Best of AH 'Classics'

[Calandale]

For me, I guess Desert Fox and Midway are my favorites of the 'pure' classics.
Both have their issues though. Desert Fox is something of a geometry game,
whilst Midway doesn't feel like too much more than Battleship at times.

I'd definitely rank Bismark up there - but it's the '77 edition that I love. No
idea how well the old one holds up.

A couple honorable mentions to Jutland and Alexander.

[LuckyDiceRolls]

assuming AH stands for avalon hill and youre not just letting one off
my all time favorite avalon hill games were Blitzkrieg and the russian campaign

clean and simple, with a good focus on tactics, not too long to finish a game either
at least not compared with the miniature games Ive been into lately

[Schwerpunkt]

I didnt buy many AH games but Third Reich was always a standout for me. In which ever edition takes your fancy!

[The Grinch]

Third Reich hands down for me.  Used to be a week didn't go by where I didn't have that game set up for ftf or solitaire.  Also got a lot of play out of The Russian Campaign, Afrika Korps, and Squad Leader.

[capt_s]

I'd definitely rank Bismark up there - but it's the '77 edition that I love. No
idea how well the old one holds up.

Now that one really did feel like Battleship at times as the British searched high and low for the Germans.  I loved it when it switched over to the battle board.

Fav old AH title? I owned a number of them and played a number more .... and you know what, I would not be interested in playing them today! Sad, but true. More me than them though. I just tired of the old CRT table.

Well, how about good ol'Richtofhens War? Flawed, but at least there is the map to look over.

Honestly, I suspect their earliest game that would appeal to me today would be Squad Leader and that is not really an AH Classic per se. So I will go with RW.

[desertfoxleo]

When I think of AH "Classics", I think of the games AH themselves labeled as the "classics"...

Gettysburg
Waterloo
D-Day
Stalingrad
Afrike Korps
Battle of the Bulge
Midway

I might be missing a few, but they were mostly the best of the original flatbox games, I think. Of these, Afrika Korps is still the best one for me, and I've played it again only a couple of years ago and still had a lot of fun with my buddy Dan. I also played Battle of the Bulge again, also with Dan, and using the advanced rules, it was actually a very fun and pretty solid wargaming experience. I played Stalingrad solo again a year a go or so, and I'll say this - while it does not model the actual operations on the Eastern Front very well at all - no breakthroughs and exploitations, no massive pockets of enemy troops, it IS an engaging game to play, and I do see the attraction that people had to the game. Waterloo was the first "real" wargame I ever played, and I've played it a couple of times in recent years and still found it enjoyable. Frankly, I like 'em all, because they are accessible and can all be finished in a long afternoon. That's refreshing because as much as I like bigger games that take multiple sessions to complete, it's nice once and awhile and come up for air with a relatively light play of one of the "Classics".

As for AH games that do not fall strictly within AH's self-defined "classics" grouping, I'd say three games stand out:
- Rise and Decline of the Third Reich
- The Russian Campaign
- Panzerblitz (and Panzer Leader)
I've played one or more games of all of these in the last five years, even with all of the newer fare in my collection. There is a lot of gaming goodness in these boxes. There are gamers out there that will tell you that these are dated designs and that there are better, newer choices out there, but I still enjoy playing these, as do my main wargaming buddies, so I suspect they will continue to get played in my group.

[revmidni]

I would have to go with Guns of August. It was my first wargame at age 15 and started my love of wargames and world war 1

[rstites25]

I don't know if it is considered a "classic" but I've always loved Gunslinger.

[pnpfanatic]

Third Reich definitely...that's where it started for me when I was 9. Air Force brother brought it home after he found me playing a version of Chopper Strike that I had modded beyond recognition.

[anarchy]

Merchants of Venus

 

[Calandale]

New thread: http://thegamebox.gamesontables.com/index.php?topic=28.0