The Avalon Hill Game Company released its first three games – Gettysburg, Tactics II, and Dispatcher — in 1958. A division of the Monarch Avalon Printing Company, Avalon Hill became a pioneer in a new type of gaming: strategy games based on historical events. Up to this point, strategy games had been more abstract in nature and popular games, although themed, relied more on luck and less on strategy. By deviating from these traditions, Avalon Hill created a new type of game that appealed to a new type of gamer. For over 25 years, Avalon Hill created dozens of historical wargames alongside thought–provoking strategy games. In 1998, Monarch Avalon decided to move out of the games business.
Hasbro Games purchased the rights to the majority of Avalon Hill games. After a year and a half of research and design, Hasbro Games has started to bring back the Avalon Hill games line. Some games will be reissues of classic AH games but many will be new games to satisfy the Avalon Hill gamer.
Boxed items are listed as 'code/code' where the first code represents the box, and the second code describes the contents. When only one condition is listed, then the box and contents are in the same condition. A 'plus' sign indicates that an item is close to the next highest condition. Example, EX+ is an item between Excellent and Near Mint condition.
A 'minus' sign indicates the opposite. Major defects and/or missing components are noted separately. Boardgame counters are punched, unless noted.
Due to the nature of loose counters, if a game is unplayable it may be returned for a refund of the purchase price. In most cases, boxed games and box sets do not come with dice. The cardboard backing of miniature packs is not graded. If excessively worn, they will be marked as 'card worn.'
. Flat trays for SPI games are not graded, and have the usual problems. If excessively worn, they will be marked as 'tray worn.' If you have any questions or comments regarding grading or anything else, please send e-mail to.
The Fall of Avalon Hill The Fall of Avalon Hill It began with a short notice posted on the Avalon Hill web site on August 4, 1998 by some just fired employees. The announcement stated simply that Monarch Avalon had sold its Avalon Hill Game Company division to Hasbro for $6 million, and that Monarch had terminated the AH game design people. Though the notice would be pulled almost immediately by AH management, it stayed up long enough for word to spread across the Internet faster than a Clinton scandal report. Confirmation from Hasbro, Monarch Avalon, and various financial sources soon followed, leaving wargamers facing the awful reality that Avalon Hill, which began and nourished the wargame hobby, and The General, which shaped it, were dead. The Background It was no secret among historical gamers that wargaming had been in serious decline since 1980 or so. In part, this was a natural evolution.
Every decade a new form of the hobby emerges and recruits the bulk of the new gamers. In the 1960s the fad was wargames, in the 1970s, RPGs, computer games exploded in the 1980s, the 1990s brought CCGs, and the new century has seen the German game phenomenon. Battered by these new entertainment forms, wargaming declined just as miniatures, the 1950s king, did when Tactics II emerged on the landscape. Neither SPI nor AH adapted well to the new competition, and SPI paid for its primitive business practices with its surrender to TSR, the RPG king. Custom object definition.
Unlike boardgames, role and card playing systems tend to produce one dominant form, and TSR and Wizards of the Coast had their respective fields locked up. Challenging these monoliths required something really different, such as Car Wars. Even TSR fell victim to the changing adventure gaming market when Magic ensnared an entire generation, and eventually TSR itself. Avalon Hill’s response to the new circumstances was somewhat different until the very end. Charles Roberts had always seen his company as publisher of a variety of games for adults, and half of his first releases were not wargames, but products such as Verdict, Management, and Dispatcher. Eric Dott continued this strategy aggressively in the 1970s, acquiring both the 3M and the Sports Illustrated lines as a means of anchoring AH’s Leisure Time and sports divisions.
This worked to some extent. AH’s best-selling games were Outdoor Survival (it did well as a Dungeons & Dragons supplement, although not intended to be that) and Facts in Five, not PanzerBlitz and Squad Leader. As for the other forms, there were things like card-based military games, a role-playing system ( RuneQuest), and sporadic attempts at computer games. The latter effort had little success. Even wargamers would be hard pressed to name more than a few AH computer products, and nothing ever came close to impacting the general public like SimCity or Quake.
Civilization Francis Tresham designed Civilization and manufactured it through Hartland Trefoil in 1980. In 1981, Avalon Hill obtained the US license and it sold well. Advanced Civilization followed in 1992.
In 1994, AH announced it would shift its emphasis to computer games and would convert many of its titles to that format. The better-selling manual games were naturals for this status, and Advanced Civilization appeared in 1995.
