John Hill (game designer)

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John Hill is a prolific American designer of military wargames, as well as rules for miniature wargaming such as Johnny Reb 3. He is a member of the Wargaming Hall of Fame.

Hill, a native of Indiana, is most known as the designer of the popular Avalon Hill board game Squad Leader in 1977. Hill founded Conflict Games Company in the late 1960s and owned a hobby shop, The Scale, in Lafayette, Indiana, for several years. Among his many titles were Verdun, Kasserine Pass, Overlord, Battle For Stalingrad, Tank Leader, Eastern Front Tank Leader and many others. He also designed Hue, based upon the fighting near the City of Hue in the Vietnam War.

In 1978, Hill was named to the Wargaming Hall of Fame, receiving the Charles S. Roberts Award at the Origins gaming convention in Chester, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 1979.

Hill developed what arguably is the most popular rules set ever developed for regimental level American Civil War miniature gaming, the Johnny Reb series (published by Game Designers' Workshop). He was noted for his elaborate 10mm miniature wargaming layouts for Civil War battles at Historical Miniatures Gaming Society conventions such as Historicon, Cold Wars and Fall In!. He founded and owned the Johnny Reb Gaming Company, which published the third version of the Johnny Reb rules.

Hill today is a frequent contributor to CHARGE! magazine, offering rules interpretations and strategy advice for Johnny Reb players. He now lives in New Mexico after spending many years in Virginia. He is an analyst for the U.S. military.