Re: [OT] Alien Space

On Mon, 15 Mar 1999 21:03:34 +1000 Alan E & Carmel J Brain 
<aebrain@dynamite.com.au> wrote:

> According to http://www.erols.com/mrboone/wg_home.html the Star Trek 
Game was called "Star Fleet Battle Manual", and was put out by 
Gamescience in 1976, with Alien Space from 1975. <

Sorry, but AS dates back to _at least_ 1974. How do I know? 'Cause I 
was playing it (or a modified version) with the Melbourne Uni SF Club 
then. The first SF wargame that I ever played (as opposed to owned) and 
lotsa fun, particularly with our house rules (and the typos!).

The SFBM did come out in '76, after Lou got a license from Franz 
Joseph -- in a move of perhaps questionable legality which was only 
sorted out some years later, the SFBM wasn't a "Star Trek" game, it 
was a game based on FJ Designs' "Star Fleet Technical Manual" 
(which, of course, was licensed from Paramount, but it took them 
several years to notice) -- and included rules to make the two games 
compatible (in fact, the cover of the SFBM showed Federation ships in 
combat with AS Kuzis -- but then, we always knew that they were Klingon 
wannabes, anyway <g>). There were only small differences between the 
games -- except for the movement system, perhaps -- but enough to give 
some flavour to combining the two.

The minis came out at about the same time, although the metal ones (the 
"K-type", "R-type" and "T-type", a.k.a. the Klingon BC, the Romulan 
Warbird and the Tholian PC) were much harder to find (at least in 
Australia) than the plastic Fed stuff -- which is why I ended up with 
such a large Federation fleet!

Note that this pre-dates SFB by several years (at least 3). SFB was 
_also_ licensed by Franz Joseph, and it was only later (about '82?) 
that Task Force began marketing the Gamescience minis in its own 
packaging. Meanwhile, Gamescience continued to sell them themselves, 
including the luminous and clear plastic ones, which TFG didn't bother 
with.

Of course, the Alien Space minis that Lou mentioned on occasion never 
eventuated, much to my dismay. I wanted Kuzis and Dorts -- oh, and a 
Rux or two.

Phil, Gapper Zapper ace of bygone days....
--------------------------------------------------------------
"If you let a smile be your umbrella... you'll get wet teeth!"
   -- a forgotten comedian, quoted by me: Phil Atcliffe
				(Phillip.Atcliffe@uwe.ac.uk)