Starship Troopers (board Wargame)

Starship Troopers (board Wargame)

Starship Troopers is a board wargame by Avalon Hill based on the novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein. It was originally released in 1976 and designed by Randall C. Reed. Avalon Hill redesigned and re-released a "movie" version (entitled Starship Troopers: Prepare for Battle!) in 1997 to coincide with the movie's release.

The game is a hexagon-based wargame for two players. The player who takes the side of Arachnids has a sheet of paper with a copy of the map-board on which he plots out his bug-hive and tunnel system. The Mobile Infantry player sends in his soldiers and tries to dig them out. A third faction, the Skinnies, starts out playing on the bug side, but switches to the human side during later scenarios.

In a 1977 review of the original (1976) Avalon Hill game, Martin Easterbrook stated that "All in all this is probably the best SF game currently on the market because it has the well worked out background of Heinlein's novel and because it is an extrapolation of current military technology, allowing Avalon Hill to use their experience in game design" and gave the game an overall 9/10 rating.