Aye it did indeed get buried under that GMT game. I've not played the Avalon Hill game, but The Punic Wars is also a great game and essentially is the slightly older brother to The Conquerors (SPI released both). As much as I love computer games and they themselves can be beautiful, I have to say that some of those wargames are absolutely gorgeously designed with beautiful maps and counters - a different kind of aesthetic. Oh and great gameplay too. :)

Unfortunately a lot of publishers disappeared since the mid 80's. There has been some revival in the last few years, and some great board games have been re-edited ( Rome vs Carthage and Republic of Rome by Valley games ), but wargames remain a niche market ( and GMT, once a dwarf amongst giants now looks like a micro-giant amongst the micro-dwarves, ).

Yeah ... as much as I love the genre, it is definitely not as vibrant, probably in part due to the rise of computer games, but then maybe that can be a good thing too. Perhaps the revival in the past few years might be due to people checking out wargames similar to the games they play on computer? After all, if you enjoy Rome:Total War, then there is a good chance you might come across and enjoy The Conquerors and that might serve as a gateway into other wargames? Perhaps.

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SANGO2/sango-2

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-TAKEDA3/takeda-3

I personally haven't bothered with either of the them because the best incarnation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms was wasted by turning it into an online browser game where in you have to keep paying to play.

Intriguing, I've never heard of these games before. How do you enjoy them?

I've just played the demos, they've basically taken the management part of Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI and battle parts of Total War and smacked them together.

I personally feel that Total War is better but Romance of the Three Kingdoms Online is better than Total War.

Problem is RotTK Online is a rip-off because in order to get anywhere and stay alive against online competition you have to keep pulling your credit card out to purchase game currency.

If you haven't tried them, I'd really recommend checking out some Romance of the Three Kingdoms games. You can pick up XI on Direct2Drive for $19.99. Or you could try out an older one

It's a combination of strategy & RPG with free reign to create 200 Officers (Characters in the game) to recruit, and multitude of scenarios in the game to play. It does take some learnin', but if you're looking for a strategy game you should expect that.

Couple the game with the RTK book? Good times, good times.

bleagh ... I hate those systems.

It's one of those "I win because my family is richer than yours." MMOs. =/

oh boy ... sounds ... wonderful ... where do I sign away my firstborn? :/

I'm also not a fan of in-game micro-payments - they seem to encourage a psychological addiction like gambling does.

Ah well at least there are plenty of Good Old Games I can enjoy (and a lot of new games too) without them. Especially 4X games ... and flight/space sims ... and ... city builders ... and ... :)

I just wish Koei would take their online idea for RotTK and make and offline game out of it.

Perhaps RotTK XII?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI is great. It's quite complex but it's very addictive (not quite on the civ level but very close.) It also runs nicely on my netbook so I can take it wherever I go. Highly recommend it.