by: Michael Barnes

It’s time to dive head first into the shag carpet quagmire that is the 1970s for this installment of Barnes’ Best. The seventies were really when hobby gaming grew and developed, despite some antecedents in previous decades. This was the time of Avalon Hill’s heyday, and there were tons of stiff-looking and very serious-sounding wargames as far as the eye could see. Major companies like TSR and SPI had their roots in this time period, and it was also an era marked by the rise of roleplaying games thanks to the success of Dungeons & Dragons. D&D may very well be the game that really “broke” hobby gaming into a serious business concern and into a more mainstream consciousness, and over the course of the decade is when fantasy, science fiction, and other genres started to mix it up with historical and abstract themes.

Here are ten more of my favorite games from this time. Once again, the goal here is not to present the most significant or seminal games of the last several decades but to list my favorites. It just so happens that a couple of these games are some of the most significant and seminal, but there’s a couple that are simply personal favorites. Nonetheless, I still think that those capture the hobby gaming zeitgeist as well. Let’s kick it off with a bang, shall we?

1. Dune (Avalon Hill, 1979)

Dune is the greatest board game ever published. No qualifiers or exceptions. Coming in right at the end of the 1970s, it set a pace in terms of efficient rules and thematic integration that designers thirty years later still struggle to keep up with and it has remained a frequently played and sought after game since its publication. You’ll not find a game that more succinctly and vividly depicts its subject matter and source material, and its intricate “wheels within wheels” approach to player interaction is truly wondrous to behold as special faction abilities interface and enhance each other.

The players, acting as the Fremen, Harkonnen, House Atreides, the Guild, The Empire and the Bene Gesserit create a tremendous narrative of exploitation and intrigue that’s a hell of a lot more Dune than any of the books published under that name following Frank Herbert’s death. There has been a reprint on the books with Fantasy Flight Games since 2007, and just recently co-designer Peter Olotka spilled the beans that it’s been rethemed for the company’s Twilight Imperium setting. The Dune context is a tremendous loss, but as long as FFG keeps its damn hands to itself and leaves the mechanics alone, it will still be worth playing. Dune is immortal.

2. Cosmic Encounter (Future Pastimes, 1977)

Before Dune, design consortium EON made this almost equally astonishing and way ahead of its time design that remains, quite possibly, the second greatest board game of all time. Setting out to make a game like Diplomacy but with a more manageable playtime, no geography, and goofy space aliens, EON’s game comes across like a psychedelic take on traditional card games but with rules-breaking special powers and an insane variety of possible situations and interactions. It’s essentially a negotiation game where alliances of convenience shift every turn. Mechanics are minimalized, player engagement is maximized. Cosmic is one of the most influential and important designs ever published, but more significantly it’s one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. Its volatility is thrilling, and every game features at least one or two unforgettable turns of events or jokes. Fortunately the most recent FFG edition of this game is extremely well appointed, supported with expansions, and in-house developer Kevin Wilson has maintained a very reverent and respectful approach to the original design.

3. Magic Realm (Avalon Hill, 1979)

Along with EON, Richard Hamblen represents a rare stratum of designers that were literally creating the grammar of hobby gaming and developing idiosyncratic, singular titles that remain iconic and relevant to this day. Magic Realm was his attempt to translate the fantasy roleplaying concept to a more structured board games format. Earlier games such as Mystic Wood and Sorcerer’s Cave had posited a certain theory of adventure gaming, but those models were much simpler and greatly reduced in scope. With its legendary, almost impenetrably complex rules, Magic Realm is almost frighteningly comprehensive in comparison. The level of detail is through the roof and particulars such as the passing of time, tactical blow-by-blow combat, henchmen, and a complex but compelling magic system create a real sense of world-building and immersion that no other fantasy board game has matched to date.

The rules required to support the game are difficult and require a level of commitment that most modern gamers won’t afford to a single title, but thanks to a modern-day PC application called Realmspeak the game has been kept current and mostly playable even without the physical game- which is, in my opinion, one of the best-looking games ever made. It completely captures the feel of 1970s fantasy. When I was a kid and saw the box art, it gave me that exciting sense of being both curious and slightly scared, and that’s a valuable feeling to preserve.

4. The Legend of Robin Hood (Avalon Hill, 1978)

Clearly, Avalon Hill was on a major roll by the end of the 1970s, having released a host of important wargames and making inroads into the emerging adventure and hobby gaming market. The Legend of Robin Hood wasn’t one of their classic “Bookshelf” games; instead it came in a small box and had a very small set of counters and brief rules. It may not look like much, but this is a vibrant game where the Robin Hood player must best Little John in one-on-one combat to get him to join the Merry Men, where rich Bishops and travelers get ambushed and robbed for the benefit of the poor, and one of the victory conditions is for Robin and Maid Marian to be wed in the presence of Friar Tuck and the returning King Richard III. It definitely has one foot squarely in an old-fashioned wargames camp (there’s even a division of arms mechanic), but it’s also very progressive and forward-thinking in its storytelling capacity. Every time I bring this game out, usually with a good friend, it’s a “oh hell yeah” moment in celebration of getting to play this treasure once again.