A History of the Usborne series of Battlegame Books
Usborne Publishing produced five books in the mid-seventies written by Andrew McNeil. They were called the Battlegame series of books, and each one focused on a specific theme and period in World history. Each book also had four board games in it, and included cut out carboard pieces. There were five books in total, and they are listed here (with original ISBNs):
Book 2 - Knights at War - ISBN: 0 86020 026 4 Book 3 - Galactic War - ISBN: 0 8620 029 9 Book 4 - World War II - ISBN: 0 8620 030 7 Book 5 - Fighting Ships - ISBN: 0 86020 079 5 The original hardback books produced in the seventies are now long out of print. Usborne reprinted the books in paperback in 1992, but they too are now long out of print. The books are currently unpublished, and it is not clear whether Usborne will reprint them again in the future. Each specific book contained generally accurate historical information for the time period in which they were written (Book three: Galactic War also had factual physics and space related information), and also four mini-board games. Each Battlegame book was typically divided into three sections: The first half of the book contained factual information and historical references, the middle part of the book was cardboard and contained game instructions and cut-out pieces, and finally the last half of the book combined the game boards, with additional subject matter information. The quality of games did vary somewhat, with a couple being a bit lackluster and unimaginative. However, there were several games which were exceedingly enjoyable, and had a level of detail and balance which is not often seen in even todays, dedicated board games. Andrew McNeil devised most of the games, and he was also the main author of the non-gaming material within each book. James Opie was the rules editor for all the games, and he also devised a couple of his own, along with two games (see book 4) developed by Citatel Boardgames. As far as I know, Andrew McNeil did not write any other books after the Battlegame books. The final book in the series, Fighting Ships was released a year after the others in 1976. The Viking Raids game was devised by James Opie. All of the Fighting Ships games seemed to be fairly run-of-the-mill, and some of the originality displayed in games from earlier books was absent. Viking Ships was also the only book of the series to feature quotes from the press under the heading: "What they say about Battlegame books...". A quote from Look-in Junior TV Times stated: "An exciting idea... Brilliantly illustrated in full colour".
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to the site -- didn't you used to have covers and scans of the boards? Yes, there used to be low and hi-res scans of all of the book covers and low-res scans of selected game boards. There were also hi-res scans of game pieces and instructions from the Knights at War book (my favourite book of the series).
Unfortunately, Usborne objected to the use of any scans (both the low-res thumbnails and hi-res scans) and their lawyers acted on their behalf and asked me to remove them. Despite attempts to reach agreement to keep some of the scans online, we were unable to do so. Because of this, I have had to remove all of the scans, etc. After that, there didn't seem to be much point in keeping the reviews up -- if it wasn't possible to see the board so the reader could remember which game it was -- so I removed them as well. When was the series last in print? The original series was published in 1975 with Fighting Ships published in 1976. They were reprinted by Usborne in 1983-1984 and then selectively republished again in 1991-1995. While not absolutely complete, here are approximately the dates when the books were printed and reprinted:
Battlegame Book 1: The Wild West printed in 1975, never reprinted. Why was Battlegame Book 1: The Wild West not reprinted? Not sure. Most likely because it contains material today that would be considered politically incorrect (such as referring to Native Americans as Indians), and possibly because of the viewpoint of the material that could be perceived to perpetuate an offensive stereotype of Native Americans. Where can I buy the books from -- are they still in print? The books have all been out of print for over fifteen years (books two, four, five), twelve years for book three, and for over thirty years for book one. The best place to buy them now is via eBay, or Amazon merchants. They show up in the USA occasionally too, so check both ebay.co.uk and ebay.com. I have the game book X, but have lost the pieces for game Y. Can you provide me scans for this game? No, sorry. Usborne are still protecting their copyright on these books and will not allow the game pieces to be posted online -- even for people who already have the books. Will you be adding any content to this site? Will the board pieces come back? No. Due to the conflict with Usborne, this site has been retired and nothing will be added to it.
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