''Star Empires'' is a 1977 board wargame published by TSR.

Gameplay

''Star Empires'' is a sequel to ''

Star Probe ''Star Probe'' is a science fiction game written by John Snider and published in 1975 by TSR, Inc. with artwork by Paul Snider. It was to be the first of a series of interconnected space games, followed ''Star Empires''. The game consists of a 36 ...

'', and is a game in which the players control a civilization that has just discovered interstellar exploration and must explore a vast star cluster.

Publication history

According to Shannon Appelcline, "''Star Probe'' (1975) by John M. Snider was scheduled for 1974 but slipped into 1975. It was a science-fiction board game of the sort that was just emerging as its own new field — as could be seen in Metagaming's ''The Space Gamer'' (1975–1980). ''Star Probe'' was supposed to be the first game in a trilogy, but by the time TSR released the second game, ''Star Empires'' (1977), they'd already found their niche, and it wasn't in science-fiction board gaming after all. They eventually returned the rights to the games to Snider in 1980."

Reception

Norman S. Howe reviewed ''Star Empires'' in ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' No. 14. Howe commented that "It may be a coincidence, but this game emerges just when ''Star Wars'' is gaining popularity. This may account for my reaction to it. So go out and buy this game. Build an empire, use Nova Bombs and Planetbusters." Martin Easterbrook reviewed ''Star Empires'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

'' #4, giving it an overall rating of 7 out of 10, and stated that "The basic philosophy of the rules is similar to that in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' in that they do not seek to limit your actions to a set of permissible rules but instead try to supply you with a means of representing the effect of ''any'' action that you might wish to make. That someone should have attempted this is not surprising; that it should be done so well is amazing!"

References

{{reflist Board games introduced in 1977 TSR, Inc. games