What was the first
 

computer wargame you ever played?
Mine was UMS (Universal Military Simulator) on my then new Atari ST, in 1987. October if I remember correctly.
I loved it from the first try.


After that I played many strategy games, perhaps not technically wargames. For example Colonial Conquest, Defender of the Crown, Balance of Power, Empire (50-50 if it is more of wargame than strategy), Carrier Command, and so on. After UMS the first (IIRC it was indeed the one) wargame I played was Red Lightning. I LOVED it.
Ever since, while I will play any genre, strategy and wargame are my favorites.

Re: What was the first
 

Midway on the TRS-80 in '81 or so, Hunt the Bismark, plus B-1 bomber as well and also some sort of combined hex-sheet wargame that used manually shifted counters instead of a computer map (a sort of panzerblitz clone). All by Avalon Hill I think. may have been '82, it was just before and alongside when the Falklands war was happening.

Plus on the college Dec-20 there was a star Trek game, and empire. Both of which you could play on the Teletype if you wanted to zoom through reams of paper, or on the VT-100 which made more sense. I think there also was a "Rogue" type dungeon bash on the Dec-20 as well.

Also played Elite space game then, I think I had to borrow a friends BBC micro for that one?. Not sure if it was on the Dragon-32 or not. there was also something that needed the Spectrum, again borrowing a mate's machine, but can't recollect what that was - a dungeon basher type game. (There was another similar that used the ZX-80 but needed the RAM pack, which would wobble and lose the game as often as not, needing another 30 minute tape load from cassette:hurt:!)

Oh, and the "use case" for getting my first IBM compatible PC was the Harpoon naval game, had tried getting folks interested at the wargames club in the tabletop ruleset without much success before then. So 89-90 or so for that.

Re: What was the first
 

Su-27 Flanker, a simulation of the aircraft of the same name. It dealt with a fictional conflict between Russia and Ukraine over the Crimea. In 1995. One of the times when a hypothetical conflict from a game proves to be not far from reality.

In addition to that, the first hex-based game I played was one year later (1996) and it was called Battleground: Ardennes by Talonsoft.

Re: What was the first
 

Fighting Flattops, WWII in the Pacific.

It is still going and includes US, British, Australian and Japanese fleets and airpower. Free to play too...

http://www.fightingflattops.com/

Re: What was the first
 

Eastern Front on an Atari 800 in 1981.

Re: What was the first
 

Mech Brigade SSI 1985 AppleIIc

Re: What was the first
 

Sid Meier's Civil War Collection plus John Tiller's Normandy and Kharkov in 2001. The Civil War battles (Gettysburg and Antietam) were fascinating at the time, a major drawback being the inability to hit more than one regiment in a mass so if you missed that particular target you didn't hit anything. Tiller was OK if you like operational level, although the AI there had a problem with using reinforcements. Also it took too long to wipe out a unit with less than about 100 guys left.

Re: What was the first
 

The operational art of war in 1999

Re: What was the first
 

Steel Panthers 1, in 1998. I was about fifteen, my parents purchased SSI's Wargames Collection set. Had Age of Rifles, Panzer General, Tanks!, and some other SSI titles, but SP was soul-satisfying whereas the other games were mere amusements.

Re: What was the first
 

I think I had (have) this one. Was it the one with a see through box? Very cheaply made.