Following our cover article, let’s go on
looking at the two most famous sci-fi sagas…

S T A R
T R E K
6 series (included the animated one), 30 seasons, 725 episodes, 10 movies (soon to be 11), hundreds of books and comics, tens of videogames, a huge merchandise. These are some numbers of the phenomenon that has had a great success all over the world, since 1966 till today, representing one of the few sci-fi realities known worldwide.
Star Trek (ST) doesn’t need an introduction, so let’s just talk straight about the RGs, since there have been many of them with this setting in the last forty years.
The first one is STAR TREK: ADVENTURE GAMING IN THE FINAL FRONTIER.
This game, created by Michael Scott, was published by Heritage Models in 1978, but stopped being produced before any addition was published.
The licence was then given to FASA, that produced STAR TREK in 1982. The first edition was created by Guy W. McLimore, Greg Poehlein and David Tepool, the second one (1983) by William John Wheeler. The game had a good success, but when The Next Generation was broadcasted (1987) the licence was revoked.
Probably the two universes (game and television) had taken too different ways.
Task Force Games got the licence and published PRIME DIRECTIVE in 1993.
The authors, Timothy D. Olsen and Mark Costello, created a game that only had the licence on some elements of the classic series, so that version was different from the television continuity, almost creating a parallel one. In 2002 Amarillo Design Bureau published GURPS PRIME DIRECTIVE (updated in 2004 in the fourth GURPS edition). Finally in 2005 PRIME DIRECTIVE D20 was published.
In 1998 STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION ROLEPLAYING GAME was created by Christian Moore, Ross Isaacs, Kenneth Hite and Steve Long. The editor was Last Unicorn Games, that also published STAR TREK ROLEPLAYING GAME and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE ROLEPLAYING GAME the following year, with the same creative team.
In 2000 Last Unicorn Games was absorbed by Wizards of the Coast, so Paramount gave the licence to Decipher, that published STAR TREK ROLEPLAYING GAME by Christian Moore, Don Mappin, Kenneth Hite, Matthew Colville, Owen Seyler, Ross A. Isaacs and Steven S. Long in 2002; just two years later Decipher’s RG division was closed, but since 2005 the game has been produced and sold in eBook format through DriveThruRPG.com.
As for BGs, every series has been dealt with in a very peculiar way.
The classic series has had many games, and even TNG got a good support, while the last three series have been almost completely ignored (as for the RGs). The publishing of BGs about ST, after many productions published for decades, stopped in 2000. This has happened both for the decreasing popularity of the setting, and for the rising interest in videogames and collectable products.
Let’s take a look at a short selection of these games.
The first product is not about ST, but it is a game made famous by the series: Three-dimensional chess.
Actually some chess versions that went over the simple variants and used the idea of many chessboards on different levels had already been made in the XIX century.
It is only with the first series of Star Trek that this game was appreciated by a huge audience.
At the time there weren’t formalized rules (pawns were randomly moved by the actors) and only in 1975 in the Star Fleet Technical Manual Franz Joseph introduced some. It wasn’t a playable set of rules though, so a devote fan, Andrew Bartmess, created the rules.
Today there is no publisher producing this special chessboard, but it is easy to find on the Internet the instructions to make it – it is not so easy to build, since you need seven small chessboards.
The three main (4x4) are on three different levels (like the steps of a stair) and are (from the lowest one): white chessboard, neutral one and black one. Then there are 4 mobile chessboards (2x2) named attack chessboards, that can be placed in different positions.
The pawns are the same as the traditional chess game.
If we have to point a single BG about ST we’d say STAR FLEET BATTLES, published in 1979 by Task Force Games, created by Stephen V. Cole and based on the licence of Prime Directive, with some differences from the television and movie products. It gave birth to the Star Fleet Universe and it is a classic wargame (hexagonal map and many counters) for two or more players (there are also settings for single players), that tactically emulates the fights between spaceships through very complex rules.
Every turn is made of three parts: in the first one you get the energy for your systems, in the second one (with 32 sub-phases) you move, fire and make other actions, and in the last one you solve the damages.
The game was initially published in a simple plastic bag (very common at that time for small productions) and only later in the same year a box version was made (known as Designer’s Edition). In 1983 a second edition, STAR FLEET BATTLES - COMMANDERS RULEBOOK, was published.
In 1990 the third edition, known as CAPTAIN'S EDITION, was published.
Many components were made for this edition, but Task Force Games closed as well.
STAR FLEET BATTLES was re-published 3 years later by Amarillo Design Bureau, that is still producing it and has set two other BGs in the same universe: FEDERATION AND EMPIRE and FEDERATION COMMANDER.
Considering the small space RGs and BGs about Star Trek have had in Italy, it is important to talk about the only Italian product: STAR TREK ADVENTURE, published in 1999 by Ultimo Avamposto; it is a game for 2-4 players created by Tommy River and Fabio Vargiolu Miele.
The game, subtitled “Set 1 – Classic Series”, is set in the original series and had to be the first one of a series that had no more products.
STAR TREK ADVENTURE is about the landing missions. You can play as the Federals, the Klingons, Romulans or Gorns, and drive your team through the difficulties of an unknown land.
