Some of us aint that young. I know who Donald Featherstone was and have a copy of one of his books. One by Peter Young too. First board game I ever owned was AH Blitzkrieg. I think it’s still in a closet somewhere.
Haptmaun Vernünftig I had more than a few enjoyable evenings playing the Boots and Saddles/Assault series. You’re right very realistic as far as games systems go without getting too technical like many historical rule systems both mini and board game rule sets often do.
They were put out by GDW ( not GW) weren’t they?
GDW also had a Brigade/Divisional level series Third World War. The four separate game modules put together had a map board that went from Norway to the Persian Gulf and counters covering the entire WP, NATO and assorted neutral (Sweden, Yugoslavian, Iran etc.) Orbats for the period, mid 1980’s.
I had it all set up in my room at CTC, which meant I slept on the floor as the only place to lay it out was on the bed. Canada looked pretty small with only 4 counters, 4CMBG, SSF, 5GBC and one representing out air wing.
FOW is very similar to Squad Leader with the added bonus of some really nicely detailed minis. Some purists dislike the beer and pretzels simplistic firing/armour penetration tables etc. But I prefer it to spending hours each fracking turn pouring over a binder full of rules and tables to figure out exactly which shell hit which part of an enemy tank.
Overall the rule system works. Recce sneaks and peaks like it’s supposed to., anmd sometimes has to fight for intel. Armoured units sweep across open areas and stay away from villages, woods etc. Arty and Mortars pin an enemy and if you need to take and hold ground the only way real is by infantry assault to clear the trenches. There are also some interesting national rules for the various combatants, Canadian, Indian, Aussie, Romanian, Finns etc which add to the overall enjoyment.
Lang, may need them if they get back to me and I’m not otherwise occupied doing what I spend most weekends doing these days. :
