Triplanetary is a science fiction board wargame originally published by Game Designers' Workshop in 1973. The game is a simulation of space ship travel and combat within the Solar System in the early 21st Century.
History
First edition
Triplanetary was designed by Marc W. Miller and John Harshman, loosely based on novels and short stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, particularly the Future History works of Robert Heinlein. Triplanetary was originally conceived as the first part of a proposed series of games that was to be named "The Stars! The Stars!" As Miller related, a late-night session of Lensman with Harshman using blank hex-grid battle board combat "inspired the design for Triplanetary, with its image of our solar system and use of vector movement".
In 1976, GDW released Triplanetary Variant V/2, an expansion of the suggested "Prospecting" scenario that was part of the original errata sheets. This edition had a box cover by Rich Banner.
Third edition
In 1989, Steve Jackson acquired the rights to the game, with ambitions to release a new version of the game in 1991 that would tighten up a number of rules to improve play. After various delays, the third edition was finally released by Steve Jackson Games in 2018.
Contents
thumb|First edition rulebook cover
The game was originally packaged in a square cardboard tube, which contained a 16-page book of rules (with four pages of errata and clarifications that included two additional scenarios); a hex map of the inner Solar System; a clear acetate overlay for the map, a grease pencil, a set of cardboard counters representing the various spaceships, and a 6-sided die. The map included the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and the Moon, Mars, two of the largest asteroids in the Asteroid belt as well as a hex for a secret asteroid base, and Jupiter, along with the four largest Jovian moons. For game play purposes, the placement of the Earth's Moon and the Jovian moons were not to scale.
Gameplay
The clear acetate overlay allowed each player to plot the movement vectors of their ships. Each ship could accelerate during the turn, which then modified the vector one hex in any direction. The ships continued to follow their current vector from turn to turn, which could only be modified by acceleration or by entering the "gravity field" of a planet. For simplification purposes, this gravity field consisted of the six hexes surrounding the planet. Moons had a weaker gravity that only affected a course when ships pass through two adjacent hexes Acceleration consumed part of a ship's fuel supply, and players were required to track the current fuel remaining on each ship. If all the fuel was consumed, a ship would be unable to accelerate. Ships could refuel by landing on friendly planets, orbiting a base, or passing slowly through an asteroid base. They could also refuel by matching speed with another ship (such as a tanker) and transferring fuel.
Two reviews of the original game and its variant appeared in 1976 issues of The Space Gamer. In Issue 4, Scott Rusch gave the original version of Triplanetary a very positive review, saying, "It's quite a flexible game, and it's fun. It's even fairly accurate, which is something most tactical space games can't claim. I heartily recommend it."
In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer thought the game had "a relatively realistic scope [...] the system is not difficult, though it takes a little getting used to." He noted that the scenarios provided "a long and intricate game."
In the July 1981 edition of Dragon, Tony Watson welcomed the return of Triplanetary as one of the best SF games on the market. He admitted that the game wasn't perfect, especially the messy map caused by continuously adding grease pencil trails during a long scenario. And although the vector movement system was accurate, Watson pointed out that the planets never move, although they should be orbiting around the Sun. "The designer has apparently decided to sacrifice this bit of realism for the sake of playability, and it seems to make a great deal of sense." He concluded, "Triplanetary is a marvelously well conceived game that plays well and is a lot of fun. It is varied and interesting, and fairly dripping with the feel of the old-style SF novels many of us grew up with. Even eight years after its initial appearance, [it] compares favorably with the plethora of other SF titles on the market."
See also
- Attack Vector: Tactical - a similar hex based space game that attempts to add three dimensional space movement and targeting rules, as well as realistic inertial dynamics.
- Galac-Tac
- Starweb