Avalon Hill

Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in war or strategic board games. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming ruleset and had a popular line of sports simulations.

History

The company was started in 1958 by Charles S. Roberts following the success of his wargame Tactics. With Tactics, Roberts created a new type of board game based on actual war-like scenarios and strategies. This sort of game had previously existed (H. G. Wells had written a set of rules called Little Wars), but they had exclusively used miniature figures and constructed scale terrain.

Avalon Hill pioneered many of the concepts of modern recreational wargaming. These include elements such as the use of a hexagonal grid, zones of control (ZOC), stacking of multiple units at a location, an odds-based combat results table (CRT), terrain effects on movement, troop strength, troop morale, and board games based upon historical events. Complex games could and did have play lasting for days or even weeks, and AH set up a system for people to play games by mail.

In the 1970s, Avalon Hill branched out from wargames to publish a number of tabletop sports simulations, including the popular Statis Pro line which was based on the names and statistics of actual players. The company discontinued most of these products in the early 1990s as the computer versions of similar games began to emerge. The company also produced a number of strategy games that had nothing to do with sports or war—titles like Point of Law, Shakespeare, TV Wars and Stocks and Bonds.

Avalon Hill became a subsidiary of Monarch Avalon Printing in 1962 (as a way of repaying debts incurred by Roberts), which then ran it for the next 36 years. After some costly legal missteps in 1997 and 1998, Monarch decided to get out of the gaming business, disbanding Avalon Hill in the summer of 1998. Hasbro Games purchased the rights to the Avalon Hill games and back inventory and the name "Avalon Hill." Hasbro now publishes a select number of old Avalon Hill games. Several individual games were licensed to interested publishers. The largest number of the most popular games were licensed to Curt Schilling's Multi-Man Publishing.

Hasbro has also released a few new games under the Avalon Hill name, and has added the Avalon Hill name to older games like Axis and Allies which were not originally made by Avalon Hill.

Games

Contents: Top - 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (Note that some of these were originally developed independently and repackaged/republished by AH.)

• 1776 - American Revolution (1974)
• 1830 (1986)
• 1914 - World War I (1968)

A

• Acquire (1962)
• Advanced Squad Leader (1985)
• Advanced Third Reich (1992)
• Afrika Korps (1964, 1965, 1977)
• Age of Renaissance (1996)
• Air Assault on Crete (1978)
• Air Force (1980)
• Alexander the Great (1975)
• Ambush!
• Amoeba Wars (1981)
• Arab-Israel Wars (1977)
• Anzio (1969, 1971, 1974, 1978)
• The Arab-Israeli Wars (1977)
• Atlantic Storm (1997)
• Assassin (1993)
• Attack Sub (1991)
• Auto Racing (1979)
• Axis and Allies (Hasbro originally)

B

• B-17, Queen of the Skies (1983)
• Bali (1980)
• Baseball Strategy (1973)
• Basketball Strategy (1973)
• Battle Cry (1999)
• Battle for Italy (1983)
• Battle of the Bulge (1964, 1981, 1991)
• Beat Inflation (1975)
• Bismarck - sinking of the Bismarck (1962, 1979)
• Black Spy (1981)
• Blackbeard (1991)
• Blitzkrieg
• Book of Lists (1979)
• Bowl Bound (1978) -- college football
• Breakout: Normandy (1993)
• Bureaucracy (1981)
• Business Strategy (1973)

C

• Caesar - Caesar at Alesia (1976)
• Caesar's Legions (1975)
• Carrier
• Chancellorsville (1961, 1974)
• Challenge Golf at Pebble Beach (1976)
• Circus Maximus (1980)
• Civil War
• Civilization (1982)
• Civilization Advanced (1991)
• The Collector (1977)
• Cosmic Encounter (2000, originally Eon Games)
• Conquistador (1983)
• Crescendo of Doom (1980)

D

• D-Day (1961, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1991)
• Dark Emperor (1985)
• Devil's Den (1985)
• Diplomacy (1961, 1977)
• Dispatcher (1958) -- first avalon Hill game
• Down with the King (1981)
• Dragon Pass (1984)
• Dragonhunt (1982)
• Dune (1979)

E

• Empire of the Rising Sun (1995)
• Empires in Arms (1986)
• Enemy in Sight (1981)
• Executive Decision (1981)

F

• Facts in Five (1976)
• Feudal (1976)
• Firepower (1984)
• Flat Top (1981)
• Flight Leader (1986)
• Football Strategy (1972)
• Foreign Exchange (1979)
• France 1940

G

• The Game of Dilemmas (1982)
• The Game of Inventions (1984)
• Game of Slang
• Game of Trivia (1981)
• Gangsters (1992)
• Geronimo (1995)
• Gettysburg (1961, 1964, 1977, 1988, 1989)
• GI: Anvil of Victory (1982)
• Gold! (1981)
• Greed (1986)
• Guadalcanal (1966, 1992)
• Guns of August (1981)
• Gunslinger (1983)

H

• Hexagony (1980)
• History of the World (1993, 2001)
• Hitler's War (2001)
• Hundred Dayas Battle (1983)

