International Team
International Team (IT) was an Italian game company founded in the 1970s and active until the early 1980s. While the company started as a jigsaw puzzle producer, it is mostly remembered as a wargame company, a business that IT approached in 1979, after game designer Marco Donadoni joined in. IT was the first Italian wargame company and its most successful games, such as Zargo's Lords, were instrumental in introducing the wargame culture in Italy.[1][2] IT games were translated in other languages (mostly French, German and English) and exported abroad.[3] At the peak of IT's popularity, foreign branches of the company were founded, such as International Team France (established in 1979).[4]
Besides wargames, IT also published a few roleplaying games (such as Legio VII and Magikon) and ordinary board games.[5]
The company went bankrupt in 1988. Some of their assets were acquired by the French company Eurogames, that later published a few games based on designs and materials by IT, such as Colonizer based on IT's Kroll & Prumni[6] and Zargos based on Zargo's Lords.[7]
Published games
| Title | Year | Author | Languages | Description | Difficulty Lvl | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attila | 1981 | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Recreating the Hun invasion of the Roman empire | 2 | W114 | |
| Austerlitz | 1981 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Recreating Napoleon's most famous victory at the Battle of three emperors | 5 | W116 |
| Blue Stones | 1987 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Fr, Ger | A Fantastic skirmish wargame set in the Zargo's Lords milieu. Wizards and Monks defend magic stones against three new evil races. | 3 | W123 |
| Bonaparte | 1982 | Marco Donadoni | IEFG | A strategic Army Corps-level recreation of the Imperial Napoleonic saga. Possibly IT's best effort | 6 | W119 |
| East & West | 1981 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | A World War III strategic wargame divided in three different theaters: central Europe, Middle East and Sino-Soviet border (with China on West's side) | 6 | W111 |
| Idro | 1980 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Fantasy wargame pitting rebelling mermen and mermaids against the crustacean oppressors 'Krost' | 4 | W110 |
| Iliad | 1979 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Basic re-enactment of the siege of Troy as narrated in Homer's poem | 1 | W104 |
| Jena | 1980 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | The clash of the Napoleonic Grande Armée and the Prussian Army in 1806 | 4 | W107 |
| Kroll & Prumni | 1979 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | IT's first wargaming effort, futuristic exploration and combat between two rival star empires | 2 | W101 |
| Landsknecht | 1987 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Fr, Ger | Tactical wargame in the European wars of religion | 2-5 | W124 |
| Little Big Horn | 1981? | Andrea Mannucci | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Sitting Bull's day of glory against Custer | 3 | W115 |
| Millennium | 1981 | Giovanni Ingellis | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | A much-refined sci-fi wargame blending strategic and tactical aspects | 4 | W1117 |
| Mockba | 1984 | Roberto Bonsi | Ita, Fr | Wehrmacht's do-or-die offensive against Moscow in December 1941 | 4 | W122 |
| Norge | 1981 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Re-creating the fight for Norway in 1940 | 4 | W118 |
| Odyssey | 1979 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | In this game one player, acting as Athena tries to lead Ulysses back home in Ithaca while its adversary (playing Poseidon) must hinder and delay him | 1 | W106 |
| Okinawa | 1979 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Depicting the landing and conquest of Okinawa in World War II, complete with rules for bunkers, shore bombardments and kamikaze swarm attacks | 3 | W105 |
| Rommel | 1981 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | The u.s. army first defeat during the Tunisian campaign | 5 | W113 |
| Sicilia '43 | 1981 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily in late 1943 | 5 | W109 |
| Supermarina | 1984 | Umberto Tosi | Ita, Fr | Probably's IT's most complex game, it re-created the duel between Regia Marina and Royal Navy between July and October 1940, an oft-forgotten topic in World War II wargames | 8 | W121 |
| Waterloo | 1980 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Recreating Napoleon's last battle 1815 against the combined forces of Wellington and Blucher | 4 | W108 |
| Wohrom | 1981 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | A fantasy game uniting aspects of wargaming and RPG-adventure, with two clans of knights fighting for the vacant throne of the kingdom | 4 | W112 |
| Yom Kippur | 1984 | Andrea Mannucci | Ita, Fr | Simulation of 1973 Ramadan War–Yom Kippur War | 2/5 | W120 |
| York Town | 1979 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Recreating one of the turning points of the u.s. rebellion in 1781 | 2 | W102 |
| Zargo's Lords | 1979 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | Italy's first fantasy game. It had four races (Knights, Winged Men, Dragons and Monks) vying for supremacy in the world of Zargo | 3 | W103 |
| Zargo's Lords II | 1983 | Marco Donadoni | Ita, Eng, Fr, Ger | First Zargo's Lords expansion: adding Amazons and Arachnids as new races and rules' updates and errata | - | - |
Historical importance
While some of IT's games were quite "typical" of their era and generally not on par with u.s. and British offerings (which benefitted from a more developed hobby and gaming culture) they saturated the Italian marked (where in early 1980s fluent English readers were by no mean common) and also enjoyed commercial success in France and Germany. Some of their best games were highly innovative, such as the non-strategic Napoleonic ones (Austerlitz, Jena, Waterloo), presenting a unique Octagons and Squares board, better suited to the Napoleonic infantry formations (square, line, column...). Some other, like 'Norge' and 'Supermarina' tackled topics and campaigns which seldom enjoyed dedicated boardgames.
References
External links
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