The Ythri

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Second edition, cover art by Winchell Chung Cover of The Ythri game.png
Second edition, cover art by Winchell Chung

The Ythri is a board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1975 that is based on the 1973 science fiction novel The People of the Wind by Poul Anderson.

Contents

Background

In Anderson's novel, set on the planet Avalon, human settlers have, for many generations, lived in peace with the Ythri, an indigenous winged race. A Terran space fleet invades the planet, forcing the humans to choose between Ythri and Terrans.

Description

The Ythri is a two-player wargame in which one player takes the role of the residents of Avalon, and the other controls the Terran space fleet. Play is divided between space combat using a space map, and land combat using the planetary map. [1]

Components

The ziplock bag contains:

Publication history

In 1974, Howard Thompson designed a science fiction space combat game titled Stellar Conquest , and formed Metagaming Concepts to publish it. The following year, Metagaming acquired the game license for Poul Anderson's 1973 novel People of the Wind, and Thompson designed The Ythri. The first edition, packaged in a ziplock bag, featured a black & white sketch of space combat. In 1976, Metagaming released a second ziplock-bagged edition with slightly revised rules and full color artwork by Winchell Chung. [2]

Reception

In 1976, reviews appeared in four consecutive issues of The Space Gamer :

In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming , Nicholas Palmer thought that only Poul Anderson fans would be interested, calling this game a "lively, simple simulation [...] mainly suitable for readers of [Anderson's novel]." [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 Hawkinson, Tim (August–September 1976). "Reviews". The Space Gamer . No. 7. Metagaming. p. 15.
  2. "The Ythri (1975)". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  3. Mataka, Rick (March–May 1976). "The Ythri: A Review". The Space Gamer . No. 5. Metagaming. pp. 24, 26.
  4. Howe, Norman (June–July 1976). "Reviews". The Space Gamer . No. 6. Metagaming. pp. 20–21.
  5. Brodgen, William (October–November 1976). "The Ythri: Innovations Applauded". The Space Gamer . No. 8. Metagaming. p. 13.
  6. Palmer, Nicholas (1977). The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming. London: Sphere Books. p. 187.