@Rank:
Plus my daughter isn’t interested in AnA but was interested in playing the version with the zombies… maybe this will get her interested in the franchise.
That’s going to be the case in my home… I’m not really interested in the zombies personally, but anything to get my kids more into daddy’s A&A is a plus with me, and I know my son, who is big into zombies, will be attracted to this angle.
Quitting A&A because of a new game is the wrong approach.
Not buying this game or future games by WOTC is the correct way.
You have already bought the games, so WOTC has been supported.
Now, not buying this will send a better message and not come across as a knee-jerk reaction of an upset person.On the bright side, WOTC IS including money with this game so maybe they are listening to one of the biggest gripes people have with the A&A line.
I agree with a lot of this, but my worry is if this game tanks because it is miserable gimmicky garbage, then WOTC might decide that A&A not is worth it anymore, and mis-ascribe the reasons to it being A&A instead of it being gal-durned Zombies.
Nothing new has been released for WWII A&A since 2012.
Even then, it was a reprint and errata edition.
So, 6 years later, they release a new concept which includes zombies.
This won’t affect their thoughts on the core A&A if it bombs as they already have given up on the franchise.
I think A&A Anniv. and Global 1940 are the pinnacle of what you can do with this game.
HBC has released other versions (earlier starts/more complex) but I doubt WOTC want to go this route.
Nothing new has been released for WWII A&A since 2012.
I think A&A Anniv. and Global 1940 are the pinnacle of what you can do with this game.
I agree with this statement. I believe the A&A franchise has reached it’s developmental end. Whether WOTC wants to admit this or not, the fact that Larry Harris is not even involved with this project is telling….
Now, there will always be companies like HBG and The War in Vietnam that could or should be the logical successors to A&A; however, I don’t foresee WOTC having the imagination to either pick them up OR build upon their ideas to continue or expand the game.
A&A gets monotonous after you get to a certain skill level. You do the same strategy over, and over again. That is the main complaint for A&A games. So this zombie game will definitely won’t be a improvement. It’s a theme to attract people that like zombies. It is a poor attempt to get more people interest in A&A.
@Dauvio:
A&A gets monotonous after you get to a certain skill level.
And chess dont ? Even with the Fischer set up, after 8 turns it looks like a casual game
I don’t think it is meant to get people interested in A&A at all.
A side benefit maybe, but they already have an intro A&A game.
If successful, it might turn into a Risk type strategy. That is, overlay various themes on the core system.
Risk Transformers/Risk StarWars/…
If successful, it might turn into a Risk type strategy. That is, overlay various themes on the core system.
Risk Transformers/Risk StarWars/…
That’s quite an interesting theory, and personally I think the concept might hold a lot of promise if it was used correctly by WotC. A good example of what I mean by “used correctly” is a game that has actually been published: A&A WWI 1914, which fits the concept of the A&A game system being overlayed onto a different historical war than WWII. The same could be done with other historical wars, though the potential choices aren’t actually as vast as thousands of years of military history would imply because only the past two or three centuries offer any credible scope for a war having theatres all over the world. Fantasy-type overlays, on the other hand (zombies and so forth), would be a very different evolutionary direction that I’d be unhappy with.
As someone who isn’t as overly harsh on AAZ as most of the board, I have no idea why WOTC thought Zombies was a safer play than, say…
Axis and Allies: Korea (bonus points for being a topical subject)
Axis and Allies: Cold War goes Hot (Not that it would ever compare with Twilight Struggle, but some say A&A doesn’t compare with other WW2 Wargames, so whatever)
Axis and Allies: Civil War (I think even Larry expressed interest in this at one point or another)
Axis and Allies: Napoleon (Bonus Points for having multiple setups for different Coalition Wars)
Axis and Allies: Rome (which I guess would just be Conquest of the Empire, if you really think about it)
They could even do a fictional, modern-day scenario similar to what HBG is doing with Meltdown: 2020 (or whatever it’s called I don’t remember).
zombies are still a hot topic although definitely on the decline.
A&A for other eras would probably just need a clever sales pitch.
Risk Napoleonics is a good game but limited to Europe and only released in French.
The Roman conquests would be a similar area-Europe/Africa/Middle East.
Don’t remember how far north Alexander went, he did go east a fair bit.
