What are the best board wargame?

I think of the game "Battleship" as in You Sank My Battleship!

Where's my walker?

 

True military board games are hard to find, since computer games are so prevalent.

It depends on what you want to play, tactical, operational or strategic.

If you like Axis and Allies, there is a digital version available called TripleA.

 

Good explantion, belasar.

Avalon Hill is and was the premier board wargame developer and manufacturer for years. I have a lot of their games. They were bought by Hasbro a few years back (boo-hiss)

Tactical games (at least the ones I have played) tended to have lot of pieces, to the point of having counters for individual weapons. The stacks of pieces in each hexagon could be quite prodigous. An example of this type of game is Squad Leader (actually it is Advanced Squad Leader now). You have to really want to play this game as scenerios can last quite a long time and learning it takes time, and lots of it. When I was in college, I participated in some games that lasted several weeks. Each hex represents an area about 50 meters across. An digital version of a game that is similar is Steel Panthers, World at War. Be prepared to devote a lot of time to it, also. It is free, BTW. I have not played it in a while because it does not seem to like Win7 and I have not set up an XP box to play it on. I've not had the time since I was writing a book.

Another tactical game I like was Wooden Ships, Iron Men. There is an online version of it out there too, but game development seems to have stalled at a basic game level. It simulates wooden sailing ship combat in the early 1800s.

An operation level board game is Panzer Leader or Panzer Blitz. One is a development of the other, but I cannot remember which came first. The pieces represent either platoon or company sized units, but since it has been a good 20 years since I last played either... The games represent regimental and/or brigade sized formations and geomorphous maps represent many sqare miles of territory. It is not nearly as complicated as Squad Leader.

A strategic level game from Avalon Hil would be Fortress Europa or Axis and Allies. The games can be very complicated or fairly simple like A&A. Much of it is abstract and the pieces will not necessarily represent actual formations that existed, but an amalgamaion of unit types. If you want a real abstract game, play Diplomacy. It uses no dice; it is all negotiation and is more fun to play with a lot of people, which is hard to get together. It has an online version, but I have not ventured into that realm as the game take a long time to play and, well, you know the drill.

 

ASL is by far the best tactical wargame out there. It can also be the worst if you aren't into research and dropping a few hundred dollars on the rules, modules, scenarios & maps. Originally played it in college, and I got back into it while recovering from my recent back surgeries, I spent a lot of time reviewing ASL while I was laid up, It was the only outlet that would burn up several hours on ww2 without realizing it, all while flat on my back. Although not an official port of the game, the Combat Mission series is a very good computer version of ASL. They remain my favorite board and PC games to this day.