I

• Icebergs
• IDF (Israeli Defence Force) (1993)
• Image (1979)
• Intern (1979)

J

• Journeys of St. Paul (1968)
• Jutland (1967, 1974)

K

• Kampfgruppe Peiper I (1993)
• Kampfgruppe Peiper II (1996)
• Kingmaker (1974)
• Knights of the Air (1987)
• Kremlin (1988)
• Kriegspiel (1970)

L

• Le Mans (1961)
• Legend of Robin Hood (1980)
• London's Burning (1996)
• The Longest Day (1980)
• Luftwaffe (1971)

M

• Machiavelli (1980)
• Management (1961)
• Magic Realm (1978)
• Midway (1964, 1992)
• Monsters Ravage America! (1998)
• Moonstar (1981)
• Mystic Wood (1980)

N

• Napoleon (1977)
• Napoleon at Bay (1983)
• Napoleon's Battles (1989)
• Naval War (1983)
• New World (1990)
• Nieuchess (1961)

O

• OD (1985)
• Oh Wah Ree (1976)
• On To Richmond (1998)
• Origins of World War II (1971)
• Outdoor Survival (1972)

P

• Pacific War (Victory Games)
• Panzer Armee Afrika (1982)
• Panzerblitz (1970)
• Panzergruppe Guderian (1984)
• Panzerkrieg (1983)
• Panzer Leader (1974)
• Past Lives (1988)
• Patton's Best (1987)
• Paydirt (1979) -- football
• Pennant Race (1983) -- baseball
• The Peter Principle (1981)
• Point of Law (1979)
• Pro Golf (1982)

R

• Republic of Rome (1990)
• Rail Baron (1977)
• Regatta (1979)
• Richthofen's War - WWI aerial combat (1972)
• Rise and Decline of the Third Reich (1976, 1981)
  • Advanced Third Reich (1992)
• Risque (1985)
• Risk 2210 - Risk variant
• Road Kill (1993)
• Roads to Gettysburg (1994)
• The Russian Campaign (1974, 1976)
• Russian Front (1985)

S

• Samauri (1980)
• Shakespeare (1970)
• Slapshot (1982) -- hockey
• Sleuth (1981)
• Source of the Nile - African exploration (1979)
• Speed Circuit (1971, 1977)
• Spices of the World (1988)
• Squad Leader - WWII tactical combat (1977)
  • Cross of Iron - expansion kit (1978)
  • Crescendo of Doom - expansion kit (1979)
  • GI: Anvil of Victory - expansion kit (1982)
  • Advanced Squad Leader (1985)
• Squander (1965)
• Stalingrad (1963, 1974)
• Starship Trooper (1976, 1997)
• Statis Pro Baseball (1978) -- updated player cards each year until 1992
• Statis Pro Basketball (1978) -- updated player cards each year until 1992
• Statis Pro Football (1978) -- updated player cards each year until 1992
• Stocks and Bonds (1978)
• Stock Market (1970)
• Stonewall Jackson's Way (1992)
• Stonewall in the Valley (1995)
• Stonewall's Last Battle (1996)
• Storm Over Arnhem (1981)
• Struggle of Nations (1982)
• Submarine (1978)
• Successors (1997)
• Superstar Baseball (1978)

T

• Tactics (1952, 1983)
• Tactics II (1958, 1961, 1972)
• Third Reich - WWII grand strategy (1976, 1981)
  • Advanced Third Reich (1992)
• Titan - fantasy monster combat (1982)
• Titan: the Arena - (1997)
• Tokyo Express
• Trireme (1980)
• Tobruk (1975)
• Tuf (1969)
• Tuf*Abet (1969)
• Turning Point Stalingrad (1989)
• TV Wars (1987)
• Twixt (1976)

U

• U-Boat (1959, 1961)
• UFO (1978)
• Up Front (1983)

V

• Venture (1983)
• Verdict II (1961)
• Victory in the Pacific - Pacific War (1977)
• Vikings

W

• War and Peace (1980)
• War at Sea - Battle of the Atlantic (1976)
• War at Sea II (1980)
• Waterloo (1962)
• Wizards (1982)
• Wizard's Quest (1979)
• Wooden Ships and Iron Men - naval combat 1776 to 1814 (1975)
• Word Power (1967)
• Wrasslin (1990) -- pro wrestling simulation

Y

• Yanks (1987)
• Year of the Lord (1968)
• Yellowstone (1985)

External links

• The official Avalon Hill web site (http://www.avalonhill.com)
• Hasbro's short history of Avalon Hill (http://www.avalonhill.com/default.asp?x=welcome/about)
• Hasbro's Avalon Hill FAQ (http://www.avalonhill.com/default.asp?x=welcome/faq)
• Web-Grognard's list of AH games (http://www.grognard.com/info/ah.html)
• List of Avalon Hill titles (with pictures of most) (http://members.aol.com/wergames/ah.htm)
• The Fall of Avalon Hill  (http://www.gis.net/~pldr/fah.html)it:Avalon Hill

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