How I played a wargame with Fletcher Pratt

OK - for today, in the left ring, how I managed to play a wargame with Fletcher Pratt.

A =long= time ago (longer than I want to remember) as a very young boy I got dragged along to some of Dad's activities. Dad was an old Navy man, and spent lots of his free time on the local military base chatting it up with old friends. Of course, as a young boy, I found these incredibly boring. One day, Dad told me that we were going to the base, eliciting yelps of dismay from me. Dad countered, however, by saying that he had something for me to do at this one that he thought I'd enjoy.

So off we went to the military base. There, in a large gymnasium, was set on the floor dozens of huge ship-like things made out of paper. (I found out later that these are called 'counters', although I said "Aren't they a little big for that?") I was also given a large piece of paper with a number on it to hang around my neck. Basically, what happened is, that someone would say something like: "Number Six there - move that counter number 45 up three tiles" and someone would go and move the counter/ship numbered 45 up (meaning in whatever direction it was pointing) three floor tiles (about a foot on each side).

During a lull in the action, I went over to one of the people that was calling out to us kids. "Excuse me, sir, but are all of these pieces of paper supposed to represent boats?" He looked at me kindly and said: "They're ships, but yes." "And when you get to where you meet in the middle you get to shoot at each other, right?" "Yes..." A flurry of questions followed.

Unbeknownst to me, the man I had selected randomly was Fletcher Pratt. He took the time to answer my questions, and then said, "Why do you ask?". I responded by saying that I thought that this game was the coolest thing since Saturday Morning Cartoons. Then he floored me. "How would like to move one of my ships?" I took to that like a duck to water. I moved =my= ship on the other side of a large island and then asked, "Can I talk to the other ships?" "Well, yes, but you do that to me." "Fine. From this side of the island I can see lots of other ships." "Ah! That's the attacking force. You stay there as long as you can, report to me where and when they move, and I'll make sure it's worth your while."

So for the next little bit, me and my little ship stayed put - and basically helped Fletcher Pratt re-win the Battle of Midway on a gymnasium floor. Of course, I didn't find this out until years later. Now back to the mission. Mr. Pratt later handed me a copy of Harpoon, and took the time to tell me how it worked a lot like the big one laid out on the gym floor, but much smaller. I opened it and saw little ship counters, some small and some large, and a large board to move them on. There were also islands and other things in the box. I took this to school and found, to my delight, one person that wanted to learn how to play.

Thus began my career in gaming. We started with Harpoon, then, on Fletcher Pratt's recommendation, moved to one called "Wooden Ships and Iron Men". Shortly thereafter, I received word that Mr. Pratt had passed away. That's one of the times I thanked God that he took the time to pass on to me a love of gaming. I joined a few gaming clubs and learned many board wargames like "Squad Leader," "Panzer Blitz," "Panzer Leader," "Arab-Israeli Wars," and "Advanced Squad Leader." I regret to say that my Fletcher Pratt copy of Harpoon got lost in a move many years ago, but I'd love to find another copy. The original Harpoon I remember is long gone, although there is a current version called "Harpoon 4.1" that from its name sounds like a computer game (and there is a computer version of Harpoon) but it's a board wargame.

Now for the main event - in the center ring today are a few thoughts about my start in Dungeons and Dragons...