Dave Arneson Interview in Space Gamer 1979

[Havard]

I just got my hand on an issue of a magazine called Space Gamer from 1979 which features an interview with Dave Arneson. Various wikipedia articles on Dave Arneson, Blackmoor and Minnesota gaming refer to this article.

Here Dave Arneson describes his first attempt at refreeing a pre-RPG fantasy game. He talks about an "Ancients Game" where an elephant was killed with a phaser. He describes the game session as fairly silly and perhaps not to the liking of all participants.

What is Ancients game? Does it simply refer to a category of war games set in pre-medieval times? If so, does anyone have an idea of which ruleset this could have been?

Also, I find it interesting that Arneson very early on was interested in incorporating sci fi elements into his historical games. Although he was a student of history, one of the reason why he and his group broke away from the older Miniature Game groups because they felt these became too focused on historical debates and less about actual gaming. Blackmoor became a way for Arneson to free himself from the limitations historical gaming put on his games. Could this ancients game have been his first attempt at breaking away from these felt restraints?

-Havard