With 3rd Reich, you started out on one of their monster games. There have been a lot of excellent board wargames that did not take nearly as long to play out (a turn or a game).
Yes, every one of your complaints against those games are valid.
I can remember setting up many a solitaire game, only to immediately take it down. Sometimes I got my fix just by setting up the game...
A personal problem in our house was one cat of ours, Joe Hooker. He especially loved "1776" with its tall stacks of units which occupied a single hex. He would come dashing up to swat one of those stacks and then take off at full speed to avoid my wrath!!
Some of the games were about smaller actions and could be played through in a couple of hours. For the longer ones, there was a tedious method of saving the game: writing down every unit position on the board. Yep, I used to do that.
And we all still argue over rules interpretations, just read all the posts on this board!!!
On the plus side, with the old boardgames you get to sit with your friend (or friends, my buddies and I used to do four way free-for-alls in Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Wings, and Airforce/Dauntless) and enjoy a day of eating, drinking (if that's your wish), and playing a game without exposing yourself to the computer monitor. There's a lot to be said for that...
