International Team

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International Team (IT) was an Italian game company founded in the 1970s and active until the early 1980s. While the company started as a jigsaw puzzle producer, it is mostly remembered as a wargame company, a business that IT approached in 1979 after game designer Marco Donadoni joined in.

IT was the first Italian wargame company and its most successful games, such as Zargo's Lords, were instrumental in introducing the wargame culture in Italy.[1][2] IT games were translated in other languages (mostly French, German and English) and exported abroad.[3] At the peak of IT's popularity, foreign branches of the company were founded, such as International Team France (established in 1979).[4] Besides wargames, IT also published a few roleplaying games (such as and ) and ordinary board games.[5]

The company went bankrupt in 1988. Some of their assets were acquired by the French company Eurogames, that later published a few games based on designs and materials by IT, such as Colonizer based on IT's Kroll & Prumni[6] and Zargos based on Zargo's Lords.[7]

Published games[]

Title Year Author Languages Description Difficulty Lvl Code
Attila 1981   Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Recreating the Hun invasion of the Roman empire 2 W114
Austerlitz 1981 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Recreating Napoleon's most famous victory at the Battle of three emperors 5 W116
Blue Stones 1987 Marco Donadoni Ita, Fr, Ger A Fantastic skirmish wargame set in the Zargo's Lords milieu. Wizards and Monks defend magic stones against three new evil races. 3 W123
Bonaparte 1982 Marco Donadoni IEFG A strategic Army Corps-level recreation of the Imperial Napoleonic saga. Possibly International Team's best effort 6 W119
East & West 1981 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger A World War III strategic wargame divided in three different theaters: central Europe, Middle East and Sino-Soviet border (with China on West's side) 6 W111
Idro 1980 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Fantasy wargame pitting rebelling mermen and mermaids against the crustacean oppressors 'Krost' 4 W110
Iliad 1979 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Basic re-enactment of the siege of Troy as narrated in Homer's poem 1 W104
Jena 1980 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger The clash of the Napoleonic Grande Armée and the Prussian Army in 1806 4 W107
Kroll & Prumni 1979 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger International Team's first wargaming effort, futuristic exploration and combat between two rival star empires 2 W101
Landsknecht 1987 Marco Donadoni Ita, Fr, Ger Tactical wargame in the European wars of religion 2-5 W124
Little Big Horn 1981? Andrea Mannucci Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Sitting Bull's day of glory against Custer 3 W115
Millennium 1981 Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger A much-refined sci-fi wargame blending strategic and tactical aspects 4 W1117
Mockba 1984 Roberto Bonsi Ita, Fr Wehrmacht's do-or-die offensive against Moscow in December 1941 4 W122
Norge 1981 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Re-creating the fight for Norway in 1940 4 W118
Odyssey 1979 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger In this game one player, acting as Athena tries to lead Ulysses back home in Ithaca while its adversary (playing Poseidon) must hinder and delay him 1 W106
Okinawa 1979 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Depicting the landing and conquest of Okinawa in World War II, complete with rules for bunkers, shore bombardments and kamikaze swarm attacks 3 W105
Rommel 1981 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger The first defeat during the Tunisian campaign 5 W113
Sicilia '43 1981 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily in late 1943 5 W109
Supermarina 1984 Umberto Tosi Ita, Fr Probably's International Team's most complex game, it re-created the duel between Regia Marina and Royal Navy between July and October 1940, an oft-forgotten topic in World War II wargames 8 W121
Waterloo 1980 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Recreating Napoleon's last battle 1815 against the combined forces of Wellington and Blucher 4 W108
Wohrom 1981 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger A fantasy game uniting aspects of wargaming and RPG-adventure, with two clans of knights fighting for the vacant throne of the kingdom 4 W112
Yom Kippur 1984 Andrea Mannucci Ita, Fr Simulation of 1973 Ramadan War–Yom Kippur War 2/5 W120
York Town 1979 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Recreating one of the turning points of the u.s. rebellion in 1781 2 W102
Zargo's Lords 1979 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger Italy's first fantasy game. It had four races (Knights, Winged Men, Dragons and Monks) vying for supremacy in the world of Zargo 3 W103
Zargo's Lords II 1983 Marco Donadoni Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger First Zargo's Lords expansion: adding Amazons and Arachnids as new races and rules' updates and errata - -

Historical importance[]

While some of International Team's games were quite "typical" of their era and generally not on par with U.S. and British offerings (which benefitted from a more developed hobby and gaming culture) they saturated the Italian market (where in early 1980s fluent English readers were by no means common) and also enjoyed commercial success in France and Germany. Some of their best games were highly innovative, such as the non-strategic Napoleonic ones (Austerlitz, Jena, Waterloo), presenting a unique Octagons and Squares board, better suited to the Napoleonic infantry formations (square, line, column...). Some other, like 'Norge' and 'Supermarina' tackled topics and campaigns which seldom enjoyed dedicated boardgames.

References[]

  1. ^ Zargo's Lords review
  2. ^ Review of Zargo's Lord at Boardgamegeek
  3. ^ List of games by IT, with brief descriptions
  4. ^ International Teams dans le magazine Jeux et Stratégie (in French)
  5. ^ The International Team games simulation games serie
  6. ^ "Review of "Kroll & Prumni"". Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  7. ^ International Team successors

External links[]


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