The Sword and the Stars

The Sword and the Stars is a science fiction board game of empire building published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1981 that is based on the rules from the previously published medieval wargame Empires of the Middle Ages (EOTMA).

The following year, SPI used the same set of rules with some revisions to produce The Sword and the Stars, a board game designed by Eric Lee Smith, with artwork by John W. Pierard, and graphic design by Redmond A.

"[1] In Issue 9 of Ares, Justin Leites called the game "an interesting strategic overview of the differences inherent in building and maintaining a galaxy-wide empire.

"[4] In a retrospective review in Issue 4 of Simulacrum, Brian Train noted, "Sword and the Stars seems, in the end, not to have materially increased the appeal of the EOTMA game system.

Train concluded, "On the whole, this game is a solid adaptation of a good system to a new milieu; however, it never got the posthumous populrity that EOTMA did.