thoughts as reviews.

Ah...and BGG. When I first showed up at BGG, it was pretty dull - especially in
terms of wargames. But, when I got back, excited again by the hobby, it seemed
to fill a need. The site's gotten richer since then, but I'm sick and tired of pulling bans
for just discussing stuff. Maybe I'm a troll; maybe I'm not. I don't really give a ****.
I bent over backwards to try and not upset people enough - but I'm sick of that
****. It serves one purpose to me now - a place to post my vids. The symbiotic
relationship there cannot be jeopardized by my need to  have a place to discuss
games freely. So, I'm done posting there (at least for some time - but I feel
pretty much finished).

Took a break from wargaming for about 10 years after burning out on CNA. Spent my time working,drinking and whoring while pretending to be an adult. After my quad bypass I was bored laying around and decided to check out this wonderful thing called "Ebay" my wife was raving about. Next thing you know I went from owning one game from the old old days to over 400, mostly ones I couldnt afford in college.....

I'm mostly a strategic gamer, the bigger the better. Monster games are where I thrive except I dont have the room anymore....sigh

My wife is more than supportive of my hobby. Thats good.

Mostly a solo gamer since the crowd I gamed with decided to vacate Buffalo for greener pastures and im to old and lazy to find a new crowd......

My wife thinks I'm an idiot for spending as much money as I do on... games. :D

Hey!

I am ekted (Jim) from BGG. I actually joined this forum before I had seen "the video". I am here because I love the level of discussion that is sometimes not allowed on BGG.

Some of my favorite games are: Go, Shogi, A Victory Lost, Twilight Struggle, Goa, FAB: Bulge, Napoleon's Triumph, Here I Stand. I enjoy all game types except those where the only enjoyment is one of thematic pretense (i.e. there has to be a game behind those plastic figures). I only played "standard stuff" until I found BGG, although I owned ASL and SFB long before that just for the reading material. New games hopefully to be played soon: For the People, Empire of the Sun, Reluctant Enemies, The Mighty Endeavor, Kingdom of Heaven.

I avoid all things in life where lying is required (i.e. interacting with most people). I am OCD, probably a functional Asperger's, and probably a functional sociopath.

You'll fit right in!
 ;D

(http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/slow_clap_citizen_kane.gif)

One of us!  One of us!   ;D

Maybe those elements should be requirements to be here. :D

44 ain't old!! (Says the guy who is also 44).  :D

I'm Jim. I like games.

Hi Jim!
I like games too!
 ;D

44 IS old.  I won't be 44 for at least 8 months.

Oddly, I'm 44 as well (unless I've got my math wrong, which has been happening more and more). Started with D&D in 1977, found Ogre, Wizard and Melee in a local game store in Palm Springs, CA and got hooked. Played a ton of SFB, Battletech and Car Wars in high school.

I'm a closet wargamer. Mostly playing euros/ameritrash with my friends. Play some card games with family. Play miniatures with myself. Have a wargame buddy and we meet up about once a month to play whatever tickles our fancy (tactical to strategic, WW2 to ancients). Usually lighter fare.

I read and fondle wargames the rest of the month. Play some solo. I am a card carrying corner clipper.

I design computer games as my day job and do some stuff for VPG on the side.

I'm here because... well, crud, I dunno. I'm tired of over moderation on BGG (which is not that bad compared to RPG.net and Enworld.org -- you can't disagree with anyone on those sites without getting red texted). Every few months or years something sets me off and I get about *this* close to deleting my account there. I've stopped supporting them after 10 years because of the lack of consistent moderation policies and complete lack of care about user feedback. I get that they have to support several employees, but they way they give preference to advertisers annoys me as well. And Octavian needs to go.

I subscribe to Calandale's youtube channel and watch/listen during the day in the background as I work. I enjoy his posts and want to keep reading.

New forum startup!  Exciting!

I've played wargames since I was a kid.  Around about 1988, though, PC gaming got its hooks in me in a big way, and for about 20 years I didn't do much wargaming, or even much boardgaming, aside from breaks for the occasional History of the World or Diplomacy.  But PC gaming, in the last 10 years or so, had become increasingly unsatisfying to me, and, attending Gen Con for most of the years it's been here in Indianapolis, I started drifting back to "analog" gaming - RPG's and boardgames.  Serious wargaming didn't enter the picture until about 2 years ago, on a spur-of-the-moment purchase at the CSI booth of Victoria Cross II.  Now, about $2000 later, I've got a pretty good collection going!

Long time listener, first time caller.  

Played wargames sporadically in my youth -- GEV was my first in the late 70s / early 80s.

