Vintage Wargaming

Why play wargames which are 20, 30 or even 40 or more years old?

Many reasons could be given, but the most important reason is many of these games are still fun to play!

The state of the art has advanced considerably, in all respects. Computers have provided sophisticated graphical design tools, manufacturing techniques have greatly improved, and the fundamental mechanics of modern games probably, on average, are better than most vintage games.

From what I understand, until recently, older games of all sorts could be acquired cheaply on EBay, second hand shops and related venues. Within the last couple of years, prices for many older games have skyrocketed.

However, a large number of excellent games are still available for anyone making even cursory effort, and relatively inexpensively. Considering the cost of a new wargame, with hundreds of counters and one or more mounted mapboards, the original purchase price of $10-$12 seems like a great deal, even if the used price is $20-$30.

How to get older games cheap

It’s not that difficult. Look for games for which:

• all the pieces are punched,
• the box has considerable wear,
• the price is significantly lower than mint or new copies.

If you can find scanned copies of rules, counters, maps or other game pieces, it’s sometimes possible to find mostly complete games for very cheap.

This strategy works for me because once I take interest in a particular game, I don’t mind buying a couple of battered copies and bashing a playable set together (with spares!). For example, I have three copies of PanzerBlitz. While it turns out that two of the boxes are in pretty good shape, the third box is battered and taped together. This is the box I actually play. (It also turns out the all three copies were complete when I received them, a grateful surprise.)

Punched or unpunched?

Another benefit of buying used games already punched is you don’t have to punch them. I have a copy of Victory Game’s Viet Nam 1965 1975 which I can’t bring myself to punch. Consequently, I’m looking for a couple of cheap copies which may or may not be complete.

The best of both worlds here is “partially punched,” because it’s easy to determine whether any counters are missing, and being partially punched is license to complete punching it out.

Playing vintage wargames

• Record keeping: I’ve taken to stocking most of my older games with a couple of cheap mechanical pencils and a pad or two of Post-It notes. Neither take up a lot of space, and having a scratch pad handy for calculations is indispensible.

• Players aids: may or may not extensive, but if they are extensive, you have a related problem: game playing space.

• Physical space. Where to put everything? Some of these older games just take up a lot of space.

If you find a game you like, and you can get inexpensive copies, or find “print and play” components, seriously consider annotating and modifying your game to fit your taste. Obviously, this isn’t something you would want to do with a brand new game which may have considerable resale value, but your second or third copy of game won’t have much resale value in any case.

More benefits

Good vintage games acquire a community of dedicated players, and quite often, a raft of player aids, new scenarios, counters, etc. For example, the PanzerBlitz series of games has hundreds of community created counters, and dozens of different maps.