Avalon Hill: Don't forget the Bookcase Games

United Kingdom
London

That one not so much

Ohh that tickles

Recommend

There was a geeklist posted a couple of days ago asking people to list the Avalon Hill Flatbox games they prefer.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/43529

It seems to have turned into, a list of all the Avalon Hill flatbox games, but never mind it makes interesting reading.

Of course after the success of their flatbox games Avalon Hill introduced another box format, the bookcase box. In fact the first ever Avalon Hill game I bought was in bookcase format not flat box and it was Panzer leader. there followed many years of buying Avalon Hill games. I would guess over the years I have owned around 70% of all the games Avalon Hill ever made. So here are my favourite Bookcase format games.

Feel free to add any you think are missing, I'm sure we will end up with them all.

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Posted Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:12 pm

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1. Board Game: Squad Leader [Average Rating:7.50 Overall Rank:556]

John Bandettini

United Kingdom
London

That one not so much

Ohh that tickles

I was asked recently what my favourite game of all time was. I said that was a very difficult question to answer, but if the question was what game had I played the most, the answer was easy, Squad Leader.

It's hard now to realise what an impact Squad leader had, the hobby games we now love to play were dominated by war games, and Avalon Hill was the number 1 war game company. The thing was though if you looked at Avalon Hill's war games (And SPI, Battleline, GDW etc) they were all actually very similar. They all used odds base combat resolution tables, similar unit numbers, movement, attack and defence values. and all were kind of generic. Squad Leader was so different, the combat was based on firepower, infantry, armour and artillery did not just have different counters, they worked differently. The first game (that I remember anyway) to use programmed instruction. A really complicated game, made simple. It was just so exciting.

I followed Squad leader through all it's expansions and Advanced Squad Leader too, but through it all my first true love was the very first box. basic squad leader with no expansions, still wonderfully playable.

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2. Board Game: Civilization [Average Rating:7.51 Overall Rank:260] [Average Rating:7.51 Unranked]

John Bandettini

United Kingdom
London

That one not so much

Ohh that tickles

The recent and worthy winner of J. L. Roberts AH Cup.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/42858

Inspired Sid Meier to create the PC series of Civilization games, something we should be very grateful for. This game inspired Sid for one very good reason, it's a great game. Unfortunately it's also a very long game that needs a lot of players. Which is why in the nearly 30 years I have owned this game, I have only played it twice. I did buy Avalon Hill's PC version which I have played many times. I am hoping to play it a third time in a weekend session at London on Board in a couple of weeks.

A game everyone should play at least once, more may be difficult.

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3. Board Game: Gunslinger [Average Rating:7.11 Overall Rank:1763]

John Bandettini

United Kingdom
London

That one not so much

Ohh that tickles

It's a shame no one has been clamouring to get this on a reprint list. It's a great game, that needs a larger audiance. It's a very flexable game you can play short two player gunfights, multiplayer games or long time campaigns.

You program your turns in advance, a bit like Robborally (Though the game is nothing like Robborally).

Another game that I am planning to get a session going at London on Board.

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4. Board Game: 1830: Railways & Robber Barons [Average Rating:7.87 Overall Rank:173] [Average Rating:7.87 Unranked]

John Bandettini

United Kingdom
London

That one not so much

Ohh that tickles

Not the first of the 18XX games (that was 1829), but the one the introduced more people to 18XX than any other game in the series. Suffers a bit from game length (same as all the others in the series), making it difficult to get to the table, but it's well worth it.

Avalon Hill did a pretty good PC version, that I have managed to play a lot more than the board game.

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5. Board Game: Statis Pro Baseball [Average Rating:7.09 Overall Rank:3125]

John Bandettini

United Kingdom
London

That one not so much

Ohh that tickles

As you can tell by my microbadge, I'm a baseball fan and this is my favourite baseball game. Works really well and every game is different. I like Statis-pro football as well, but it takes longer than a real game, at least you can play the baseball version in a reasonable time frame.

I picked up the baseball bug when I lived in Los Angeles (which explains the Dodgers badge), however returning to the UK, it's difficult to find anyone to play this with.

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6. Board Game: Starship Troopers [Average Rating:6.49 Overall Rank:2610]

Michael Cox

(michaeldavidcox)

Japan
Tokyo

My first real wargame. I bought it because I liked the book. Was a bit over my head back then. I'd really like to play it some more, too.

