Joseph Propati dropped by the project entry for his board game adaptation of Ultima 1 to let us know the current status of the project. As it turns out, he’s very nearly done:

Well, I’m getting really close now… I have uploaded all the gaming material such as components, cards, maps, reference sheets to BGG.com file section. I’ve made some major updates to a lot of the cards, ref sheets, and components! I’ve also added a lot on new material since I last posted so please check out all the new and updated material.

I’m currently working on the rules and have them about 80% complete. It will initially be in a word doc with a lot of text, images and examples but as a rough draft and not the final PDF version. I want to get the rough draft out to everyone so they can go through the rules, check out the mechanics of the game and give feedback so I can produce a final draft in PDF format.

I’m hoping to have everything complete within a couple of weeks!

He does offer one teeny little disclaimer, however:

Just as a heads up, the only thing that will be missing from Ultima 1: The Board Game “for now” is the space combat and space docking process. I’m still trying to figure out how to do this in a board game format. Arcade style combat doesn’t transfer very well into board games. I will try to come up with something that is similar in fashion to help keep it in the game but I haven’t figured it out yet. I will focus first on completing the game and then add this feature later. I’m open to suggestions and if anyone out there has a good idea on how to transfer this system over to the game please let me know!!!

If any of you has a suggestion of how to map arcade-style space combat to a board game context, do get in touch with Mr. Propati. He’s fairly active on his project’s forums over at BoardGameGeek.

Speaking of which, you may also wish to check out the last few posts on those forums, in which he describes the completion of the game’s gards, an overhaul to its dungeon maps…and even offers some suggestions on how to make dungeon runs more randomized.