Axis & Allies and Zombies is REAL

Or even an alternate scenario like the Axis invasion of the Americas or Cold War goes hot.  There are plenty World War expansions that they could have resorted to instead of some bizarre fantasy.  1914 was a great example, it just needed some more work to be done on it.  I cannot help but think that this new version is not going to cater to the same customers.  I don’t think serious strategists who play with rules as complicated as neutrality for the sake of history are going to play a weird spinoff.  It will probably be more mainstream gamers that will pick this up.  Let’s hope this won’t be another poorly-executed embarrassment.

As an A&A gamer, this comes across to me as a “farewell,” but perhaps the company might make a big hit with this.  Even though it will be minuscule, the title will undoubetedly make some people want to know what Axis and Allies is.  I personally believe there will be fewer similarities to the series than we expect.

Anybody remember Risk: Battlefield Rogue?  Yeah.

Guess I’ll go try War Room when my buddy gets it.

And no, I am not being pessimistic, I am only furious, outraged, sick with anger!

this is the opinion of a highly opinionated teenager that still plays Bf1942 because modern FPS games are garbage

Chill down, man, maybe the zombies are optional ?

Zombies?  Really?

Seems like they are reaching here… trying to revamp the franchise by riffing off current cultural trends?

I can think of a dozen other ways to expand the franchise, and I would never have thought of zombies.

But then I never understood the recent popular fascination with zombies.  They move slowly, are easy to kill and have nothing to say. Not scary, not interesting, not conducive to the experience of strategy and war.

The more I think about this, the more I am dumbfounded.  A complicated military factoring game that panders to history buffs now intersects with zombies? Seriously?  Who are these zombies?  The dead of WWI?  Will the German zombies be allied with the Germans living?

Seems like a gimmick to pander to kids.  So, I guess on that level I can understand.

But it’s not ok!
:cry:
Just kidding.  To be honest, I am getting a good laugh out of this.  It is always fun to plot the downfall of something I am too fanatic to like.
  :-D

I still cannot wrap my finger around the fact that zombies managed to get into the game but the Free French didn’t…I mean they could have even added a sculpt with a guy holding a white flag to represent Vichy.

But no, it had to be zombies.

How am I suppossed to sleep at night knowing that the plastic soldiers in the box under my bed might become undead from being put behind the casuality strip too many times?

I swear I am never to going to roll anything other than sixes from now on!

It kills the brand of AA when you start making crap like :

Axis and Allies and the Three Stooges

Axis and Allies and Dinosaurs

Axis and Allies and the sun going supernova

Axis and Allies and Chris Farley

These fantasy idiots know nothing of what makes the games good. All they can do is concoct idiocy from their feeble minds from things they made before.

They should have made a Civil War AA or Barbarossa, but that would take Larry Harris and they kicked him out the door as well as anything remotely in terms of a practical idea for an AA game. IMO

well said and summed up.

I figure that if the game tanks (for lack of a better word) then it will go silently away.
The A&A brand will not suffer from this new game, or short term only.
Now, if it is a success, then it will elevate the brand awareness to to masses.
The series will see a resurgence and we might see a new edition.
Personally, I’d like to see the mid-level game be the love child between 1942.2 and Anniversary.
The pieces from 42 and the armies and map from Anniv. would be glorious.
Rules wise, there needs to be a quick play set that uses all the pieces.
1941 is too dumbed down and has limited deployability.
I’ve seen games which start with basic concepts and add rules as players get familiar with the game.
This is what A&A needs. A game playable in the 2-3 hour range.

Anyway, looking forward to their A&AZ game and see how it works.
Probably won’t buy it unless there are pieces for other games I need. :-D
Robert

@Charles:

But it’s not ok!
:cry:
Just kidding.  To be honest, I am getting a good laugh out of this.  It is always fun to plot the downfall of something I am too fanatic to like.
  :-D

I still cannot wrap my finger around the fact that zombies managed to get into the game but the Free French didn’t…I mean they could have even added a sculpt with a guy holding a white flag to represent Vichy.

What ? All you need to do is paint some Zombies dark blue for FF.

But no, it had to be zombies.

Wish it was White Walkers instead.

How am I suppossed to sleep at night knowing that the plastic soldiers in the box under my bed might become undead from being put behind the casuality strip too many times?

Now you can sleep at night knowing you have F French under bed !

I swear I am never to going to roll anything other than sixes from now on!

Free French Zombies only can roll d8s !  :-D

Hey guys, I want to send an assassin against the SS on the grounds of insulting my nation.  Any Frenchmen interested?  I hear he lives in Canada so a Quebecois is preferred.

