Listing of Military-themed Role Playing Games

The first commercially available role-playing game (RPG) was Dungeons & Dragons, published in 1974. It was inspired by fantasy themes such as those developed in J.R.R. Tolkein's Middle Earth legendarium. D&D was itself based on a medieval themed miniatures wargame called Chainmail which had a distinct fantasy element.

In 1981, Bruce Galloway wrote in his book Fantasy Wargaming that role playing games had "virtually supplanted all previous forms of "historical" wargaming."¹ He was no doubt in error, but the popularity of D&D and RPGs was at an obvious peak in the period in which he was writing. The table below reflects that straight military adaptations of the RPG format peaked in this period as well.

Year	Title	Publisher	Boardgamegeek	Era
1979	Commando	Simulations Publications, Inc.	BGG link	1939-1945
1981	Merc	Fantasy Games Unlimited	nil	Contemporary
1982	Behind Enemy Lines	FASA	nil	1939-1945
1982	Recon (1st Edition)	RPG	nil	Vietnam
1986	Delta Force	Task Force Games	nil	Contemporary SF
1986	Eternal Soldier	Tai-Gear Simulations	nil	Universal
1986	Freedom Fighters	Fantasy Games Unlimited	nil	Contemporary/Survivalist
1986	Phoenix Command (1st Edition)	Leading Edge	BGG link	Contemporary
1986	The Price of Freedom	West End Games	nil	Contemporary/Survivalist
1986	Recon (2nd Edition)	Palladium Books	nil	Vietnam
1987	Phoenix Command (2nd Edition)	Leading Edge	BGG link	Contemporary
1989	Phoenix Command (3rd Edition)	Leading Edge	BGG link	Contemporary
1991	Phoenix Command (4th Edition)	Leading Edge	BGG link	Contemporary
1999	Recon (Deluxe revised edition)	Palladium Books	nil	Vietnam
2002	Action! System Core Rules	Gold Rush Games	nil	Universal
2002	Generic Universal Role Playing System (GURPS) WW II	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945
2002	Hand of Steel (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (Special Forces)
2002	Iron Cross (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (German)
2002	Return to Honor (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (French)
2003	Dogfaces (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (American)
2003	Frozen Hell (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (Finnish)
2003	Grim Legions (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (Italian)
2004	All the King's Men (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (British)
2004	Doomed White Eagle (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (Polish)
2004	Motor Pool (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	1939-1945 (Vehicles)
2005	Combat! A Military Action Game	ComStar Media, LLC	nil	Contemporary
2005	Michael's Army (GURPS WWII)	Steve Jackson Games	nil	Second World War (Romanian)

Notes

1. Galloway, Bruce, Mike Hodson-Smith, Nick Lowe, Bruce Quarrie and Paul Sturman Fantasy Wargaming (Stein and Day, Briarcliff Manor, NY, 1982) p.vii