Euchim War Game : patriotic playing cards

Rectangular cardboard box containing 50 picture cards, a rule card and a booklet for six games that can be played with the EUCHIM game cards. The cards feature a blue fleur-de-lys pattern on the reverse and are divided into five suits: 'Fleet', 'Navy', 'Army', 'Field' and 'Allies'. Part of the Allies suit includes 'King' (featuring King George V), 'Submarine', 'Aeroplane' and 'Enemy' which can be used as wild cards. Notable amongst the other suits are (in Army) Victoria Cross winners Jacka, Warneford, Dunstan and Symons; and Army commanders Legge, Monro, Birdwood, Haig, French and Kitchener. The Field suit includes images of a Wiles Cooker and an Australian Armoured Motor Machine Gun Company (AAMMGC) chain driven Mercedes armoured car (supplied by a group of Victorian motor enthusiasts) and a New Hudson 6 horsepower motorcycle with sidecar-mounted machine gun (also AAMMGC); the 'Fleet' suit features ten unnamed Navy vessels - a note on the instructions states 'owing to War Censorship, names of Fleet have been omitted'. 'Navy' personalities featured include Glossop, Madden, Warrender, Sturdee, Beatty, Patey, Lowry, Jellicoe and Fisher, while the 'Allies' include King Peter of Servia, the Emperor of Japan, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Albert I of Belgium, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and President Poincare of France. The set is supplied with two sets of rules - one double sided card featuring the rules of Euchim, the other a triple fold sheet featuring the rules of six other games ('Army Crib', 'Army & Navy', 'Thank You', 'Sixes', 'Sentry', and 'Sniper') which can also be played with the Euchim cards. The storage box is printed with details of the game, its makers and the copyright details (Registered No 4983), and the statements 'Invented and Printed in Australia' and 'Passed by the Censor' printed on each lid end.

Unknown. The game can be dated to approximately 1915-1916 from the personalities featured. The appearance of an AAMMGC armoured car would also date the cards to the same period, as these cars were returned from Egypt in 1917. The example featured - a Mercedes - was supplied by a group of Victorian motor enthusiasts to the Army. See images DAOD2305 (taken at Broadmeadows before deployment) and P02664.001, showing both armoured cars in Moascar, Egypt.