My TOP 10 FAVORITE Avalon Hill Games / BEST games of all time / What is YOUR list?
My TOP 10 FAVORITE Avalon Hill Games / BEST games of all time / What is YOUR list?
Avalon Hill has such a rich history as a board game company, and has contributed so much to our hobby, our sense of history, and our lives. I sat down to reminisce about my top 10 favorite Avalon Hill games of all time. Are these the best games of all time? What games would make your list? Let us know in the comment section below.
TIMESTAMPS
0:22 Introduction
1:43 Number 10
3:09 Number 9
4:10 Number 8
5:08 Number 7
6:02 Number 6
6:34 Number 5
7:09 Number 4
8:03 Number 3
8:36 Number 2
9:21 Number 1
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Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is currently a subsidiary of the game company Wizards of the Coast, itself a subsidiary of Hasbro.
Thank you for the wave of nostalgia. I spent many hours playing these games in the 70s. My first game I played was Blitzkrieg. followed my many others. I was one of those DMs that bought "Outdoor Survival" for a campaign map. My favorite AH game was Richthofen’s war many, many hours dog fighting with biplanes… oh the memories. Thank you once again.
Really enjoyed your nostalgic look at games that I too enjoyed. I went the ASL route, and it was a great ride.
Can Squad Leader be played solitary or is it 2 player only?
I agree- Squad Leader is amazing- played it right after it came out and I was hooked- the design is amazing- some games have nice design but fun is not so great- this a good, FUN simulation. I’m happy I was able to purchase all the stuff they put out (I have A LOT of counters and maps)- the first scenario with just super basic rules is SO fun
I think I will follow your lead with this… 🙂 I found ASL to be way to cumbersome so I also stuck and preferred SL. I seriously must have played the tractor works 100 times.
I admit it, I have a soft spot for Rail Baron
AH was founded in Baltimore!
1. Diplomacy
2. Merchant of Venus
3. Victory in the Pacific
4. Jutland
5. Up Front
6. Stalingrad
7. Afrika Korps
8. Blitzkrieg
9. Midway
10. Kremlin
These are only vaguely in order (the top 5 all belong there though), and it’s entirely possible I’ve forgotten some. Honorable mentions include Gettysburg (1960?), Waterloo, Tactics II, Battle of the Bulge (1965? & 1980s), Britannia, B-17, D-Day (1965?), Luftwaffe, Blitzkrieg, and others lost to memory.
FACT: Original White Box D&D did state to use the Out Door Survival map. I have the original version.
Squad Leader was the best WWII land board game ever made.
I think I had every AH wargame. Mine were a lot older than yours! My Afrika Korps looked completely different. My favorite game was probably Midway.
Best April fools joke video ever!
Avalon Hill started my gaming hobby these last 50 years. Many of the games listed in the comments I have not played but I still have many copies of the "General" My interest was Military History and primarily played solo. In my man cave I have Panzer Leader, Panzer Blitz, Wood Ships Iron Men, 1776, IDF(never played), Russian Front, Squad Leader X2, and ASL complete collection, all modules and annuals. Got to the point I was buying ASL stuff mindlessly. Have not played Gung-Ho, Kamptgruppe Pieper I, or Pegasus Bridge but I own them. Played "The Tractor Works" scenario hundreds of times, etc. I have TWO ASL rules books for crying out loud. Best investment: Dice Tower. Most Artistic Map Board: "Armee’ du Nord, The Belgian Campaign" by Clash of Arms, not AH but thought I’d throw that out there. So beautiful I had them mounted on foam board. Cheers to all.
Did you ever play Alesia? I had the Indie version before Avalon Hill bought it!
Oh man, Squadleader – we had some sessions back "then". Thanx for the video – loved it!
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (4th Ed.) was probably AH’s best game. It won numerous awards. I played it well over 10000 hours with my buddies in the USAF and at home. Nothing beats it.
Civilization, Britannia, Empire -History of the World, Kremlin, Diplomacy, Origins of WW II, Samurai, Gettysburg … My favorite game published by AH was not a boardgame or wargame, but their version of Runequest III, it is still my favorite version of this game 😉 I love its standard and deluxe version – even though the standard boxed set was hated very much (I am from Germany, so many of my AH Games were published by WDS Welt der Spiele in German and some are a bit different from the american versions…)
I had many AH games in high school and actually before that; Stalingrad and D-Day were pretty simple campaign games; Squad Leader is also my favorite; but when I added the gamettes like Cross of Iron and Crescendo of Doom, the rules became too much for me; I still buy AH games off eBay; I was shocked when I found out they sold out to Hasbro.
Afreeka?
Up Front is the only game I have kept out of the dozen of AH wargames I used
to own.
I grew up around Bowling Green, Ohio! Good times
Tobruk. Bridge to Far. Okinawa
Lovely review.
I’m not sure that I agree with most of what was said regarding complexity, greatness, etc, etc.
Afrika Korps, Richtofen’s War, Squad Leader … ah, the memories.
Loved AH and the General. My favorites:
1-10.
WSIM
3R
Gettysburg
Panzer leader
Malta in AAOC
Midway
Afrika Korps
PanzerBlitz
Loved these too. Especially Bismark and Diplomacy, though Diplomacy was a game AH purchased the license for and I would not consider it an AH game. But you missed Panzer Blitz, Panzer Leader, Battle of the Bulge, Blitzkrieg, Midway, Kriegspiel, and Wooden Ships and Iron Men . 🙂
no football strategy?
