1914 (game)

Lore & Background

1914 was designed by Jim Dunnigan after he criticized Avalon Hill's 1965 release Battle of the Bulge for lack of historical accuracy. Thomas Shaw, then in charge of Avalon Hill, asked Dunnigan to design his own game, leading to Jutland in 1967 and then 1914 in 1968. The game includes a mounted hex grid map, almost 400 double-sided die-cut counters, a mobilization chart pad for secret deployment, and a Battle Manual. It uses a traditional 'I Go, You Go' turn sequence with alternating movement and combat phases. Combat is based on odds ratios, and units have step-reduction ratings. Supply requires tracing a line no more than three hexes to a friendly railroad line. Advanced rules include facing, game variation cards for 'what if?' scenarios, cavalry probes, amphibious attack, and dummy counters.

Reader's Guide

1914 was a sales success for Avalon Hill but was discontinued in 1973 due to concerns about its complexity discouraging new players. The game's own company history characterized it as a sales success but 'a lousy game,' with an unplayable mapboard and incomplete rules. Designer Don Turnbull called it 'something of a monster' and noted it had few admirers and many critics, though he felt it could be an excellent simulation for patient players. Dunnigan later founded Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1969 and released a 1914 Revision Kit with simpler rules and new counters, requiring the original map. He also designed Tannenberg, a companion game about the Eastern Front using the same rule system, with rules to combine both games. The game's legacy lies in its ambitious simulation of trench warfare, its role in Dunnigan's career, and its influence on wargame design despite its playability issues.

Did You Know?

• The game map covers terrain from Mainz, Germany to Le Havre, France, and from the southern Netherlands to the northern edge of Switzerland.
• The German player can use railroad guns to destroy fortresses, but these guns cannot leave rail lines.
• Avalon Hill discontinued the game in 1973 despite strong sales, fearing it would discourage new players.
• Jim Dunnigan's 1914 Revision Kit supplied new and simpler rules and counters, but required the original Avalon Hill map.

Origins and the Road to Milton Bradley

The Gamemaster Series, a collection of five war simulation board games, entered the market under the Milton Bradley banner starting in 1984. However, the company did not develop these titles internally. Each game first appeared in limited print runs through smaller publishers during the early 1980s before Milton Bradley acquired the publishing rights. This origin story is often overlooked, as many modern reissues label the Milton Bradley versions as the "first edition," effectively erasing the earlier independent publications from the record. The series comprised Axis & Allies, Conquest of the Empire, and Broadsides and Boarding Parties, all released in 1984, followed by Fortress America and Shogun in 1986. Larry Harris designed the first three titles while Mike Gray created the latter two, yet neither designer received credit for their work until the games were re-released years later. This lack of initial attribution stands as a notable gap in the series' documented history.

A Spectrum of War Gaming

The five titles in the series span a remarkable range of scope and mechanics. Axis & Allies operates at the grand strategic level, pitting the Allied powers of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States against Germany and Japan across a global World War II theater. Its economy runs on Industrial Production Certificates earned through territorial control, while combat is resolved through dice rolls weighted by each unit type's offensive and defensive values. The Gamemaster edition also standardized plastic miniatures for infantry, armor, aircraft, and naval vessels, a visual language that persisted through later editions. Conquest of the Empire transports players to the Crisis of the Third Century, where rival Roman Caesars compete for a fractured empire. A distinctive inflation mechanic forces escalating unit costs, and the elimination of a player's Caesar unit triggers immediate removal and asset redistribution. Broadsides and Boarding Parties breaks from the strategic mold entirely, offering a two-player Age of Sail naval duel that combines gridded maneuvering with multi-level plastic galleon models for boarding actions, all governed by wind direction and positional advantage.

Axis & Allies: From Flagship to Franchise

Of the five Gamemaster titles, Axis & Allies emerged as the clear commercial and cultural standout, spawning multiple revised editions, spin-off titles covering the Europe and Pacific theaters, computer adaptations, and an entire miniature wargaming line. By the 1990s, it was the only game in the series still receiving active updates, while its siblings faded from regular production. In 1999, Hasbro transferred the title to its Avalon Hill imprint, a division dedicated to board wargames. That same year, Avalon Hill began publishing spin-offs focused on specific theaters and tactical battle recreations. The 2004 release of Axis & Allies: Revised integrated rules and units that had debuted in those spin-offs back into the core game. The 50th anniversary of Avalon Hill in 2008 brought another edition with the option to begin play in 1941 rather than 1942. The franchise expanded beyond World War II in 2013 with Axis & Allies: WWI 1914, the first title in the line set in a different conflict. Computer versions appeared in 1998 and 2004, and a miniature series launched in 2005.

Corporate Shuffling and Identity Crises

The post-Milton Bradley era brought significant rebranding and ownership changes. When Hasbro acquired Milton Bradley, it absorbed the Gamemaster intellectual property, though the branding itself was discontinued in the early 1990s. Hasbro held rights to four of the five games and reassigned the surviving properties to its various imprints. Avalon Hill, which received Axis & Allies in 1999, became a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast in 2004, a division targeting a more dedicated gamer audience. Shogun endured two name changes to avoid confusion with other titles of the same name: first to Samurai Swords in 1995 while still under the Gamemaster label, then to Ikusa in 2011 upon its Avalon Hill reissue. Conquest of the Empire found new life through Eagle Games in 2005 with updated rules, while Fortress America saw its cover art revised to remove an image of Saddam Hussein before being licensed to Fantasy Flight Games for a 2012 re-release with new rules. These shifts reflect how the series' identity was continually reshaped by corporate strategy rather than creative direction.

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