Geronimo!

[msjells]

This game was a combination board and card game. It covered the period of 1850-1890 in the American west (from Minnesota-Kansas-Texas to the west coast). The full campaign game is eight turns long, and in each turn you may either be the U.S. or a group of several Native American tribes. The game is based on a point system - the U.S. scores points most easily by getting territories to become states. The tribes generally score by destroying various encroachments into their territory. Over the course of the game, the tribes gradually weaken (and often disappear) while the U.S. grows stronger.
The game had several unique features, most notable being the constant switching of sides. You don't often worry about the long term prospects of any particular tribe, because they may not be yours next turn. You are not allowed to play the U.S. more than two turns in a row. It sounds strange, but it really helps play balance (and the designer provides a sort of historical justification for it in the designer's notes). I enjoy the game, but it has a fairly steep learning curve - there aren't too many games that share a lot with it, and some of the systems aren't very intuitive (not to say that they don't work, just that they're not what you expect). The game handles from 1-5 players and does pretty well with any number (I haven't tried solitaire, but 2 through 5 players seem to work equally well). A virtual "second edition" of the rules, supposedly cleared by the designer, is available at www.grognard.com (http://www.grognard.com) .
John

[pellulo]

To tell you the truth, the game looks interesting, for the simply reason, there isn't anything else like it around.

Here's another question, is there a list, especially by catagory, regardless, if it is stilled owned by A.H.(the rights for it).

Of the games they made, while they were independent (we know they didn't make Axis and Allies,ect.), and, a second question, how many of those games did the new A.H. reissue? (just only, Hist. of the World, France 1944, Dipomacy, Aquire?), thanks, if anybody knows, Pellulo.

[msjells]

The best source for this is www.grognard.com (http://www.grognard.com) . There is a link there to a topic called "Dan Farrow's Avalon Hill Ludography" or some such. Mr. Farrow has painstakingly searched out virtually every title published by the "old" Avalon Hill, including (in most cases) date of publication and whether it was originally published by someone else. I'm not sure what the status is on who owns rights for any individual title - my understanding is that Hasbro kept some, relicensed some (to MMP, for example), and relinquished some back to the original designers.
History of the World, Diplomacy and Acquire were first published by pre-Hasbro AH and then repackaged. Anything else you bought after the Hasbro purchase was merely leftover stocks that came with the old AH. Axis & Allies was originally published by Milton Bradley. Hasbro acquired Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley and a variety of other companies before they bought Avalon Hill. A&A was moved over to the AH line after the purchase because it seemed a better fit with that line than with the more family-oriented titles common to Milton Bradley.
John

[ March 08, 2003, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: Moderator John ]

[pellulo]

Saw that list ,and, now I know why hobby wargame stores(e.g. The Complete Strategist in Manhattan, New York), are still overwhelming full of A.H. games for sales. My questions is, with the majority (like 99.9%) of AH games no longer being made, will wargamming stores be going out of business, once these stocks run out? (is there enough other game makers to fill in the gap), thanks Pellulo

[SirLoinoBeef]

A revised (easier to understand?) set of rules was posted to Grognard.com a couple of weeks ago. A gamer rewrote the whole deal. I dl'd them but haven't read through them yet.