Cloudships & Gunboats

Sky Galleons of Mars is a board wargame designed by Frank Chadwick, Marc W. Miller and Loren Wiseman, published in 1988 by Game Designers' Workshop. It is set in an alternate Victorian Era where the major nations of Earth are extending their colonial interests on Mars (a barbarian, Edgar Rice Burroughs-style planet) and Venus (a primitive planet teeming with dinosaurs). The discovery of Liftwood, a Martian plant endowed with anti-gravity powers, allows the deployment of aerial fleets in the skies of the Red Planet. The game won Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1988 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame of 1988, and was the inspiration for the role-playing game Space: 1889. It can be played on its own or used as the tactical ship combat system for Space: 1889.