History
Charles S. Roberts started Avalon Hill in 1958 with the game "Tactics." Roberts ran into financial trouble and sold control of Avalon Hill to his publisher, Monarch Services, and the parent company became known as Monarch Avalon and was run by Tom Shaw.
Roberts and Shaw designed the majority of the games published by Avalon Hill, which has become a division of Monarch Avalon, up until 1970. Avalon Hill then began expanding by accepting game designs from outside the company and, in essence, became more of a game publishing house similar to a book publishing house.
In 1998, Avalon Hill's parent company sold its games and the name "Avalon Hill" to Hasbro Games.
Avalon Hill revolutionized the war gaming industry with concepts such as the use of a hexagonal grid, zones of control and using an odds-based combat results table to simulate battles. This was a precursor to the role-playing game phenomenon of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Avalon Hill Games Today
Many Avalon Hills games are still being published under the same name by a division of Hasbro with the same name. Hasbro has also added games that were originally published by different publishers to the Avalon Hills line. These games include "Axis &Allies," "Risk" and "Stratego."
Rights to a few former Avalon Hills games were sold to other companies. Multiman Publishing bought the rights to the "Advanced Squad Leader" line of games. Valley Games is a Canadian company that bought the rights to "Titan."
In the years leading up to Avalon Hill being sold to Hasbro, Don Greenwood took over management of Avalon Hill. After the sale, Greenwood helped establish the Boardgame Players Association and he remains on the board of directors. He also continues to run the World Boardgaming Championships.
Rules
Online versions of the rules for many games still being published by Avalon Hill can be downloaded for free on its website (see link in References). You can buy rules for "Advanced Squad Leader" games or other Multiman Publishing games on its website (see link in References). To request rules for "Titan" and other Valley Games, see the link in References.