''Troy'' is a board wargame published by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. ( ) is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fic ...

in 1977 that simulates various sieges of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

through the ages.

Background

Troy was founded around 3600 BCE. Over the next 4000 years, Troy was repeatedly attacked, destroyed and rebuilt, leaving a tell with at least nine archaeological layers. One of these was supposedly the Greek siege described in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'', although the exact relationship between myth and reality remains unclear and there is no definitive evidence for a Greek attack on the city.

Description

''Troy'' is a 2-player board wargame in which one player defends the city of Troy, and the other player controls the forces besieging the city.

Components

A 35" x 23"

hex grid A hex map, hex board, or hex grid is a game board design commonly used in simulation games of all scales, including wargames, role-playing games, and strategy games in both board games and video games. A hex map is subdivided into a hexagonal tili ...

map displays the plain at the foot of the hill bearing the city of Troy, using a scale of per hex. The game also includes a rulebook, a cardstock sheet of cut-apart cards, and a sheet of die-cut counters, that represent fighting units in light, medium and heavy variations, including chariots, cavalry and ships. Forty-three counters represent various heroes, and other counters represent the heroes' "divine gifts". One counter represents

Helen of Troy Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), ...

Gameplay

The game system uses a basic "I Go, You Go" system of alternating turns, where one player moves and attacks, followed by the second player. Each turn represents six hours, with four-day campaigns. Only light units chariots and cavalry have a

zone of control In board wargames, a zone of control (ZOC) is the area directly adjacent to certain combat forces that affects the movement and actions of enemy combat units. In hexagonal tiled maps, a combat unit's zone of control is the six hexagons adjacent ...

. A series of five scenarios gradually introduce new rules to add complexity to the game, and are keyed to various archaeological layers at Troy, representing various historical sieges: *Troy I c.2600 BCE: Basic rules * Troy II, c.2300 BCE: Rules for medium infantry, voluntary retreats, supplies and looting. * Troy III–V, c. 1900 BCE: Rules for chariots, cavalry and individual heroes. * Troy VI, c. 1300 BCE: Rules for heavy infantry, personal combat between heroes * Troy VIIa, non-historical scenario that recreates the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

. Rules for supplies, special counters representing weapons of the gods. In the case of a draw, the game can be decided by the Trojan Horse optional rule.

Publication history

Chaosium was founded in 1975, and in their first year, published the fantasy board game, '' White Bear and Red Moon''. No new products appeared in 1976, but in 1977, they rolled out three more board wargames: '' Elric''; '' Nomad Gods''; and ''Troy''. The latter was designed and illustrated by Donald Dupont and was published in 1977 as a ziplock bag game. The game was rapidly overshadowed by its contemporary rival, the professionally bexed '' Iliad: The Siege of Troy'' (

Conflict Games John Evans Hill (February 21, 1945 – January 12, 2015) was an American designer of military board wargames, as well as rules for miniature wargaming. He is best known as the designer of the Avalon Hill board game ''Squad Leader'' and the Am ...

, 1978).

Reception

In Issue 21 of the British wargaming magazine ''

Perfidious Albion "Perfidious Albion" is a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations diplomacy to refer to acts of diplomatic slights, duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity (with respect to perceived promises made to or alliances f ...

'', Charles Vasey and Geoffrey Barnard discussed the game. Vasey commented that although the designer, Donald Dupont, had managed successfully to add the effects of Greek gods to the game, in general " upontcannot design wargames for toffee." Vasey excoriated the Combat Results Table then continued, "even the siege rules fail to rise above the rest — they are so silly that one cannot believe anyone fought for ten years over what appears to be a small hillock." Barnard replied, "I soon decided there was something wrong with the system ... Remove the hero rules and this game is lacking anything special at all." Vasey concluded that the game was "A great disappointment." Barnard concluded, "If all you want is an amusing game to while away a few spare hours, then ''Troy'' might be worth getting, the counters are still fairly pretty. If you want a game that you can take at all seriously, then you had better look elsewhere!" In the 1980 book ''

The Complete Book of Wargames ''The Complete Book of Wargames'' by Jon Freeman and the editors of Consumer Guide was published in 1980 by Simon & Schuster under the Fireside imprint. Contents This book comes in both a 285-page hardcover edition and a paperback version. In ...

'', game designer

Jon Freeman Jon Freeman may refer to: *Jon Freeman (game designer) Jon Freeman is a game designer and co-founder of software developer Automated Simulations, which was later renamed to Epyx and became a major company during the 8-bit era of home computing. He ...

noted that this game was outshone by its rival, ''Iliad'', and put that down to ugly graphics: "''Troy''s map ... and counters are unattractively rendered in bizarre and unappealing pastel shades that makes the game painful to contemplate." Freeman also believed the game rules were too simple for experienced wargames. Freeman concluded by giving the game an Overall Evaluation of "Fair", saying, "''Troy'' illustrates the difference between input and output: what came out was not worthy of the information and affection that went into it." In ''The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training'', Martin Campion noted that "The game is lovingly crafted and is one of the most attractive around." Campion concluded with thoughts about the final non-historical scenario based on the ''

'', saying, "Although it is not strictly historical, it is certainly based on a historically important document and reflects what was probably a real event."

References

{{reflist Board games introduced in 1977 Board wargames set in Ancient history Chaosium games