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. This article will present some of the background to the Hasbro-Avalon Hill sale, but keep in mind that many details have not been, and may never be, released, and the sale itself will not be final until this fall. Caveat lector.

The Background

It is no secret among historical gamers that wargaming has been in serious decline since 1980 or so. In part, this has been 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 19-70s, RPGs, in the 1980s computer games, and the 1990s, CCGs. Battered by these new entertainment forms, wargaming declined just as miniatures 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 acquisition by TSR, the RPG king.

Unlike boardgames, role and card playing systems tend to produce one dominant form, and TSR and WOTC 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. A. 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 are 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 two 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 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 does 1830, also a big seller. As of this writing, no one has clarified its status.). In short, no more licenses. Last July 14, 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 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 10K 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 the last three years. 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

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 gets the AH and Victory Game imprints, inventory, copyrights, and trademarks. Monarch gets the cash and must 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 the Borg’s progress would seem to be on target.

Analysis

Hasbro’s acquisition of MicroProse gives it more products, especially prominent ones, increased technical talent, and more distribution channels. What do they get from Avalon Hill? The wargame market is small. AH 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 their 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 has said nothing officially so far, 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. What does this mean? Who knows? If Hasbro does reprint any AH board games, chances are they will be the Leisure Time and sports ones. Keep in mind the success of Facts in Five. Rail Baron? 1830? Civilization? Diplomacy? Possibly, but major sellers in the adult game market are still minor blips elsewhere. Some Avalon Hill titles will probably be adapted to computer versions. It’s the hot game market right now, and the AH brand can only help. Oth-ER games may be licensed to smaller publishers, as was done with Pit and Ultimate Strategic. 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. Still unresolved is how all this affects Mayfair’s railroad line.

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. Sip's collapse was unsettling by any definition, but the Av.-alone Hill crash is much worse. Gamers always assumed that THATCH would be around, somehow, somewhere. Reality as we know it is now much different. Flying Buffalo has become the oldest wargame company, and until further notice, Rick Looms should be referred to as the reigning Ironman of the hobby.

Last issue, I wrote that adventure gaming can support two large (by our standards) companies. At the time, that meant AH and WOTC. I will still stand by that statement. (The alternative would be to admit that I was wrong, which is unthinkable.) 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. Look for Decision and/or XTR to make a move. Yes folks, it has come down to this.

Personal

Like most wargamers, I began with Avalon Hill games, buying Tactics II in 1964. Also like many gamers, I had discovered them by accident. While browsing in a tobacco store which also sold chess sets, I noticed a pile of strange games on some shelves and opened them up. There was no shrinkwrap back then to frustrate casual browsers. (In fact, it may be possible to attribute wargaming’s decline to shrinkwrap. If I had not been able to open the boxes, I may never have entered the hobby. Who knows how many potential converts have been lost in recent years because of this type of packaging?) Also back then, Avalon Hill games were widely available in hobby, book, stationery, tobacco, and department stores, thus increasing the chances of the casual buyer encountering them. Today, of course, most of these sources are gone, and shrinkwrap rules.

Lots of games followed, establishing Avalon Hill as part of my life. Like many others, I discovered its end while on the Internet. Knowing that the August Strategist deadline was approaching, I quickly forwarded the news to George. Our editor wisely tends to doubt (1) most of what he hears on the net, and (2) everything he hears from me. [To the contrary, I believe every word that I see on the Internet, especially from Peter, and am especially grateful to him for selling me the Washington monument .] Hence, he was somewhat skeptical of the first report. Sadly, it turned out to be true, and George immediately inserted a brief, poignant announcement into that issue.

SGS

Avalon Hill 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 Web Grognards, now have a more important role to play. This must include SGS. Traditionally, the society has operated as a national wargamer network. Now, The General is gone, the other magazines have had publication problems, and most gamers are still not on the Internet. The SGS can fill the newest gap, if we use recent events as an opportunity to serve the hobby. We are needed now more than ever.

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 S&T 33.