GDW's old Third World War series... impressions / memories kindly requested

I have the full series... Played a few time with all of them... Just love it... And I like artic front the better... Maybe because it was more balance... While the germany front was in two steps.... first a massive push by the Varsovie pact, and then a recovery by the Nato. Persian gulf had a huge map, pretty one sided but since it's huge the Nato player had to plan properly... And the Diplomatic game added some spice...  As for Southern front... It was never really decisive...

By playing with all 4 games, you could switch some assets from one front to the others, if you feel you where on top in one front...

Really. a great game.

It's MINE be-yotches!

what did you win for $36?

I almost had a kitten when you posted that.  I checked the link just to verify!

GDW's 3WW base game.  Again - would love to get the 4-pack, but not for the $150+ it'll go for.  Not with my wife watching...

Brant 
Game Commando
www.bayonetgames.com

"But it always cheaper to buy the full set than each piece one by one... you know, like with your, uhh, makeup? You get the kit right?"

that argument might work if my wife wore any makeup...

Shad


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280262938443

The full set is up for auction, punched - complete - excellent condition...

Whaddya think? $200+?

LOL.  I checked this last night before I went to bed- holding steady at about $60 with 19 hours to go.

Checked it just now:  $140 with 3 1/2 hours to go.

I'm saying $210 final price...

Still at $140 with 2hrs left...

I think $200 or less would probably be a good deal, if you intend to play them all together. My interests only really lay with Arctic Front & TWW though, so it's not for me.

Fun to watch though!

I was top bidder for two days, I went up to a 100$

 
 

From 142 to 201.52 in the last 3 minutes.

Do I get a prize for nailing the prediction?

Not a bad deal I think, if they're complete, in good condition, and you'll PLAY them!

Oh boy, GDW WWIII was a blast and I miss it.  Something about pushing those big stacks red stacks of Soviet and East German troops around the board was fun.  It was incredibly fun!  When I read about these old wargames, I have to grieve.  Back in the early and mid 80's, I was a voracious wargamer.  I owned alot of great wargames that are now either classics or highly collectible (had the entire SPI series of Great Battles of ACW, a ton of GDW, AH, 3W, and Yaquinto wargames).  After moving away for college and then living in a small apartment after that, my wargames were stored away in my parent's attic for I would say about six years.  Unbeknownst to me, my entire collection of wargames (probably 100+) were sold off at a yard sale by my parents along with other family boardgames.  Somebody got probably what would sell on ebay today at a minium of about $2-3K for maybe 50 bucks back in 1992.  Out of money and out of gaming goodness.  I'm weeping all over again....  :(

It's here  

i would love to play these.  my frend had them growing up, but it always looked like it took too long for me to play and I wanted to finish games in one sitting and this didn't seem lik eit. now that ive slowed down some, this looks like it wouldve been a good one to play.

The Hammer!

Damn!  $151 as a BuyItNow is soooooooo tempting!  Especially since 2 are UNPUNCHED!

I've had 3 of the 4 for a while & just purchased Southern Front for $108 (had it in my hands about 15 years ago for $20 & been kicking myself ever since for not buying it  I have played twice; the first time just the basic set as U.S. - ended with me in control of Eastern Europe & my opponent was left with only 2 counters Soviet MRDs in Munich with heavy damage  (though at the cost of nuk level 5 - ooops)  The second time I had Northern & Persian (we figured points for Southern & calculated them as a draw there - didn't matter) & I played the Warsaw Pact - I captured Finland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Iraq, northern half of Iran, SA, & Germany + all of Eastern Turkey. the U.S. & U.K. forces were surrounded & cut off in southern Bavaria with neutral Austria/Sweden at their backs. My opponent surrendered but we didn't get to level 5. (rules errata) The rules state that to "De-escalate" you only get ¹/₂ the naps that turn - we agreed on the 2nd game that you should still get all your naps (for future use - or no-one would De-escalate) but can only Use a total of ¹/₂ the # you receive for that turn, on that turn, but can still pocket the rest for latter use - it allowed us to De-escalate & prevent level 5 - we still reached level 4!!!

  I picked up the whole set piecemeal off of ebay back in 1997 for about 25-30$/a piece but never got a chance to play them.  I did convert all of them into a massive scenario for The Operational Art of War many years ago if you want to play it on the computer.
 
Trey

doomsday-project.jpg (425 KB) (196 Downloads)

BEAUTIFUL map !  Made me think about the time 1/33 FTX'd unit annihilation and walked-out of the Hunfeld area  'every man for himself' '77 hunted 'wheeled and slick'.  No nukes though. 

Wargames and wargamers !  This thread is as much fun as a good wargame !  Wargamers sometimes have difficulty conversing/corresponding because they are always trying to take an objective or destroy something AND add in the QUEST for a sought-for wargame and things begin to HEAT UP !  This discussion reminds me of the time I shared the good news of having acquired SPI War in the East complete (and set-up only once) for $10.00 bucks with a friend.  I told him I was on my way over to so-and-so's house to get it.  He promptly said good bye and beat me over to so-and-so's house and HE bought it for Ten Bucks !  He still has it !  Etu Brutus !  He even had the nerve to show it to me one time about 8-10 years ago.  LOL   He may be sadistic.  I'll ask him if he pulls the wings off of flys in his spare time.  We're playing PBEM right now.  I will take no prisoners.  I will machinegun any who try to surender.  East Front for Ten Bucks... pay back-- now that I think about it. 

Game collections destoryed by basement floods.  Bidding wars on ebay.  I'm really looking forward to reading more as this boardgame acquisition offensive develops !  This is a cool AAR-- thanks  for the read !

Olde Tyme SPEARHEAD Soup ! Two (2) Diced Trunion Bearings, One (1) Minced O-Ring water obstacle crossing seal.  One (1) Chopped Loaders Hatch Gasket-- beat gasket with Bore Evacuator Spanner Wrench until tender...

I love the GDW games.  Still have the TWW series and Air Superiority/Air Strike series.

OOOOPs - got my Southern Front (unpunched) - checked back threw the others - found the rule mod - not use 1/2 current NAPs to deescalate, instead you could use only up to the max received for 1 Level less than current Level & subject to those restrictions (for example: to deescalate at Level 3 you can not use Air NAPs for Deep Strike Missions & can only use 2 Arty NAPs per target as these are restrictions for Level 2)