http://www.consimworld.com/post/107812352586/i-need-to-let-you-all-know-that-john-had-a-major
QuoteI need to let you all know that John had a major heart attack a couple of days ago and went to the hospital in Sante Fe on Friday. He was stabilized and doing OK until very early this morning, when he started having trouble breathing. They moved him to ICU to stabilize his vitals, but now he is on 100% life support...the doctors aren't giving much hope.
I am heading down there shortly I hope - I am waiting on the OK from his wife Lu (I don't want to be in the family's way).
Please hug your loved ones and tell them that you love them and hope for the best for John. Thank you.
You may have heard of a few of his designs...
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/986/john-hill-i
Across A Deadly Field: Regimental Rules for Civil War Battles
ASL Annual '89
Bar-Lev: The Yom-Kippur War of 1973
Battle for Stalingrad
The Brotherhood
Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel! – Kursk 1943
Cross of Iron
Eastern Front Tank Leader
Hue
Jerusalem
Johnny Reb
Johnny Reb III
Kasserine Pass
Overlord
PanzerForce
Squad Leader
Verdun, The Game of Attrition
Verdun: The Game of Attrition
Yalu: The Chinese Counteroffensive in Korea, November 1950 to May 1951
Prayers going out to him and his family. Mr. Hill is a wargaming icon and legend.
Strength and prayers for John and his family.
Peace, healing, comfort, and solace to Mr. Hill and his loved ones.
Very sad news. That is quite an impressive list of games.
:-\
Sad news indeed, already saw the message on CSW. There comes the day for us all when the hammer falls...so drink happily that you don't feel the blow... :(
just posted in the last hour or so
QuoteUpdate2: John is back in CCU. His heart stopped and he was resuscitated. He is back on full life support with his family by his side to say their goodbyes.
To many, Squad Leader is the greatest board wargame ever designed. I believe it remains the best selling of all time. Not too great a stretch to say he is the paper, cardboard, and chit equivalent of Donald Featherstone.
I met him at Historicon if only briefly and got the same sense of the sillies I got when meeting Gygax and Arneson.
R.I.P.
Best,
Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)
Unfortunately, the news is that he has passed.
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=371638 (http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=371638)
Thank you, Mr. John Hill, you continue to bring a lot of enjoyment to my life. I wish your family comfort at this time and that they cherish your accomplishments and the joy that you brought to so many people around the world.
RIP He has clearly been a major factor in the wargaming community over the years.
How old was he when he passed away?
Very sorry to hear this. As much as he'll be missed in our community, I'm thinking most of his family right now. RIP. :(
RIP I salute to a gread games designer, John Hill
Man I hate to hear that.... Sabers Up
PE
It may sound cheesy to some but in all seriousness, my life changed in 1977 when Squad Leader came out and me and my best friend bought copies and began playing it. That game became the standard by which we judged all other gaming experiences.
RIP John Hill. His counter may of been pulled from the counter tray for the last time but the impact that he's had on the hobby is immeasurable. Prayers to his family.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FJohn_Hill_SL.jpg&hash=bf07107b0c72861846d6638ebbc720a4d02b9c2c)
I hate to say, I'm not much of a fan of SL or ASL now, but back in the 80s, I played the HELL out of it solo (because I couldn't get any of my friends to play it - Axis & Allies was unfortunately more their speed). I burned out on it in fact. But that doesn't make it any less of an awesome game.
I Googled John and when I saw his face, I realized how stupid I was for forgetting I actually met him - I believe ASL had a booth across from Matrix's at a GenCon or Origins show more than 10 years ago. I remember him hanging out there and talking to some of the others. Really odd that I'd remember that now. :-[
RIP John, and thank you for helping me get my teeth into wargames.
A true innovator in game design. He will be missed.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 13, 2015, 01:20:40 PM
I hate to say, I'm not much of a fan of SL or ASL now
Don't feel bad, John Hill wasn't a fan of ASL either.
Hill was involved in Squad Leader only up to Cross of Iron. After the first module was complete, he realized I think that he was basically at loggerheads with the direction the game was going. Greenwood took it into a different direction than Hill had intended. (Greenwood admits this in a recent podcast but it's not like a deep, dark secret or anything.) Basically, Don thought there was money to be made, and that audiences wanted a rich, detailed game like ASL eventually became. I don't think you can argue with the audience that ASL has found.
You also can't argue that they lost a lot of the original charm of the design, and that - I think - is why Hill jumped off the train. So did a lot of players who had no desire to keep up. I wasn't one of them; I happily invested in the three gamettes and then chucked it all for ASL and never looked back. But I can see the point a lot more clearly now than I did in 1986 when I was using my mom's credit card for that thick ASLRB.
Hill had a real clarity of vision when it came to game mechanics. Check this out: http://www.c3iopscenter.com/documents/F&M%20Interview%20John%20Hill.pdf
He could zero in on a few crucial factors - "design for effect" was his idea. In Squad Leader, it was leadership and morale and support weapons. In Eastern Front Tank Leader, it was command and control. I'm not saying he made the most realistic games ever, but he did make stuff that was playable, engaging and fun. And he turned his name into a household word as far as the industry went. How many other game designers had their names on boxtops in the 1980s? I think Frank Chadwick did. Not many others. SPI put his name on Battle of Stalingrad, and West End put it on EFTL. Just as with novels, if your name is in a catchier font than the title, you know you're someone important.
Quote from: Michael Dorosh on January 13, 2015, 08:56:11 PM
He could zero in on a few crucial factors - "design for effect" was his idea. In Squad Leader, it was leadership and morale and support weapons. In Eastern Front Tank Leader, it was command and control. I'm not saying he made the most realistic games ever, but he did make stuff that was playable, engaging and fun. And he turned his name into a household word as far as the industry went. How many other game designers had their names on boxtops in the 1980s? I think Frank Chadwick did. Not many others. SPI put his name on Battle of Stalingrad, and West End put it on EFTL. Just as with novels, if your name is in a catchier font than the title, you know you're someone important.
Well put. Another brilliant game designer in the wargame world, Dean Essig, is as much a fixture to The Gamers games as John Hill was to Squad Leader and Johnny Reb.
John Hill will be sorely missed.
Groggy
RIP to John Hill and prayers and thoughts to his family.
I still remember the day I bought Squad Leader! I had to order it thru a local shop and I was on cloud nine when I got it home. SL will always hold a special place in my heart :D
A terrific article...particularly loved the bit about the best one could do re: chits and cardboard as a simulation, scale of one to ten, is a two so questions about smaller matters being "fudged" in the system hardly even register.
And my, oh, my that haircut...
Best,
Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)
Quote from: Michael Dorosh on January 13, 2015, 08:56:11 PM
Hill had a real clarity of vision when it came to game mechanics. Check this out: http://www.c3iopscenter.com/documents/F&M%20Interview%20John%20Hill.pdf
He could zero in on a few crucial factors - "design for effect" was his idea.
Great article.