Future and Fantasy Games (1981, $5.00)
Designed by Rich Slabbekoorn
Players 2 or 3
Playing Time 20-60 minutes
Period Sci Fi
Scale Tactical
Turn 1 minute
Map 11 million miles
Unit individual space ships

Components
1 5-3/4”x9” flat box
1 8 1/2”x11” unmounted mapsheet
1 20 page rulebook
160 die-cut counters
2 two-sided CRT cards

Counter Manifest
80 red & 10 P-1-15 police; 10 E-2-8 80 blue, destroyer; 10 L-3-5 lt cruiser; each 10 H-4-4 hvy cruiser; 10 5-8-2 consisting space fortress; 8 B-5-3 battle of ship; 7 D-6-3 dreadnought; 5 F-(5)-3 freighter; 10 numbered formation counters (2 each of 1 through 5).

Future and Fantasy says:

“2091 - On the fiftieth anniversary of the official establishment of the colony, New Terra declares itself independent of Earth’s rule. Earth, her own resources exhausted, has no choice but to go to war. The Alpha Centaurian Revolution has begun ... [A] fast-paced tactical game simulating ship to ship combat in hyperspace. Included in the rules are 5 scenarios from the Alpha Centaurian Revolution, with alternates allowing you to choose your own forces.”

The reviewer says:

“I like the little things about Hyper Battle — the thick counters ... the provision of formation counters to replace unwieldy counter stacks, the dual CRT system which allows you to use 6- or 20-sided dice as you prefer, and the ‘campaign’ rules for keeping track of an overall victor when playing the five scenarios back-to-back. Unfortunately, I hate the big thing about this game — the rules. This is the weirdest, least explicable space game I’ve ever seen ... Hyper Battle is a bizarre space combat game. It may be challenging, but the challenge lies in memorizing the CRT and deciphering the rationale behind the game. I’d rather stick with science fiction.” W.G. Armintrout in The Space Gamer 30.

Comments

While the Simulacrum capsule profiles generally feature decent games, an occasional public service warning is in order. You have been warned about Hyper Battle! The morbidly curious who buy this game just to see how bad it is will get what they deserve.

Note that the review quoted above refers to the “revised” edition of the game. There was an earlier ziplock version as well. That edition was so bad that it prompted a Space Gamer reviewer to simply write a letter to the editor apologizing for not having submitted a review as the game was “unreviewable.” A few issues later a letter from the designer appeared — in which he agreed with the reviewer’s appraisal!

Collector’s Notes

Boone lists no values (0/0/0) for this game. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if the $0.00 figures actually indicated final auction results (or perhaps people offering to give the game away for nothing).

The other Future and Fantasy game

Warlock

H is For Capsule Reviews

Introduction
H-Hour
Hell Hath No Fury
Hero
Hitler’s War (Metagaming)
Hitler’s War (AH)
Hougoumont
Hyper Battle