1930’s L’Attaque Board Game by H P Gibson, London, England

Description

“A skilful game of Military Tactics for two players”

Early version of this classic British board game.  The game is complete with a full complement of 72 original playing pieces on metal bases (36 per side).  Also includes the original instruction sheet.  Additional notes have been written on the underside of the box lid by a previous owner (see photo).  Made in England by H.P. Gibson & Sons of London and estimated to date from the 1930’s.  The box has the usual splits and minor repairs commensurate with age.

Please refer to all the photos as these form an integral part of the item description.

Description of the game from the boardgamegeek site:

Early predecessor of Stratego. Designed by Mademoiselle Hermance Edan, who filed a patent for a ‘jeu de bataille avec pièces mobiles sur damier’ (a battle game with mobile pieces on a gameboard) on 26 Nov 1908. The patent was released by the French Patent Office in 1909 (patent #396.795 [6]).

Hermance Edan has marketed her own invention from 1909 to early 1930. In 1909, she appointed her game “L’Attaque”. Also, H. P. Gibson obtained the rights to broadcast L’Attaque in English-speaking countries from 1920s. French publisher “Au jeu retrouvé” produced a version of the game in 1975 by modifying the parts illustrations.

The game is played with 36 pieces each on a 9×10 square board. Each piece has a numeric value, which is hidden from the opponent and only revealed when an attacking piece moves onto a square occupied by an opponent’s piece. In most cases, the piece with the highest value wins and the losing piece is removed from the board.

Play continues until one player finds the opponent’s flag piece and takes it.