“Realistic Battle Game” No. 516, 1962, $5.98
Designed by Tom Shaw & Lindsley Schutz
Players 2 or more
Playing Time 2-4 hours
Period Napoleonic
Scale Operational
Turn 2 hours
Map approximately 500 yards
Unit division, brigade

An operational game covering the course of the battle from 7 a.m. on June 16 through 5 p.m. on June 20, 1815. The simple rules do not address issues such as morale, leadership, supply, or weather.

Waterloo was the first AH game to appear in the huge flat box. The huge boxes were 20 1/4”x4 1/4”x2”, giving them nearly twice the cover area of the standard AH flat box. Bismarck and Stalingrad were the only other AH games released in this format.

The huge box did not include two counter trays like the other Classics. Instead, there were two large cardboard inserts. One insert served as a shelf for the mapboard and the other was a tray which held the components. Reportedly these huge boxes were designed to capture more shelf space. The effort apparently didn’t work out as hoped, as all three huge flat box games were repackaged in the standard flat box format in 1964.

Waterloo would remain in the AH catalog through 1990. The component manifest which follows describes the huge 1962 first edition.

Components

Box
Huge flat box, 20 1/4”x14 1/4”x2” (includes two blue cardboard inserts: 11”x14”x1 1/4” shelf for mapboards and 14”x8-3/4”x1-3/4” tray for components)

Map
Two 22”x14” mapsheets mounted on blue boards attached at adjoining longer edges by a strip of blue tape, south mapsheet marked copyright 1962

Rules
1 8”x10” Instructions folder (4 pp.) text in blue and red, marked copyright 1962
2 8”x10” Reference Folder (4 pp.) marked copyright 1962

Counters
7-5/8”x9-3/4” counter sheet, 169 1/2” counters: 63 blue, 43 green and 49 pink units; 2 blue, 9 green and 3 pink spares. All have green backs.

Charts, Pads, and Play-Aids
1 Slide-rule CRT
2 9”x6” two-sided Time Record and OOB card
3 Pink 5 1/2”x8 1/2” two-sided Situation and Order of Appearance card Inserts
1 6”x3” AH catalog pamphlet (unfolds to 18”x6”) printed in blue
2 6”x6” double-sided sheet showing four AH games released in 1962.
3 Yellow 5 1/2”x3 1/4” “To help us improve WATERLOO” postpaid postcard addressed to “6720 White Stone Road”
4 Yellow 1 1/2”x1” “Inspected by CH”

In Memoriam: Revisiting the Avalon Hill Classics, Part II Old Games Never Die, Their Counters Just Fade Away

Introduction
Gettysburg '58
Gettysburg Battlefield Edition
Tactics II
U-Boat
Chancellorsville
D-Day
Civil War
Waterloo
Bismarck
Stalingrad
Jutland
Conclusion