Found the wargames were still a thing a couple of years ago.. and now I have less free time and more money.  So now I need to buy a house for my wargames.

I am not necessarily fed up with BGG, just trying to tag along with the cool kids.  I have a pretty strong idiot filter, though (and usually I will either say nothing or just make a smart aleck comment rather than getting in an argument).

Yeah. Arguing is too important to my thought processes. It shakes out important things for me
that I'd never discover on my own.

Well, I am definitely not going to argue with you about arguing!  I submit!

Nunya Bizness!

Edit: Okay. Because I want to hang with all the cool kids.  8)

We're cool with that! 

Hi, I'm Kevin, Rockhopper01 at the Geek. 42, married, two boys, and I'm a Fed.

I started with AD&D about 6th grade. Socially, I played mostly RPG's throughout the 80's, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Twilight 2000, Traveller, GURPS. Loved Car Wars. I found some SPI/TSR wargames at the mall bookstore, Cobra and Air War were the big ones. I played the heck out of both solo, when I wasn't role playing with pals. My little brother and I made games for toys, like wargame rules for army men, and a pretty detailed racing game for Matchbox cars. I dabbled with some sports simulation rules too.

Joined the Marines, wargaming dropped out. Partied like a sailor for the first five years or so until I got bored and tired of drinking the whole paycheck. Got back into some RPG's, this time Shadowrun, Earthdawn, etc. I also really got into computer gaming in the late 90's, mostly flight sims, Civ 2. Got far too deep into Everquest.

After I got married and had kids, I traded computer games and cigarettes for mountain bikes and broken teeth. I might've had a shot at turning pro, but I was more lucky than any good. I raced for three years up and down California. We went to Germany for three years, and I got (and still am) hooked on pro Euro road cycling. Traded my mountain bikes for road bikes, shaved my legs, and don't crash as much.

Back to Cali, then to Indy. Moving to Indiana with a new job allowed me a bit of extra cash, and for some reason I googled "wargames" on a whim. I found BGG, bought a copy of Afrika II, and I was suddenly back to gaming.

Greeting from Indianapolis.
        Been watching your videos for over a year including the rants(which I enjoy also). I am 46 and father of 4 and granddad of 2. I mainly solo game wargames but my wife will play ACW games.  Looking forward to throw discussions here.
Bryan

44? You are just babes in swaddling clothes !

At LEAST they're dressed.

Hi, I'm some random person who only knew about this site because I subscribe to calandale on YouTube.

I'm pretty new to board games outside the realm of mainstream household titles like Monopoly (barring some adolescence with Magic and D&D). I'm in my late twenties, got intrigued by eurogames around 2009; got into wargaming two or three years after that. Common theme with my purchases and general tastes leans towards "more complicated the better," for better or worse  :-\

I'm here because I find intense, critical discussions of board games enjoyable, and didn't really like neither  BGG's community nor ConSim's format. Seems like this might be a lax environment that can make those discussions, so hey, here I am.

I just wanna be cool.

Wanna bet?

As it says on the tin, I'm Kevin.  Post many places as KevinR, and don't necessarily cotton to the history-only school of wargames (Ogre?).  Primarily a solo gamer, although my four-year-old was ranking minis and sorting ASL counters (by color only) when she was about 2.

I'll buy and try most anything published by GMT and MMP / The Gamers, and have quite a pile of TAHGC, but am probably spending more table time with Victory Point Games these days.  I love a game I can take out to dinner.

Never liked BGG (forums, it's a fine database), so definitely welcomed Calendale's latest rant video.

Hey, I'm Gene, (geneandcourtney on BGG). 37, married, two kids and I do healthcare management and IT. I've always loved games, started with computer games and BASIC programming choose-your-own-adventure type games on a TI 99/4a. I picked up the Metzger Red Box in 3rd grade and my younger brother and I went through a mile of graph paper dungeons, interpersed with GrailQuest and other gamebooks. Didn't get much beyond that, and after bringing D&D to school at the beginningo of 5th grade earned a class meeting where essentially I had to give a presentation on how D&D was more likely to teach their kids math than start some kind of Satanist insurrection, after which D&D stayed at home.

Wasn't too happy there, found out the family with both my best friend and my brother's best friend was moving away, so I bailed and went to a hippie private middle school - http://www.peninsulaschool.org/ (http://www.peninsulaschool.org/). I was pretty sure I was going to like it there since on the day I visited I got to play with lasers and dry ice(this was 1988), watched Elephant Parts, and dropped into a 12-player D&D game. Made lifelong friends and got introduced to a bajillion different games and other aspects of geek culture. Within the 1st year I'd played and/or ran games of CP2013, Ninjas & Superspies, Ghostbusters, Paranoia, plus Battletech, SFB, Talisman etc - this school that had a summer school class on RPG and game design in 1989.

