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{{Short description|Game company started in 1979 by Allen Eldridge and Stephen Cole}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Task Force Games
| logo =
| fate =
| successor = New World Computing
| foundation = 1979
| defunct =
| location = United States
| industry = [[Video game|Gaming]]
| key_people = [[Allen Eldridge]]<br />[[Stephen V. Cole]]
| products =
| num_employees =
| parent =
| subsid =
}}

'''Task Force Games''' was a game company started in 1979 by [[Allen Eldridge]] and [[Stephen V. Cole]]. TFG published many games, most notably including both ''[[Star Fleet Battles]]'' (currently published by the original designers, [[Amarillo Design Bureau]]) and the ''[[Starfire (strategy game)|Starfire]]'' series of games (which is now published by [[Starfire Design Studio]]), which were later novelized by [[David Weber]] into such books as ''[[In Death Ground]]'', ''[[The Shiva Option]]'' and ''Insurrection''. Eldridge sold the company to [[New World Computing]] in 1988, which became a division of [[The 3DO Company]] in 1996 and went out of business in 2003.

During the period that TFG was owned by New World Computing, the two companies attempted the first-ever simultaneous release of a board game and computer game. The two versions of King's Bounty wound up releasing about 9 months apart, and after NWC had sold TFG to John Olsen. Future versions of New World Computing's version of King's Bounty were called Heroes of Might & Magic to avoid confusion between the two very different games that had been designed by different designers. TFG never wound up releasing a second version of the King's Bounty board game.

TFG also published historical games such as ''[[Battlewagon (game)|Battlewagon]]'' and ''[[History of the Second World War (game)|History of the Second World War]]''. One game, ''[[Supervillains (role-playing game)|Supervillains]]'' (1982), attempted to combine a board wargame with elements of role-playing.<ref name=swan>{{cite book | last =Swan | first =Rick | author-link=Rick Swan |title =[[The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games]] | publisher =St. Martin's Press | date =1990 | location =New York | pages =200}}</ref>

Task Force Games also published a series of ''Pocket Games'', their version of [[microgame (board games)|microgame]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://maverick.brainiac.com/cmm/tfg.html|title=The Maverick's Classic Microgame Museum|accessdate=2 August 2007}}</ref> Several of these microgames were later expanded and released as board games. TFG microgames include:
{{colbegin|colwidth=30em}}
*''[[Asteroid Zero-Four]]''
*''Battlewagon''
*''[[Boarding Party]]''
*''[[Cerberus (board game)|Cerberus]]''
*''Checkpoint Omega''
*''[[City States of Arklyrell]]''
*''[[Escape from Altassar]]''
*''[[Intruder (board game)|Intruder]]''
*''[[Moon Base Clavius]]''
*''[[Operation Pegasus (board game)|Operation Pegasus]]''
*''[[Prochorovka: Armor at Kursk]]'' (later released as the board game ''Armor at Kursk'')
*''[[Robots!]]''
*''[[Spellbinder (board game)|Spellbinder]]''
*''[[Star Fleet Battles]]'' and later ''[[Star Fleet Battles Expansion 1|Expansion #1]]'', ''[[Star Fleet Battles Expansion 2|Expansion #2]]'', ''Expansion #3''
*''[[Starfire (board wargame)|Starfire]]''
*''[[Starfire II]]''
*''[[Starfire III: Empires]]''
*''[[Survival / The Barbarian]]''
*''The Warriors of Batak''
*''[[Ultra-Warrior]]''
*''[[Valkenburg Castle (board game)|Valkenburg Castle]]''
{{colend}}

Many of the games were considered cutting edge for their time.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} One distinct feature that many of them had was that unlike many wargames of that era, players often had a degree of customization over their armies—For instance, in the ''Starfire'' series, a player could design every component of his starships, and in Robots!, a player could build his individual robots from a modular design, making trade-offs in price and functionality between different movement and weapons systems.

Most Task Force Games products were designed by Stephen V. Cole.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Task Force Games became the parent of AutoVentures and began releasing their products, beginning with ''[[The Road (Task Force Games)|The Road]]'' in 1985.<ref name="SG76">{{cite journal|last=Barton |first=William A. |date=Sep–Oct 1985 |title=Capsule Reviews|journal=[[Space Gamer]]|publisher=[[Steve Jackson Games]]|issue=76|pages=42}}</ref>

==Reception==
In a retrospective review of the ''Pocket Games'' line in ''[[Black Gate (magazine)|Black Gate]]'', John ONeill said "Task Force Games had a huge hit with their Pocket games line. Shipped in zip locks bags (eventually shrinkwrap), and priced at $3.95, the games were designed to be easy to learn and quick to play. All told they released twenty-two, all but three with science fiction or fantasy themes, including many that are still highly regarded today."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackgate.com/2015/08/27/vintage-treasures-the-pocket-games-of-task-force-games-part-one/ | title=Vintage Treasures: The Pocket Games of Task Force Games, Part One – Black Gate | date=27 August 2015 }}</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*{{bgg publisher|352}}
*[http://www.starfleetgames.com Starfleet Battles]

{{Starfire}}

[[Category:Board game publishing companies]]
[[Category:Wargame companies]]

Task Force Games - Revision history

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