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7. Board Game: Devil's Den [Average Rating:6.64 Overall Rank:6126]

ian morris

(gamer72)

United Kingdom
Birmingham
West Mids

Back in the '80's, before game reviews and pictures were online, sometimes all we had to go on was the box art. AH produced some great box art, including this one. I have far too many of their bookcase games to list them all, but I've always had a soft spot for this one.

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8. Board Game: Kremlin [Average Rating:6.97 Overall Rank:1006]

John Bandettini

United Kingdom
London

That one not so much

Ohh that tickles

Somehow forgot this one in the original list. A humorous game of Russian politics, do you really need to know more?

Be the glorious party leader and be first to wave three times at the May Day parade, and send all your rivals to Siberia.

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9. Board Game: Diplomacy [Average Rating:7.06 Overall Rank:550]

Jim "git yer stinkin' themes offa my mechanic" Puccio

United States
Needham Heights
Massachusetts

The granddaddy of the backstabbers. My copy is one of the old Bookcase editions.

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10. Board Game: Twixt [Average Rating:6.60 Overall Rank:1705]

Jim "git yer stinkin' themes offa my mechanic" Puccio

United States
Needham Heights
Massachusetts

A truly great abstract inherited from 3M. It's a tragedy that this is not kept perennially in print.

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11. Board Game: Feudal [Average Rating:6.04 Overall Rank:4069]

Jim "git yer stinkin' themes offa my mechanic" Puccio

United States
Needham Heights
Massachusetts

A semi-abstract also inherited from 3M.

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12. Board Game: Acquire [Average Rating:7.35 Overall Rank:237]

Jim "git yer stinkin' themes offa my mechanic" Puccio

United States
Needham Heights
Massachusetts

This classic Bookshelf game was also acquired from the 3M library.

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13. Board Game: Executive Decision [Average Rating:6.04 Overall Rank:5904]

Jim "git yer stinkin' themes offa my mechanic" Puccio

United States
Needham Heights
Massachusetts

I've never played this one, but it's a Sackson, so I'm willing to give it a whirl.

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14. Board Game: Storm over Arnhem [Average Rating:7.16 Overall Rank:1834]

Gordon Watson

(domus_ludorum)

United Kingdom
Banstead
Surrey - United Kingdom

ASL - other tactical wargames call it Sir.

Beneath this mask there is an idea.....and ideas are bulletproof.

The first of the area influence games - a wargame mechanic that is still going strong. Despite it's age this game still holds up very well to actually play. Great subject matter.

This was later rereleased in a folder format - I have the original flatbox (+expansion).

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15. Board Game: PanzerBlitz [Average Rating:6.52 Overall Rank:2279]

Jon

(Capt_S)

Canada

No AH bookshelf Geeklist would be complete without this game.

If I am not mistaken, this was the first bookshelf wargame made by them? It was not my cup of tea as I did not like some of the mechanics, but it was very popular at the time.

Still one of the best box cover arts in the business in my opinion.

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16. Board Game: Air Assault On Crete/Invasion of Malta: 1942 [Average Rating:6.36 Overall Rank:4455]

Dave VanderArk

(David Vander Ark)

United States
Coopersville
Michigan

Not sure if I still have a copy, but I'm pretty sure this was in a bookcase box.

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17. Board Game: Merchant of Venus [Average Rating:7.16 Overall Rank:830]

Joshua Gottesman

United States
Las Vegas
Nevada

A game on which I did extensive playtesting, and still one of my favorites. The only downside of it IMO is that there are a lot of "bits" to it, leading to a longer game length. I think this would make a great computer game.

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18. Board Game: The Republic of Rome [Average Rating:7.54 Overall Rank:409]

Joshua Gottesman

United States
Las Vegas
Nevada

Another game in which I was very involved in the playtest process. I haven't played it in years, although I still have my copy, and I believe its still very highly regarded.

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19. Board Game: Slapshot [Average Rating:6.32 Overall Rank:3196]

Joshua Gottesman

United States
Las Vegas
Nevada

I was told that this one belonged here, not in the flat box listings, so here it is. The greatest hockey game ever (well, at least to me).

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20. Board Game: Circus Maximus [Average Rating:6.73 Overall Rank:1820]

Joshua Gottesman

United States
Las Vegas
Nevada

I wish I still owned a copy of this one. I always enjoyed this one.

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21. Board Game: Gladiator [Average Rating:6.51 Overall Rank:4105]

Joshua Gottesman