Still gamed a lot in high school and college (loved the lan parties, don't miss the unswitched networks over coax), but class, work and girls tapered off my gaming substantially. Got into boardgaming after I got married, but becoming parents in 07 mean my wife and I had other demands on our time, so the I ended up doing more collecting than playing. Hitting that stage in life when a good portion of our friends are also married with small children meant that gaming became more of a special occasion thing than a regular activity. That's changed since my son got old enough to start playing, and now I'm putting that collection to good use, usually getting in a longer game or two a week with him, and the occasional play with my wife and daughter.

Really appreciate the Calandale video series since I'm usually in the position of teaching games, and watching/listening to you go through the rules and puzzle through the gameplay/strategic choices I find both informative and oddly relaxing. I appreciate the rambling too, and sorry that BGG couldn't accommodate varying levels of speech within their forums. Looking forward to this!

Just subbed.  Long time Calendale watcher and lurker over at BGG due to a variety of reasons.

Thanks Enrico for setting this up!  I look forward to discussions here on gaming and non-gaming subjects.

Me?  I'm 51, married, no kids.  Yep, old system engineer working for a big computer company.  Of course, I like to play all sorts of board games and PC games but I'm starting to move on to the analog world more - like listening to my vacuum tube radio while playing around with cardboard.  My wife also likes to game and challenges me at two player card games like Traders of Carthage and Cribbage.

I started with monopoly, risk (played every day after school for years), and saved up enough money at 15 to buy my first "wargame" - Squad Leader.  A friend and I read the rules over and over and we loved moving the counters around on those great maps.  My next game was Avalon Hill's Submarine.  I wasn't too impressed by the maps (just water) but then again where else to submarines roam.  I then went to college where I was a serious student and didn't game much.  Maybe dabbled into D&D now and then.  Went through a bunch of years not purchasing anything and then discovered Scott Nicholson's videos over at his site (and BGG).  Some those were a hoot.  Been purchasing games ever since but didn't buy too many in 2013 and only a few in 2014.  With 300, I have a back log to get through!

//Rant on
BGG can eat it if you ask me.  Totally agree with you on the damn red "x" feature.  But to ban you for using the FANBOI word?  What the ****?  Totally uncalled for and I get angry just thinking about it.  The only thing I like is some of the good things they do with the charity events.  I like helping people out - although you have to be careful with the online shysters.

Enough of that.  //Rant off

Thanks again for the site!  You did the right thing.

-Caz

Thanks for setting this up Enrico.

Hi, I'm Roger, aka leroy43 over on BGG. ling time gamer. Broad level of interest on board games of all kinds, but especially wargames.

 Hello,

  I'm Paul over at BGG (WW1 Gamer) and I'm er, Paul here too.

  I'm interested in any place I can discuss games, and shoot the breeze on any subject that might be of interest without the heavy hand of the censor.

  I recently wrote an AAR on a 4-day session of 1914: Offensive a Outrance, along with many photos that was declined at BGG. This has happened to me a lot there, and has turned me off completely to posting contributions there. Some of the "reasons" given by the moderators in-training there just floored me.

  I'm 49, long time wargamer who took a hiatus for about 25 years for family, career and school. Been back since late 2012.

 I'd like a place to discuss games where we can say what we really think without automatically being tagged as "negative" if we don't think the sunshine comes out of every designers' orificia.

Paul

   

Now THAT kinda thing just sucks. My first few vids got that kind of reception. I'll admit,
there were quality issues with them, but most were covering games no one was touching
at all. As a 'known' quantity, I think some actual staff have helped make sure things
get published (certainly I've seen it happen without enough views to qualify).

Hi Enrico,

  Agree completely--I submitted a photo of a group of us playing a game from the German wargame convention Braunfels that was declined as being "repetitive." A certain long-time wargame artist took the same photo and added some subscript and it was accepted the same day. That made me laugh and cry. :)

Paul

Thanks for creating this "safe" space Enrico  :P.  The BGG admins seem to be like our metadata collecting friends in the NSA. I look forward to being a part of this community.8)
 

I see a number of people who don't post often at BGG.

Hoping that y'all will feel safer here - without the moderators to 'protect'.

I am aapkw9 from BBG. 

I was interested in "war themed games" for a while, and really got into wargaming a few years ago.

Rob F
Legionary312AD on BGG

Just following Calandale.

I'm just here for the pizza.

usrlocal has it. Go see him.

...

No one told me there would be pizza! I would have been here much earlier ...

