The Wargaming Scribe
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wargamingscribe.bsky.social
The Wargaming Scribe
@wargamingscribe.bsky.social
53 followers 18 following 120 posts
Started as "all the computer strategy games in chronological order". Now a bit more.

https://zeitgame.net/
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digiantiquarian.bsky.social
This week on The Digital Antiquarian: "The Space Sim's Last Hurrah" www.filfre.net/2025/11/the-...
» The Space Sim’s Last Hurrah The Digital Antiquarian
www.filfre.net
November 7, 2025 at 4:46 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Warlords (1978) by Speakeasy Software (Canada) is AFAIK the second PC wargame ever released (after Tanktics). Multiplayer-only, it's well-designed/coded for such an early game but incredibly dry: think Chess with randomness. Screens from my PBEM AAR below.

Read it here:
zeitgame.net/archives/19497
October 29, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by The Wargaming Scribe
canardpc.com
ÇA, c'est du teasing. Les précommandes sont ici :
boutique.canardpc.com/common/produ...
La couverture du prochain Canard PC Hardware. Microsoft doit-il encore faire des consoles de jeu ?
October 27, 2025 at 3:42 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Il est possible que j’ai signé un article de ce mag. à venir, à propos de jeux dont vous n’avez jamais entendu parler sur un ordinateur dont vous n’avez jamais entendu parler par des gens dont vous n’avez jamais entendu parler; mais sans eux pas de gaming PC. Normalement ça se lit comme un roman!
October 27, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by The Wargaming Scribe
quarterpast.bsky.social
It’s exciting when someone publishes long-form on a subject you’ve been researching for years.

Here’s a thread commenting on this article in more detail.

If you do the retro computer, read the article & then come back here.

Apologies and respect in advance to @ernie.tedium.co

🧵👇
RF Shielding History: When The FCC Cracked Down On Computers
The FCC took a hard line on the radio frequency interference that computers created—creating huge headaches for early PC-makers. Why? Blame the CB radio fad.
tedium.co
October 25, 2025 at 6:44 AM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Operation Cerberus (1985) by Colin Bishop is the only game I know about the Feb '42 Channel Dash. The strategic layer is cosmetic; the game is rather a collection of minigames depending on what you attack with (plane, MTB, destroyer or even Dover guns!)
Review here: zeitgame.net/archives/19428
October 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
I published the end of my Gulf Strike AAR. I focused on how the game came to be, from the board game designed by SPI survivors who fled to Avalon Hill, to the port by @nyrath.bsky.social, a Renaissance man to which we also own among others the iconic look of the OGRE.
zeitgame.net/archives/19330
October 12, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by The Wargaming Scribe
allsees.online
everyone should checkout Messenger by Abeto. it's a free browser game where ur just a little delivery kid on a little planet!
messenger.abeto.co
September 28, 2025 at 12:35 AM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Back to traditional cwargames with Avalon Hill's Gulf Strike (1984), with an unexpected US+Iran+Peninsular Arabs alliance against Iraq+USSR. Bad UI (2 icons for everything - check the 4th screenshot) & major design flaws make this early monster game mediocre. Read my AAR:
zeitgame.net/archives/19231
September 29, 2025 at 10:56 PM
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jdyer.bsky.social
All the Adventures aims to give the history about and play every adventure game ever made in chronological order. The 1982 sequence has just concluded, and I've written a post looking back and collecting some notable games.

#history #adventuregame

bluerenga.blog/2025/05/14/a...
All The Adventures Up to 1982 in Review
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to do one of these; my 1981 in review was posted December 20, 2021. The chart with plot types like Rescue, Escape, etc. just isn’t that helpful…
bluerenga.blog
May 14, 2025 at 11:17 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Paul Clansey's Alien (1984) is the first official game of the licence. Quite innovative and supported by excellent SFX, this Alien managed to create really tense moments; alas its many design issues and outright bugs will ruin most sessions.
AAR and context of the game:
zeitgame.net/archives/18838
September 17, 2025 at 9:41 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Just published: Reyes y Castillos (1984) - the first Argentinian game of my blog. It's terrible, but I learned a lot of things researching Argentina & Uruguay, so it's not a total loss. I made sure the 2 last screenshots included lunfardo (rioplatenese argot)!
Read more: zeitgame.net/archives/18350
September 14, 2025 at 8:06 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Back with the article on computing & gaming in Uruguay. There was a weird Coleco ADAM presence, but Brazilian clones TK90S bagged close to 50% of the market. Uruguay also had a Spectrum peripherical that would make the Brits jealous Discover why:
zeitgame.net/archives/18891
September 12, 2025 at 10:54 AM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Just out: my article on the beginnings of computing & gaming in Argentina, from the first computer (1961) to the end of the 80s. What was the first Argentinian game? Why isn't there any famous Argentinian company until the 90s (and even then very few of them). Read here: zeitgame.net/archives/18373
August 10, 2025 at 11:00 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
In theory, Synapse's Air Support (1984) is a game for everyone with an arcade mode (combat-focused) and a strategy mode (where you move infantry around).
In practice, it's jack of all trades, adequate at none. It was also released at the worst possible moment. Read more:

