THE GOLDEN YEARS

• Dwarfstar Games, a division of Heritage USA, arrived on the gaming scene with a splash at the 1981 Origins gaming convention.

• The initial Dwarfstar releases were Barbarian Prince, Demonlord, Outpost Gamma, and Star Viking.

• The Dwarfstar Games followed in the footsteps of other small format sci-fi and fantasy games which were popular in the late seventies and early eighties. The trend was started by the Metagaming MicroGames, a series which included gamer favorites such as Ogre, G.E.V., Melee, and Wizard. The first Metagaming Microgames appeared in 1977.

• In 1981, the Metagaming MicroGames sold for $3.95 and Heritage USA's relatively lavish Dwarfstar games sold for $4.95.

• Metagaming's head, Howard Thompson, used a spartan presentation for his MicroGame series. The MicroGames originally used paper mapsheets and uncut (or strip cut) counters printed on thin cardstock. By 1981, Metagaming had "upgraded" the MicroGames with small boxes and die-cut counters printed on thin stock.

• The Dwarfstar games raised the bar for "microgame" graphics and components. Not only were they more colorful than their contemporary counterparts, they also featured real die-cut counters and mapboards printed on thin cardboard. Unfortunately, the Dwarfstar boxes were notoriously flimsy and susceptible to being crushed in storage.

• Barbarian Prince included a metal miniature figure in place of counters.

• Heritage USA was not the first company to jump on the sci-fi/fantasy "microgame" bandwagon. Task Force Games came into being with a series of Pocket Games, wargaming giant SPI released a series of Space Capsule and Magic Capsule games, Steve Jackson Games launched a small format game series which would become known as Pocket Box games, and Operational Studies Group offered several small format ziplocked games.

• 1981 also saw other companies launch "microgame" lines: TSR released four Minigames, and Mayfair games came into being with lines of small format ziplocked and boxed games.

• The next four Dwarfstar games were released in 1982: Dragon Rage, Goblin, Grav Armor, and Star Smuggler.

• Two of the 1982 releases, Dragon Rage and Star Smuggler, were submitted by outside designers. All of the other Dwarfstar games were "in house" designs by Heritage employees Howard Barasch and Arnold Hendrick.

• Barbarian Prince and Star Smuggler were innovative solitaire games which relied on paragraph based game systems.

• A Dwarfstar advertising folder included in some of the games.

THE DARK AGES

• Heritage USA declared bankruptcy in 1982.

• A news item in White Dwarf magazine #41 (May 1983) reported that Heritage had gone into liquidation, and that the most popular Dwarfstar Game, Barbarian Prince, had been acquired by Avalon Hill. [Apparently an erroneous report, in retrospect.]

• A news item in Space Gamer magazine #67 (Jan/Feb 1984) reported that Genesis Gaming Products of Dallas had acquired the rights to the entire line of Heritage/Dwarfstar Games and planned to begin re-releasing the Dwarfstar games in early 1984. Two new solo games were announced - "Cleric" and "Galactic Bounty Hunter." The games were to retail for $5.99. The purchase price was not reported, but Ernie Simpson, VP of Marketing and Product Acquisition for Genesis stated that Heritage was asking $50,000, but Genesis did not pay that much. The article also noted that World Wide Wargames (3W/WWW) was the holding company for Genesis Gaming Products.

• A news item in White Dwarf magazine #53 (May 1984) reported that the Dwarfstar games had been purchased by Genesis Gaming Products. It was announced that Barbarian Prince, Dragon Rage, Star Smuggler and Grav Armor would be released in May; Demonlords, Star Vikings, and Galactic Bounty Hunter Dallas McQuade would be released in July; and Outpost Gamma, Goblin, and Thief would be released for Christmas.

• Genesis Gaming Products never released any Dwarfstar reprints.

DWARFSTAR REBORN

• Reaper Miniatures purchased the rights to several Heritage USA properties, including the Dwarfstar games.

• In April 2003, Reaper Miniatures granted limited permission for the six "in house" Dwarfstar game designs to be made available online for free download.

• Dragon Rage designer Lew Pulsipher is seeking to have the game republished. As of July 2004 he was soliciting suggestions for addenda and revisions to the rules. See the Dragon Rage page for a link to his website.

• In February 2006, Star Smuggler designer Dennis Sustare granted limited permission for his game to be made available here for free download.

DISCUSS THE DWARFSTAR GAMES

• Want to discuss the Dwarfstar Games with your fellow "long lost" fans? Then visit the Dwarfstar Discussion Board where you are invited to discuss this website, and the Dwarfstar Games in general. The Discussion Board is also the place to find important announcements regarding this site.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

• Please access the Discussion Board for any questions or comments regarding the Dwarfstar Games.