Jon aka capt_s (BGG). I thought I was here for wargame discussion, but now I am hear for the food.

I slowed my BGG contributions considerably over the past year or two. At least in the Wargame Subforum. It has become a bit too repetitive (I know; I should have more patience) for my liking. Plus I have found the discussions in general to be less to my taste both in subject and in quality. I have all but stopped looking over the geeklists I am afraid. I am part of a Chat League Division which I enjoy and which has rekindled some of what I liked about BGG when I first arrived there. I have tried some guilds, but shied away from them .... perhaps I will try another one at some point.

PBEM player almost to the exclusion of other forms. I used to solo quite a bit and would like to get back into it. I love tactical/grand tactical games as they were my "go to" for years. PBEM has opened up my eyes to operational and strategic too, which I had avoided for some time. Not out of spite, but it was just that I enjoyed the other types. GBCAW, M&P, GBoH, La Bat and the like are my bread and butter. I enjoy the narrative mostly.

Despite years in the hobby, my game shelves are full of unplayed titles. Others here play much more than I do. I am a component fondler and map lover. And a dreamer/planner I suppose ....

PBEM is my preferred mode of play as well. With soloing coming in a close second. I like having the time to mull over moves. And PBEM is great for its discontinuity - I can work it around my schedule, usually regardless of how hectic that may be.

None of that **** here.

***

Hi, I'm Jim. Got my first wargame aged 12 (Napoleon at Bay) but then a miniatures club started up at school and I got diverted for a few years. Really got back into it in my thirties with SPQR and my collection has been growing ever since. Found this site by clicking on Calandale's profile on BGG. Of all his videos his one about being an aspie probably had the biggest impact on me because my youngest son (Ashie) is also an aspie and really I hope that one day he'll be a pipe smoking wargamer. He's mega-argumentative so we're halfway there aleady  :D

Good to see so many familiar faces. 

First time I've seen a parent wishing an addiction (or maybe two) on their child!

Good to see you here too Jim. You have one of my favourite avatars I must say. Same as on BGG no?

Hi everyone, I'm Geoff and I'm here because I like wargames and bullpoopie.

I recognize a few people from BGG.  I'm not really active in the wargaming forum, I find it a bit of a bore, I spend 95% of my time over there in a couple of guild forums (shout out to the AAC Guild).

This place seems like my kind of place: speak your mind, and have fun...no hard feelings.

I played board games growing up, but lost interest in the late 90's when I was in high school. I played magic in middle, and high school, but video games took over as my obsession at that time. As I have gotten older (i'm 31 now), I have pushed away from video games. About a year and a half ago I lost a job I had, so I was looking for an inexpensive form of entertainment (I didn't know then how expensive this could be at that time)  :), found some reviews of board games online, bought a few games on the cheap, and my love of tabletop gaming has come back with a vengeance.

My wife doesn't really understand the appeal, she will play some of the games with me, but mostly she thinks it's strange that the bug has bitten me so hard. I am the type of person who jumps in with both feet when there is something that really grabs me, I guess I have an obsessive personality, but with my other hobbies like comics, sports, and books, I believe there are worse things to be addicted too.

I have followed Calandale to these forums to show some loyalty to a person whose reviews, and analysis of games I respect. Without people like him, Tom Vasel, Joel Eddy, Lance Myxter, and Marco Arnaudo, I might never have gotten back into this great hobby.

*throws the AAC Guild gang sign to fellow guildie*
(http://www.seriouseats.com/images/20081107-bloodsausage.jpg)

Word.

Long Time lurker, first time poster.

I've got a fanboy crush on calandale and was thusly quite excited when I saw an opportunity to be part of a guild he created.

Anyway, looks like you've had quite the response.

It will be fun to watch what happens.

Well I'm the youngest guy here.

Got into wargames as a result of calandale's videos on VG's The Civil War. Since then I've been buying and playing stuff solo and having a blast.

Then I guess I’m the second youngest here, at 30.

I’m here because it’s the only place I can find where usrlocal is currently existing.

I came across the forum, though, by looking at Enrico’s BGG profile today while reading a thread to see why his avatar had changed from the everready mockingbird. And I only just discovered the video by accident, through a totally unrelated matter this evening.

I blocked BGG’s wargames forum back in 2012 after I got tired of the strain.

I’m Jonathan Harrison there, and you can find me everywhere but \Wargames\.

I'm Pete.

I used BGG for a couple of years and do not hate it. I once asked irritating questions about darts. I set up a profile here because 1.) variety is good, and 2.) there are certain topics and game forums (Dominion, etc.) where the users on BGG at the time were less than informative. I have used the Red X before on that site to screen out idiots, but I don't think I ever used it out of hurt feelings.