In April 1997, AH announced that Activision would receive the rights to the name Civilization and produce a new version. The problem with this all this was Sid Meier’s Civilization, a MicroProse product. SMC is wildly popular and has even attracted Usenet get-a-life groups. MicroProse, in financial difficulties of its own, was not the least bit happy with AH’s plans and apparently made nasty noises.
AH and Activision sued MicroProse over the name in November 1997. In December, MicroProse bought Hartland Trefoil, Francis Tresham’s services, and all the rights to Civilization and the 1829 rail game system (AH did 1830, also a decent seller). In short, no more licenses. On July 14, 1998, Avalon Hill capitulated, turning all rights over to MicroProse and agreeing to pay them $411,000. AH could sell its remaining Civilization inventory, but no more after that. MicroProse then licensed Activision to produce Civilization: Call to Power.
According to rumors, the AH payment allowed MicroProse to meet its last payrolls. Jackson Dott, AH’s President, announced that he was happy with the settlement. It is hard to see why, unless you consider that MicroProse could have forced Avalon Hill to not sell any more copies whatsoever. Since the two board versions sell for $75 combined, AH could have recovered its 400 grand by selling about 5500 sets, especially since word of the agreement set off a rush to buy the last remaining manual copies. It is also possible that Activision had paid Avalon Hill earlier for its license, and AH could have kept these funds.
Maybe they kept the rights to 1830. Another possibility will be stated later. Fiscal 1998 What wargamers know as The Avalon Hill Game Company is actually a division of Monarch Avalon, Inc. The association goes back to 1963 when Charles Roberts’ Avalon Hill went bankrupt. Roberts paid off the small creditors and turned the company over to Monarch Services (the printer) and the Smith Box Company (they made the boxes and put together the games), who were his biggest creditors. The two companies kept Avalon Hill going and, in effect, preserved the hobby.
Eric Dott and Monarch eventually bought the Smith people out and incorporated, complete with a listing on NASDAQ. The new company offered a certain synergy and some diversification. A recent project is the publication of Girls’ Life, a female version of Boys’ Life magazine. All incorporated companies must file financial reports and Monarch Avalon’s statements offer a concise summary of wargaming’s fortunes.
Of interest here is the July 1998 statement which offers a concise summary of a company in trouble. Monarch Avalon lost $585 in fiscal 1996, made $179 in 1997, and lost $1,725 this year, out of total sales of $8,231. (All figures are ‘000s.) Monarch’s healthiest section is Girls’ Life, whose sales increased by $578 in 1997, and $1,620 in 1998, and turned a profit in that year. On the other hand, the printing division, mainly envelopes, saw losses in 1996-1998.
The gaming division made money in 1996 ($369) and 1997 ($364), but lost $1,489 in 1998. Boardgame sales declined in the last two years, but the computer division fell by 61% and over a million dollars in 1998. Total game sales in 1998 were only $2,844. In short, every dollar spent on making and selling games brought in less than 66 cents. Without Civilization, and possibly 1830, none of this was going to get better. Enter Hasbro essentially owns everything related to games everywhere.
They have Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, Hasbro Interactive, and lots of other toy-related brands. On August 4, the Avalon Hill Game Company became part of their empire, for a mere $6 million.
Eric Dott told the Baltimore Sun that Hasbro approached him about buying the company and he took the offer, probably after about seven seconds of thought. Hasbro got the AH and Victory Game imprints, inventory, copyrights, and trademarks. Monarch got the cash and had to change its name back to Monarch Services.
The sale may explain why Avalon settled the MicroProse situation on unfavorable terms. From July 14 to August 4 is only three weeks and most acquisitions take much longer than that to reach agreement. Companies hate to inherit lawsuits, and it is possible that Hasbro told AH to settle it or else.
Remember how Dave Arneson’s suit against TSR was resolved around the time of WOTC’s takeover? In any case, the Civilization question became moot very quickly.
On August 12, Hasbro bought MicroProse for $70 million. Usenet jokes about Hasborg’s progress seemed to be on target, especially after Habro subsequently absorbed WOTC and TSR. Analysis Hasbro’s acquisition of MicroProse gave it more products, especially prominent ones, increased technical talent, and more distribution channels. What did they get from Avalon Hill? The wargame market is small. AH-style games which sold over 100,000 copies routinely in 1960s, now sell maybe 10,000 with luck.
Even 200,000 copies is small by Hasbro standards, as witnessed by its closing most of the Gamemaster line. Avalon Hill does have some name recognition among baby boomers and distribution paths to hobby stores, neither of which would seem to be worth much to Hasbro, a multibillion dollar company. So why buy AH? Hasbro never said nothing officially, but Tom Dusenberry of Hasbro Interactive did reply to another gamer’s questions with the news that Hasbro would continue to print Avalon Hill board and computer games.
