Columbia Games is one of the oldest manufacturers of

board wargame A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby (as distinct from military exercises, o ...

s, and has also produced the ''

Hârn Hârn is a campaign setting for fantasy role-playing games, designed by N. Robin Crossby and published by Columbia Games since 1983. In 1998 Crossby founded Kelestia Productions (KP), an electronic publishing e-company. KP and CGI now independe ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

as well as various card games and collectible card games. Their wargames are notable for using small wooden or plastic blocks instead of the more conventional cardboard counters. The company, originally titled Gamma Two Games, started in Vancouver, Canada, but after ten years changed its name to Columbia Games, and eventually moved to

Blaine, Washington Blaine is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The city's northern boundary is the Canada–U.S. border; the Peace Arch international monument straddles the border of both countries. The population was 5,884 at the 2020 census. ...

. It is currently run by founder

Tom Dalgliesh Tom Dalgliesh is the owner of Columbia Games and a designer of many wargames and fantasy role-playing materials. Biography Dalgliesh began his career playing poker as a midshipman in the British Merchant Navy, then emigrated to Canada in 1967. ...

and his son Grant. Gamma_Two_Logo

Gamma Two Games

In 1971, Tom Dalgliesh, Lance Gutteridge and Steve Brewster all graduated from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and decided to start a Canadian games company called Gamma Two Games. They published their first game in 1972, the

block wargame A block wargame is a board wargame that represents military units using wooden blocks instead of cardboard counters or metal/plastic miniatures. Description A block wargame uses wooden blocks to represent units. These blocks are typically sq ...

titled ''

Quebec 1759 Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

''. Brewster left the company soon after its formation, and was replaced by Ron Gibson. The company produced two more wargames, '' War of 1812'' in 1973, and ''Napoléon: The Waterloo Campaign, 1815'' in 1974. Although ''Quebec 1759'' eventually sold over 20,000 copies, the next two titles were not as successful, and the business partners realized there was not much of a market in Canada for board wargames. Starting in 1975, they switched to more family-oriented games such as ''Airline'' (1975), '' Klondike'' (1975), ''Supermoney'' (1978), ''Smokers Wild'' (1978), ''Foreign Exchange'' (1978), ''Maneuver'' (1979), and ''Score! Soccer Game'' (1980).

Columbia Games

In 1982, the partners changed the company name to Columbia Games. The following year, Columbia entered the role-playing games market with ''

'', designed by

N. Robin Crossby N. Robin Crossby (May 18, 1954 – July 23, 2008) was the creator of the Hârn fantasy setting and the HârnMaster role-playing game system, as well as dozens of other related works describing the world of Hârn. Early life N. Robin Crossby was ...

. In the mid-1980s, both Gutteridge and Gibson left the company, leaving Dalgliesh as the sole owner. In 1986, Dalgliesh moved the company just across the American border to

, where the company could do an efficient mail order business to the much larger American market without the expense of cross-border customs and duties. The company is still based in Blaine, and Dalgliesh's son Grant is now a member of the company. The company produces three main types of games: *Block wargames * Role-playing games * Collectible card games (CCGs) and card games

Block wargames

Gamma Two's first game, ''Quebec 1759'', used embossed wooden blocks rather than cardboard chits. The design proved successful, and after the move to the United States, Columbia designed many more block wargames. Some of these games are designed to introduce new players to the wargaming hobby, but considerably more complex games have been produced, such as ''EuroFront'', a wargame depicting the entirety of World War II in Europe. The relatively expensive embossed wooden blocks originally used in the games have been replaced by plain plastic blocks. Each game comes with a sheet of stickers to affix to the front of the blocks. Columbia's list of block games includes: *''

'', simulating the Battle of the Plains of Abraham during the French and Indian War *'' War of 1812'' (1973), a game based on the War of 1812 *''Napoléon: The Waterloo Campaign, 1815'' (1974) *''Rommel in the Desert'' (1982) *'' EastFront'' — the entire Eastern Front of World War II (First edition 1991, and Second Edition 2006) *''WestFront: The War in Europe, 1943-45'' (1992) *''Bobby Lee: The Civil War in Virginia 1861-1865'' (1993) *''MedFront: War in North Africa 1940-43'' (1994) *'' Eurofront: War in Europe, 1936-45'' (First edition 1995, Second Edition 2006) *''Sam Grant: The Civil War in the West 1862-1864'' (1997) *''Victory: The Blocks of War'' (1998), a generic World War II strategic, combined arms game *''Wizard Kings'' (2000), — fantasy armies and creatures warring at the strategic level *''Pacific Victory: War in the Pacific 1941-45'' (First edition 2000, Second edition 2018) * '' Hammer of the Scots'' (2002) — English invasions of Scotland *''Liberty: The American Revolution 1775-83'' (2003) * ''Gettysburg: Badges of Courage'' (2004) American Civil War *''Crusader Rex'' (2005) — the 3rd Crusade. *''Athens & Sparta'' (2007) — the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...

*''Texas Glory'' (2008), — Texan War of Independence, including the Battle of the Alamo *''Richard III: The Wars of the Roses'' (2009) *''Shiloh: April Glory'' (2010) *''Julius Caesar: Caesar, Pompey, and the Roman Civil War'' (2010) *''Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign'' (2011) *''Borodino: Napoleon in Russia, 1812'' (2012) *''The Last Spike'' (2015) — completing the

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

*''Victory in Europe'' (2015) — the European Theater of World War II *''Combat Infantry: WestFront 1944-45'' (2017) and ''Combat Infantry: EastFront 1941-43'' (2019) — platoon tactics during World War II

Role-playing games

In 1983, Columbia published ''Hârn'', a low-magic fantasy role-playing game campaign setting created by Robin Crossby. The ''Hârn'' product line is compatible with ''Hârn'' products produced by Kelestia Productions (Crossby's own company) and is supported by additional material produced by the game's fans. It publishes a set of supplemental materials called ''HârnQuest''. Each issue is approximately 32 pages and includes articles about Hârnic kingdoms, cities, castles, history, creatures, and other gaming topics. New Hârn Atlas maps are also sent under this subscription as they are released.

Card games

In the late 1990s, the company began producing collectible card games based upon military themes for the American Civil War (such as '' Dixie'') and the Napoleonic Wars ('' Eagles: Waterloo''). ''Slapshot'' is a card game that focuses on managing a hockey team. Players trade, take, draw new team members and attempt to challenge opponents when they feel their opponents are weak. It is not necessary to know much about hockey to play.

References

External links

* * {{Official, http://www.columbiagames.com/ Board game publishing companies Companies based in Whatcom County, Washington Publishing companies established in 1970 Role-playing game publishing companies Wargame companies 1970 establishments in Washington (state)