by: Michael Barnes

My first memory of the 1980s was when I was in kindergarten, and upon coming back from the holiday break I remember the teacher explaining to us that it was no longer the 1970s, and that it was now the 1980s. I was too little to get much serious gaming done at the time, but it would turn out to be a glorious decade for the hobby. The 1980s are really when hobby gaming hit its stride. The formative years of the 1970s, when the idea of games as a hobby pursuit consolidated, led into a larger industry and a greater degree of popularity. Most interestingly, it was during this period that video games were still a long way from mainstream acceptance, and both digital and tabletop gaming was on an even keel. The result was that hobby gaming had a profound influence on early video game development.

While mining the 1980s to prepare this edition of Barnes’ Best, I found that coming up with a Top 10 list was difficult. Not only that, I realized that the games I was listing were the “well, duh” picks, not obscure or relatively unknown games. Writing this list was almost like naming Elvis, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones among favorite bands. If you’ve followed this column since its inception, there are many games I’ve already written about at length. What’s more, there are only a couple of these games that are out of circulation and haven’t been reprinted. These points speak to how monumental and profoundly important some of the games of “the Golden Age” of hobby gaming were. But it’s also interesting that in the 1980s there were exponentially more hobby market games, and the numbers of also-rans and never-did-runs are high.

Now, cue up a copy of “Purple Rain” or “Thriller”, break out the Members Only jacket, and let’s get down to business.

1. Civilization (Avalon Hill, 1981)

If there is such a thing as a “best game of the 1980s”, then Frances Tresham’s immortal Civilization is it. Few games have had such a profound impact on game design concepts not only in terms of the ideas surrounding technological progression and the gradual earning of advantages and abilities over the course of a game, but also in terms of the its incredible sweep and scope contrasted with necessary abstraction. Civilization is among the very best games, and it remains modern and vital even today. There’s a reason that designers are still trying with varying degrees of success to further streamline Tresham’s core concepts, and there’s a reason why no one has done it better. This game’s influence on computer gaming also can not be understated. Sid Meier was a fan.

2. Fury of Dracula (Games Workshop, 1987)

Steven Hand’s Fury of Dracula is the best board game Games Workshop ever released and it remains one of the best examples of the theme and mechanic relationship ever published. Of course, as a big fan of gothic horror and traditional vampire lore, I’m a little biased. The vampire hunting setup is great fun, and positioning one player as Dracula and the others as the hunters attempting to locate the Count somewhere in Europe is atmospheric and hugely narrative. Gameplay incorporates deduction, bluffing, adventure, and combat. It’s a multifaceted design that remains the best horror-themed game yet designed. Fantasy Flight’s good-looking 2006 reissue of the game substantially changes some elements including the core hunting mechanics, incorporating a deck of location cards that create a trail for the hunters to pick up on and follow. I like the reprint and some of the revisions are well-considered, but I still keep my old GW copy on hand because it is still probably the better, more focused game.

3. Up Front (Avalon Hill, 1983)

Up Front is more or less a card game version of Squad Leader, the venerable classic of man-to-man combat in World War II. It is also one of the most maverick and mold-breaking wargame designs in the genre. The game is stunningly inclusive of core tactical wargaming concepts ranging from cover, movement, morale, suppression fire, artillery, vehicles, and leadership. It’s a dynamic, multidimensional game that fragments the traditional wargame model and reassembles it into a wholly new format with multiple-use cards and tense, tough tactical decisions at every turn.

It’s a highly experimental design that many games have emulated, but none have managed to match its depth or range of possibilities. It’s a very complex game that is unfortunately saddled with a notoriously dense rulebook and gamers who have access to a “mentor” while learning the game are going to get to the good stuff much quicker. There is no reprint available for this game, which is a crying shame because it could definitely use a little modernizing to bring its information organization up to current standards.

4. Merchant of Venus (Avalon Hill, 1988)

Richard Hamblen is one of my favorite designers. He made the 1970s list with Magic Realm, and he’s back again not once but twice. Merchant of Venus is by far his most accessible and most modern design. It’s a pick-up-and-deliver route planning game with a cool, campy sci-fi theme. Players cruise around a galaxy along preset paths, picking up cargo and passengers and dropping them off at distant worlds to turn a profit. Ships can be upgraded for greater speed or capacity, and there are some combat options. Sounds a lot like the classic PC game Elite, doesn’t it? As with most Hamblen designs, brilliant mechanics abound coupled with a strong sense of theme and setting, with many different alien species and strange products to encounter. It’s also a roll-and-move game, which I believe is actually outlawed these days by the board gaming cognoscenti. Maybe that explains why this classic game, that still feels modern today, is out of print with no sign of a reissue.

5. Gunslinger (Avalon Hill, 1982)

And Hamblen’s curtain call on this list is for Gunslinger, by far the best Western game I’ve ever played. This guy had a very different way of thinking about theme, narrative, and time in games than anyone else. With Gunslinger, which is a scenario based, man-to-man combat game wherein a firefight is broken down into tiny fragments of time, a level of detail is attained that provides for a tremendous amount of specific narrative and cinematic action. Every move that your gunfighter makes in the game is depicted, and this can lead to some thrillingly vivid situations. The rules are layered, allowing for differing levels of complexity and detail leading up to a kind of light roleplaying game with characters, experience points, and possibilities for campaign play. The game is a little clunky by modern standards with some very out-of-date content organization and very old timey production values, but there still isn’t anything on the market that captures the visceral feel of a Sam Peckinpah shootout like this game does.