zeitgame.net/archives/18753
July 27, 2025 at 9:01 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
In the "wargame subgenres that did not pass the test of time" category, there is "Air Defense", in which you allocate fighters to enemy bombing squadrons. This subgenre was particularly popular in UK (probably due to the Battle of Britain) - here are four examples below, but there are more (1/2)
Battle of Britain on ZX Spectrum (PSS, 1986) Fighter Command on Apple II (and later C64) - SSI, 1983 Battle of Britain on ZX Spectrum (Microgames Simulations, 1982) Pearl Harbour on BBC Micro, Microgame Simulations (1984)
July 15, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by The Wargaming Scribe
jdyer.bsky.social
Today for All the Adventures I have a most unusual post, as a game by Kim Watt (likely from 1980) was left in a non-functional state by the author and now is fixed and playable for the first time.

bluerenga.blog/2025/07/12/m...
Marooned: Playable (For the First Time)
Anyway, here’s this skinny blonde kid, around 6 feet tall, wearing silver Ray-Ban sunglasses, driving a royal blue Formula Firebird that says he’s Kim Watt! Can you believe it? Oh well,…
bluerenga.blog
July 13, 2025 at 2:02 AM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
All I can say about War Zone (1984, CCS) is that it is a wargame. It is the most generic experience I can think of. No salient feature whatsoever, and no huge flaw, beyond its absolute blandness. Still praised at release because there were so few wargames then.

AAR: zeitgame.net/archives/18490
The map was 3x3 sectors, and you could only see the sectors you had troops here. Here is a reconstruction of an early turn.
July 10, 2025 at 11:25 AM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Before Civilization, there was a Civ-like(ish): Incunabula (1984). It included most of the Civ-like staples: Research, Disasters, City-Building, choice of politics, trade and of course warfare. It missed dedicated combat units and stopped at the bronze age. Read my AAR:
zeitgame.net/archives/18543
Splash of the game, with the compulsory volcanic explosion The research screen. Not all technologies are useful - more than half are just prerequisites. Others give real bonuses. The strategic map with the various civilizations indicated by a letter. Tactical map with a large city in the North (the star above the late) and a small city next to the right border of the screen (the arrow).
July 7, 2025 at 6:32 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Turn 4 of Warlords

A short turn with only two impulses. This is bad for my rival Rastignak though: Morpheus manages to push him back from the border of his castle and retake a town, and I start my move against Dayyalu's former castle - wealthy yet isolated.
Rastignak was poised to win. Not anymore.
June 19, 2025 at 11:13 AM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Turn 3 of the Warlords' (1978) AAR;I received only two impulses vs three for the other players this turn :(

Rastignak moves first AGAIN and garrisons Xity. I move away. He then beeline for Morpheus and defeats his main army in front of M's castle - but the turn ends there so Morpheus can rebuild.
June 17, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by The Wargaming Scribe
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
But the random turn order every impulse favours Rastignak, and he gets to garrison his city before I can launch my assault. I am not willing to attack a city with "only" a 3:2 ratio, and I take a poor territory instead. That's the last impulse of the turn.
June 14, 2025 at 3:53 PM
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Turn 2: A lot of impulses, and a player already down (1/5)
wargamingscribe.bsky.social The Wargaming Scribe @wargamingscribe.bsky.social · Jun 10
Turn 1: Rastignak proposes that I seize the unguarded Dayyalu's castle from the North while Dayyalu is moving South.
I don't see the point given Rastignak has the best start and it's a risky move anyway. Good choice: the number of impulses every turn is random, and the first turn has only one!
I replace the [L]ake by blue squares to add some colour and show that they can't be crossed.
June 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by The Wargaming Scribe
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Turn 1: Rastignak proposes that I seize the unguarded Dayyalu's castle from the North while Dayyalu is moving South.
I don't see the point given Rastignak has the best start and it's a risky move anyway. Good choice: the number of impulses every turn is random, and the first turn has only one!
I replace the [L]ake by blue squares to add some colour and show that they can't be crossed.
June 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by The Wargaming Scribe
wargamingscribe.bsky.social
We open on the game's 7x7 map. In each tile, the first number is terrain (T= Town, F= Forest, etc), the second pop/revenue, the third owner. The number below is soldiers. My C[astle] has a population of only six!
Not a great start for me: low starting revenue, and the rich X[ity] is far away! [3/3]
June 9, 2025 at 11:22 AM