How would you design an A&A game that could reach a new generation of players?

[CentralCommando]

(I had a bit of trouble deciding what category to put this in, so if you believe this is in the wrong category mods, please let me know. This is also my first dedicated topic!)

Axis & Allies is my favorite board game franchise of all time, and have been playing since I was seven (A&A 2004 was my first game). I know I’m not the only one who grew up with A&A, and I feel that the great amount of titles released for this game built an entire generation of players, and led to the game fostering a large community, much of which is found on these forums.

However, I feel like there hasn’t been many new players recently. Sure, you have the occasional new account here and there, but they almost always have been long time players, which brings me to this conclusion: there really isn’t a new generation of Axis & Allies strategists. There is a good reason behind this, that being the fact there hasn’t been a “wide appeal” A&A since 2012. Fourteen years ago. Since then, we only really got theater games or heavy-mechanical games, which are great don’t get me wrong, but they were specifically targeted to already existing fans of the series. That’s why in a previous thread, I went on a mini-tirade about this very topic, which I’ll link here: https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/42216/axis-allies-org-2026-support-drive/28

As suggested by @Narvik , I decided to make this a dedicated forum topic to here everyone’s thoughts on my main question: How would you make an A&A game that would appeal to a new generation? I personally would make the scale global and complexity roughly around AA42 Second EDITION, Maybe add a distinction for light & heavy tanks and remove cruisers, along with fixing the balancing of units such as AAA guns. For a starting date, I’d personally make it 1941 (Barbarossa or Pearl Harbor time is fine). Perhaps you could add Italy if you wanted a 3v3, but otherwise just use the traditional five powers. The style could swing either way, but I’d prefer if we got the classic landscaping and more vivid colors. But, what are your thoughts on this? Let me know!

[Panther]

@CentralCommando This is the perfect category.

[Narvik]

I’m a Boomer and when I grew up all kids were outdoor playing soccer, or climbing in threes or playing boardgames. My grand kids that are zoomers and Gen Alfa are always indoor, behind a pc, and their parents need to arrange a play date if they want to go over to their friends. I belive the last generations are lost to our cause

I was an adult the first time I played the famous A&A MB Classic edition in 1988, Now that was a great game, plastic soldiers and a beautiful map, simple rules easy to learn, and a lifetime to master. The Classic rules didn’t always produce results which made sense in the contest of the historical setting, like Submarines shooting down lots of Aircrafts, and Transports sinking lots of Battleships, so of course revisions and House Rules followed. I suspect the designer never joined the Navy nor Airforce so basically it was an Infantry game, and still is. The Ships and Aircrafts behave like Infantry because it need to be simplistic streamlined for ease of play. So I was told. Also the game balance was not fair, but what game is? In Chess white is favoured, and in Monopoly the first to go is favoured, and in Risk the owner of America always win. Anyway that could be solved with bidding. Then the Tournaments startet and LHTR solved the problems. Great fun.

I figure that Europe 1999 ed and Pacific 2001 ed was the golden age. Streamlined rules and beatiful maps with light colors but they could not be joined into a Global game and that was a misfortune. Then we got Revised 2004 ed with black water and black German pieces and really dark colors on everyting, but the game play and playability was superb. Best game ever. Except from the too dark colors.

My favourites are 50th Anniversary and Europe 2 ed and Pacific 2 ed. The only but is the high cost. No school kids can afford it, so they buy 42 or 41, with too dark maps. All the Theater games is too heavy with too complicated rules. also no rules are streamlined. You need to learn new rules for every game, and that is a loss. Some of the Theater rules could be streamlined. Like Road Movement. BotB have unlimited, NF have 5 and Stalingrad have 2+2. The Supply rule could have been streamlined. Unit cost and combat value could have been the same as the standard game, easy to remember. The Theather games are for nerds, not for the casual player. The nerds are happy, but I belive the franchise suffer from this. A&A have always been KISS =(keep it simple stupid. )

No need to design a new A&A game. Just take A&A 42 or Anniversary, give the map lighter colors, and use Tournament Rules. Now that should do it. Not a lot of traffic on this thread, where are all the players?

[CentralCommando]

@Narvik

It may be because it’s far down in the forums (though, my initial post got three likes), though it’s the most suitable category. Hopefully people who read this post add their commentary and add their takes.

I agree with a lot of what you said, but there’s a glaring issue that I mentioned previously: those games are perceived to be old. Even with a massively advertised game, it’s still at least a fourteen year old (or eighteen for anniversary, dang how is it already that old?) While a repackaged version of those games would be nice, it kinda feels cheap and lazy to current fans (which I know reaching a new base is the point) so a good balance of old mechanics and new mechanics without making the game too complex and to give both communities a new & worthwhile game. I’m still surprised that there hasn’t been a mainline entry with Light/Heavy Tank distinctions and/or Commandos.

No matter what the game looks like though, they NEED to advertise the Board game. As annoying as they are, create ads, give out sponsorships, use the newish technology at their disposal and use it to their advantage. Give the kids of today and tomorrow “boardgame night” that they could enjoy!

Also, I’m glad you share my opinion that A&A 2004 is the best boardgame ever made!

[barnee]

Keep adding new digital options. Don’t really need to even know the rules then

That way they and there new AI friends can play together