Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:06 pm
For me, I think that my favorite board game was Gulf Strike, which dealt with contemporary conflict in the Persian Gulf. Unlike many other strategic simulations that I've played, it actually contributed to a better understanding for me of the geopolitical factors of the area, the military capabilities and limitations of the countries there, and so on. I don't remember who it was by; Havely says SGI, but I'm not sure.
For beer drinking, cigar-smoking, back-stabbing fun, few games beat Diplomacy, which dealt with WW I. I believe it was by AH. Whereas most board games of that era were designed for two players, Diplomacy didn't come into its own until you had four, five, or even better, six or seven people playing! Interestingly enough, a lot of the fun came from the secret discussions and complex deal-making that would occur between allies away from the board. I recall that the crowd that I played with were of the consensus that it was "RISK, on steroids"!
AH's ASL was something that I wanted to "get into", but it was almost like a religion with its enormous rule book and add ons and fanatical devotees and so forth. The few times that I played were enjoyable enough, but I seem to recall that there would be frequent, long interludes of looking stuff up in the rules.
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apy:
