John Tiller, the founder of John Tiller Software and a modern titan of wargaming, has died. Tiller passed April 26 following a “brief but courageous battle with brain cancer,” and was surrounded by his family in his Suwanee, Georgia home. He was 67.
After earning a Ph.D in mathematics from McMaster University in 1980, Tiller began working in computer wargames at TalonSoft in 1995, working on 15 games and add-ons, including Battleground Gettysburg. As his obituary recalls, it was Tiller’s “lifelong interest in military history and strategic board games” that inspired him to strike out on his own a year later and found John Tiller Software in 1996.
[RIP] John Tiller
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- Smoove_B
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[RIP] John Tiller
Figured there might be a few that would like to know:
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Re: [RIP] John Tiller
Oh shit, how sad to hear it. I did some testing on some of his titles years ago when he was churning out games for HPS. He was always responsive to suggestions, and easy to work with. It's rare that someone with a strong technical background to be as sharp as he was with history.
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- Archinerd
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Re: [RIP] John Tiller
I had always imagined he was older than that.
My favorite thing about his games was his willingness to tackle battles & conflicts largely ignored by the rest of the industry.
My favorite thing about his games was his willingness to tackle battles & conflicts largely ignored by the rest of the industry.
- dbt1949
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Re: [RIP] John Tiller
I have more of his games than any other publisher/developer. RIP
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Re: [RIP] John Tiller
RIP. I played a huge number of his titles over the years.
Much prefer my Nazis Nuremberged.
- jztemple2
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Re: [RIP] John Tiller
I learned a lot about history from John Tiller games.
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- $iljanus
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Re: [RIP] John Tiller
Oh wow. I played quite a few HPS titles as well spanning a bunch of eras. A giant in computer wargaming who will be missed.
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- baelthazar
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Re: [RIP] John Tiller
I was bummed to hear this as well, he was young. His games were very cool, even if didn't always fully know how to play them correctly.
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