Empires of the Middle Ages is a board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

 for two to six players which simulates grand strategy

Grand strategy

Grand strategy comprises the "purposeful employment of all instruments of power available to a security community". Military historian B. H. Liddell Hart says about grand strategy:...

 and diplomacy in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. It was first released by Simulations Publications, Inc. in 1980

1980 in games

This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1980. For video and console games, see 1980 in video gaming.-Significant games-related events of 1980:...

.

Each player in EOMA controls an empire composed of areas, each of which is rated for wealth, religion, language and population. The talents of each empire's current ruler are represented by numerical ratings for warfare, administration, and diplomacy. The object of the game is essentially to grow an empire in terms of wealth, geography and stability.

Development

EOMA was designed by James Dunnigan, a prolific game designer and writer. However, often a Dunnigan design would consist of no more than a four-page outline on a legal pad and a developer would then take over, doing the lion's share of the work and completing the project. In this case, this was done by Anthony F. Buccini who also received a designer's credit. A third design credit went to Redmond A. Simonsen

Redmond A. Simonsen

Redmond Askel Simonsen was an American graphic artist and game designer best known for his work at the board wargame company Simulations Publications, Inc. in the 1970s and early 1980s...

, who was responsible for all the graphical features of the game and likely played a significant role in development as well.

Game play

The game is played in turns representing five years, and each player may attempt one endeavor for each year. Endeavors may be diplomatic, economic (such as taxation) or military in nature. Central to the game are two decks of cards, Event and Year cards. Event cards create random events such as plague

Pandemic

A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...

, famine

Famine

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...

 or schism

Schism (religion)

A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...

, while Year cards are used to resolve endeavors. A key element is the ever-present possibility of civil unrest and other military and political threats.

The full campaign game begins in the year 770 (the accession of Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

) and continues to about 1475. Smaller scenarios begin with the historical situation in a particular year and cover a century or two.

Assessment

At the time of release, the game was unusual in that it did not use army counters to represent military assets in the game. Instead, military action was carried out as an endeavor, with success depending mainly on the military skill of the ruler and the relative strengths of the target area and the area from which the attack was launched.

The game quickly achieved cult status after it went out of print when SPI

Simulations Publications

Simulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...

 folded and was bought by TSR

TSR, Inc.

Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....

. A DOS computer version of the board game was released around 1990 under the name Rise of the West. TSR and its subsequent owners have sold the rights to a number of games to other publishers; Decision Games bought the rights to Empires of the Middle Ages, and updated and re-released the game in 2004.