I saw your post sitting so long I registered to give you a few pointers on maps. Most if not all the WotC map packs are themed in some way. Originally they were 2" hexes but were changed some time ago. The map packs you mentioned are themed as follows: North Africa - 3 Desert maps and on reverse side 3 jungle maps. Eastern Front - 3 town/factory maps and on the reverse side 3 Russian steppes maps. There are two starters, the one in the cardboard box is the old one and contains 12mm mini’s and 2" hex maps. the new starter is in a blister pack and has 15mm mini’s and 3" hex maps. The maps in the new starter are mixed forest/hills/clear. The rules and revised cards are downloadable through the WotC site.
Axis & Allies Miniatures Set 5: Reserves
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The latest preview is up http://www.axisandallies.org/node/112
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Rangers are strong competitive piece, though unless they get new (non-improved) indirect fire units the Spotter SA is mostly just thematic.
(Edit)Here’s my full review:
As the opening salvo says, “its inevitable that it will be compared to the Axis workhorse, the SS-Panzergrenadiers.” Quite true, though thankfully the Rangers have enough differences to keep them from being just carbon-copies.
The Lead the Way SA is interesting in that it’s once per turn, not per phase (or during movement and/or assault), so be careful when you use it; unless it’s to grab a last minute objective, re-rolling a movement roll isn’t too important, though thematically it’s nice.
Spotter is again nice, if not too useful. The M1 81mm Mortar doesn’t need a spotter, nor do spotters enhance them, and the open back M7 105mm Priest is an easily neutralized unit. I suppose you could save 1 point and use the Russian mortars instead if you really wanted to. Also, lacking the Spotter SA they can’t enhance aircraft.
The Rangers have slightly improved defence and a re-roll over the similar Veteran SMLE Riflemen; the only time the Australian unit is, well when you can’t take Rangers (eg Pre-1942 game). By themselves the Rangers are at the high end of 5 points, but compared to the Garand they perhaps should have been 6; as is they make the Garand fairly useless. Sure the Garands can have the same dice, without a re-roll, but that requires more points for an adjacent commander, and is -1/-1 defence.
A great unit that I’m sure will see a lot of use both in casual and competitive games: 4.5/5
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