Playing an old favorite: Sky Galleons of Mars
By Doc Wohlrab
Back in 1988 prolific game designer Frank Chadwick and GDW came out with a new science-fiction based game called This game became a cult classic and is anyone recalls our two-part “Final-Four” , it was one of my favorite all-time games. Sky Galleons is a steam-punk era sci-fi game that plays like a lot of naval games out on the market today and it is a game I have been playing for years and drew me deeper into wargaming. In 1988 I was ten years old and in love with all things nautical. Back then I had no idea what steam-punk was though I had read many of its forbearers such as H.G. Wells, Edgard Rice Burroughs’ Mars and Venus stories, Jules Vern, etc. and found those compelling. One day I was poking around in my dad’s game collection and I cam across this box art of the Martian screw galley firing a broadside, and I was like “WHAT IS THIS?”
Ten year old me had found a bunch of concepts in one piece of box art that spoke to me, and I knew I had to play this game. Now, at this point in my life I hadn’t played anything more challenging or complex than perhaps Risk, and so cracking the box I was first a bit daunted by the rules, but I persevered and quickly got into the game. Further, I was able to convince my friends to give it a go. This would have later repercussions as it led down the path to many another title that we would end up playing in the coming years, but it was Sky Galleons that got us started.
We spent many an hour floating over Martian canals and deserts fighting duels between the airships of Mars and the colonial powers. When we ran out of scenarios from the source material we made up our own. The game was meant for two players, but we would have as many as four of us playing our ships, sometimes in teams and sometimes as a giant fur ball between various gunboats and sky kites. This game was our entry into the broader world of wargaming, and we quickly branched into other popular sci-fi titles of the time such as Battletech and Shadowrun.
Sky Galleons of Mars (SGM) was a hex-based miniatures game where the imperial powers of Europe figured out how to lift warships into the air, and also get themselves to Mars. The background piece to this is that physics in SGM is based on what if the aether theory of physics was correct. It was through the use of aether engines that the colonial powers were able to cross the immense voids of space to lay claim to parts of Venus and Mars. When they arrived on Mars however they already found both advanced and tribal Martian cultures who were not meekly going to just submit to the Imperial Powers of Earth.
The primary factions from Earth are the British with their various gunboats and the Germans with their luftkreuzers, though the background material also makes mention of the French, Belgians, Russians, Americans, and Japanese. These other factions have no pre-generated ship sheets included, however there is a section, and rules, on how to make your own ships and to build them into a ship sheet.
There is a wealth of different Martian ships so players can represent either the Canal Martians such as the Kingdom of Parhoon or the Hill Martians. There are also tokens to represent the High Martians, who are tribal in nature but still have the ability to fly unlike the rest of the Martians whose lift glands have degraded and are no longer functional.
Ships in the game are represented by miniatures which are supplied in the box set. Each mini can represent a number of different air vessels in the game as the ship sheets provide most of the details for a player’s chosen vessel rather than the mini. The minis are pretty standard for what one would have expected to find in a box game of the 1980s, nothing too complex.
Information is also represented on various tokens, such as the height tokens, boarding tokens, or torpedo fire tokens. Yes, there are aerial torpedoes in the game. The rules section is divided up between a quick start set of rules which cover the basics, and then more advanced rules for playing various functions of the ships and even rules for campaigns or as mentioned above, designing your own ships. There is also a section on some basic scenarios.
The box set comes with two maps, a canal city map and a desert hilltop gun battery map. They are hex based like most games of that era. In addition there are quick reference sheets for both players which feature the combat resolution tables, damage tables, and some brief explanations of some of the basic rules. The game is very easy to pick up for new players and once the basics are met there are more challenging rules to keep old grognards coming back to play.
I recently took our own Mitch Reed on a trip to re-fight the epic battle that took place on the red planet.
Mitch’s impressions: The game is obviously a classic and the map and game pieces definitely harken back to the late 1980’s. The game design is sound and easy to pick up. Mechanically the game plays like a naval combat game, which I am a huge fan of. I find that each faction has a unique flavor and makes list building a lot of fun. I did learn to like this game and understand why Doc loves it so much. However, it is a tough game to get into since it has been out of print for some time. I could only wish that a developer in the future re-invigorates the system. I think naval gamers who want to play a game with a bit of a twist would really like Sky Galleons!
Unfortunately Sky Galleons of Mars is currently out of print. One is still able to find copies on Ebay that run the gambit of prices, along with some of the follow on books that came out to support the game. There is a Vassal module out there for the game though so if one has a copy of the rules there is that. It would be nice if someone could bring Sky Galleons back into print, with some tweaking to the game engine.
This is a game that I believe could be brought back given today’s interest with all things punk and would find a new audience as well as a loyal audience of older gamers. This is a game I loved as a kid, and still love. It was what really got me into gaming, and so many of my interests were helped along by this find, and all because I happened to stumble on this in my dad’s game collection.
