Milton Bradley Gamemaster Series boardgames

Anyone here remember this line of strategy boardgames released by Milton Bradley during the mid-late 1980's (long before MB was bought by Hasbro in the late-1990's)? I certainly do, which proves that I'm old.


In 1984, the first three games of the series were released:

• Axis & Allies (World War II themed) - a Second Edition of the game's rules was implemented in 1991

• Broadsides and Boarding Parties (Spanish galleon vs. pirate ship themed) - for some reason, there were less of this game produced than any of the other Gamemaster Series games

• Conquest of the Empire (Roman Empire civil war themed)

In 1986, two more games were introduced into the line:

• Fortress America (Near-future invasion of the U.S. themed)

• Shogun (Imperial Japan civil war themed) - later re-released in 1995 as Samurai Swords

Man, did these games have great-looking boards and components... and were fun, to boot (and still are, if you can find them).


-G

 

It turns out that two current game companies can rightfully be considered the successors to the Gamemaster Series throne.

The first is Avalon Hill (the long-time esteemed game company became a division of Hasbro Games in 1998). In 1999, they started releasing brand-new differently themed Gamemaster Series-like games, including a revised Axis & Allies and several new variants of the game (all designed with original A&A designer Larry Harris):

The second is Eagle Games, makers of Gamemaster Series-like games such as The American Civil War and Napoleon in Europe. Around this time last year, Eagle Games announced that they will release a revised version of Conquest of the Empire later this year with the help of the aforementioned Larry Harris (who also designed the original game).


-G

 

Thanks for the link, Jay.

It turns out that I was writing my previous post while you posted, so I missed that you already mentioned the Axis & Allies revised edition and expansion games.

Though I like all the games in the series, you're right that Axis & Allies was the most popular, which explains why they only stopped production on the first edition of the game early this year... twenty years since it was first introduced!

And yes, Settlers of Catan is indeed a cool game as well.


-G

 

Is that the Milton Bradley, or just a Milton Bradley?


-G

 

It seems that Atari and TimeGate Studios will be releasing an RTS version of Axis & Allies for the PC early next month. A demo is currently available to download and try out.

Though it's planned to have aspects of the original boardgame incorporated into it (Larry Harris has been working with the PC game's developers), it'll apparently be a different type of game from the previous two A&A PC games, each of which were more literally "boardgame in a PC game".

You can read some previews about the game...

• Gamespot.com's latest preview

• IGN.com's latest preview

• Gamespy.com's latest preview

I wonder if there'll be PC game adaptations of the other Gamemaster Series games somewhere down the line?


-G

 

Hmm... it seems that judging by their reviews of the recently-released PC game, IGN.com pretty much liked it, while both Gamespot.com and Gamespy.com did not.


-G

 

From what I've read, the new version of Conquest of the Empire should be in stores by mid-late July.

You can see a picture of designer Larry Harris with the new Conquest of the Empire here.


-G

 

Now I'm hearing that the release date has been pushed back to mid-late August.


-G

 

There's a review from someone who's already previewed the upcoming revised version of Conquest of the Empire here.


-G

 

Better late than never...

The revised version of Conquest of the Empire is now available!


-G

 

And almost a year after the game's release, I finally got it.


-G

 

Don't forget to check out the official revised version of Axis and Allies.


-G

 

Me too, among them the more old school ones like We The People and The Republic of Rome, as well as some of the newer school ones like Star Marines and revised versions of classics such as History of the World, Battle Cry and Acquire.


-G

 

You don't want to continue playing them?


-G