While I’m certainly not a fan of the concept of adding something as absurd as Zombies to Axis and Allies (Or, God Forbid, have the Axis and Allies work together to fight them) I don’t understand the surprise. Let me elaborate from the position of someone from a younger generation:

There is a popular series of first person shooter video games called “Call of Duty” where (for the most part) you play as a soldier on the front lines of World War II.

One of the most popular multiplayer game modes in later editions of this franchise is something called “Nazi Zombies,” where you and your friends fight against Zombies that are implied to be the creation of some absurd wonder weapon project.

My Point: I think all Wizards is trying to do here is cash in on a popular game mode in a trendy video game in order to appeal to a younger generation. Insulting to the hardcore base? Perhaps. Stupid? I think not, but time will tell.

I’m with djensen on this. The game might very well suck and I probably won’t buy it, but if this game does well and it might lead to the creation of a game that can surpass even G40, then more power to Wizards.

@Charles:

Hey guys, I want to send an assassin against the SS on the grounds of insulting my nation.  Any Frenchmen interested?  I hear he lives in Canada so a Quebecois is preferred.

Im in South America  :-)

@DouchemanMacgee:

While I’m certainly not a fan of the concept of adding something as absurd as Zombies to Axis and Allies (Or, God Forbid, have the Axis and Allies work together to fight them) I don’t understand the surprise. Let me elaborate from the position of someone from a younger generation:

There is a popular series of first person shooter video games called “Call of Duty” where (for the most part) you play as a soldier on the front lines of World War II.

One of the most popular multiplayer game modes in later editions of this franchise is something called “Nazi Zombies,” where you and your friends fight against Zombies that are implied to be the creation of some absurd wonder weapon project.

My Point: I think all Wizards is trying to do here is cash in on a popular game mode in a trendy video game in order to appeal to a younger generation. Insulting to the hardcore base? Perhaps. Stupid? I think not, but time will tell.

I’m with djensen on this. The game might very well suck and I probably won’t buy it, but if this game does well and it might lead to the creation of a game that can surpass even G40, then more power to Wizards.

Yes I agree with you. Money is the object now only. Should of made it AAWhiteWalkers. At least when I kill the enemys army I can raise there dead to life and they become or join my
army.  :evil:

But hey u could always house rule that for the Zombies.

First monopoly, (which I personally think is the most solid Ameri-game)

Then, an entire store wall of monopolies.  Every college.  Every city.

Then Risk.  (which think is like checkers not chess)

Now, 35+ variations of risk, with Gandalf, and one version where you put stickers on the board and sign it

Star Trek.  3 series on TV at once, people burn out…rest the brand for the decade and they’ll think that a romance involving a giant hairless hedgehog is compelling

Then AxA–

Literally 30,000 new board games came out last year.  I want to design a game!  Well, good luck because the competition is stiff.

If you play it once, and have fun, it was worth $60.  If you put 11 Zombie Chainsaw Tanks on Buratyia when your opponent is in the bathroom, it was worth the stupid $60.

If we meet up at gencon, and I step on a chainsaw tank…worth the $60…

Wizard’s been “cashing in” with this franchise since the “2nd editions” release. It still rubs me the wrong way thinking about that fiasco.
They should have created an upgrade kit for 1st edition owners. :x

I have them all but am now very hesitant to buy anything “new” from WOTC.

Chances are, there will be a better “2nd edition” a few years later.

@robert:

Wizard’s been “cashing in” with this franchise since the “2nd editions” release. It still rubs me the wrong way thinking about that fiasco.
They should have created an upgrade kit for 1st edition owners. :x

Second edition of what? G40? There’s nothing in G402E that you can’t just house rule into first edition IIRC.

Only other “2nd Edition” out there is 42SE and it’s an entirely separate game from 42.

I pick up a lot of negative waves in this thread, man. But look, when we play the classic A&A, we are prisoners in the historical correct straight jacket. We dont like to see German battleships in the Pacific ocean, or Japanese Bombers in France, and China even got special rules to make sure they dont do anything they did not do in the real war. Zombies will set us free, crush the limits in our minds, this game start at ground zero and anything can happen. WWII belong in history books, zombies are a game.

Axis and Allies is a human attempt at making a bloody, horrible conflict a mild strategy game.  Zombies are a human attempt at making the final chapter of life a horror story.

I see what you mean Narvik, and I hate what I see.  It’s called the darkening of the world.

As the older generation passes away, so will the innocence of boardgaming?  What was once an entertaining series of order and decent consistency is soon to become a dismal fantasy centered on a degraded form of mankind.

Oh, the drama.

I know I sound conceited, but it pains when I realize that my favorite board game is going to become a mere pebble in the mass of today’s popular franchises.  It won’t stand out.