After a bunch of matches, it seems that things come down to a couple of battles first turn. I mostly play the Axis, and against an equally skilled opponent, I find that if Germany loses Ukraine bad (like 4 or more Russian units left), and SZ 37 battle goes bad (the big Japanese East Indies fleet), there is very little chance for the Axis to come back.
Against good players, you do not get that many big battles after turn 1, as people do not put units in disadvantageous positions. This makes these many 50/50 first turn skirmishes so critical.
So the game is getting stale. So much decided on turn 1 by pure luck.
Those are pretty common gripes with this version in-general. To be fair, if the Allies under-perform in those battles (especially the SZ37 fight, if UK goes for it) the Axis are basically guaranteed a free win. Just yesterday I lost a bit too much on the Ukraine fight (took everything that could reach, only the 2 FTRs survived) and that giant loss of units through no fault of my own basically assured my loss by round 5.
My take is that you shouldn’t get too up-in-arms over getting your ranking up. Just set achievable goals and strive for them. It’s just a videogame-based-on-a-board-game, and said board game wasn’t really ever intended to be played hyper-competitively, at least I don’t think it was, anyway (doesn’t stop me and others from doing it anyway, though).
Your best bet is to just hold out hope that Beamdog starts adding other maps down the line. 42SE (the map AAO uses currently) is one of the most poorly balanced maps in the series, and lacks the charm that other poorly balanced maps have (G40 has its sheer size/scale + interesting political scenarios + tons of playable countries, AA50 has Italy/China, NOs and better overall balance, Classic has the allure of being “the original”, etc.). Beamdog is apparently open to the idea, but is struggling with getting the rights/licenses, since Larry Harris no longer has any affiliation with Wizards of the Coast (the people who own the rights to A&A).
Thanks for your views! I did not really know it was a poorly balanced map. I have not played A&A in a couple decades, and it seems better than the orginial. More territories and the Atlantic is a bit more fair for the Axis, as there is an extra sea zone to deal with.
I am doing my best not to take it too seriously!
@Dimitri It’s better for the bigger size and unit/strategy variety, but the balance is awful, even compared to Classic. IMO, the Axis-Favored games are more unbearable to play than the Allied-Favored ones because you’re basically stuck in a situation where you’re going to win/lose in 4 turns no matter what you do. At least in the Allied-Favored games it usually tends to take a long time before the Allies can actually kill you, which gives both players a lot more time to make mistakes that can swing things one way or the other.
@Dimitri In terms of Axis and Allies games getting stale, all versions of the game become the same because of its basic D6 system and limitations of meaniful game spaces. To new players its a fun version of WW2. To experienced strategists who really like to get involved in a WW2 game it will always become stale.
You will notice that the experienced players shifted to AA 1940 Global for a time since at that time that game offered more options for strategy. Then once players figured out the standard openings for that game they then moved over to Axis and Allies 1936. More complex and a D12 system allowing for a more detailed level of play.
So really it breaks down to how complex a game do you really want to play? Hours?, days?, weeks? It is like playing chess. There are only so many openings and its up to the players to create situations that cause an oppenent to make moves he/she didn’t want to make. Dice will always be a complaint, however no real battle didnt have some sort of luck play a part.(ie Midway) So as a player who plays war games with Dice systems you accept the rolls as they come. If the dice system bothers you, you can always use low luck systems.
What I find interesting is even though AA online 1942 is a great version it pales in comparison to Triple A which has the Global 1940 rules and all the complexities. So I look at AA 1942 online as the starting spot for new players. It has all the info to teach you how a AA game is played. All those side panels helping new players learn the game. Beamdog did a great job for their first time out.
So, if your looking for a more complex game then AA online 1942 then Triple A with low luck dice is probably where you want to go to.
@DoManMacgee OOB it is very Axis slanted, agreed. But the Larry Harris Gencon rules help with the balance. Allies get extra inf in India and the Atlantic fleets are set up better for Allies at the start. I believe Germans lose a sub and UK gets an extra destroyer. I find the game more or less fair after this. But it does get repetitive pretty quickly, you guys are right.
@Dimitri LHTR (“Gencon” as AAO calls it) is still a mess balance-wise. The entire game comes down to how the R1 attack on Germany goes, especially when you’re playing with no bid like AAO forces you to.