I've been a casual watcher of the video reviews and found many of them to be insightful and worth clicking. Best of luck with the new site.

Hope you stick around. Diversity of opinions is what makes things work.

Why am I here?  Because I like **** around with those stupid capture things.  It took three times before I got it right.

Oh the irony, oh the shame.  My first post has been censored.  (checks settings)

Well if that don't **** beat the god-damned **** out of everything.

Glad to see blasphemy is permitted, pity about the scatology, though.

I'll stop quoting myself now.

Dear Leader! I was about to send Dennis Rodman out to go looking for you.

I got booted from BGG for apparently performing the cardinal sin. You see I not used to the whole political correctness on BGG. So I ended up being banned for 6 months and then I needed to ask about a rule in a game and decided to create another account during that period. Anyhow they found me the other day when I posted on clanedale's blog. I had behaved for over 6 months on there without being banned and yet now I am banished lol. Anyhow, here I am  :o

Well if you find him, tell him I want my Pokemon cards back.

I knew he was up to no good...

LOL Wendell,

I got banned once from the Geek when I voted for your avatar on a geek list when you were pitted against Obama. Absolute joke they made you change your avatar btw. I mentioned something about KJI being more popular than Obama at the time of that vote. Oh, the Geek's pathetic fascist pursuit for standardisation...

Yeah, the word filter is shit.

I can't solve the non-audio captcha here either.

Unfortunately, neither is under my control. It is free however.
Free makes up for a lot.

are those damned kids up on your roof again

I am here because of the ridiculous moderation policy at BGG.

I have been moderated three times for the below:

Hi E Bickford,

Warning #1:" This warning is intended as a reminder of our rules rather than as a reprimand.

Forum moderators have reviewed the content detailed above and found it in violation of our rules. We don't require that you delete it, however it would be appreciated if you chose to do so."

Ban for the same Item as the above warning: One day suspension of posting privileges for personal attacks in http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/71410/item/3032055#item3032055 (entry has been deleted)
Forum moderators have reviewed the content detailed above and found it in violation of our rules. "

Then I reposted a benign version of the item and got this ban: 3 day suspension of posting privileges for personal attack "不幸的是，我必须使用新语 朋友说，政府已经被迫对我" - geeklist privileges have been suspended indefinitely.  Geeklist comment has been deleted.

Forum moderators have reviewed the content detailed above and found it in violation of our rules. We don't require that you delete it, however it would be appreciated if you chose to do so. You can review our rules here: [geekurl=/community_rules]Community Rules[/geekurl].

This was the response to the appeal to my permanent ban from GeekLists:

"The original list item was insulting to a number of users.  It went unnoticed because the list was read by few enough people that no one complained until just recently.  When it was brought to moderator attenton it was acted upon. 

The new list item is merely a more passive aggressive version of the original.  Those already aware of the original also know your intent with the passive aggressive replacement. 

No amount of contribution excuses poor behavior.  All members of the community are treated equally when they violate our site rules.  Anyone not willing to follow our rules is not welcome to participate on the site, regardless of how much they might contribute. 

Your geeklist access has been indefinitely suspended due to the apparent lack of respect for those rules demonstrated by your creation of the passive aggressive list item in response to the deletion of the original.  I'd be happy to restore those account privileges if I am assured that you will no longer use geeklists in a similarly childish manner.

Here is the link to a screen capture of the offending item:http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?233@@.1dd4f443!enclosure=.1ddabdba

When I contrasted my contributions with my one offensive Geeklist Item, BGG Moderation dissed my contributions, so I pulled about 155 session reports and moved them to my CSW blog.

This is the part that I have never understood. They found some bit of content offensive, yet they won't remove it but ask you to do so.

Talk about passive-aggressive.

I kinda like that. Disappearing posts and the like are like the hidden police.

I DON'T like that they won't openly discuss bans and the like though - issues like that
need to be exposed to the community.

I don't like the mods just leaving it up to the offender to remove the content. If it's not worthy of a mod stepping in to do something, it's not worthy of a ban/suspension.

Honestly, the best thing to do for the community is to delete highly offensive content, but clearly mark inappropriate content that is worth a warning. The post in question has to be highlighted with a "THE USER WAS WARNED FOR THIS POST."

And when a user is banned/suspended, that needs to be displayed next to their user name for the duration of the ban.

Their hidden moderation is counterproductive.

What exactly did moderation say the problem was with the three dots?

Is there a forbidden meaning that I don't know about?

Is it that it reminds other users that you said something offensive prior?

