Mark Simonitch | |
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 Mark Simonitch 2017 in Essen, Germany. | |
| Born | December 30, 1957 |
Mark Simonitch (born December 30, 1957 [1] ) is an American wargame designer and graphic artist. His game designs include Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage and Ardennes '44, and he has made maps for Wilderness War and Empire of the Sun among others. He has worked at Avalon Hill and GMT Games. He was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 2002. [2]
Simonitch was raised in Ross, California. [1] He studied at California Polytechnic State University. He began wargaming in 1966, his first gaming experiences included Jutland and Gettysburg by Avalon Hill. [1] From 1991 to 1994 he was a freelance artist and created maps and counters for over 100 wargames with clients including Strategy & Tactics , Command Magazine , GMT Games, 3W, and Avalanche Games. [1] During this period he also started Rhino Game Company (or Rhino Studios) and published three games. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland in spring 1995 where he was employed by Avalon Hill until 1997. [1] He has worked at GMT Games from 1997 to the present as a Graphic Designer.
The below are all Charles S. Roberts Award wins, the list does not include nominations. Of his 14 awards, 5 were won by him alone ( 
), the rest shared awards where he designed the map. [3]
James F. Dunnigan Award for Playability & Design Winner, The Legend Begins (Rhino Games) James F. Dunnigan Award for Playability & Design Winner, Ukraine '43 (GMT Games) Best World War Two Game, Ukraine '43 (GMT Games) Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame Best World War Two Game, Normandy '44 (GMT Games)Other awards include:
Simonitch has designed maps, counters, box art, cards and other elements for hundreds of games, [5] below are some of the most notable titles.
Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company's "Hasbro Gaming" division.
Strategy & Tactics (S&T) is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue.
James F. Dunnigan is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and wargame designer currently living in New York City.
Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an enormous number of games and introduced innovative practices, changing the course of the wargaming hobby in its bid to take control of the hobby away from then-dominant Avalon Hill. SPI ran out of cash in early 1982 when TSR called in a loan secured by SPI's assets. TSR began selling SPI's inventory in 1982, but later acquired the company's trademarks and copyrights in 1983 and continued a form of the operation until 1987.
PanzerBlitz is a tactical-scale board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1970 that simulates armored combat set on the Eastern Front of World War II. The game, which was the most popular board wargame of the 1970s, is notable for being the first true board-based tactical-level, commercially available conflict simulation wargame. It also pioneered several concepts that would become industry standards.
The Charles S. Roberts Awards is an annual award for excellence in manual, tabletop games, with a focus on "conflict simulations", which includes simulations of non-military as well as military conflicts, as well as simulations of related historical topics. From its founding in 1975 through 2021, the award was almost exclusively focused on historical wargaming, changing to a broader "conflict simulations" in award year 2022.
1776, subtitled "The Game of the American Revolutionary War", is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1974 that simulates the American Revolutionary War. Its release was timed to coincide with the bicentenary of the Revolution, and for several years was a bestseller for Avalon Hill.
Richard Harvey Berg was a prolific American wargame designer. He was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 1987.
Don Greenwood is a board game designer and was a pioneer editor among commercial board-wargaming magazines. He began his own fanzine, Panzerfaust Magazine, which he oversaw from 1967 until 1972. He then joined The Avalon Hill Game Company in 1972, and took over editorship of that company's "house organ", The General Magazine, which office he held until 1982. He left Avalon Hill and continued to work in the wargame industry, notably for GMT Games. He is the founder of the Origins, Avaloncon, and WBC gaming conventions and remains the WBC convention manager. Greenwood was also president of the Boardgame Players Association. He was inducted into the Origins Award hall of fame in 1991 and the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 1994. He was honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured as the king of spades in Flying Buffalo's 2011 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck.
Twilight Struggle: The Cold War, 1945–1989 is a board game for two players, published by GMT Games in 2005. Players are the United States and Soviet Union contesting each other's influence on the world map by using cards that correspond to historical events. The first game designed by Ananda Gupta and Jason Matthews, they intended it to be a quick-playing alternative to more complex card-driven wargames.
A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby developed in 1954 following the publication and commercial success of Tactics. The board wargaming hobby continues to enjoy a sizeable following, with a number of game publishers and gaming conventions dedicated to the hobby both in the English-speaking world and further afield.
Panzer Campaigns is a series of operational level wargames originally developed by John Tiller Software, and currently by Wargame Design Studio. The games were originally published until 2010 by HPS Simulations, then self published by John Tiller Software until being bought out by Wargame Design Studio in 2021, after Tiller's death. There are currently 29 titles in the series, spanning the various fronts of World War II.
Washington's War is a card-driven board wargame from GMT Games designed by Mark Herman. The game is set in during the American Revolutionary War and the map depicts the east coast of the United States. One player controls the American forces and the other player the British. The game is designed for two players and takes between ninety minutes and two hours to play.
Tyrone S. Bomba is a prolific American board wargame designer, credited as the designer of over 125 board wargames and game items. Bomba is the recipient of the James F. Dunnigan Award, has been inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame for his contributions to the wargaming industry, and several of his games have won Charles S. Roberts Awards.
Rodger B. MacGowan is an artist, game developer, art director and magazine publisher who has been active in the board wargame industry since the 1970s. MacGowan is a prolific artist of cover art for wargames, and the wargaming magazine he founded, Fire & Movement, won the Charles S. Roberts Award several times while under his editorial control.
The Game of France, 1940: German Blitzkrieg in the West, originally titled "The Battle for France, 1940", is a board wargame originally published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1971 that was subsequently re-issued by Avalon Hill in 1972. Both editions simulate the World War II Battle of France in 1940, when the German blitzkrieg offensive overwhelmed French and British defenses in northern France.
Leipzig: The Battle of Nations, subtitled "Napoleon vs. Europe", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1969 that simulates the 1813 campaign of Napoleon in central Europe, including the Battle of Leipzig. The game was one of the first Napoleonic board wargames, and a number of innovative rules such as the effect of individual leaders on combat were adopted by other wargame publishers.
Luftwaffe, subtitled "The Game of Aerial Combat Over Germany 1943-45", is a board wargame originally published by Poultron Press in 1969 under a different title, then subsequently sold to Avalon Hill, who republished it in 1971. The game is an operational simulation of the American bombing campaign against Germany during World War II.
Normandy: The Invasion of Europe 1944 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1969 that simulates the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy, and the six days that followed as the German forces tried to prevent an Allied break-out. A second revised edition was published in 1971
Hannibal: The Italian Campaign is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1983 that simulates Hannibal's eight-year campaign against Rome during the Second Punic War.
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