Legacy of Games

[Dmart]

Good evening. I recently posted the following as a Boardgamegeek blog (slightly edited for length; for unedited version, go to https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/10133/legacy-games) :

This effort was first conceived in mid-February. Greg's brother, Mike, had recently passed away, leaving many games behind. Greg knew that I was an avid game player and he asked if I would be interested in reviewing Mike's games and getting the games into the hands and homes of other gamers (Greg and his family had no idea what to do with the games). I eagerly offered to help.

The plan to bring the games from Birmingham AL to Fernandina Beach FL was hampered by the Covid-19 concerns, delaying the transport until this weekend. Earlier this week, Greg advised me of his travel plans and asked if I'd be home today. He had flown to Alabama and planned to rent a truck to haul everything to Florida.

Originally, the plan was to stash the collection at my house. The Greg got to Alabama and reviewed what had been collected by Greg: the 10' truck stretched to 15-17' feet, leading to the decision to rent a storage unit, then Greg actually got a 20' foot truck, and I increased the size of the storage unit (8x10). Greg left Alabama at 6:00 AM this morning, arriving in Fernandina Beach at 2:30. Gamer friend Curtis joined us to unload.

Greg indicated he had never seen such a collection of stuff and even I was overwhelmed. 225 boxes of all shapes and sizes were filled with games, parts, and magazines. We made no real effort to examine what was in the boxes, but some were loosely opened and others were labelled. Most of the games appeared to be older military games- Avalon Hill, GMT, etc. Dozens of magazines included copies of The General, Strategy & Tactics, and others. Other boxes included game trays and computer games.

This is the growing legacy of games that many of us aging gamers will leave to others. In many cases, our families will not realize the value (monetary or sentimental) of or will not know what to do with these games and treasures. With WWII and the Cold War vanishing from the collective memories of younger generations, the subject matter of these games will likely generate little interest for the video/computer gamers now prevalent in our communities.

I am only about a dozen boxes into this project, and it appears that SL/ASL products (official and 'unofficial') will be well-represented . An interesting find today was a series of ASL variants: Glory and Grief, Doughboys and Devildogs, Enemies of the Crown, The Ordeal at Chosin, and The "Splendid Little War." Packaged similarly is River Rats, but this appears to be one of a series of Panzer Leader-related Vietnam gamettes.

Can anyone provide insight into these variants? Thank you.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

I have a copy of Glory and Grief. These were part of the Wild Bill Wilder series that was getting lots of attention, and money, on ebay. Wilder is well known in various wargame circles. He helped with scenarios for the original COMBAT MISSION computer game, for example, in 1999 or so. But he goes back much further, and he did variants for the original Squad Leader, I think for magazines like The Wargamer which at that time was run by Keith Poulter.

Some more info at my website here:

https://www.tacticalwargamer.com/boardgames/advancedsquadleader/tpp/firsttofight/glorygrief.htm

 

[dlazov]

Wild Bill started creating scenarios back in SL day’s for On All Fronts (OAF), and then for ASL for OAF, he then went on and created scenarios and campaigns for Steel Panthers, in particular for Matrix’s Steel Panthers World st War (a SP III spin off, which was SSI’s platoon level of the SP series, which Matrix converted to single tank and squad), I believe he also created scenarios for Norm Kroger’s Tank! And I think The Operation Art of War. He then I think worked on some Lock n Load scenarios and then started his own ASL eBay business.

 

[Dmart]

Thank you for the information. As I originally stated in my first message, my interest in what I am finding is to find "good homes" for the games at a price that moves the games, not makes the remaining family "rich."

 

[The Purist]

If you have "War in the West" and "War in the East" by SPI, I would be interested.

These are two large games that combine to make "War in Europe".

Also interested in "Wooden Ships, Iron Men" if part of the collection.

PM me if these are in the collection.

Cheers.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Thank you for the information. As I originally stated in my first message, my interest in what I am finding is to find "good homes" for the games at a price that moves the games, not makes the remaining family "rich."

When I said he was getting lots of money on ebay, I meant it was a bit controversial as the products were considered pretty low quality and not at all worth the prices he was getting. I mean, he was fetching $200 USD for print and play stuff while out of print ASL stuff by the original producers were going for less. It was wild.

 

[dlazov]

Note that you in order to make War in the East and War in the West into one big module for War in Europe you will still need the Exclusive Rules for War in Europe. When you purchased War in Europe you got the Standard Rules for War in Europe and the exclusive rules for both War in the West/East and the one for War in Europe. If you only purchased War in the East/West they came with the Standard rules for War in Europe but not the Exclusive rules for War in Europe.

Hope that makes sense.

I have a lot of experience and knowledge of board war games, at one time I owned 500+ of them things. SPI was one of my favorite companies back in the day.

 

[Dmart]

As I sort through the boxes (I'm about 20 into over 200), I'm finding plenty of ASL-related stuff- dozens of mounted boards, scores of scenario packs (MMP as well as TPP, most of which are unpunched and, at first glance look to be complete), folders and bags of just "stuff," and then even more bags of counters (SL and ASL). It will be a task to sort and inventory this stuff. Hundreds of magazines, too, including at least two boxes of original General magazines (I have found what is labeled "Generals, Box II of II).