All the Boardgames I own Part 1

Well, it may be lazy blogging as well as lazy journalism to just produce lists, but here we go anyway. Actually incorporating my comments makes this a much bigger exercise than a simple list would be. I've included collectable card games as well as they are often looked at in a similar light.

1. Squad Leader - one of the first serious wargames I bought back in the late 1970s and one that I've played large numbers of times, though much more on the Ostfront scenarios as it was always easier to lay them out unlike some of the Western Front scenarios with boards end to end. The real level of course is more like company/battalion leader, but the actual name is catchier.
   
2. Cross of Iron - Squad Leader gamette no 1. The eastern front revisited with the Axis minor nations, SS, much more detailed armour rules and huge numbers of armour and ordnance counters. More of a tankies' game than the original, but still largely an infantry commanders game.
   
3. Crescendo of Doom - Squad Leader gamette no 2. The early war and British, this also includes the French, Finns and Allied minor nations. Not played as much as the other two due to rules complexity and time pressures as I started working.
   
4. OGRE - now onto the little stuff, the first Metagaming microgame I bought. Probably one of the most played games that I own too as it is quick to set up and play and simple to teach a new player.
   
5. GEV - The follow up game to OGRE that allowed a lot more variety of terrain and units with many scenarios having regular armour and infantry on both sides to fight it out.
   
6. Ambush - I've already written a bit about this game, the level really is Squad Level as your US recon unit takes on the Germans.
   
7. Black Hole - another Metagaming Microgame and very enjoyable as two sides fight it out for a donut shaped (ring) asteroid with a black hole contained in the centre by alien technology.
   
8. Football Strategy - one very heavily played game and very much about the players trying to outguess each other as this game has some of the lowest amount of die rolling of any game I own.
   
9. Baseball Strategy - another sports game that is highly abstracted and an enjoyable game because of it, there are more variables than in Football Strategy so it is even trickier at times to call the pitch and batting attempts.
   
10. Backgammon - the copy I have is a promotional travel set that I got with Hugo Boss aftershave a couple of years ago. An enjoyable game for when I'm not up against more hardcore gamers.