 Artwork by Stephen Fabian, 1979 | |
| Publishers | Game Designers' Workshop |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1979 |
| Genres | Board wargame |
Bloodtree Rebellion, subtitled "Guerilla Warfare on the Planet Somber", is a science fiction board wargame published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1979. The game started as a guierilla wargame based on the Vietnam War, but was changed to a science fiction theme due to the social and political divide over the war in the United States.
Bloodtree Rebellion is a two-player game involving guerilla warfare on the planet of Somber. [1] On one side, the Mykin military controls the planet with an iron fist and a vast array of weapons. On the other side, humans — and eventually indigenous aliens — rebel against the Mykin in a series of hit-and-run city raids. After one such raid, the rebels flee into the Bloodtree Forest to escape from Mykin retaliation, and the game devolves into a Vietnam War-style of combat, with the technologically superior Mykin seeking out the rebels in the jungle. [2]
The game box holds:
In the late 1970s, Lynn Willis submitted a Vietnam War game to GDW. Due to the social and political unpopularity of the war, which had recently ended, Willis was told to rework it into a science fiction game. [3] The result was Bloodtree Rebellion, published by GDW in 1979 with cover art by Stephen Fabian. Game designer Brian Train noted that everyone at the time knew that Willis was hiding a Vietnam War game behind the science fiction facade, saying, "When it was published, people immediately saw what had been substituted for what — they knew what they were playing." [3]
In the March 1980 edition of Ares Magazine (Issue #1), David Ritchie gave Bloodtree Rebellion an average rating of 6 out of 9, saying, "if you remove the sf trappings, you have a very accurate treatise on the 'little wars' of our own age. Somewhat complex, but playable within a few hours. Buck Rogers goes to Vietnam." [4]
In the March-April 1980 edition of The Space Gamer (Issue No. 27), Keith Gross gave a thumbs down, commenting, ""Bloodtree Rebellion is a game to be admired, not played. The political system is innovative and intriguing, the game and background are well-integrated, and guerrilla war is simulated very well. Those interested in these things will find the game interesting. Those who want a game to play over and over should look elsewhere." [1]
In the January 1981 edition of Dragon (Issue 45), Roberto Camino liked the game, calling it "one of the most flavorful sci-fi entries", but he warned about the game's many rules, saying, "Designer Lynn Willis conjures up a memorable world in vivid detail and breathes life into it with an innovative game system, but at the price of considerable complexity." [2]
Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Marc Miller designed Traveller with help from Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, and Loren Wiseman. Editions were published for GURPS, d20, and other role-playing game systems. From its origin and in the currently published systems, the game relied upon six-sided dice for random elements. Traveller has been featured in a few novels and at least two video games.
Triplanetary is a science fiction board wargame originally published by Game Designers' Workshop in 1973. The game is a simulation of space ship travel and combat within the Solar System in the early 21st Century.
Imperium is a science fiction board wargame designed by Marc W. Miller, and published in 1977 by the Conflict Game Company and Game Designers' Workshop (GDW). It features asymmetrical forces, the two sides having its unique set of constraints. The game came in a cardboard box illustrated with a space battle on the exterior. It included a cardboard-mounted, folding map of a local region of the Milky Way galaxy, a set of rules and charts, and the 352 counters representing the various spacecraft, ground units, and markers, and a six-sided die. A second edition was published in 1990, a third in 2001, and the first edition republished in 2004.
Drang Nach Osten! is a monster board wargame published in 1973 by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) that simulates Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The game was the first of what was envisioned as a series of games with identical wargame rules and map scale that would simulate the entire Second World War in Europe.
Azhanti High Lightning is a science-fiction wargame, designed by Frank Chadwick and Marc W. Miller, illustrated by Paul R. Banner, Charmaine Geist, Richard Hentz, and Richard Flory, and published by Game Designers Workshop (GDW) in 1980. The title is the name of the large military starship that provides the setting for close-action combat between individuals on board. Azhanti High Lightning is the fourth Traveller boardgame published by GDW. It was republished in 2004 as part of Far Future Enterprises's (FFE) Traveller: The Classic Games, Games 1-6+. Originally Supplement 5: Lightning Class Cruisers was only available as part of this game, it was republished in 2000 as part of FFE's Traveller Supplements volume.
Lynn Willis was a wargame and role-playing game designer, best known for his work with Metagaming Concepts, Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), and Chaosium.
Stellar Conquest is a science fiction board game published by Metagaming Concepts in 1974.
Melee is a board wargame designed by Steve Jackson, and released in 1977 by Metagaming Concepts. In 2019, Melee was revived and re-released by Steve Jackson Games.
War of the Ring, subtitled "S.R. 1418 to 1419", is a licensed wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977 that simulates the events described in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Belter, subtitled "Mining the Asteroids, 2076", is a science fiction board game published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1979.
Double Star is a 1979 science fiction board wargame, designed by Marc Miller, and published by Game Designers' Workshop that simulates interplanetary warfare in a double-star solar system.
Dark Nebula is a two-player science fiction board wargame published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1980. Dark Nebula is the seventh Traveller boardgame published by GDW. A second edition was published in 1983 with a new cover. It was republished in 2004 as part of Far Future Enterprises Traveller: The Classic Games, Games 1-6+.
Godsfire is a science fiction board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1976 that simulates planetary empire building, economics, and diplomacy. The game was reissued by Task Force Games in 1985.
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