Interview to John Tiller

[Jafele]

Interesting interview to JT. [:)]

[Crossroads]

Ah, JT & Talonsoft...

I had been out of Avalon Hill cardboard games for good for a good half a dozen years actually, due to getting married, work life stepping in, all those things that make you reminiscent of those care free college years. Then Talonsoft happened and I was like is this for real! All my Avalon Hill heroes where there, Jim Rose leading the company with John Tiller leading the programming efforts.

If I would have buyed Apple and Microsoft stock for all the money I spent at their games (AH + Talonsoft) I would probably own the world now [:)]

Thanks for sharing!

[andym]

I still have all my AH Games along with some SPI and GW ganes,not forgetting some games from The Wargamer mag!

[Jafele]

In Spain NAC games were very common during the early 80´s. I still remember playing with my friends "Guadalcanal" "Rommel y Montgomery", "El dia más largo", "Resiste Stalingrado", etc [:)]. They were less complex than AH games. Sadly, only the most succesful AH titles were translated to spanish: Civilization, Diplomacy or SL.[:(], however a friend of mine had a few of them (Flat Top and Squad Leader).

[scottintacoma]

My first AH game was Guadalcanal. I think I still have a copy.

[Big Ivan]

Geez! My AH games are all in boxes stored in the back bedroom closet, I think. Not even sure what titles I have anymore. ASL, D-Day, PB/PL, Fortress Europa etc??!

Other titles too like from SPI.
These board games bring back a lot of memories. Just don't have the space to set them up not to mention two cats which we all know don't go well with board games.

Great interview with John Tiller, a must see for gamers!

Thanks for sharing Javier!

[Crossroads]

Any games you find difficult to find space for you can ship my way. I can even pay the postage [8D]

Of my stock only PL and Rise and Fall Of Third Reich survived.

Then again, I had to sell to buy new ones, so I think at the end I only lost my ASL box I think. I borrowed it to a weekend tournament (remember them!) which I did not participate, and at the end never got it back. But at the end I did not play ASL that much.

Upon buying MCS I gave away my WF and EFII TS boxes though. Stupid, stupid thing to do... They were gorgeous boxes and the printed manuals were a treat. I think I have TS CS Gold compilation still somewhere, but it is only CDs so it is not the same.

[berto]

Turning over a new leaf on my life, when I joined the U.S. Peace Corps (ha! the irony!) c. 1977, needing cash, I sold off most of my books, etc. And my board war gaming collection of 80+ mostly SPI games. I sold the lot of them -- early Christmas present -- to some geeky adolescent for ... $10. [X(] One of the worst moves I ever made. [:(]

OTOH, it unencumbered me for moving to the Philippines -- best move I ever made. Lived there, two stints, for 3 years apiece. Met and married my wife there. Our daughter was born there. Turned my life around, for the better. Best move I ever made.

To this day (er, night?), I still have dreams about my board war gaming collection. I started board war gaming (AH Gettysburg, Tactics II, D-Day, etc.) c. 1962, when I would have been ~10 years old. Apart from baseball, and pop music, one of my major, major youthful pastimes. I even designed crude board war games as an adolescent. Board war gaming -- it's in my blood.

[lparkh]

On the offchance some of you'll don't realize it, while board wargames don't sell in the numbers they once did, there is a strong board wargaming renaissance going on for some time now with many titles, and many creative titles being published. Further many can be played online asyncyronously via vassal.
Go over to boardgamegeek and ask for suggestions based on your interests in the wargaming general forum. There are some great card driven wargames, impulse wargames, even games about things like the Cold War or the Various Conferences between the three allied powers during WWII (OK I recognize these are not "war" games in the usual sense but I wanted to give you a sense of the range of innovation happening). You can and should wax nostalgic, but there is a lot to be excited about today.
I am happy to make concrete title suggestions here or if inappropriate via PM.

[Crossroads]

Not inappropriate at all! Please share [:)]

[lparkh]

Well tell me subjects you're interested in But here are pretty popular ones. Search for thrm on Boardgamegeek (where you will find written and video reviews (for more recent titles):
Strategic:
--WW1 -Paths of Glory -- Card Driven Game (CDG). Who would have thoughtthis topic could be exciting?
-- WWIi -- heavy: Unconditional Surrender (but elegant), lite "Triumph and Tragedy"
-- Post WWII -- Fire in the Lake (vietnam). Similar and very discussion provoking titles on Afganistan, Columbia, other asymmetric situations

Tactical:
-- Conflict of Heroes (better than its pc implementation by many accounts)
-- Band of Brothers

modern style hex and counter:
-- No Retreat series
-- impulse chit pull games (forget tirle but can search by mechanic)
--Dark Valley (east front)
-- Ardennes Offensive

Block Games:
-- East Front
-- Rommel in the Desert
-- Napoleon
-- many more

Untraditional Topics:
-- Twilight Struggle (cold war)
-- Churchill (ww2 conferences)

Solitaire:
-- State of Siege series. (Lite and quick)
-- John Butterfield titles (search on designer) like D-Day at Omaha Beach or Ardennes Offensive
-- many more i can point you to a thread on

I played boArdgames whrn young thrn multi decade hiatus (only pc games) now both

[lparkh]

Apologies for typos. Painful typing on a phone

[Crossroads]

Thanks. I guess I will be spending some time now at the Boardgamegeek. Again. [:D]

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: andym
I still have all my AH Games along with some SPI and GW ganes,not forgetting some games from The Wargamer mag!

Yep. And my wife keeps asking me why I keep these old things around. What?

[Crossroads]

Women...

[carll11]

Napoleon at Liepzig LMAO, man that caught my eye, HUGE map.....only map bigger I recall was Korsun Pocket...2500 counters, we had that set up for a year in out day room in Germany....

[carll11]

actually that reply was for pzgndr;)

[MrRoadrunner]

My first war game was Avalon Hill's "Blitzkrieg". Paid a friend $2. I made new maps and two new countries to allow four friends to play it.

LOL! After seeing your photo I ran down into my basement to make sure that my games were still there! [:D]
I have most of those titles and a bunch more. I think I have all the "La Bataille" series from Clash of Arms.

And, my wife still asks why I keep the junk. I just show her the boxes of her junk and all goes quiet. Nothing like "I'll throw out one of mine when you throw out one of yours".

RR

[Bigeard]

For some reason, I thought John Tiller had retired from the wargame industry, but not a bit of it, judging by that video. I've just visited his website, and am rather intrigued to find a game that covers the air war over North Vietnam - Rolling Thunder, Linebacker etc. Anyone got it, and if so, what are your impressions ?

http://www.johntillersoftware.com/index.html

http://www.johntillersoftware.com/ModernAirPower/WarOverVietnam.html

Talking about board games, somewhere up in the loft lies Avalon Hill's 'Flat Top' and 'Ironbottom Sound' by Quarterdeck Games. Both were enormous fun.

Anyway, I'm very pleased to see Mr Tiller in apparent good health and with plenty of plans for updates and new games. Well done, that man ! [:)]

[chemkid]

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