Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in war or strategic board games (though it also published the occasional miniature wargaming ruleset).

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.

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games under the Avalon Hill name, and has added the Avalon Hill name to older games like Axis and Allies which were not originally made by Avalon Hill.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

(Note that some of these were originally developed independently and repackaged/republished by AH.)

• 1776 - American Revolution (1974)
• 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!
• Anzio (1969, 1971, 1974, 1978)
• The Arab-Israeli Wars (1977)
• Atlantic Storm (1997)
• Attack Sub (1991)
• Axis and Allies (Hasbro originally)

B

• B-17, Queen of the Skies (1983)
• Battle of the Bulge (1964, 1981, 1991)
• Bismarck - sinking of the Bismarck (1962, 1979)
• Blackbeard (1991)
• Blitzkrieg
• (1993)

C

• Caesar - Caesar at Alesia (1976)
• Caesar's Legions (1975)
• Carrier
• Chancellorsville (1961, 1974)
• Circus Maximus (1980)
• Civil War
• Civilization
• Cosmic Encounter (2000, originally Eon Games)
• Crescendo of Doom (1980)

D

• D-Day (1961, 1965, 1971)
• Devil's Den (1985)
• Diplomacy (1961, 1977)
• Dune (1979)

E

• Empire of the Rising Sun (1995)

F

• Feudal
• Flat Top
• France 1940

G

• Game of Slang
• Game of Trivia (1981)
• Gangsters (1992)
• Geronimo (1995)
• Gettysburg (1961, 1964, 1977, 1988, 1989)
• (1982)
• Guadalcanal (1966, 1992)

H

• History of the World (1993)

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
• Knights of the Air (1987)
• Kremlin (1988)
• Kriegspiel (1970)

L

• Le Mans (1961)
• Legend of Robin Hood (1980)
• The Longest Day (1980)
• Luftwaffe (1971)

M

• Machiavelli (1980)
• Magic Realm (1978)
• Midway (1964, 1992)
• Monsters Ravage America! (1998)

N

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

P

• Pacific War (Victory Games)
• Panzer Armee Afrika (1982)
• Panzerblitz (1970)
• Panzergruppe Guderian (1984)
• Panzerkrieg (1983)
• Panzer Leader (1974)

R

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

S

• Source of the Nile - African exploration (1979)
• Speed Circuit (1971)
• Squad Leader - WWII tactical combat (1977)
  • Cross of Iron - expansion kit (1978)
  • Crescendo of Doom - expansion kit (1979)
  • - expansion kit (1982)
  • Advanced Squad Leader (1985)
• Squander (1965)
• Stalingrad (1963, 1974)
• Starship Troopers (1976, 1997)
• 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)

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)
• - (1997)
• Tokyo Express

U

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

V

• 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)

Y

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

External links

• The official Avalon Hill web site
• Hasbro's short history of Avalon Hill
• Hasbro's Avalon Hill FAQ
• Web-Grognard's list of AH games