In the early and mid 1960s, Milton Bradley came out with some interesting games, all marketed under the American Heritage game label. All of these were war based games and were very popular at the time. Unfortunately, they were left in obscurity and are now some of the rarest games out there, if you can even find one. Collectors are getting a mint for some of these.

The series began in 1961 with Civil War Edition. This game was a scaled down Civil War battle game. Each side had only 22 pieces consisting of 10 infantry, 10 cavalry, and 2 artillery. To combat an enemy piece, you had to line up your piece adjacent to it in some way, either side to side or facing the piece. Furthermore, in order to defeat the piece, you had to have superior battle strength. Infantry and Artillery had the highest strength of 2 and Calvary had a strength of only 1. You could combine your pieces in any way but to attack with Artillery you had to have a Calvary piece with it. To remove a piece you jump on it, except Artillery pieces don’t jump. The game was won by removing all the pieces on the other side. However, his opponent might give up if he felt there was no way for him to win.

The next game in the series was the 1962 edition of Broadside. This was a game that was likely based on the old wars between Great Britain and Spain during the days of the pirates, although no actual description of a timeline is given. The object of the game is to position your frigates in such a way that they fire on your opponents’ ships and shoot down one of their masts. There are also land cannons that can attack enemy ships, so getting too close to land can be very dangerous. The game itself isn’t very complicated and honestly not that interesting either, but it does contain some great miniatures you can play with and the board is very colourful. Not one of Milton Bradley’s best efforts.

In 1963 the American Heritage series continued with Dogfight. This was a WWI air battle game between the American and German air forces. The game is a very light version of WWI air combat and is not for really serious gamers. Each side receives 6 planes divided into 2 squadrons of 3 planes each. You have to try to maneuver your planes so that you can have a clear shot on an enemy plane without getting shot at yourself. For each plane you shoot down you get a token. These tokens are used to obtain cards. The player with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.

The last game in the series was Hit The Beach. This game came out in 1965 and was a WWII edition of the landing of the marines on the Japanese beach. In this game, both players are American and the goal is to be the first to reach the Japanese HQ. The Japanese defense forces are obstacles for both players in this game. In this game, each player has 6 pieces consisting of 2 Marines, 2 Infantry, 1 Naval Landing Support Ship, and 1 Strategic Air Support Aircraft. If while moving your pieces you land directly on an opponent’s piece, you send that piece back to the start. Ultimately, this is how you become the first to reach the Japanese HQ. This was probably the most interesting and exciting of all the American Heritage games.