Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a wargame set in a anime universe. It is based on the most popular Japanese space opera novel "The Galactic Heroes Legend", "Ginga Eiyu Densetsu".

In the distant future, the Galactic World human is divided between two major powers: "Galactic Empire" and "Free Planets". The Empire is under the rule of a dangerous emperor and corrupt aristocrats, while the people of the Free Planets have lost the ideals of their foundation and are under corrupt populism. Both camps have no ability to destroy the enemy or to settle the war which has dragged on for hundreds of years.

But the times have produced two geniuses of war into the same period. One is "Reinhard von Lohengramm", the incomparable artist of war. The other is "Yang Wen-li", called "Miracle Yang", the magician of war. Their appearance will change the era that they live in.

In this game, players command Galactic Empire or Free Planets Alliance. This game contains three types of space combat ship units (BB, CL, CV) and various units which appeared in the original story. This game combines three types of starships, "Battleship", "Galaxy Cruiser", and "Galaxy Fighter".

The game uses a complete original system. Players organize Fleets under the command of unique admirals by combining characteristics of Starships. Each counter in the game is an Admiral and is rated by his fighting skills.

You use resource points to create or buy ships and put them under your admirals. The game system is very close to "Hitler's war".

When you fight a battle, each fleet is placed upon the combat display. A die is rolled for initiative and the phasing side then moves their ships. The tactical map has several columns, each denoting a range bracket. Players must determine how they will do with their ships. They can move once and fire or move twice and not fire. However, ships have certain ranges that they can be used at. Battleships can be used at long ranges, cruisers at medium, while carriers can be used at short ranges.

This game came out in Old Games Journal #40.