1976 was an awesome year for the board game world and seems to be the year of the 70’s (all 1970’s board games) when designers and publishers really got going. A year of wargames, science fiction, a bit of RPG, and adventure fantasy thrown into the mix.
Not only that, but……….
It seems like 1976 was the year that TV type board games for families came on the scene. This year we had the super cool – Heey! it’s the Fonz! (Happy Days).
Buying Collectables – With each 1976 board game added here we have tried our best, and keep trying to find retail outlets, auctions and other places that may have many of these collectable games available to purchase (see each game if it has an available @ link).
Atlantis – 12500 B.C.
Atlantis was published by Excalibre Games in 1976. It was a war, science fiction and fantasy game. It became known pretty quick that the rules was not too great and the rest of it was rubbish. It’s safe to say not many people are playing or collecting this board game today.
Battle for Andromeda
Battle for Andromeda: Conflict for a Trillion Suns! was the full name of this war, science fiction, strategic board game. Published by Taurus Games in 1976 with some players getting well into the game play, although many others didn’t.
Bunnies and Burrows
Bunnies and Burrows: The fantasy world of intelligent rabbits was a famous RPG (role laying game) game inspired by Watership Down, the book. Fantasy Games never really made this game a hit, but it did make an impression within the RPG world of games and it’s something for collectors to consider.
Caesar: Epic Battle of Alesia
A war themed game that plays out for over 5 hours and possibly a couple of days. Many hard core board gamers loved this and still rate it highly today, although play time was sooo long.
Conquistador
Conquistador was based on creating a new world. Part of the game was for European countries to establish colonies. It was fairly complex and took a long time to play out a full game. Other versions later was published by SPI, Avalon Hill and Heritage Game Studios, so Conquistador did make an impression in the board game community.
Dixie
Dixie: The Second War between the States, 1937 was an alternate history conflict wargame, published by SPI. Kind of a weird alternate history really, but some players did enjoy a couple of games, although it didn’t engage that well overall.
Godsfire
Godsfire, a strategic board game incorporating war, science fiction and political elements. Metagaming published two versions of the game. Godsfire could play out for well over 4 hours and has a mid to high complexity rating. Fans of sci-fi space games loved it!
Hangman Classic
Surely everyone remembers playing hangman on a scrap piece of paper? The first tabletop version was published in 1976 (Milton Bradley). There have be a number of versions since, although scrap paper does work fine.
Happy Days
Heey! It’s the Fonz! What a great TV show Happy Days was and the super cool Fonz super in his leathers always impressed us youngsters. The board game sold so many based on the theme more so than the game play of course, it’s a collectable now.
Invasion America
Invasion America, Death Throes of the Superpower, by SPI Simulations Publications definitely pleased many of the wargame enthusiasts during 1976 in terms of being fun and engaging to play. It was not overly complex and one of SPI’s better games from the 70’s.
Kyoto Shogi
Kyoto Shogi is a variant of Japanese chess (Shogi) and another variant of the original Shogi which dates back well before this version. This version uses a 5 x 5 board and there’s different rules and actions within the game. Excellent abstract Chess/Shogi variant!
Lankhmar
Lankhmar an adventure, fantasy, and novel based wargame on a board. Back in the day (70’s) gamers got along pretty well with the components and gameplay, but I am not sure how it would fair today. Excellent fantasy theme though!
Metamorphosis Alpha
Metamorphosis Alpha is a sci-fi role playing board game with a derelict colony ship setting and it was the inspiration for TSR Hobbies’ board game, Gamma World. An original is very difficult to get hold of, although reissues and other editions are available.
Monsters! Monsters!
Another RPG (role playing game) published in 1976 by Metagaming Concepts was the fantasy game of Monsters! Monsters!. A good beginners game of the time rather than a game for advance players needing more complexity.
Outreach: The Conquest of the Galaxy, 3000AD
Outreach: The Conquest of the Galaxy, 3000AD was a space exploration, hexagon grid war type game that played on forever and ever that was published by SPI. This become part of the StarForce trilogy published in 1977.
Panzergruppe Guderian
Panzergruppe Guderian was one of the best of 1976 and possibly at the top of the charts during the 70’s within the simulation wargame and WWII genre. Avalon Hill and SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc.) both published this fascinating game that’s full of historical flavor. A real gem of a classic!
Revolt in the East: Warsaw Pact Rebellion in the 1970’s
Revolt in the East was a kind of “what if” game. It was created based on the possibility of war breaking out within Europe in the 1970’s (fortunately it didn’t happen). Underrated, say many ex-players!
Starship Troopers
Published by Avalon Hill in 1976, the board game Starship Troopers is based on a popular novel about a futuristic war. Mechanisms of the game include dice rolling, hexagon grid and simulation. A science fiction wargame.
Terrible Swift Sword
Terrible Swift Sword: The Three Days of Gettysburg is a highly complex wargame that was published by SPI. The game system inspired the Great Battles of the American Civil War series. TSS was an inspirational board game of the 70’s.
UFO: Game of Close Encounters
A science fiction abstract board game with a low complexity rating with what seemed like a great theme (alien invasion of the earth), but it just didn’t seem to play out very well. A long drawn out finish never helps.
War in Europe
War in Europe is fairly high in complexity and a compendium of three modules. This is a political and economic wargame that’s another highly rated strategy game of the 70’s by the publisher, SPI.
War in the West
The same publisher (SPI) and designer (Jim Dunnigan) of War in Europe produced War in the West during 1976 which was nearly as successful within the military war game genre. Worth playing if you liked War in Europe.
War of the Ring
War of the Ring: The Game of Middle Earth, a novel based (Middle earth, by J. R. R. Tolkien) game published by Fantasy Games. It was not properly licensed which stopped its distribution. This has made the game quite a rare collectable.
