 Editor in Chief Bill   | 27 Jun 2016 8:05 p.m. PST |
Rick Priestly and Andy Chambers for Rogue Trader? John McEwen for Starguard? Lou Zocchi for his Star Trek game with minis? |
| Katwerks | 27 Jun 2016 8:22 p.m. PST |
|
| 53Punisher | 27 Jun 2016 8:31 p.m. PST |
|
 miniMo  | 27 Jun 2016 8:44 p.m. PST |
Rogue Trader (1987) was very very late to the game.
Frank Chadwick and GDW released Striker in 1981 for the Traveler universe.
Martian Metals released the first miniatures for Ogre in 1979.
Starguard (1974) wins. |
Stan Johansen  | 27 Jun 2016 8:49 p.m. PST |
John McEwen for Starguard |
| Bunkermeister | 27 Jun 2016 9:00 p.m. PST |
John McEwen for Starguard.
Bunkermeister |
| Sloppypainter | 27 Jun 2016 9:03 p.m. PST |
John McEwan for Starguard. Rules and figures for Starguard were pretty cool back then. |
| rmaker | 27 Jun 2016 9:06 p.m. PST |
Zocchi's Star Fleet Battle Manual (1972) predates Starguard (1974), and both take precedence over Rogue Trader (1987). |
| kidbananas | 27 Jun 2016 10:45 p.m. PST |
|
| John Treadaway | 27 Jun 2016 11:57 p.m. PST |
|
| MHoxie | 28 Jun 2016 1:48 a.m. PST |
20 quatloos on Zocchi and McEwan. |
| Patrick R | 28 Jun 2016 1:52 a.m. PST |
Laserburn (1980) by Bryan Ansell is the precursor of Rogue Trader. IIRC FGU published rules for Flash Gordon Gygax had a set for Barsoom games in 1974 link |
| Rick Priestley | 28 Jun 2016 1:56 a.m. PST |
There was also Spaces Marines by A Mark Ratner (77) and Skytrex did an Sf ship game to go with their resin spaceships IIRC – might have been Lou Zocchi though. But the father of SF wargaming was… H G Wells… obviously :) |
| ZULUPAUL | 28 Jun 2016 2:10 a.m. PST |
|
| Mute Bystander | 28 Jun 2016 3:29 a.m. PST |
McEwan for me. FGU bought rights and republished A. Mark Ratner's rules (I have copies of both) I believe. Both formed/deformed my views of SF war games that linger even today. |
| Ney Ney | 28 Jun 2016 3:52 a.m. PST |
Bryan Ansell for Laserburn. |
| Paint it Pink | 28 Jun 2016 4:03 a.m. PST |
H. G. Wells wrote the first set of wargame rules and the novel War of the Worlds. He's the spiritual father of SF and imaginations. |
| RavenscraftCybernetics | 28 Jun 2016 4:56 a.m. PST |
Lou Zocchi/Rus Meyer Are they one and the same? you be the judge!
you never see them at the same convention together! link link |
 20thmaine | 28 Jun 2016 5:41 a.m. PST |
The earliest SF rules I have are Galactic Warfare by Dave Rotor, published by Skytrex in 1973. That's a year earlier than Starguard! I've had this discussion before !  |
| Darkest Star Games | 28 Jun 2016 7:55 a.m. PST |
HG Wells. He made rules and miniatures waaaaay back in the day. Don't think he sold the minis though… lol. |
| Hafen von Schlockenberg | 28 Jun 2016 8:26 a.m. PST |
Don't think he ever did a War of the Worlds game,either. |
| miniMo | 28 Jun 2016 8:38 a.m. PST |
But RT made it cool. No, that would be Battledroids (1984)/BattleTech (1985) =^,^= |
| Dan 055 | 28 Jun 2016 8:57 a.m. PST |
John McEwan for Starguard |
| 20thmaine | 28 Jun 2016 12:05 p.m. PST |
But RT made it cool. No – Laserburn made it cool. Laserburn was a big thing (in the UK!). |
| Patrick Sexton | 28 Jun 2016 1:49 p.m. PST |
Zocchi and McEwan in the States. |
| HesseDarmstadt62 | 28 Jun 2016 2:40 p.m. PST |
Yep--Star Guard with both McEwan and the really old Grenadier SF line were the first SF ground games I played, back in the mid-1970s in Dayton, Ohio. We were also huge fans of Zocchi's "Alien Space" game, played with large counters on the floor (and with strings in the middle of ships that you used to "fire" on degree headings to determine hits). Ah, good times. regards, HesseDarmstadt62 |
| 20thmaine | 28 Jun 2016 4:35 p.m. PST |
Really shows the UK/US divide – I remember reviews of Starguard, but I don't think I ever actually saw a copy. |
| Weasel | 29 Jun 2016 2:26 p.m. PST |
Growing up in Denmark, I never saw a copy of Starguard or talked to anyone who played it, ever. Laserburn wasn't really a precursor to Rogue Trader, the rules are completely different.
What happened is that while writing the game, Ansell offered Priestley that he could borrow the weapon lists and such, which is exactly what happened. |
| COL Scott ret | 29 Jun 2016 8:06 p.m. PST |
I will take a moment to suggest Sci-Fi gaming is only popular because of Sci-Fi novels and movies. So I am nominating Heinlein, Halderman, Puornelle, Drake, Card and Lucas. |
| 20thmaine | 30 Jun 2016 4:46 p.m. PST |
For Laserburn the inspiration was very clearly Judge Dredd – so that'd be the comic 2000AD. |
| Patrick R | 01 Jul 2016 5:26 a.m. PST |
Technically GW was the game division of 2000AD for many years … |
| 20thmaine | 01 Jul 2016 6:03 a.m. PST |
Lol  They did do Judge Dredd (boardgame & Miniatures) and had a Strontium Dog range at one point IIRC – were they 40mm figures ? |
| Micman | 03 Jul 2016 9:41 p.m. PST |
I vote for John McEwan. Mind you I have only played Starguard in the last decade and didn't know about it till the 90's. But it is fun to play his game at his house! :) Word is he is working on a new version. My playing experience would be Lou Zocchi's Star Trek Minis for my first gaming buys. |
| Reviresco | 04 Jul 2016 10:54 a.m. PST |
Starguard is still alive and growing. The 42nd year 7th Edition is now available in print from tin-soldier.com or by download from link 180 pages for only $10.00 USD. There are very few games from the '70's that are still in print and are still supported.
John McEwan |
