Blast from the Past: Revolt on Antares, a TSR minigame
Cover of the Revolt on Antares rules book, a minigame by TSR, original publishers of D&D.
TSR will always be remembered as the company that created Dungeons & Dragons and kicked off role playing games, but it’s sometimes forgotten as the publisher of other types of games besides D&D, such as Revolt on Antares.
For a period in the early 1980s, microgames (also known as minigames) were all the rage, no doubt started by the success of Steve Jackson Games’ Car Wars and Ogre. What were microgames? Smaller, relatively simple games that usually came packaged with all necessaries, such as dice and maps. Usually these games were not role playing games, but war games or some other tabletop board game.
Jumping on the bandwagon, TSR released a number of its own microgames, such as Vampyre, They’ve Invaded Pleasantville!, Saga and more. Revolt on Antares is one of these games.
Revolt on Antares, the game
Released in 1981, Revolt on Antares is a simple war game for two to four players that takes place on Imirrhos (also known as Antares 9), the ninth planet of the Antares solar system. Three scenarios are available for play, the main one allowing a player to act as leader of a rebel force against another player who is the leader of the Terran empire. The other two scenarios involve fighting back against an alien invasion, or a war between multiple royal houses of Imirrhos.
Blast from the Past: Board games of my youth, from Monopoly to JAWS
For some while I’ve been kicking around the idea of writing a Nerdarchy series about games and toys from my childhood and early teens years, which were the 1970s and early ’80s. Board games, action figures, early role playing games, and other of my youthful pastimes would be the subject matter, hopefully raising some nostalgia for older readers and maybe a few chuckles from younger ones who get to see our old-fashioned playthings.
This is the first of the series, which will be fore-titled “Blast from the Past.” Not every Nerdarchy article I write will be part of this series, but enough will that it makes some sense to note the difference. Also, these “Blast from the Past” articles might delve into different subjects, possibly movies and other nerdy things from my younger days, but the focus will be upon games and toys.
This week I take a look at the board games I played the most. I hope you enjoy.