I agree here. Something against TOS should be something the staff deems puts the site at risk in some way.
I can even see (though don't agree with) locking a thread in real time, to shut down a flame war (not
that I agree with doing so). BGG too often is catching something long after any fuse might have been lit.

The only thing I can think of is that they're too lazy to moderate the threads effectively, and by giving
whiners a way of retaliating by causing bans, those whiners don't engage when they normally would -
which would only work if the majority of people are pussies.




No it's not. It's like the secret police in the USSR. Once you've attracted their
attention, every post is shadowed by this feeling of "is this one going to get
me in some trouble?"

It's a really miserable feeling.

This is all they tell me:


Along with the boilerplate.

Without understanding the rationale behind it, I can see the response - though I feel I used it so sparingly that
it wasn't really disruptive to the site in any way.

I believe I have but one more post for BGG - and then I am done. May not even bother with responding on
vids anymore, though I'll maintain the lists.

BGG has never made me change my avatar.  ???

(FWIW, I'm using this one because the idea of the Team America puppet Kim Jong Il with Pokemon amuses me.  This does not imply an endorsement for North Korean family communist despotism, OR collectible card games.)

I'm Jay, weateallthepies on bgg also. I fell into wargaming due to my desire for solitaire gaming, and it seems less of a dirty word in the wargames world. I do have a regular group for mostly euro type stuff, but wargaming is where I spend my money these days and it's where I find time to relax. I'm a stay at home dad, so it's also partly an escape from that and a way to engage my brain in something other than a world of princesses and loom bands.

I'm here because I like forums where people are free to discuss and debate and they are few and far between. I've not been banned from bgg but I'm fairly used to it in political and religious discussions in other forums where people choose to silence arguments they don't care for by appealing to moderators. I remember one forum where they actually started having moderated "appreciation" threads in which "fans" of a particular thing/idea were free to pat each other on the back and agree constantly without the threat of people disagreeing with them. **** that.

Welcome...glad you found us..tell your friends :)

Well... sheeeeit.  Since everyone is popping up to say hallo, I might as well.

thud13x at bgg.

nothing much to it other than that.

cheers,

My handle on BGG was originally Bob Loblaw because when I signed up I didn't have any intention of ever posting and I was watching an episode of Arrested Development. I have changed it to Robert Stites, which is my legal name, because I bought a game in a geek auction, and I wanted to make sure it was shipped to the right place. Ironically enough, I actually go by Rex. Confusing, huh? (thanks mom and dad).

I am here because, as somebody else said, all the cool kids from BGG seem to have moved over here. I hate BGG's moderation policies, but tolerate them because when I get banned for a day or two it gives me a good opportunity to take a break from BGG for awhile.

I have been moderated for pointing out that a poster, who had insinuated that I spit on veterans when they come home, was throwing a tantrum because he was losing an argument. (Being the son of a Vietnam vet, the insinuation didn't sit well.)

I was also moderated for calling out a poster for being a dick by posting passive-aggressive replies to a post of mine.

Of course, in neither instance did the other poster get any reprimand. There have been other instances that I figured I would be moderated after I submitted a post, but did not. If the moderation was not completely arbitrary I wouldn't mind so much. But it is the fact that a group, like the ASL players, can come into a thread and start red-x'ing everything that they don't agree with and the mods will eventually assert their will.

I also can't stand the way people use sock puppets on the site.

This thread didn't exist when I first got here, so it has been awhile for me to get around to this.

I don't know what I go by on BGG, but I guess as I got my name associated with my ID over there it is sort of a moot point. :)  I don't really think that I post that much over at that site; the navel gazing stuff there (or other roll call threads) have gotten a little old and worse, silly.

I don't particularly believe that I have any responsibility for 'ensuring that the hobby can renew itself through an injection of youth' or whatever equivalently overblown way of stating that is. I just want to enjoy the history of the thing.

I am not terribly into writing about the impending demise of the hobby -or concerned about it (because I don't believe it is real or really anything other than some guys' excuse to maybe write a blog post or whatever.).

I don't own Case Blue -although I have seen it for sale several years ago in Canberra at the one gaming convention that I ever attended... since I bought absolutely nothing - I guess that makes me a bad hobbyist.  (Or someone not terribly into paying the surcharge simply to exist in Australia ;) ). . .  Frankly I don't have the space for that sort of thing anymore -and probably don't have the time to read the rules anyhow.

Well I could write some about web work within the hobby- but I guess I will leave it at - I have zero plans ever to do that again (not in the boardgaming world...). It is time for someone else to have all of the fun.

Why am I here? It's pretty simple. The people I liked best at BGG have shunned the subdomain and come over here.