Subscribed
Wow! Just stumbled across your Youtube channel… I had hundreds of board wargames once; most sold off years ago but I’ve kept a number of my favorites, including my very first, AH’s WATERLOO in ’74. Hey – What are those amazing computer versions you are using to illustrate game play? Are they for sale anywhere? I’d LOVE to have some of them!
I discovered AH in about 1971, during the golden age of board wargames. First game was Battle of the Bulge which I had just seen the movie and I was nuts about it. After that Blitzkrieg, Richtofen’s War, Starship Troopers, France 1940, Russian Campaign and on and on. I had over 50 games at one time but sadly I let most of them go when I moved across country. My top 10 would be: Russian Campaign, the original Squad Leader, Third Reich, Victory in the Pacific, the 1981 Battle of the Bulge, Up Front, France 1940, Panzer Leader, Arab-Israeli Wars, and Fortress Europa. I agree about ASL, it had got ridiculous at that point trying to master the huge rule book. The original was much better IMO.
I lived in Manhattan and got my first Avalon Hill games in the 70’s in Junior high school. In high school I was playtesting games at SPI. I played Squad Leader but my favorite AH game was Midway. Bismarck is good too. I played a heck of a lot of Panzer Blitz but there are better platoon level games now. Nice video.
Gladiator – Honorable mention
😄fun to look back the first game i bought and was introduced to was 1914 I later bought stalingrad gettysburg etc.
Squad Leader is and has always been the best of the best.
Yeah … the AH book-case games kicked of my hobby too.
A couple of friends and I walked into a game store back in 1988, not knowing anything … and we just picked 2 games each.
My first game happened to be "Empires in Arms" … played it a lot – in fact, I’m starting my first EiA campaign in 25+ years next week.
I started playing AH games around 1960 when they first came out when I was 10 years old. Here’s my top 10. Did not include diplomacy since it was originally published by someone else.
1 – Battle of the Bulge
2 – Guadalcanal
3 – Anzio
4 – Dune
5 – 1776
6 – France 1940
7 – Afrika Korps
8 – Kingmaker
9 – Wooden Ships and Iron Men
10 – Republic of Rome
1. D-Day
2. Wooden Ships and Iron Men
3. Luffwaffe
4. Afrika Korp
5. Wilderness Survival
6. Battle of the Bulge
7. Midway
8. Kingmaker
9. 1776
10. Stalingrad
Up Front in 5th place? Sacrilege!
Subscribed to your channel anyway.
Thanks!!! Many, many memories! The first game I purchased was Rise and Decline of the Third Reich. Definitely picked probably the hardest of the bunch at the time (1975) but I was hooked. Some (but not all) of my favorites were ASL, Assault on Crete/Invasion of Malta, Diplomacy, B17 Quee of the Skies, Panzer Leader, Panzer Blitz, Arab-Israeli Wars just name a few.
Third Reich has to be on everyone’s list? Panzer Leader and Panzer Blitz.
OMG!!! You hit-the-nail-on-the-head! When I discovered Avalon Hill games: "…could be so much more than roll the dice and move!" Add in real history and then Fantasy/sci-fi I was hooked. …oh, and Squad Leader is much better than ASL. It needs the expansions (to fix the armor and to add more forces), but ASL is insane in regards to rules-fun/time ratio (any game that REQUIRES a 3-ring binder for rules is b/s imho).
I was more an SPI wargamer than an Avalon Hill one. Still hard not to make a top 10 games as AH games are iconic or legendary (alphabetically): 1830, BlackBeard, Breakout: Normandy, Civilization, Hannibal Rome vs Carthage, Kingmaker, Magic Realm, Panzerblitz, Titan, Up Front.
Midway was my Favourite. Still have it in near new condition.
Great video! You and I started playing about the same time. I would say these are my fav AH games:
10. Battle of the Bulge ’65
9. Panzerblitz
8. Wooden Ships Iron Men
7. Patton’s Best
6. Turning Point Stalingrad
5. B-17 Queen of the Skies
4. Afrika Korps
3. Stalingrad
2. Victory in the Pacific
1. Squad Leader
It’s a shame that these have not been reprinted/republished by current owner Wizards of the Coast, or at least giving someone else the rights to do so. I had several, as well, but they were NOT good for solo play most of the time. With that in mind, I’m curious….some of the captures in this video show the game as though it were on a computer (Bismarck ’79 was at least one; there were one or two others). Did they make that many computer versions of their games? I don’t recall; when I somewhat grew out of them, the personal computer was still a new thing! (Yes, I’m old…61!) If so, all the more reason for someone else to publish them so that us old-timers could enjoy them on a PC!
Magic Realm and Dune are 2 of my favourites
Panzerblitz heads my list. But I’ve also played & enjoyed Squad Leader, Magic Realm, Diplomacy, Up Front, Circus Maximus & Republic of Rome. AH has many games I’d love yet to play. What an outstanding company it has been.
I see you came into AH board games late! LOL
My other Favourite Avalon Hill game is Flat Top! Still have it. Battle Line Version. Spent hours playing this game.