Ice War
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Ice War is a board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1978 that hypothesizes a Eurasian attack against American oilfields in Alaska.
Ice War is a two-player game of arctic warfare involving a raid by the Eurasian Socialist Alliance on Alaskan oil fields at Prudhoe Bay. One player takes the part of the ESA attackers, while the other plays the American defenders.[1]
Players have an ability to purchase 30 points of units, and can choose from outposts, recon sleds, hovercraft, tanks, infantry, orbital platforms, recon satellites and missiles. There are five modes of transportation, all of which have differing abilities to traverse the four types of terrain (tundra, mud, ice and water). Terrain can be converted from one type to another as a result of combat. At a certain point in the game, the American player can bring on reinforcements, but only in the single town on the map, and not at all if the town is destroyed by the ESA.[2]
The game comes with a 24-page rule book, an 8" x 14" two-colour paper map, and 135 cardboard counters.[2]
Publication history
In 1977, Metagaming Concepts pioneered the microgame, a small and relatively simple solitaire or two-person wargame packaged in a ziplock bag. Over the next five years, the company produced almost two dozen games in their MicroGame line. Ice War was the 9th game in the series, designed by Keith Gross and published in 1978.[3] This was Gross's first published game; he would go on to design Invasion of the Air-eaters, The Air-Eaters Strike Back!, and Hitler’s War.[4]