In the '70s and early 80's I was an active designer of Diplomacy variants and boardgames, as well as a writer of magazine articles.  At various times, if memory serves, I was a contributing editor to White Dwarf, The Space Gamer, and The Dragon.

By the time Britannia was published I was getting into computers. I thought boardgames were dying, killed by role-playing on one side and by computer games on the other. And I was left with quite a few games that I regard as as good as Britannia or DragonRage. But boardgames were "dead", so I only played D&D for many years, along with a few computer games, and no board games. And of course Avalon Hill finally did die, as did most of the game publishers from that time. But boardgames have certainly shown a revival, though I'm not personally interested in "German" games--I want to play something that is at least a representation of some reality, not a theme imposed on what is largely an abstraction. "Realism", even in a fantasy or SF game, counts for something. I got back into boardgames in 2003.   --L. Pulsipher

Past publications

FantasyFlightGames published this in December 2005 (eastern and central Europe), February 2006 (rest of world).  Reprinted November 2008 along with international edition in four languages (German, French, Spanish, Hungarian).

  1. What is it about: Represents the history of the island of Great Britain from the Roman to the Norman invasions.  Four players each control several separate "nations", scoring points with each; highest score wins after 16 turns. 
  2. History:  Published by H. P. Gibsons in United Kingdom (1986), later by Avalon Hill in USA (1987) and by Welt Der Spiele (WDS) (Germany) in 1991.  There were two UK editions and one American edition, all slightly different.  It has spawned several games that use similar principles in, for example, Spain, India, and the ancient Middle East.  History of the World is the most well-known of these.  Italia by Andreas Stedding, published in 2007, is the latest.
  3. Status: Revised edition published Feburary 2006 by FantasyFlightGames.  Reprint October 2008.

As I only obtained a copy of the German edition (at considerable expense!) a couple years ago, I'm going to put a few photos here.  The thumbnails below are small, the photos you get by clicking on the thumbnails are about 1.5 MB each:

Box front and board

Entire package

Board and pieces (in German)

Back of box

 

This game has been reissued, with an additional map and scenarios, by Flatlined Games in Belgium.  When I have a link to let you order, I'll add it here.

 

 

Following is from the 1982 version:

DragonRage photo

  1. What is it about: From box:

    "A nervous sentry spies the twin specks in the sky. Soon he can make out the huge leathery wings and long necks.

    'The Dragons! The Dragons have come!'

    The great warhorn frantically calls across the city. Knights mount their horses, as archers rush to the walls. Many years has the city stood at the forest edge, withstanding the attacks of trolls, goblins, and sea serpents, but now will come the greatest test--for now is the hour of Dragon Rage..."

    "Dragon Rage is a game of mythical creatures attacking a walled medieval city. The game-board is a full color aerial view of the city and surrounding territory, and the counters include knights, infantry, heroes, wizards, dragons, orcs, trolls, great birds, giants, and other mythical creatures and beasts. The game rules include six scenarios, and a table for creating your own games with different combinations of monsters and city defense forces."

    "Dragon Rage contains-- A 12" by 14" full color map playing board, 154 full color counters, two dice, and a complete rules booklet with 6 scenarios.

    Play Level-- Introductory/Intermediate. Ages 12 and older."

    Copyright 1982 Dragonstar games, a division of Heritage USA.

    For more information about this and other Dwarfstar games, follow this link: 

    http://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/ds_dragonrage.html

     

  2. History:  See the link above.
  3. Status: This game was republished in 2011 in a much higher physical quality with many added scenarios for a second map..

 

  1. What is it about: A two-player fantasy wargame based on a short story which was meant to explain the existence of a line of miniatures (of the same title, IIRC)!
  2. History: Published 1980 by Games Workshop (their first boardgame, I believe)
  3. Status: Out of print, looking for a new publisher (no intention to change the game).

 

  1. What is it about: A two-player fantasy game reminiscent of Stratego (or more accurately, of L'Attaque, Dover Patrol, and Tri-Tactics, all published by Gibsons)
  2. History: Published by H. P. Gibsons around 1980 (there is no date in the copyright!)
  3. Status: Out of print.  The developer changed one major rule to conform with the three games mentioned above, and that wrecked S&W (as he later acknowledged).  Rules here (PDF).  Blue are my comments about how the rules were changed by publisher.

 

  1. What is it about:  This is a set of Diplomacy variants, including several maps
  2. History:  Published by Strategy Gamees Limited, London, 1978.  Most copies lost in fairly sudden collapse of the publisher's game store chain.
  3. Status: Out of print. I intend to reissue it, with additional variants, as a PDF publication.

 

  1. What is it about:
  2. History: Self-published in 1975.
  3. Status: Available.
  4. How to order:  See this. 

(Dr. Pulsipher's games: top row U.S. edition of Britannia (1987), Valley of the Four Winds (1980), German edition of Britannia (1991), U.S. revised edition of Britannia (2006), bottom row, British edition of Britannia (1986)  book Hobby Games the 100 Best (Britannia is one of the 100, Dr. P also wrote an article in the book), Dragon Rage (1982), Swords & Wizardry (1980). Diplomacy Games & Variants and other foreign editions of Britannia not shown.)

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