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Dwarfstar Games was a division of Heritage Models that published microgame-sized fantasy and science fiction board wargames in the early 1980s. They typically came with 12"x14" fold-out cardstock mapboards and 154 thin die-cut counters. The demise of its parent company also meant the end for Dwarfstar.
Game | Designer | Date |
---|---|---|
Barbarian Prince | Arnold Hendrick | 1981 |
Demonlord | Arnold Hendrick | 1981 |
Outpost Gamma | Howard Barasch | 1981 |
Star Viking | Arnold Hendrick | 1981 |
Dragon Rage | Lewis Pulsipher | 1982 |
Goblin | Howard Barasch | 1982 |
Grav Armor | Arnold Hendrick | 1982 |
Star Smuggler | B. Dennis Sustare | 1982 |
Dragon Rage was reissued in a much larger format, with an additional board and scenarios, by Flatlined Games (Belgium) in 2011.
Steve List reviewed the first four games from Dwarfstar Games in Ares Magazine #12 and commented that "one is outstanding, one quite good and the others somewhat underwhelming. But [for the price] they are not too much of an investment." [1]
In a retrospective in Black Gate , John ONeill said "As a business, the Dwarfstar line wasn't a success. Unlike Metagaming and Task Force, who released dozens of titles over the years, they produced only eight games between 1981-82. But from a creative perspective, they were a magnificent hit." [2]
RuneQuest is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first published in 1978 by The Chaosium. Beginning in 1984, publication passed between a number of companies, including Avalon Hill, Mongoose Publishing, and The Design Mechanism, before finally returning to Chaosium in 2016. RuneQuest is notable for its system, designed around percentile dice and an early implementation of skill rules, which became the basis for numerous other games. There have been several editions of the game.
Chivalry & Sorcery is a fantasy role-playing game (FRP) first published in 1977 by Fantasy Games Unlimited. Created by Edward E. Simbalist and Wilf K. Backhaus in 1977, Chivalry & Sorcery (C&S) was an early competitor to Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). The designers of the game were dissatisfied with the lack of realism in D&D and created a gaming system derived from it, named Chevalier. They intended to present it to Gary Gygax at Gen Con in 1977 but changed their minds once at Gen Con once they met Scott Bizar who wrote out a letter of intent. After some changes eliminated the last remnants of D&D, Simbalist and Backhaus published the first edition of their game, now renamed Chivalry & Sorcery.
OGRE is a science fiction board wargame designed by the American game designer Steve Jackson and published by Metagaming Concepts in 1977 as the first microgame in its MicroGame line. When Steve Jackson left Metagaming to form his own company, he took the rights to OGRE with him, and all subsequent editions have been produced by Steve Jackson Games (SJG).
The Secret of Bone Hill is an adventure module written by Lenard Lakofka for the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and published by TSR in 1981. It is designed for novice and intermediate players with characters of levels 2-4. The module received mixed reviews from critics.
White Bear and Red Moon is a fantasy board wargame set in the world of Glorantha, created by Greg Stafford and published in 1975. Stafford first tried to sell the game to established publishers, but despite being accepted by three different game companies, each attempt ended in failure; eventually he founded his own game company in 1974, the influential Chaosium, to produce and market the game.
Ares was an American science fiction wargame magazine published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI), and then TSR, Inc., between 1980 and 1984. In addition to the articles, each issue contained a small science-fiction-themed board wargame.
Magic Realm is a fantasy adventure board game designed by Richard Hamblen and published by Avalon Hill in 1979. Magic Realm is more complex than many wargames and is somewhat similar to a role-playing game. It can be played solitaire or with up to 16 players and game time can last 4 hours or more. The game board is a type of geomorphic mapboard constructed of large double-sided hexagon tiles, ensuring a wide variety of playing surfaces.
Deathmaze is a fantasy board game published by Simulations Publications (SPI) in January 1980 that falls into the general category of dungeon crawls, more specifically, dungeon games in which players enter a dungeon, massacre the dungeon dwellers and steal their treasures.
StarForce: Alpha Centauri, subtitled "Interstellar Conflict in the 25th Century", is a science fiction board game published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974. It was the first mass-market science fiction board wargame, and was a best-seller for SPI.
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.
Thieves' World is a role-playing game supplement published by Chaosium in 1981, based on the Thieves' World series of novels. It was notable for including rules and statistics allowing for its use with nine different fantasy and science-fiction RPG gaming systems.
Swords & Sorcery, subtitled "Quest and Conquest in the Age of Magic", is a fantasy-themed board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1978.
Timelag is a 1980 board game published by Gameshop, Inc., which soon after was renamed to Nova Game Designs.
The Lords of Underearth is a 1981 board game published by Metagaming Concepts as part of its MicroGame line.
Dark Stars is a 1980 board game published by Simulations Canada.
Outpost Gamma is a 1981 board game published by Heritage Models. It's intended for two players and takes about 120 minutes to play. The game is for ages 12 and over.
Demonlord is a two-player board game published in 1981 by Dwarfstar Games, a division of Heritage Models.
Star Viking is a 1981 board game published by Heritage Models.
Barbarian Prince is a solitaire board game published by the Dwarfstar Games line of Heritage Models in 1981.
Arnold J. Hendrick was an American designer and developer of role-playing games (RPGs), board games and video games. He is best-known for the single-player video RPG Darklands.