The Painted Thumb

Cold War gaming is rising in popularity. The list of miniatures games for the time period include Team Yankee, FoW: Arab-Isreali wars, FoW: Vietnam, Cold War Commander, and Force-On-Force. But an interesting artifact from that era is the old Avalon Hill-style simulation game.  These games would include a detailed hexagonal map and cardboard counters to represent the playing pieces. Combat involved rolling dice and cross-referencing a detailed chart that would return the outcome of an attack. Each of these games were developed from a copious amount of historical research and were designed with the maximum amount of realism that could be achieved and still be played in about 20 hours. Most modern games try to hit the sweet spot of two hours to complete, but these games were meant to suck up an entire weekend. While simulation games probably won't sell in today's tiny toy and collectible card game market, for guys of a certain age (40+ years old) these were a hobby in and of t...