Avalon Hill introduced many of the concepts of modern recreational wargaming, including the use of a hexagonal grid (a.k.a.

It is considered the first of a new type of war game, consisting of a self-contained printed map, pieces, rules and box designed for the mass-market.

[2][4] Other war games published over the prior half-century, from which Roberts drew inspiration, were either not designed for the commercial market and/or used miniatures with self-made maps/terrain.

[6] In 1959, Roberts moved Avalon into an office space on Gay Street in Baltimore and took on its first outside designed game, Verdict, by two corporate lawyers.

After another office move, in August 1960 Thomas N. Shaw, a high school friend of Roberts, was hired to design games.

[7][8] Of this sports strategy line, the football and baseball versions were previously privately published by Shaw in 1959.

[2] Avalon launched a pre-school children's line in 1963 with four games, Imagination, What Time Is It?, Doll House and Trucks, Trains, Boats & Planes, which flopped.

[4]p10 Coinciding with the purchase, an additional warehouse was opened in historic downtown Baltimore at 1501 Guilford Ave., complementing the original building at 4517 Harford Road.

[4]p5,12 During the 1970s, Avalon Hill published a number of popular games such as Outdoor Survival, Panzer Blitz, Squad Leader, the Statis Pro sports line, and Tobruk: Tank Battles in North Africa 1942.

AH also acquired Jedko Games' The Russian Campaign and War at Sea, and Hartland Trefoil's Civilization.

[15] Facing an economic downturn in 1990 and a three-year period of losses, Monarch Avalon closed its New York office, sold its toy division and reduced inventory.

AH also published its timely game expansion, Desert Shield, that sold out in weeks after its October 1990 release such that a second print run hit the market in December 1990.

But when Gygax pitched Dungeons & Dragons to AH, the largest company in wargaming did not understand the concept of role-playing, and turned down his offer.

Avalon Hill entered the role-playing game market a decade later by publishing Powers and Perils in 1983 and Lords of Creation in 1984.

[20] The licenses to RuneQuest and the board games White Bear & Red Moon (republished as Dragon Pass) and Elric, were acquired in a complex agreement in 1983 with Chaosium, and Avalon Hill published the 3rd Edition in 1984.

Sales of these products were decent, but the only outstanding success was Achtung Spitfire!, published relatively late in the company history.

Victory's final two games, Flashpoint Golan and Across Five Aprils, were developed by Boylan alone, who worked remotely in collaboration with Avalon Hill's art department.

Avalon Hill also had its own house organ which promoted sale and play of its games, The General Magazine, which was published regularly between 1964 and 1998.

HEROES ran for ten issues from 1984 to 1986[41] and had the main purpose to promote all four of Avalon Hill's role-playing games: James Bond 007, Lords of Creation, Powers and Perils, and RuneQuest.