Back in the '80s I got a copy of Fortress America for Christmas and it blew my mind. Up to that point, my concept of a wargame was Risk, and Fortress America was so much cooler than Risk. Plus, at that time Red Dawn was still a fairly recent movie and it still rocked my world, so in some ways Fortress America was an extension of that.
I quickly bought Axis & Allies and Shogun, and I thought I had completed the GameMaster series of games at that point. This was back in the days when these types of games, and TSR RPGs too, were easily found at Toys-R-Us.
Then a friend showed me his Conquest of the Empire set. I couldn't believe there was another cool GameMaster game that I hadn't played! It may have already been out of print by that point...I'm not sure, but I never did see it on a store shelf. I never got to play CotE, but boy did I want to...even though my friend said it wasn't quite as good as the others because it had some annoying bits like having to build roads before you can move (I see from your review that this isn't actually true...roads just let you move MUCH faster).
Anyway, this game has been somewhat of a holy grail with me for about 20 years now. I'm mightily tempted to pick it up despite your comments saying that the gameplay is out of date.
I still have Fortress America, Axis & Allies, and Shogun (later re-released as Samurai Swords), and would never get rid of them even though I haven't played in many years. There are just too many good memories attached to them all, like the New Year's Eve battle of Fortress America where the dads played America and the kids played the invading forces.
The only Eagle game I own is Civilization: The Boardgame, but sadly I've never played it. My wife is a Civilization fanatic (the PC game) so I thought we'd be all over it, but thus far nobody has taken the time to read all the rules.
EDIT: I'm aware that there is one more OOP GameMaster game out there...I can't remember the name but it's a pirate game and the board was actually two plastic ships so you could manuever, board and attack, etc. Sounds cool, but I don't feel such a need to get this one 'cause it's not quite the same style as the others.
__________________ Running:Nothing, sadly Playing:Nothing, sadly Wish I was running/playing:Waste World; Hollow Earth Expedition; Fireborn; Talislanta; Top Secret/SI; Cartoon Action Hour; Rune RPG; Gear Krieg; High Medieval; Shadowrun; Pendragon; Paranoia XP; Champions; Atlantis: The Second Age; BASH!; Lord of the Rings RPG; Deadlands Reloaded
Last edited by DavidStallard; 09-14-2005 at 09:24 AM..
Anyway, this game has been somewhat of a holy grail with me for about 20 years now. I'm mightily tempted to pick it up despite your comments saying that the gameplay is out of date.
Unless you play a lot of German/EUropean games, I think you'll be perfectly happy with it, and if you do, I expect you'll be happy with the other set of rules, which I'll review in a few weeks ...
Re: [Board/Tactical Game]: Conquest of the Empire Classic, reviewed by ShannonA (5/3)
A friend of mine has Conquest of the Empire because someone tossed it in the dumpster at his apartment complex. Another friend pulled it out, and found everything in it except the dice.
It's been a long time since I've played CotE, but it certainly seemed the weakest of the Gamemaster line. The inflation was a turn-off, a screw the lead player that the other games didn't have.
I've never heard of the pirate game- I'm pretty sure it never showed up in the old Dragon ads, but it sounds interesting.
__________________ Running:Nothing, sadly Playing:Nothing, sadly Wish I was running/playing:Waste World; Hollow Earth Expedition; Fireborn; Talislanta; Top Secret/SI; Cartoon Action Hour; Rune RPG; Gear Krieg; High Medieval; Shadowrun; Pendragon; Paranoia XP; Champions; Atlantis: The Second Age; BASH!; Lord of the Rings RPG; Deadlands Reloaded
Location: Secret island lair on Maui inside of a dormant volcano.
Posts: 5,555
Re: [Board/Tactical Game]: Conquest of the Empire Classic, reviewed by ShannonA (5/3)
Conquest of the Empire was far and away my favourite of the line. Maybe just because I’m a European historian, I don’t know, but I loved building up my cities and my roads, in good, Roman style. The inflation mechanic was great; it wasn’t a “screw the lead” feature because everybody suffered. It added a nice element to consider when conquering or civilizing. The catapults were always a bit wonky, but that wasn’t a major problem.
Damn, if you added up the time my brother and I spent playing this…actually, I don’t think I’ll complete that line of thought. Bit disturbing.
Interestingly, my brother was working on some major rules revisions that sound somewhat like the new version of the game, with a functional senate and politicking. I’m really tempted to buy this, although my rational brain recognizes that my brother lives in Morroco and I live in Maui and the chances of us playing are rather slim.
Anyway, David, the old game was cool and this one sounds cooler.
EDIT: I'm aware that there is one more OOP GameMaster game out there...I can't remember the name but it's a pirate game and the board was actually two plastic ships so you could manuever, board and attack, etc. Sounds cool, but I don't feel such a need to get this one 'cause it's not quite the same style as the others.
Broadsides and Boarding Parties.
I freaked out when I saw it in a store when I was a kid.
My mom bought it for me and I loved it.
I would kill for a rerelease of that with a new advanced game option like this Empire game has.
Linear Mode
