R.I.P. Charles S. Roberts

Charles S. Roberts, founder of The Avalon Hill Game Company and designer of games such as Tactics II and Gettysburg, died last week at the age of 80. If that name sounds familiar, it should, as there is a Charles S. Roberts Award given out each year at Origins. In many ways, he was the inventor of the board wargaming hobby, inventing many of the core concepts that are still used today. He certainly introduced me to the hobby through his work (Tactics II was the first wargame I ever played, before miniatures and RPGs), and for that I can only thank him for a lifetime of pleasurable diversion.

His obituary ran in the Baltimore Sun yesterday.

(Hat tip to Purple Pawn)

Written by 

Wargamer and RPG'er since the 1970's, author of Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage, and other things, and proprietor of the Greyhawk Grognard blog.

4 thoughts on “R.I.P. Charles S. Roberts

  1. Wow, I missed this news; haven't been to BGG or CSW in a long while. Big time bummer. Thanks for the link to the obit.

  2. Tactics II is a great game. I believe I bought it at the Compleat Strategist way back when.

    Unfortunately, I never really bothered to research Mr. Roberts.

    I always remember how I thought of boxed wargames as 'grown up' games…

  3. I too started with Avalon Hill games. Thanks for the obit and a sincere thanks to Charles S. Roberts for opening the door to such a fascinating hobby.

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