StarSoldier

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1st edition box cover with artwork by Redmond A. Simonsen, 1977

StarSoldier is a science fiction board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977.

Description[]

StarSoldier is a 2-player game in which one player controls invading aliens, and the other controls StarSoldiers defending the planet.[1]

Components[]

The game box holds:

  • 22" x 34" paper hex grid map
  • 400 counters
  • rule book
  • two Level Record Charts
  • two six-sided dice

Publication history[]

In 1974, SPI published StarForce: Alpha Centauri, the first mass market science fiction game.[2] It sold very well, staying on SPI's Top Ten Bestseller list for four years.[3] As a result, SPI created two spin-off games, Outreach in 1976 and StarSoldier in 1977.[4] StarSoldier was designed by Tom Walczyk, with artwork by Redmond A. Simonsen. When both Outreach and StarSoldier proved popular, SPI packaged them and Star Force in one box as StarForce Trilogy.

StarSoldier debuted on SPI's monthly Top 10 list at #9 two months before its release due to pre-publication orders. When it was published in January 1977, it immediately rose to #1, and stayed on SPI's Top Ten list for the entire year, either on its own, or as part of the StarForce Trilogy.[5]

Reception[]

In Issue 6 of The Space Gamer, Amber ap Llychlyn did not like the rationale for the game, pointing out that in the game, civilians are put to sleep using a psychic field to avoid conflict, and thought this made soldiers, and therefore the entire game, unnecessary.[1]

In Issue 32 of Moves, Phil Kosnett compared StarSoldier to Starship Troopers, published in 1976 by Avalon Hill. After a lengthy comparison, Kosnett concluded that "StarSoldier is an innovative game and Starship Troopers is not. Soldier is science fiction, and Troopers is just a 20th Century land game with funny silhouettes on the unit counters."[6]

Other reviews and commentary[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b ap Llychlyn, Amber (June–July 1976). "SPI's Star Soldier - A Solitaire Game?". The Space Gamer. Metagaming (6): 25–26.
  2. ^ Goldberg, Eric (March 1980). "A Galaxy of Games". Ares Magazine. Simulations Publications, Inc. (1): 29-30.
  3. ^ McGregor, Stuart. "SPI's Science Fiction Games". Phoenix. No. 8. p. 9.
  4. ^ "StarSoldier: Tactical Warfare in the 25th Century | Board Game". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  5. ^ "SPI Best Selling Games - 1976". spigames.net. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  6. ^ Kosnett, Phil (April–May 1977). "Starship Trooper/StarSoldier". Moves. No. 32. pp. 4–10.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
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