Don Greenwood
American board game designer
About Don Greenwood
Don Greenwood was an American board game designer.
Don Greenwood is an American board wargame designer and an editor of wargaming magazines.
Early career Don Greenwood became interested in board wargames in his teens, and became a member of a local chapter of a national wargaming group called SPECTRE.
In 1967, Greenwood started publishing his own wargame fanzine, Panzerfaust, and remained its editor for five years.
Avalon Hill In 1972, Greenwood joined the staff of Avalon Hill Game Company as Research & Design Director, as well as Editor of the company's house organ, The General. Greenwood was also responsible for resurrecting older games and revising the rules to produce a new edition. His first assignment was to rewrite Jim Dunnigan's rules for the unpublished game Outdoor Survival; once he was finished, the game became a perennial bestseller for Avalon Hill. Other games Greenwood produced new editions of included Anzio, Afrika Korps, and Caesar: Epic Battle of Alesia.
Greenwood helped to organize the first Origins Game Fair in Baltimore in 1975, and suggested calling the event "Origins" as a nod to Avalon Hill's creation of board wargaming. Greenwood also helped to organize the first Avaloncon, which morphed into the World Boardgaming Championships, and was president of the Boardgame Players Association.
After Avalon Hill In 1982, Greenwood left Avalon Hill but continued to work in the wargame industry, notably for GMT Games.
Awards 1980: Crescendo of Doom won a Charles S. Roberts Award in the category "Best Twentieth Century Game" 1990: The Republic of Rome won a James F. Dunnigan Award in the category "Playability and Design" 1991: Inducted into the Origins Award Hall of Fame 1994: Inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame 2011: Honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured as the king of spades in Flying Buffalo's 1992 and 2011 Famous Game Designer Trading Cards.
Games Greenwood was the primary designer of these games:
Avalon Hill Outdoor Survival (1972) Basketball Strategy (1974) Speed Circuit (1977) Crescendo of Doom (1979) Book of Lists (1979) GI: Anvil of Victory (1982) Advanced Squad Leader and *Beyond Valor (1985) Streets of Fire (1985) Paratrooper (1986) Hedgerow Hell (1987) Yanks (1987) Turning Point: Stalingrad (1989) New World (1990) The Republic of Rome (1990) Gung Ho (1992) Breakout: Normandy (1992) Gangsters (1992) Road Kill (1993) Age of Renaissance (1996) Atlantic Storm (1997)
GMT Games Galaxy: The Dark Ages (2000) The Napoleonic Wars (2002)
While working for Avalon Hill, Greenwood significantly revised these already-published games: Alexander the Great Anzio Afrika Korps Blitzkrieg Business Strategy (a retitled revision of Management) Caesar: Epic Battle of Alesia Caesar's Legions Circus Maximus Cross of Iron D-Day Rise and Decline of the Third Reich The Russian Campaign Squad Leader Stalingrad UFO War at Sea Waterloo Win, Place & Show
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Important facts
Frequently asked questions
Who was Don Greenwood?
American board game designer
What was Don Greenwood's occupation?
Don Greenwood was a board game designer.
What nationality was Don Greenwood?
Don Greenwood was American.
Sources & further reading
· DBpedia: Don Greenwood (game designer)
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Don Greenwood. https://biography.guide/don-greenwood-board-game-designer/
MLA: "Don Greenwood." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/don-greenwood-board-game-designer/.
Chicago: "Don Greenwood." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/don-greenwood-board-game-designer/.
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