Kriegsspieling

One of the outcomes of the success of the narrative games course was my own renewed interest in all kinds of games. In particular, I still have a number of the board games from when I was a kid. The ones I played the most were from Avalon Hill, but I was also quite fond of the games by Yaquinto. (And while AH features in gamer nostalgia, I have yet to see anything about Yaquinto. No love for Marine 2002: A Game of the First Lunar War?)

In addition to a number of solo games that are driven by writing—Starforged, Loner, Star Trek: Captain’s Log—I have also picked up a number of solo wargames. So far, the rules have been a little daunting. (How I played Squad Leader, I don’t know, but I think the designers of that game did a pretty good job of giving you the minimal viable rules and then slowly adding rules as you worked your way through scenarios.)

To shake off the rust, I decided to join the International Kriegsspiel Society, where I have been lurking for the past few months. And then, with the holidays looming, I decided to join a play-by-post game—which is actually done on Discord. So far, I’ve managed to miss my first turn deadline by a few hours and have my ability to lead my company questioned, but I think I’m back on track. I like the vignetted maps that the moderator posts into my “command” channel.