Axis & Allies and Zombies is REAL

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.

When im at gencon, I see game after game where im like–“small unit action, pacific front, with chit art, sweet rules…every tank and wonderweapon offered for fun purposes…and $60…”  sweetest idea ever… eh.

So many concepts, themes, sculpts, incredible art…but it is overwhelming choice and since gaming tends to be based on fairly simplistic (Boolean/algebraic math and randomness) logic, games all end up having similar “engines” where they are

1)  easily exploited because some choices are better than others (imbalance)
2)  not super engaging, because a series of small choices add up to a point advantage, but winning usually comes down to the conduct of a single play at some point where you either grabbed or stopped someone else from grabbing something (I call this “point shaving” and its most eurogames)

Chess kind of breaks this mode, because its a call and response type game, act, react, act react…you can have every piece on the board left and still lose.  Axis and Allies has enough choice and variety (and takes forever) so it takes a lot longer to see #1 and #2 isn’t as much of a problem because small victories and takeovers matter way less than winning dramatic battles and conserving strength until the critical moment.

Axis & Allies and Zombies? Perhaps for thee, but never for me. I have no interest in this game, but I also understand it wasn’t made for folks like me, who grew up playing Classic A&A, Squad Leader, Panzer General, etc.

I get the attempt to use the brand to generate more revenue, and if it does, in fact, lead to more “real” A&A games, I’m okay with it. Will A&A&Z turn out to be a “gateway” game, luring more unsuspecting millennials down the path toward the hardcore gaming greatness that is G40? A few, maybe. Even if it is only a few, however, that still represents progress, and I’m all for that.

Will A&A&Z kill the brand? No more than The Phantom Menace killed Star Wars. I’m not concerned. And it could’ve been much worse. A&A and Harry Potter? Pokemon? Zombies might be the lesser evil here.

@DouchemanMacgee:

@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.

So, with G40 2nd ed., you’re fine with WOTC releasing a product while actively working on a 2nd ed. at the same time?
New sculpts take time to create, proof and sign off on.
WOTC would have to have been working on this while getting 1st ed. out the door.
As for house ruling, why do I have to? I just paid $200 for G40.
1942.2 was again released too soon after Spring 1942. Both games existed at the same time in different stages of being finished.
WOTC used people as play testers and had them pay for the privilege.

@robert:

So, with G40 2nd ed., you’re fine with WOTC releasing a product while actively working on a 2nd ed. at the same time?
New sculpts take time to create, proof and sign off on.

P40 was 2009, E40 was 2010.
G40 2nd Ed. was released in 2012. A two-year gap. The only real differences besides minor cosmetic changes to the map (correct me if I’m wrong) are the use of the Alpha 3 setup/rules as an attempt to balance the horrible mess (balance-wise) that was the 1st edition. The Alpha 3 rules were basically over-glorified house rules crafted by the community over the years with Larry’s blessing, if you recall.

So, like I said, G40 2nd Edition is nothing you can’t play by house-ruling 1st edition, which is exactly what I do, since there’s no point in my owning both 1st edition and 2nd edition.

@robert:

WOTC would have to have been working on this while getting 1st ed. out the door.

That’s incorrect, based on what I explained above (AFIK Wizards had nothing to do with the Alpha 3 rules beyond Larry’s input). I doubt that G40SE took very long to cook up, seeing as most of the components are identical or nearly identical to 1st edition. If anyone has insider info regarding what went on at Wizard’s from 2009-2012 feel free to correct me.

@robert:

As for house ruling, why do I have to? I just paid $200 for G40.

You don’t. No one’s holding a gun to your head and forcing you to use the Alpha 3 rules (or the balanced mod, for that matter). It’s just for the sake of game balance. If money’s an issue just play TripleA like most people. If you just want the sculpts just buy them for cheap off HBG.

@robert:

1942.2 was again released too soon after Spring 1942. Both games existed at the same time in different stages of being finished.
WOTC used people as play testers and had them pay for the privilege.

I agree with the release dates being too close (it over-saturated the market and is probably a main reason why both versions of 42 aren’t as well-regarded as the rest of the franchise). It also didn’t help that the name “1942 2nd Edition” was completely and totally misleading, as 422E has almost nothing to do with 42, aside from there only being 5 playable countries and there not being NOs.

I don’t see any grand conspiracy about 42 being a “test run” for 42SE, though. 42 was just a lazy copy/paste of revised using AA50’s map design, rules, and units. It probably took WOTC about 3 months to finish soup to nuts, and as a result, it’s probably the worst version of A&A barring 1941. It’s not that the rules or gameplay are bad, the board is just hideously small/cramped and the physical components were atrocious (IIRC it was the start of the whole “no paper money, no battle board” cost-cutting fiasco that’s plagued the franchise in recent years).

42SE, while an unbalanced mess (and still having awful physical components, for the most part), is a true successor to Revised/AA50 in terms of map size/scale, and a good way to ramp new players up to G40.

I know I’m coming off like some sort of drone for Wizards, but I’m not (they pushed out way too many A&A products in too short a span of time between 2009-2014, some of them good, like AA50, G40 and 42SE, and the rest ranging from okay to terrible).

As for Zombies (not responding to robert t, just a general note for the thread):

I understand the visceral hatred for the concept of zombies removing any semblance of historical accuracy or “wargame tradition” from A&A, but what’s stopping us, as a community, from house-ruling out the Zombies and enjoying the rest of the game? The A&A community took G40 from OOB to Balanced Mod and has made bids for practically every game in the series, I doubt that a few zombies are too much to handle.