So far it has grouped several games, including Acquire, Axis & Allies, Cosmic Encounter, Diplomacy, History of the World, and Risk under the Avalon Hill brand. Hasbro has licensed several games to and maintains a support site for some of the older games. Has tried to take over The General's mission of supporting AH titles, especially the out of print ones. If Hasbro does reprint any other AH board games, chances are they will be the Leisure Time and sports ones. Keep in mind the success of Facts in Five. Some Avalon Hill titles will probably be adapted to computer versions. It’s still the hot game market, and the AH brand can only help.
Other games may be licensed to smaller publishers, as was done with Pit. In any case, Hasbro paid only $6 million for AH. With this came the rights to about 300 games. Hasbro has many possibilities for recovering its investment, and probably will. One or two computer hits adapted from the Avalon Hill inventory should do it. The Future of Wargaming As noted earlier, historical boardgames are fading. The decline started around 1980 and the 1982 fall of SPI was the result of this trend, not its cause.
SPI’s collapse was unsettling by any definition, but the Avalon Hill crash is much worse. Gamers always assumed that TAHGC would be around, somehow, somewhere. Reality as we know it is now much different.
Is now the oldest wargame company, and until further notice, Rick Loomis should be referred to as the reigning Ironman of the hobby. It is my belief that adventure gaming can still support two large (by wargaming standards) companies. In 1998, that meant AH and WOTC. The market, distributors, and stores still exist.
Since it is unlikely that Hasbro will do much with wargames, another publisher can take advantage of this opportunity. Such a company should be ambitious and overconfident, bordering on oblivious. Right now there is and the slow growing. Both could fill the vacuum in the hobby. Avalon Hill once served as the center of wargaming. SPI’s fall had taken the other nexus away, making AH even more important in recent years. Hasbro will not do this, and something else is needed.
Regardless of which game company fills the production vacuum, other centers, such as and, now have a more important role to play. This can also include the Strategy Gaming Society which traditionally operates as a national wargamer network.
Other centers may arise. It is up to wargamers to develop them and rebuild the hobby. Sources Sources for this article include various Internet postings on Consim-L, rec.games.board, and rec.games.diplomacy, as well as the Yahoo!, Baltimore Sun, MicroProse, and Blackwater Station sites. Other sources include several Generals, Avalon Hill catalogs, Pimper’s, and Strategy & Tactics 33. For an Avalon Hill ludography see. The original version of this article appeared in the Strategist 29 (September 1998):7-8.
The Strategist is the newsletter of the. De Rosa Articles:.
Avalon Hill The Avalon Hill Game Company released its first three games – Gettysburg, Tactics II, and Dispatcher — in 1958. A division of the Monarch Avalon Printing Company, Avalon Hill became a pioneer in a new type of gaming: strategy games based on historical events. Up to this point, strategy games had been more abstract in nature and popular games, although themed, relied more on luck and less on strategy. By deviating from these traditions, Avalon Hill created a new type of game that appealed to a new type of gamer. For over 25 years, Avalon Hill created dozens of historical wargames alongside thought–provoking strategy games. In 1998, Monarch Avalon decided to move out of the games business.
Hasbro Games purchased the rights to the majority of Avalon Hill games. After a year and a half of research and design, Hasbro Games has started to bring back the Avalon Hill games line. Some games will be reissues of classic AH games but many will be new games to satisfy the Avalon Hill gamer.
. Original Avalon Hill Some of these were originally developed independently and repackaged/republished by Avalon Hill.
The games came in two formats: the earlier games were traditional flat-box packaging, and a later series introduced bookcase compact format packaging. The General Magazine Index and Company History. Retrieved August 5, 2015. ^ Arneson, Erik. About Board Games. Retrieved July 15, 2015. ^ Rienzi, Greg (May 2009).
The Urbanite Magazine. Urbanite Baltimore. From the original on June 8, 2009.
Retrieved 2009-05-11. ^. Arneson, Eric. About Board Games. Retrieved July 15, 2015. Arneson, Eric. About Board Games.
Retrieved 15 July 2015. ^ Easton, Thomas (February 13, 1991). Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 6, 2015. ^.
Kim, John H. RPG Encyclopedia.
Retrieved August 5, 2015. Appelcline, Shannon (September 4, 2006). A Brief History of Game (3). Retrieved August 5, 2015.