I'm here now, so there's that...

I was over at BGG.  I become disillusioned with the conversation.  I didn't like the guild scene too much.  Game specific conversation was too biased to be meaningful for anything other than getting rules questions answered...which I could do quicker and usually from the designer or developer over at CSW...

I'm Michail aka Björn from Germany. I'm here because one of the few personalities of our hobby dropped out of BGG so I followed him. I played ASL for a few years and I played it exclusively.  Than I stopped playing ASL and started wargaming. ;)

 :D

I'm Bill V. (Foo Dog on BGG). I came for the wargames. I stayed for the wit and tomfoolery.
Played D&D in the 80s through grade school and high school. My first wargaming memories were of things like the Dwarfstar line. In high school I ran with an older (college) crew and dabbled a bit in heavier wargames but got scarred for a decade or two after playing Air War. My rpg mojo ran out in the mid 2000s but got steadily hooked on boardgames (more so ameritrash then slowly added in a few Euros to the gaming diet). My introduction to wargames came via Memoir '44, Commands & Colors then on to Eisenbach Gap then Combat Commander: Europe. From there it's been a lot of GMT, low counter density VPG games, then some MMP. I'm now adding some more MMP and a lot of the good stuff from the 80s. I've fallen madly in love with Victory Games titles over the past few months.

Due to time, commitments and the lack of opportunity to hang with local Grognards, I'm a solo wargamer. I'm interested in monster games but I don't have the space nor gaming buddies.

I still have my nervous tic from attempting 'Air War' 30 years ago.  ;D

Air War was the first honest to goodness non-fantasy, non-sci-fi wargame I purchased. Man, did it kick my ass. I tried with a friend to play that thing  for a year, but it was painful. Eventually had to sell it.

Found an unpunched used copy some months ago. I can actually understand the rules now! Not sure if I will play it, but it has been fun to read and fondle.

I picked up a copy some while ago, but still haven't even gotten to the reading and fondling stage.

Air War was like the second wargame I ever bought. My brother and I struggled mightily, but still had fun playing it. I remember soloing the Linebacker scenario more than once.

I must have been an awfully lonely child.  ;D

I've seen it over your shoulder in a number of vids, Enrico. I haven't decided if a calandale treatment would be the coolest thing ever, or the lamest thing ever.

OK actually it'd be pretty cool.

awdougherty over at BGG, actual name is Arthur.  Just noticed a few people linking to these forums (billyboy was one, calandale another) so I thought I would jump over and see what's up.

Truth be told, I probably play a lot more video games than board games at the moment (not that I play much of either), but I have gotten a bit of a war game collection together that I'm curious to wade through over time.  Made sure to establish a dedicated gaming space in the house for the task so hopefully I can get the motivation up to start soon.

Honestly, I was waiting to see if this crashed and burned.  Guess it's time to create a profile.

One of the old college gaming buds from Buffalo.   Not a huge online forum user, but will post every now and then and have caught some of the vidds.

-Kevin

Great to see you here (and everyone else).


Hung out with Rob W. for a couple days last year. No gaming, just bars and hiking.

Me too. But, there's still plenty of time for that.

I am new to this site and hope to hang out to discuss wargames.  I noticed that the thumb posse rolled over here, so I'm in too.  And the BGG wargame forums are becoming all too quiet.

Yeah, bit of a ghost town there now.

Glad I found this site as I enjoy calandale's reviews and don't delve much into the BGG Wargame subforum.

I end up buying more wargames than I have time to play, but I finally got a decent sized table so at least I can lay some maps out.

It's what MD and his ilk desire. They want a few verbose and pretentious posts with everyone
else staying silent and just listening.

Yeah, I mean this has only been up for a week or two, right?  I mean, we are talking about the attention span of the internet, here.   ;D

Yep. My last forum attempt had 4227 posts in the first month (in 2008). Pretty much was on life support by 2011.
Has been dead for some time now.

About half the members though. A few very spammy folk.

Yeah, but back in 08 you didn't have the vids, which are the foundation of the Calandale brand.

There was a different branding issue - but you're right.
I had been banned permanently from my main posting place -
which also would have been my main recruiting tool - by the
time I got around to starting my own site. Had heavily invigorated
a couple of other sites from there.

Plus, that was a weird experiment. Everyone was an admin.

I guess with all the gentle folk absent, there is no reason to discuss things on BGG anymore. As a matter of fact, I haven't posted a lot outside of the "On your table" and "Vassal request" lists for months anyway, for just the reason that I am tired of the same discussion occuring twice or more within the same week, or rather the same day. "Enjoy the repitition". This was beyond being ironic or cynical.

