Let’s start with a bona fide classic, Crossbows and Catapults (1983), from Lakeside Games, one of many products of the period capitalizing on the slightly-odd-when-you-look-back-on-it rise in interest in all things fantasy. If you were a kid in the mid-80s, I think there is a strong likelihood that you wanted this.

C&C (surely that name was an intentional nod to D&D, right?) is designed to be played on the floor (unless you have a 6’x5’ table for some reason). Castles are set up and populated with troops – vikings, who look like vikings, on one side, barbarians, who look like tubby mutants, on the other. Play consists of hurling ammo (called caroms for some reason) with the titular, rubber band-powered siege equipment at each other in turn, until one player’s tower falls over, all their troops are killed (read: knocked over), or their caroms are captures (by being hit with a enemy carom). That’s basically the long and short of it. And that’s OK, because it is fun as hell. I played it not to long ago and it held up. I can’t wait for my kid to be old enough to not try to eat the pieces.

The pieces are a large part of the charm. Everything is well sculpted and cool looking. I always loved the little soldier dudes. And I bet if you had this as a kid, the wall blocks and towers were re-purposed as terrain when you played with your GI Joes or He-Man or what have you. Speaking of He-Man, the tiny instruction manual is illustrated in comic-book fashion and reminds me of the little comics that came with Masters of the Universe figures.

There were a ton of expansions, all of them cool. The last page of the instructions has an ad for some. I’d kill a man for that dragon. There was also a Trojan Horse, a cyclops and a minotaur, if I recall correctly. I have a sea-themed set with boats and a whirlpool. There were probably tons more I don’t know about.