^ Kim, John H. Role-Playing Game Companies. Retrieved August 5, 2015. Baltimore Sun.
February 17, 1995. Retrieved August 5, 2015. Singletary, Michelle (March 20, 1991). Baltimore Sun.
Retrieved August 6, 2015. Clark, Kim (December 9, 1990). Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
The General (1964–1998) was a bi-monthly periodical devoted to supporting Avalon Hill's line of wargames, with articles on game tactics, history, and industry news. It was the first professionally produced wargaming magazine for the nascent cardboard and hex-map wargaming hobby. Over the years the magazine was variously called The Avalon Hill General, Avalon Hill's General, The General Magazine, or simply General. With the sale of Avalon Hill to Hasbro in 1998 the magazine ceased.
Its unofficial heir was Operations Magazine published by Multi-Man Publishing to support the line of Avalon Hill games that remained in print, but that too went out of print in 2010, replaced by Special Ops magazine in 2011. When the first issue was published, wargaming in the modern recreational sense was still in its infancy, and The Avalon Hill Game Company had been producing wargames for a mass market for only five years. It was the first professionally produced wargaming magazine ever published for the nascent cardboard and hex-map wargaming hobby.
Avalon Hill Wargame Reviews
The first issue was published on 1 May 1964; twelve pages in length with a six-issue (one year) subscription valued at 4.98 US dollars. The third issue featured a $0.25 discount coupon that could be used in any purchase direct by mail from Avalon Hill (with small print indicating a minimum of four coupons had to be redeemed at a time); these coupons would be a regular feature of the magazine. Volume Two featured the addition of area editors based geographically around the United States; article submissions started to appear with such frequency that area editors were dropped after Volume 2 Issue 5.1 Volume Three, Number One boasted an expansion to 16 page format. By the fourth year of publication, many fanzines and amateur publications began cropping up, and Avalon Hill promoted the sale of such, wisely suggesting that these amateur publications were good for the growth of the wargaming hobby. Volume Four also marked the change from dull paper stock to glossy paper. In 1972, editorship passed from Thomas N.
Shaw to a young Don Greenwood, who was just graduating from college. Volume 9 Number 1 would be his first issue, and he would remain at the helm until January 1982 when Rex A. Martin took over (Volume 18 Number 5). In July 1992, the editorial duties were passed on to Don Hawthorne (Volume 28 Number 1).2 Hawthorne was succeeded by Robert Waters (Volume 29 Number 3) after an issue with Gary Fortenberry as associate editor and Donald J. Greenwood as executive editor.
Avalon Hill Wargame Scenarios
In 1995 (Volume 30 Number 4), Stuart K. Tucker became the editor until the Hasbro buyout in 1998.
By the 1980s the format had become remarkably stable; the cover would feature the boxtop art from one of Avalon Hill's games; The Avalon Hill Philosophy would contain industry news from the editor (though generally not mentioning games by other companies), a set of articles would contain variants for games, historical background to games, or game tactics/strategy discussions. The format by this time was 60 pages. A contest in each issue would focus on one particular game in the AH line, and the answer to a previous contest would appear. Each issue also had 'So That's What You've Been Playing' showing statistics of mail in surveys included in each issue, where players rated the Avalon Hill (and later, Victory Games, the sister company to AH) titles they had been playing according to frequency. A Reader's Buyers Guide rated games on overall value, components, complexity, completeness, playability, availability, and game length (again, based the bi-monthly surveys). 'The Infiltrator's Report' featured news on games in the Avalon Hill pipeline as well as industry news.
The magazine would also contain full page advertisements for Avalon Hill Games (and for a brief period, a pull out section called 'The Victory Games Insider' would feature news and information on Victory Games products). 'The Question Box' would feature questions and answers previously received regarding rules of various Avalon Hill Games which would be published to clarify game playing procedures. Sports and Computer Games had their own sections, though the meat and potatoes of Avalon Hill's line were the board wargames. Certain flagship games would have semi-regular feature columns, such as Diplomacy's 'The Complete Diplomat' or Advanced Squad Leader's 'ASL Clinic'.
Under Tucker's editorship, the magazine underwent a facelift and positioned itself in the center of the boardgaming hobby by acknowledging the wider hobby with reviews of competing company games and the expanding computer gaming market. Through surveys, marketing through retail bookstores, and a better understanding the interests of its core following, the magazine turned around previous declining subscription trends, with a 25% increase in subscriptions in two years.
