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There was an entire set of board games virtually unknown to most people, and still virtually unknown, and they were sold mainly in wargaming shops in the 1970's and 1980s. I had many
such as
Amoeba Wars
Civilisation
Up the Nile
But the ultimate was Cosmic Encounters, of which I have on of the very few fully expanded, complete original sets, from when it first came out 1980-1983
It was a game of such complexity, it wasnt possible to cheat. It took about 3 months to teach someone how to play, and you needed at least 6 people to make it play properly.
The orginal game was four player, but then they started adding 'Expansion Packs', There were 8 expansion packs, adding more cards, more bases, different new features, even more , different card sets, money, ...it was mind boggling. The final fully expanded version was probably harder to win at than Poker.
Games would last easily eight hours, and because the basic rules didnt keep up with the additinal features, you ended up writing a new rule book, local house rules, in order to stop arguments.
The game was revived in the early 2000's in a very cut down emasculated version, a pale shadow of the original. Id love to play again, but i woudlk need to train at least five other people up first.
If you google 'cosmic encounter', you can only find images of the new version.
such as
Amoeba Wars
Civilisation
Up the Nile
But the ultimate was Cosmic Encounters, of which I have on of the very few fully expanded, complete original sets, from when it first came out 1980-1983
It was a game of such complexity, it wasnt possible to cheat. It took about 3 months to teach someone how to play, and you needed at least 6 people to make it play properly.
The orginal game was four player, but then they started adding 'Expansion Packs', There were 8 expansion packs, adding more cards, more bases, different new features, even more , different card sets, money, ...it was mind boggling. The final fully expanded version was probably harder to win at than Poker.
Games would last easily eight hours, and because the basic rules didnt keep up with the additinal features, you ended up writing a new rule book, local house rules, in order to stop arguments.
The game was revived in the early 2000's in a very cut down emasculated version, a pale shadow of the original. Id love to play again, but i woudlk need to train at least five other people up first.
If you google 'cosmic encounter', you can only find images of the new version.