Freedom in the Galaxy
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Freedom in the Galaxy, subtitled "The Star Rebellions, 5764 AD", is a space opera board game published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1979.
Components
Freedom in the Galaxy is a two-player game where, similar to Star Wars, rebels seek to overthrow a tyrannical Galactic Empire by winning the support from the populations of nearby planets, raising armies and eventually defeating Imperial navies and armies. One player controls the rebellion, and the other player seeks to quell the rebellion.[1]
The game has both a short version and a complex campaign version. Combat is done on both a grand scale, with armies and starfleets engaged against each other, and at an individual level.[1]
The game box comes with:[2]
- 22" x 34" displaying a central portion of a galactic empire consisting of 30 star systems
- 140 cards
- 400 counters
- 32-page rulebook
- Galactic Guide
- playing aids
Gameplay
The game is divided into three sections:[2]
- The Star System Game
- The Province Game
- The Galactic Game
In each game, each player has the following phases Rebels first, and then Imperial player):
- Operations
- Movement
- Enemy Reaction
- Military Combat
- Search
- Mission
- Assignment
- Action
- Bonus Draw
Victory conditions
The Rebel player gains victory points for gaining and holding planets, and loses victory points for losing planets or having Rebel planets destroyed by the Imperium. If the Rebel player ends the game with more than 25 victory points, then the Rebel player wins. If the Rebel player ends the game with less than 26 victory points, then the Imperial player wins.[2]
Publication history
Inspired by 1977's movie Star Wars,[2] SPI created the thematically similar Freedom in the Galaxy, a board game designed by Howard Barasch and John H. Butterfield, with graphic design by Redmond A. Simonsen and cover art by David Wenzel. The first version was printed in 1979 with the stars printed in pink (the "pink map" version.) This was quickly changed to the "black map" version, where the stars were printed in blue. The "black map" version also introduced two minor printing errors. Freedom in the Galaxy proved popular, and stayed on SPI's Top Ten Bestseller List for six months after its publication.[3]
In 1982, TSR unexpectedly took over SPI, and in an effort to quickly recoup some of their money, TSR repackaged several of SPI's popular games as TSR games. One of these was Freedom in the Galaxy, which was a simple rebranding of the "black map" edition. TSR did not update the rules, and this edition contains the two minor errors that had been introduced in the "black map" version.[3]
A computer adaptation by MicroProse was announced in 1997,[4] but the project was apparently canceled by 1999.[5]