I *just* tracked down a copy of the old AH/SPI title Freedom In The Galaxy, which was loosely based on the galaxy-wide civil war of Star Wars.

It's a game I've always wanted to try, just to get the feel of a Star Wars-type game played over multiple planets...the closest up until now for me has been TI3.

...and then this game appears out of nowhere! And seems to share a lot of the same feel, if not some of the same downright mechanics.

Of course, there's the video games Rebellion/Supremacy and Empire at War that also share similarities, and some folks have mentioned parallels with War of the Ring--none of which I've played.

Just wondering if any one can speak to the influences for this game, or if it in fact is something completely new? Of course, most of us will have to wait for the rules to be released say for sure--but there's always room for an official commentary, too...

I thought the same thing. I've had a copy of AH's version of FitG since it came out and never once gotten to play it.

I used to play FITG quite a bit and loved it. It's a huge, sprawling game, and for time's sake, we usually limited outselves to one of the shorter scenarios. However, for the sheer fun of capturing hero-level individual adventures and quests coupled with massive battles with troops and fleets of ships, there was nothing quite like it. It remains one of my favorite games of all times even if it could be a monster to play.

Rebellion looks like a streamlined version of FITG. Just from reading what's currently available, it has many of the same features, so I think the play of the game will be similar. In both games, you have heroes who have to undertake missions which in turn affect the loyalty/submission of planets, which in turn affects resources, which in turn affects how many ships and troops you can put into play for battle. One difference seems to be that in Rebellion the mission/quests are entirely resolved by card play or are mainly represented by cards which was not the case in Freedom. There were a series of charts and a paragraph book that told you what you would encounter on a mission based on planet type, terrain, type of mission, etc. You then played out the combat situations the mission created. Also planets were more complex in FitG in that they could have a dominant environment (urban, wild, liquid, barren, etc.) which affected both missions and the kinds of troops that could fight successfully there. Troops were also distinguished by the kind of environments in which they could battle without suffering some die roll modification. So the galaxy may have been richer. Freedom in the Galaxy also had individual ships and special robots as characters, analogs of the Millennium Falcon and C3PO and R2D2, and there were special rules for their use. John Butterfield, the designer, did a lot to add individualization and character to the game in order to build up a sense of a unique universe, since he couldn't use any of the familiar Star Wars characters. I think he succeeded, bringing his universe and his characters to life, but at times at the cost of adding a lot of rules weight. Biggest loss to FitG: he couldn't use anything like the Force!

From what I've read, I think Rebellion will be an easier and faster game to play, which in today's market is a plus. I miss some of the depth of hero interaction in missions that FitG has, but as a previous writer said, it's hard to say until we have the rules and can see for ourselves just how "heroic" and "cinematic" it is. Personally, I'm delighted at a chance to play a strategic game of Star Wars, so hooray for Rebellion and for FFG for finally bringing this out, and if a lot of the design is reminiscent of FitG, I see it as homage.

By the way, John Butterfield did design a strategic Star Wars boardgame for West End Games. i was one of the playtesters for it, and it was very different from both Rebellion and FitG. It had some wonderful concepts and was a unique take on the Galactic Civil War. I don't remember now why it was never produced. I think West End either went out of business about then or it turned out it couldn't secure the license. But I was always sorry that John's game never made it to the light of day.

I should add that the victory conditions appear to be the same. In FitG, the Empire had to discover and destroy the secret rebel base while the Rebels had to bring a majority of planets into rebellion and inflict a major military defeat on the Imperials, as I recall.

Freedom in the Galaxy was one of those games, like SPI's War of the Ring, where we spent less time playing the game than we did setting it up and just looking at the sheer size of it.

@david spangler--thanks so much for that insight! I love to hear about the little design things that happen behind the scenes and we never get to hear about because projects get shelved, licenses fall through, etc.

Makes you wonder how many great games never see the light of day for reasons beyond their control...wouldn't it be great if Rebellion were the final version of that prototype you've got? ...was it any good?

@Daily Rich--yeah, I picked up FitG mostly as a curiosity. The chances of me playing it are fairly slim, and I've got other meaty space-themed games in the queue I'd likely play before trying to teach it to anyone (SW:Armada, Earth Reborn and TI3, for example). And, of course, Rebellion will be on that list in a few more months...

Invictus, it's been around thirty years since I playtested John's Star Wars game, and then it was an early version...playtesting got shelved before the game really was finished. However, as I recall, yes, it was fun to play, but I was disappointed in how the leaders were handled--fairly abstractly as I remember..but as I say, it's been close to 30 years, so i don't trust my memory of it. I know that there were changes I hoped John would make, but on the whole it was an interesting take. It used cards and tiles more than a traditiional board; John was, and still is, one of those innovative game designers who likes to try out new things and break new ground, and he was doing so in this game. I do remember that it relied a lot on hidden information and bluffing. At the moment, I have no idea where my playtest copy is in my garage (which is full of boxes) or even if I still have it, but one of these days, I'll have to do a search and see what I can come up with

will need to look up...

It sounds like FITG inspired the PC 4x game "Rebellion" which in turn inspired this new board game from FFG. I've played the PC game, and the number of parallels to FFG's depiction of their board game are legion.

I loved Freedom in the Galaxy when I got it new, decades ago. But yeah, it was a bear. I also noticed the apparent similarity and am really looking forward to Rebellion.