What was your "moment?"

Pitman

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What was the moment for you when the light bulb clicked on and you realized "Man, this is <curse word> game for me!" or "Man, I'm going to love this game!"?

What did it for you? Was it immediate? Did it take a while?
 

holdit

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As soon as I unboxed Squad Leader and looked the maps and counters.

(Partly because, to a frustrated miniatures gamer, it was like an answer to a prayer. It still is.)
 

Kijug

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As soon as I started making cardboard cubbies in my CoI and CoD boxes and had so much fun organizing it all (SL held the boards and rules). Waiting for GI for more counters seemed like forever (OK, it was!) . But then a big, colorful binder of ASLRB...and BV with a zillion more counters! OCD had me at the start....
 

Rindis

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The first hint was the first morning of Pacificon '77. They had an interesting idea that year where each dealer had his own small room, instead of a large dealer's room. The usual deal at that time was for stores not to be on the floor, and games were available from the publisher, or their designated distributor. Lowry Enterprises was the West Coast Distributor for AH, and as I followed my parents up the little back set of stairs to our dealer's room, there were all these gamers camped out, sitting on the stairs, waiting for us to open. They were all waiting for copies of Squad Leader in the new orange box.

I didn't have much availability to it for ages after, but reading the back of the box at the con certainly meant that I paid attention to the articles in the General. And those gorgeous boards. Took me a while to understand the deliberate modularity of them.

The final straw was probably finally soloing my way through Scenario 4. I came back to it every few years with no local opponents until me and my Dad went through some of it together (tactical has never been his passion).

Two things eventually confirmed me long-term for ASL. 1) VASL 2) A permanent semi-local opponent (and it's his favorite game, so we always come back to it, even when I drag him off to something else for a while).
 

Carln0130

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When I first played a friends version of SL back in the 70's. Prior to that, I had been playing operational and strategic games. The lowest level game I had tried was Panzer Blitz and I had found that wanting. This I could instantly visualize and perhaps for that reason, everything clicked. Been my game of choice ever since.
 

TopT

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The back* of the SL box...the write up (seemingly right from Craig's "Enemy at the Gates") and the thumbs of the board and counters... That was 38 years ago...
Yep, exactly the same for me! It took me a long time to start actually playing as life was totally in the way :).
 

bprobst

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I got there a little backwards. The first product I saw was Crescendo of Doom. A friend had just purchased it and looking through it I just thought "wow". I was relatively new to board wargames at that time and I hadn't seen any game like this. Those maps!

Later I borrowed his copy of Squad Leader (and CoI/CoD) and ran through a solo play of Scenario 1. That's when I knew "this is the game for me".
 

Pitman

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This question may need a complete do-over, because almost all of you are giving answers that are basically answering some sort of question about how the game's appearance was attractive to you. Most of these answers are of the "I liked the box" variety. They're great answers, but just not really answers to the question I asked.

What I asked was basically at what moment did you realize this was the game you wanted to devote your gaming life, or at least a substantial portion of your gaming life, to. At what moment, basically, WHILE PLAYING THE GAME, did you realize you were addicted to it?

I'll give myself as an example. I had played Squad Leader in the early 80s, and liked it fine, but it wasn't a game I'd likely have listed in a top 5 or top 10 list. When ASL came out--or rather, several years later when I was actually able to afford some of it--I dabbled in it, but that was about it.

However, after the 2nd edition rules came out, a friend and I decided to commit ourselves to learning and playing. The first scenario (Under the Noel Trees) we probably spent more time with our heads in the rulebook than anything else. It probably wasn't until the third scenario we played that the full IMMERSIVE and INTERACTIVE powers of ASL really began to make themselves aware to me. At that point I really became conscious of what a rich gaming experience ASL could offer. And at that point, I went from 20 mph to 80 mph very very quickly.
 

21Z5M

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The back* of the SL box...the write up (seemingly right from Craig's "Enemy at the Gates") and the thumbs of the board and counters... That was 38 years ago...
That was the moment
 

JimWhite

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What I asked was basically at what moment did you realize this was the game you wanted to devote your gaming life, or at least a substantial portion of your gaming life, to. At what moment, basically, WHILE PLAYING THE GAME, did you realize you were addicted to it?
My then brother-in-law and I played from the original Squad Leader up through the Japanese of ASL. We liked the game but it wasn't a lifestyle.

Then we started playing...

Red Barricades.

'nuff said.
 

Roy

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When I realized I would have an actual opponent for a game..... any game. And this is what he wanted to play.
 
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