Description

Thomas Salter Ltd appears to have published games and magic sets in the 1950s and 60s. Task Force has a large folding board showing a highly stylised map of Europe and East America, and a small box to hold the pieces and rules. The game does not seem to have a large box to contain both board and bits, and this form of publishing may have been common in the UK post-war.

The game is a simple battle between blue (US) and red (Russia) pieces in which the players moved different forces from town to town, outnumbering and capturing their opponents. Getting into the opponent's heartland wins the game.

A random element is provided by a d6 numbered 1-3. A modern element is provided by two atom bombs. These are large red and blue discs which the players may use once in the game. Placing them on the board, they destroy any pieces the touch and remain in place for two turns, blocking movement there.

I cannot determine a publishing date, but the style of the game and the casual use of of the atom bomb as a strategic piece suggests the game is from the 1950s. It's interesting to see how large Britain is on the map, bigger than France!

Jean Shepherd (best known for the movie "A Christmas Story") mentioned an ad for Task Force on his June 18, 1963 radio show. It's not clear if he is discussing game 2982, 13059 or another version of this game.