I've already said "howdy" elsewhere, but since this is the official designated location for such things, I better post here so I don't get in trouble with The Man.

Howdy!

Same username as over on BGG.  I suspect my activity there will remain constant (Judd's monthly lists and the commerce).

I started with Risk, then moved on to the brand new game called Axis & Allies.  My first "real" wargame was VG's NATO: The Next War in Europe, and it all spiraled out from there.  Spent the 90s's hipdeep in miniatures gaming, starting with Space Marine: EPIC and moving through a couple iterations of that as well as the larger Warhammer and 40K.  Branched out into VOID and several other minis games before finding true happiness with Warmaster and its derivatives.

Overall this was an overlay of RPGs which continues, not least because the wife likes to play those.

Since moving away from my minis group and having a family I've gotten out of minis and found my way back to boardgames in a major way.  And that's pretty much that.

Thought I'd register for a look see :-)

Keep getting banned over on the geek. Somewhat more of a relaxed atmosphere over here.

Why do I feel like I'm hanging out with a bunch of ex-cons?   ;D

It's okay when you're an ex-con too. :D

Oh, and welcome aboard! I like your present-day Morrissey avatar.   ;D

Shockingly, I've never pulled a ban on BGG. Even though I should have on more than a few occasions. I'm such a slacker.   ;D

You're pretty mellow. There are a lot of folk who seem to have gripes with the image moderation system
who have no issue with getting into heated arguments on the boards. Some of them have been wandering
in here.

This place can never replace BGG though. For getting images onto the site so you can put together
AARs, you can just upload them to your private gallery there - and there is nothing better offered
here.

I'm Sam. Used to be a regular in the BGG wargames subdomain. Have lapsed into non-activity there due to being overwhelmed by the flood of interesting, engaging and fun content.

Bonjour Sam.

And welcome!

Oh and I have never been banned either.

I just like to hang out with the bad kids, smoking cigarettes down by the tracks.    ::)

Merci! Nice to "see" you all again. It's been a while...

Which is disappointing seeing as how I keep pressing the red X on all of your posts...  ;D

I've never been banned either, but I was the type of kid that would get everyone else riled up about something and then stand back and watch then fun. I loved when my minions danced for me...

Now a days I have a real hard time getting wound up over what some stranger says on the internet. So when I see people acting like assholes I just tend to write them off as assholes, ignore them, and move on.

It is nice to see a bunch of the wargamer BGG personalities that I've come to respect over the years showing up here! Welcome aboard everyone...

Doh!

My revenge will be served cold. Cold I say!

I am here because most of my favorite posters are here. Hmm... that really says something.  ;)

I'd pay good money to hear Joey Deacon covering Every Day is Like Sunday. It may go on for a while though.

Welcome! Great to see you over here too!  :)

Most recently, I got pulled into the Recon Strategy hilarity fest/clusterfuck. Seems that people in Fresno don't have a sense of humour.

Hey Sam! Good to see you here! How's it going in your end of Lower Canuckistan?   ;D

add me to the list of calandale fans who had to come over and see what's up here.

I'm generally a lurker wherever i go (online and off), so I haven't had direct experience with bgg moderation, though most of the time i hear about someone being banned I can't really see why from what they've posted.


I've been playing games for about 8 years (after playing some back in high school). I came to wargames because I was interested in games with more complexity and breadth, not through an interest in history. I had gotten into Phil Eklund's games and that piqued my interest in games that simulate things, and wargames seemed like the next choice. SPQR was my first wargame. Then some other GBoH and MPBS. Then I heard about Here I Stand and Virgin Queen and COIN and others that deal with the economics and politics of war along with the warfare.

Welcome  :D

COIN FTW.

I'll just copy this for ease of use.
I noticed a link on BGG in Enrico's video list, looked it up and thought, hey what the hell let's join. I'm a relative newb when it comes to wargameing (hex 'n counter stuff) I played tons of warhammer but that's another thing entirely.

I recently got Blood & Roses, Wilderness War and Struggle for the Galactic Empire.

Welcome here! And don't forget to mention that you play a damned good game of 'Origins: How We Became Human'!  ;)

Thanks Peter, I try, but I'm afraid that I'll finish third or something, it looks like Gregor will win.
maybe we can start a new game of PaxPorfiriana through Vassal? I'll send an email around..

Gregor was a shark, wasn't he? Another PBEM game of Pax would be great! We should get Sam (sxmpxr) into it too!  :)

Even though most people are wargamers right now, I'm hoping to get people into other games.

It appears that even most of us that identify as wargamers play plenty of other games as well.

True, true.

There may be perspective issues though....