|
||
 |
|
|
- contact methods -
Pick and choose, there's no need to use any particular service. We're trying to make our information available in many ways, that doesn't mean you have to use all of them, or most of them. We'll try to get the same information out for all of these.
- email -
rules questions? comments?
- email list -
We occasionally send announcements to this list. To get on the list just send an email to lensmangame-request@freelists.org with 'subscribe' in the subject field
- blog -
- YouTube -
(soon)
- Facebook -
(soon)
- Flickr -
(soon)
- Twitter -
(soon)
Podcast Interviews
Interesting Sites
share? share!
What's This About?
Back in the Day
Back in 1969 a unique wargame was published, 'Lensman'. As far as can be determined, this was the first published space wargame. It looked great! The map was glossy black with white hexes and richly colored stars. And the colors weren't just decoration, crucial decisions needed to take the color, and therefore the type of star into account. Game play was excellent too. It was the kind of game you could play again and again and still find interesting. The rules were moderately complex, enough to keep you involved, but not too much, so the game wasn't hard to play.
Lensman was very well liked and over the next few years several thousand copies were sold, excellent sales for a wargame. And it was influential, it established the space game genre and inspired designers to create their own science-fiction games.
But, by the mid-seventies the game was out of print and increasingly hard to find.
Facsimile or Redesign?
Our original intent was simply to republish the game in a facsimile edition. It would be as if a supply of the 1969 game had been discovered. This simple and easy view of the situation soon presented problems. The original had not had die-cut counters, now a necessity. And the original had been sold in a tube. Retailers do not like games that come in tubes! So, the scope of the project had to be expanded.
The approach finally chosen was to create a dual version of the game. There would be two copies of the map and the counters would be double-sided. Each of the two versions would have a distinct graphical style. The 'retro' style would be a faithful recreation of the original. The 'modern' style would be completely new in appearance, although all game features would remain the same. One set of rules would be used for each of these visually distinct yet identical-in-gameplay versions.
Essentially, the game will be both a facsimile and a redesign. Take a look at our development plans or the new graphics.
Or check out details of the game's physical components.
The original Lensman game is © 1969, Norstrilia Software, Inc. All other material is copyright 2004 - 2010, Norstrilia Software, Inc.