Do you...

[phargle]

...ever go back and read old AARs? If so, which ones?

[loki100]

well I'm currently wending my through a Special Providence, up to about p41 ... can recommend it on so many levels, including as a masterclass in structured narrative.

Certainly reread things when the Oscaars et al are announced

[Dewirix]

I'd second loki100's suggestion, even if you're not naturally drawn to narrative AARs (as I'm not).

Other excellent AARs that deserve a look include:

• The Audacity of Hope - straight gameplay style by one of the masters of EUIII
• The Bar Exam - an HTTT experiment - another EUIII gameplay AAR by a great player
• Explorations in Strategy - Italy at War - Myth's applies his real-life expertise to HoI 3, to good effect
• To The Last Man II- A 1944 Japan AAR - IanClacher's second 1944 HoI 3 AAR, where he turns the war round for Japan
• I Am Siam - A V2 Minor Strategy AAR - Rensslaer's early Victoria 2 AAR following the trials and tribulations of an uncivilised minor state

Added to that, loki's own AARs are uniformly good.

[Stuyvesant]

Ooh! Ooh! I know some!

Excuse me for my laziness in not providing linkies, but anything in EU2 by [b]Peter Ebbesen[/i] is excellent (the LibrAARy should be your friend in finding them). Sadly, screenshots are mostly gone, but it doesn't impair his humor. 'World Conquest For Dummies', and 'It Came From The Mountains' I recall particularly fondly. Oh, and 'WAAR of the Worlds' was a stupendous collaboration between Prufrock451 and Peter: Prufrock started the game by modding in aliens (starting with all techs at level 60) - but their homebase was Hawaii, meaning their manpower base was close to zero. After taking over half the world, he handed off the savegame to Peter Ebbesen who managed to contain/destroy the alien menace. Fun to read and, in seeing how PE manages to beat back the über-powerful aliens (once they started releasing vassals - all with level-60 tech...), quite impressive of how to use the game mechanics to their fullest advantage.

Prufrock also did a great HOI2 (I think it was HOI2...) narrative with multiple characters, played as France. 'To Stand Against The Night', I believe it was. Remember Eindhoven...

I can't help it, I know it's a Knud Knytling ripoff, but I still go back to Alfred Packer's Crovan AAR every now and then (CK/EU3). Polar bears, outhouse assassinations, Assistants to the Posthumous Poet Laureate...

Back in the mists of time (and the EU2) forum, there was also a behemoth of an AAR by Heagarty, called 'Tales of the Gluttonic Knights' (I mean, with an awful pun like that, it has to be worth a look at least, right?). The king of Bavaria has a dream in 1419... A dream for the exquisite cuisine of Faraway Cathay. So Bavaria is set on a path (actually, two - parallel - paths: by land and by sea; both played in their own version of the game, but both combined into the same AAR) to China. It's funny and the amount of Easter Eggs and pop culture references is staggering.

That's it for my stroll through memory lane for now; sadly, my lunchbreak is over and I need to get back to work (bah! Real Life!).

[Rensslaer]

When I find spare time -- even today -- I typically gravitate toward either of two AARs by TheYogi

1) The Empire of Fu Manchu - He manages to throw Buck Rogers, Hannah Reitsch, Indiana Jones, Otto Skorzeny, Fu Manchu, and 2 or 3 other key figures from history or pop culture, into a believable storyline that is both well written and humorous. There is no need to necessarily start from the beginning -- you just pop in wherever, and be entertained! There is a previous Master Plan of Fu Manchu, that I think is in the HOI 1 forum.

2) The Eagle and the Lion - More of TheYogi's brilliant writing, but in an alt-hist, kind of proto-Kaiserreich style setting with Germany and Austria in WW II. It's really... picturesque. Meaning, you can feel and see the surroundings as he writes the story. Excellently done!

There's also his Where the Iron Crosses Grow, which comes highly recommended, but which I've never read to any great degree.

Once upon a time it was my mission to also read through an alt-hist narrative from CatKnight, which sadly I've never finished:

Resurrection: Rebirth of the United States - A dark version of America's founding years, with great character development and really gripping drama. I enjoy seeing all the historical figures he wove in.