The board is made of smaller boards that form an hexagonal scheme where the metal miniatures move. The ships are also involved in the game.

S T A R
W A R S
Exactly like Star Trek, this is a universe that represents the essence of science-fiction.
Created by George Lucas, the Star Wars (SW) saga has been appreciated in cinemas and home-videos all over the world, becoming common for fans and not only.
In this case, too, we don’t need introductions, and we’d better talk about the games.
The first RG published about SW is STAR WARS, edited by West End Games in 1987.
The authors were Greg Costikyan, Greg Gorden and Bill Slavicsek, who used the rules of the d6 System. Unlike most of the RGs about ST, the manuals for this RG have been considered perfectly adherent to that universe and a good source material.
West End Game went on producing it until its bankrupt in 1998. Before that date, the second edition was printed in 1992, created by Bill Smith, and a revision and expansion of the base game in 1996, created by Bill Smith, Peter Schweighofer, George R.Strayton, Paul Sudlow, Eric S. Trautman and Greg Farshtey. The second edition was also published in Italy in 1993 by Stratelibri.
In 2000 Wizards of the Coast got the licence and published STAR WARS ROLEPLAYING GAME by Bill Slavisceck, Andy Collins and JD Wiker.
Later some expansions and a revisited edition of the rules (2002) were published, but since 2004 nothing else has been published.
For SW too the production of BGs is huge, even if there is a difference in the periods if compared with ST.
If there have been many games for the first trilogy (1977-1983) and during the pause between the two trilogies (1984-1998), only in the last years – after the second series of movies – the production has quickly increased.
Many of them have been SW’s versions of famous games: MONOPOLY (4 games), TRIVIAL PURSUIT (4 games), STRATEGO (2 games), RISK and GAME OF LIFE. These games only seldom add something new for the players, and are only bought by collectors and fans.
The other BGs about SW have different quality levels, as it is normal for such a huge production.
There are some good games and some bad ones, usually easy, strongly related with luck and meant for a young audience.
In the first group there are some games published by West End Games, in the A Star Wars Adventure Boardgame series.
In 1988 ASSAULT ON HOTH, a wargame on an hexagonal map for 2 players created by Paul Murphy, was published.
The game reproduces the battle between the Rebels and the Empire that opens the movie The Empire Strikes Back, and every player guides one army.
The object of the Rebels is to get five transports out of the planet, while the Empire tries to destroy the shield generator before that happens.
The game is marked by Action cards, that tell which units can move and/or shoot.
Some of this card make you pick another one from the event rack, where there are some cards that make the transports escape.
The fight is made with some special dice, confronting the number of positive results and the value of the defender’s armature.
It is a very simple wargame, a bit too related with luck and unbalanced in favour of the Rebels. Nevertheless it is a good game, commonly considered one of the best BGs based on SW.
1989 is the year of the solitaire game BATTLE FOR ENDOR, created by Peter Corless.
In this case, too, we have a simple wargame on an hexagonal map, set during the ending of the Return of the Jedi.
Now the Rebels, driven by the player, have to destroy the shields, while the Empire is automatically moved following the rules.
In this game, too, the Action cards represent the activation of the units, pointing which units can make some actions. There are Event cards too, that can make the Rebels lose. When the fifth card pointing the destruction of Home One (Mon Calamari) is picked, you lose the match.
So the level of this game is very similar to the other BG, considering the identical dynamics – unbalanced in favour of the Rebels. But the game experience is a bit worse since it is a single player game – though good for solitary nights.
ESCAPE FROM THE DEATH STAR, published in 1990, is the last game of this series.
It is a game for 1-4 players, created by Stephen Hand, that, unlike the other two, not only is not a wargame, but is a cooperative game.
The game is naturally based on the first movie of the classical trilogy and on the attempt to runaway form the Death Star made by Luke, Leia, Han e Chewbacca.
The players lose when one of the characters is captured, that is quite likely to happen, since this game is much more difficult than the other one.
Every character has a paper and every Death Star’s area has a different event cards rack where to pick to determine the opponents (including Darth Vader).
It is a very original game, considering the date of production.
Before concluding we also have to talk about two interesting recent titles.
The first one is STAR WARS – THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, created by Craig Van Ness, Alan Roach and Rob Daviau, and published by Avalon Hill (Hasbro) in 2000. It is a game for 2 players (or 4 in cooperative play), where one guides the Naboo army and the other one the Merchants, to reproduce the fights in The Phantom Menace, thanks to a rich components’ set: 155 miniatures, 180 cards and 3 boards (the board for the royal palace is on three levels).
The second one is STAR WARS – EPIC DUELS published in 2002 by Milton Bradley (Hasbro) and created by Craig Van Ness and Rob Daviau. Some famous duels of the two trilogies can be reproduced on 4 boards (2 double-faced ones), or you can play some improbable “what if” scenarios, thanks to 31 characters from the two trilogies, divided in 12 teams.
It is for 2-6 players and each one drives a team made of one main character and one or two secondary ones; Everyone also has a team sheet and a deck of special cards for that team (there are 387 cards in the game).
The duel takes place like a card game.