''Broadsides and Boarding Parties'' is a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

published by

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

in 1984 as part of their

Gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

series. It was the 3rd in the series of games that are all designed by Larry Harris. It is the only game of that series to feature a two player game (all of the games in the Gamemaster series were for two or more players), ''Broadsides and Boarding Parties'' is a duel between a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

and a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

ship. Players take turns moving their ship and firing at the other ship to sink her. If the ships collide then players may take boarding parties onto the other ship to try to win. The original version of this game, published by The Citadel in 1982, used a paper map and cardboard pieces and did not have the plastic ships, cannons, and other playing pieces. When

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

bought the publishing rights, they added these components to bring the physical components in line with the other games in the series. However, many players found that the large ship models were difficult to disassemble, making the storage of this game awkward. A more serious problem was that the gameplay was not considered up to the level of the other games in the series. There was relatively little strategy and more luck involved than the other games. As part of a series, ''Broadsides and Boarding Parties'' was unfavorably compared to the other games and was less popular. ''Broadsides and Boarding Parties'' was discontinued several years after its introduction.

Reception

Allen Varney Allen Varney (born 1958) is an American writer and game designer. Varney has produced numerous books, role-playing game supplements, technical manuals, articles, reviews, columns, and stories, as well as the fantasy novel ''Cast of Fate'' ( TSR, ...

reviewed the 1984 Milton Bradley version of ''Broadsides & Boarding Parties'' in ''

Space Gamer Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

'' No. 72. Varney commented that "''Broadsides & Boarding Parties'' is not worth the money. The components can't save the weak design. It might be okay for helping two players kill 20 minutes while waiting to play ''

Axis & Allies ''Axis & Allies'' is a series of World War II strategy game, strategy board games. The first version was initially published in 1981 and a second edition known colloquially as ''Axis & Allies: Classic'' was published in 1984. Played on a board d ...

'', but otherwise there's not much value here."

References

External links

* Board games introduced in 1984 Board games about history Larry Harris (game designer) games Milton Bradley Company games Piracy in fiction {{Board-game-stub