The General ceased publication in the wake of the Avalon Hill buyout by Hasbro in 1998. The last issue was Volume 32, Number 3. Hasbro briefly toyed with the idea of having another of its subsidiaries, Wizards of the Coast, operate the magazine, but couldn't make a business case for it before Tucker moved on to become the editor of C3i magazine for GMT Games. DESCRIPTION The General (1964–1998) was a bi-monthly periodical devoted to supporting Avalon Hill's line of wargames, with articles on game tactics, history, and industry news.
It was the first professionally produced wargaming magazine for the nascent cardboard and hex-map wargaming hobby. Over the years the magazine was variously called The Avalon Hill General, Avalon Hill's General, The General Magazine, or simply General. With the sale of Avalon Hill to Hasbro in 1998 the magazine ceased. Its unofficial heir was Operations Magazine published by Multi-Man Publishing to support the line of Avalon Hill games that remained in print, but that too went out of print in 2010, replaced by Special Ops magazine in 2011.
When the first issue was published, wargaming in the modern recreational sense was still in its infancy, and The Avalon Hill Game Company had been producing wargames for a mass market for only five years. It was the first professionally produced wargaming magazine ever published for the nascent cardboard and hex-map wargaming hobby. The first issue was published on 1 May 1964; twelve pages in length with a six-issue (one year) subscription valued at 4.98 US dollars. The third issue featured a $0.25 discount coupon that could be used in any purchase direct by mail from Avalon Hill (with small print indicating a minimum of four coupons had to be redeemed at a time); these coupons would be a regular feature of the magazine. Volume Two featured the addition of area editors based geographically around the United States; article submissions started to appear with such frequency that area editors were dropped after Volume 2 Issue 5.1 Volume Three, Number One boasted an expansion to 16 page format. By the fourth year of publication, many fanzines and amateur publications began cropping up, and Avalon Hill promoted the sale of such, wisely suggesting that these amateur publications were good for the growth of the wargaming hobby. Volume Four also marked the change from dull paper stock to glossy paper.
In 1972, editorship passed from Thomas N. Shaw to a young Don Greenwood, who was just graduating from college. Volume 9 Number 1 would be his first issue, and he would remain at the helm until January 1982 when Rex A. Martin took over (Volume 18 Number 5). In July 1992, the editorial duties were passed on to Don Hawthorne (Volume 28 Number 1).2 Hawthorne was succeeded by Robert Waters (Volume 29 Number 3) after an issue with Gary Fortenberry as associate editor and Donald J.
Greenwood as executive editor. In 1995 (Volume 30 Number 4), Stuart K. Tucker became the editor until the Hasbro buyout in 1998. By the 1980s the format had become remarkably stable; the cover would feature the boxtop art from one of Avalon Hill's games; The Avalon Hill Philosophy would contain industry news from the editor (though generally not mentioning games by other companies), a set of articles would contain variants for games, historical background to games, or game tactics/strategy discussions. The format by this time was 60 pages. A contest in each issue would focus on one particular game in the AH line, and the answer to a previous contest would appear.
Each issue also had 'So That's What You've Been Playing' showing statistics of mail in surveys included in each issue, where players rated the Avalon Hill (and later, Victory Games, the sister company to AH) titles they had been playing according to frequency. A Reader's Buyers Guide rated games on overall value, components, complexity, completeness, playability, availability, and game length (again, based the bi-monthly surveys). 'The Infiltrator's Report' featured news on games in the Avalon Hill pipeline as well as industry news. The magazine would also contain full page advertisements for Avalon Hill Games (and for a brief period, a pull out section called 'The Victory Games Insider' would feature news and information on Victory Games products).
'The Question Box' would feature questions and answers previously received regarding rules of various Avalon Hill Games which would be published to clarify game playing procedures. Sports and Computer Games had their own sections, though the meat and potatoes of Avalon Hill's line were the board wargames. Certain flagship games would have semi-regular feature columns, such as Diplomacy's 'The Complete Diplomat' or Advanced Squad Leader's 'ASL Clinic'. Under Tucker's editorship, the magazine underwent a facelift and positioned itself in the center of the boardgaming hobby by acknowledging the wider hobby with reviews of competing company games and the expanding computer gaming market. Through surveys, marketing through retail bookstores, and a better understanding the interests of its core following, the magazine turned around previous declining subscription trends, with a 25% increase in subscriptions in two years. The General ceased publication in the wake of the Avalon Hill buyout by Hasbro in 1998. The last issue was Volume 32, Number 3.
Hasbro briefly toyed with the idea of having another of its subsidiaries, Wizards of the Coast, operate the magazine, but couldn't make a business case for it before Tucker moved on to become the editor of C3i magazine for GMT Games.
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