(no subject)

From: Richard D. Erwin <erwinr%SEATTLEU.EDU_at_VM.UCS.UALBERTA.CA>
Date: Thu Mar 20 10:05:50 1997


Games)
To: CONSIM-L_at_UALTAVM.BITNET (Multiple recipients of list CONSIM-L) I think it's about time I weighed in on this...

I talked with Jack Dott on Tuesday. The $2.6 M -> $1.1 M in available cash story is true. It is also true the Monarch Avalon is hurting, in large part because they've invested in a number of new things - _Girl's Life_, computer wargames and a cardmaking machine like the one used by that company in Belgium for Wizards of the Coast, for starters.

Computer games have increased total sales at Avalon Hill some 40%, according to Mr. Dott, but I couldn't pin him down on what it has done to profitability for Avalon Hill.

The long and the short of it is that they've overextended themselves in too many directions, and now the heads of the company and the stockholders need to decide what to do. Selling off portions of the company, or selling Monarch Avalon whole to somebody else are both options. Mr. Dott made it very clear that they in no way know what they are going to do yet, and it sounds as though there is a real fight going on within the company and among major stockholders as to what the final direction will be.

Monarch Avalon's financial status will be released to interested parties on July 30th or thereabouts. It will cover the annual period ending April 30th, 1995.


And now, my own opinions....

First, unless Avalon Hill prices their goods at too high a value to make them worth buying, at least some of the better titles are likely to survive in one form or another. People have made noises about AH's board games ever since they started on their latest serious tack toward computer wargames, and I'm sure that some folks have made it know to AH that, if they do decide to quit making board wargames, they would be interested in purchasing the rights.

Second, Avalon Hill, while they were very much where most of us got started in wargaming, doesn't, to my mind, play as much of a pivotal role in that respect. New wargamers are as likely to get started with other company's games. (Though they have tried with their Smisonian Series to bring in fresh blood.)

And as to originality of designs, while Balkowski's ACW sereis and _We the People_ are excellent pieces of work, again, you're as likely to find something to excite you with the other companies out there.

I think a lot of the fear and depression comes from the fact that we rely too strongly on board wargaming companies to define the parameters of our hobby. I think this is a bad thing becuase it should be focused on we the gamers and the organizations we have and could create to unite us and make us a stronger hobby. We can not expect a company or a handful of companies to carry the burden of being the primary dynamic force within our hobby alone. If you want to see board wargaming survive, its up to us to put a little cash and a little time into doing just that. Developing and strengthening clubs. Creating "wargaming evangelists" who're willing to sell the gospel of life according to the hex. Not just looking at the box in admiration of the latest cardboard time machine, but playing the games with good friends and interested newcomers, even when they don't get all the rules straight after the first couple playthroughs.

If Avalon Hill's time has come, so be it. I'll grieve.

But then we've _got_ to move on, folks, and not just sink further into despair that we aren't a quarter million strong like Magic. We have to _do_ something about it, you and I, all of us, instead of just gripe and moan.

Rich

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