Introduction.
In responding to Jason's request for a game much to my great surprise and delight I reconnected with a hometown buddie of mine that I last spoke to almost 40-years ago. Our last contact was around 1982/1983 (can't remember the exact year) when I'd been out of graduate school and working for real for 2-years and he was heading into the Army.
Over summer breaks (for me) from college and in this 2-years post college and still single period (1976/77 - 1982/83) we, along with a couple of others buddies (Tommy & Blake), had many of exciting game. These not only included the Avalon Hill wargames shown below but no-hold barred games of risk, monopoly and life.
My most memorable plays were of course the wargames. Squad Leader, Cross of Iron, Russian Campaign, Victory in the Pacific, War at Sea, Richthofen's War, Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Midway and Third Reich. Now Jason and I didn't play all these combinations together but I did play them with him and/or the other two of our gaming crew. All our gaming took place at Tommy's house, which was next door to my mine (i.e., my parents), down the street from Blake's house and a short drive from Jason's. Unfortunately, Tommy is no longer with us as he passed around 10-years or so ago.
Jason and I are using WhatsApp to communicate, send screencaps and files back and forth to one another. So technically this isn't PBEM since we're not using email but practically it is.
This AAR will primarily be composed of the narrations and screen shots captured in our Chat. I will include screen caps from game files at various critical points through the narration and at the end of each turn. I call this a narrative AAR because we will only discuss strategy and decision well after the fact; i.e., well after the point in which such discussion could have any impact on the game or future decisions to be made.
This AAR is open to any and all, axis and allied sympathizers, with the understanding that it truly is an After Action Report (AAR) that is intended to capture what has happened and is not, will not, be used to influence strategies on either side.
P.S. And how could I forgot Panzer Leader, Panzer Blitz and Arab-Israeli Wars! Don't believe I ever played any of these with Jason by did have numerous games with Tommy. We especially enjoyed Arab-Israeli Wars because at the time (late 70's / early 80's) the game represented state of the art/modern weapons. I used to love playing the Israelis and see my French Mirages and US TOW guides misses devastate several platoons of Soviet made tanks. We were playing this at the height of the cold war. Oh ... such youthful and fond memories. Well, not of the Cold War but of youth, gaming and such ...