I also agree on Director's writing -- great stuff -- but alas I've only read part of one of his Historypark stories and part of his GCII AAR Frontier. I pop into A Special Providence on occasion, too, but seem to catch about every 5-10 years of his history, which is dreadfully inadequate. His writing is tops, though.

I just don't have alot of time to read, so reading comprehensive fiction works for me is uncommon, despite my desire. Draco Rexus' For King and Country is great too, but his speed of writing far outstripped my ability to keep up. I still pop in every once in awhile, but I read the first dozen pages or so back when he was slower.

Sorry if you're looking for Gameplay -- most of these are narrative fiction. Diwirix, thanks for the plug for mine!

Rensslaer

[coz1]

l'eminence grise...definitely.

[Rensslaer]

l'eminence grise...definitely.

You know, Coz... I'm not sure I remember anyone ever recommending that one before. Mr T's L'Eminence Grise, from 2002. An army/nation led in secret by a gray ghost.... The opening scenes look very interesting, and well written.

Nice catch! And with Lord Durham and Mr. T bantering back and forth in the midst of it... They're neighbors, as I recall, in a certain Canadian town, yes?

Rensslaer

[coz1]

You know, Coz... I'm not sure I remember anyone ever recommending that one before. Mr T's L'Eminence Grise, from 2002. An army/nation led in secret by a gray ghost.... The opening scenes look very interesting, and well written.

Nice catch! And with Lord Durham and Mr. T bantering back and forth in the midst of it... They're neighbors, as I recall, in a certain Canadian town, yes?

Rensslaer

The scene when Louis, I think, realizes he is the new king is priceless.

[phargle]

Aye, I'm not looking for any particular type of AAR, gameplay or otherwise, but rather am just curious about AARs people still go back and read today even though they're finished and you read them the first time.

Thanks for the list so far.

[Saithis]

I don't usually have much time to reread AARs, but I have done so for a couple.

Knud Knýtling, Prince of Denmark was so good I had to read it multiple times.
Rome AARisen I had to reread parts of, more because I was so bad at following it that I had to go back to remember what I had forgotten!

Both were definitely worth the rereads, though.

[TheCheeseMaster]

I read my old AARs recently and I had mixed feelings about them: "I wrote like that? I must have insulted so many people!" and some nostalgic PI games I've had.

I sometimes just randomly click an AAR link in someones signature and read that if it's good, but I dont really have any special AARs that I remember about :/

[RGB]

I find I'm intimidated by really long ones, with millions of pages and their own fanclubs.

I do like older gems that are slow in writing and refined like the very rarest Tokaj. Made of grapes of paradise and angel tears. Like the kind that updates once a year, you know what I'm talking about

[TekcoR]

I am very similar to TheCheeseMaster, I love reading some of the older work I've done and just feel and know that time has improved us. I always try to find newer authors to read, because a lot of us established writers seem to own the boards for the most part.

[Fiftypence]

I've read The Yogi's Fu Manchu stories a couple of times.

[Cybvep]

Tora! Tora! Tora! A Japanese Multiplayer AAR by Richard Nixon. This pure gameplay MP AAR is so deliciously rich in detail and well-written author's explanations of his actions that it's hard not to enjoy the AAR.

[J. Passepartout]

MrT, Lord Durham and Peter Ebbesen are the outstanding writers in my memory of my early time here. Peter's stories have been mentioned extensively here, but MrT had l'eminence grise, and The Rivers Run Red, Waiting for Todog, and A Few of My Possessions, as titles I recall off the top of my head, and Lord Durham had the Accounts of An English Offiicer, and Portugal or Bust, besides some nice Austria AARs and a few other projects I need not mention. Am I sadly correct in recalling that MrT's health problems did not end up well?

I also remember a lot of Storey's work with fondness, like Who Killed Cologne and Desert Tides, and also remember For I am Death Destroyer of Worlds by Honour Shogun and The Devarajas of Ayutthaya by Lt Tyler.

Now, who wants to find a herd of wlaks, and slaughter them for science?

[Stuyvesant]

I also remember a lot of Storey's work with fondness...

That reminds me of another one of Storey's masterpieces: Three Countries One Goal. Since the true delight is in Storey's banter and writing, I think it still holds up very well, even if one couldn't care less about EU2.

EDIT: Ah, and the wlak... The mighty short-strided wlak. Now you're really making me feel like an old geezer, Passepartout. Thanks for the memory.