Civil War and Korea might be a bit small an area to game. We will have to see how Vietnam plays to know how smaller conflicts work.
@DouchemanMacgee:
As someone who isn’t as overly harsh on AAZ as most of the board, I have no idea why WOTC thought Zombies was a safer play than, say…
Axis and Allies: Korea (bonus points for being a topical subject)
Axis and Allies: Cold War goes Hot (Not that it would ever compare with Twilight Struggle, but some say A&A doesn’t compare with other WW2 Wargames, so whatever)
Axis and Allies: Civil War (I think even Larry expressed interest in this at one point or another)
Axis and Allies: Napoleon (Bonus Points for having multiple setups for different Coalition Wars)
Axis and Allies: Rome (which I guess would just be Conquest of the Empire, if you really think about it)
They could even do a fictional, modern-day scenario similar to what HBG is doing with Meltdown: 2020 (or whatever it’s called I don’t remember).
They should do something with space, like the solar system, and beyond. :)
for space, you would need a sh*t load of transports to go from one planet to the next.
It would be interesting though, 5 galaxies fighting for control of the universe.
A&A for other eras would probably just need a clever sales pitch.
Risk Napoleonics is a good game but limited to Europe and only released in French.
Axis and Allies Napoleonic Wars already exists, it just wasn’t made by WotC and doesn’t have “A&A” in the title, but Worthington Games “War and Peace” IS 100% Axis and Allies in the Napoleonic setting… if this intrigues you, you should pick up a copy… there’s a discussion about it on the “other games” section at the bottom of this forum.
@Nowhere:
Axis and Allies Napoleonic Wars already exists, it just wasn’t made by WotC and doesn’t have “A&A” in the title, but Worthington Games “War and Peace” IS 100% Axis and Allies in the Napoleonic setting… if this intrigues you, you should pick up a copy… there’s a discussion about it on the “other games” section at the bottom of this forum.
Not the person you were replying to, but thanks for the tip. The French Revolutionary Wars is my favorite war-related historical period other than the WW1-Interwar-WW2 era, so I’ll be sure to check it out.
@DouchemanMacgee:
Not the person you were replying to, but thanks for the tip.
Also, on your earlier post, you mentioned the desire to see a US Civil War version of A&A… oddly enough, I read the designer’s notes to War and Peace… he specifically mentioned A&A as being his template for W&P, but he actually originally started work on Civil War version of A&A… he switched to Napoleonic Wars because he didn’t like the 1 vs 1 nature of the Civil War and that the A&A system didn’t really work well with only two belligerent sides for the whole game, so he switched to Napoleonic Europe for more belligerent nations to work with.
OMG …
So I am out of the loop for a few years while life gets busy, come back on here hoping for a new Axis & Allies game, and this is what they come up with?
… omg …
Well, if A&A survived Guadalcanal, it can survive this.
…first Metal Gear Survive and now this …
OMG …
So I am out of the loop for a few years while life gets busy, come back on here hoping for a new Axis & Allies game, and this is what they come up with?
… omg …
Well, if A&A survived Guadalcanal, it can survive this.
…first Metal Gear Survive and now this …
FWIW, I thought A&A survived Bulge…that game was…not good…
I had a lot of hopes and dreams for the possibility of A&A being continued without its legendary creator, but those were smashed with bloody zombies. Although I won’t be quitting A&A anytime soon, the lack of fresh appeal in the franchise is slowly taking away my game players. Alternate setups and house rules help but take too long to perfect to keep the less interested crowd from leaving after they’ve tried every strategy they wanted to.
I don’t get angry often or use such foul language but—
Fuck you WotC. Fuck you.
@Charles:
I had a lot of hopes and dreams for the possibility of A&A being continued without its legendary creator, but those were smashed with bloody zombies. Although I won’t be quitting A&A anytime soon, the lack of fresh appeal in the franchise is slowly taking away my game players. Alternate setups and house rules help but take too long to perfect to keep the less interested crowd from leaving after they’ve tried every strategy they wanted to.
I don’t get angry often or use such foul language but�
���� you WotC. ���� you.
You could try waiting to see what we actually get and how normal players actually react to this game before cursing WotC out. It’s a thought.
To me, the best part of this game is that the Zombies are completely optional. Nothing about this game requires you to put one (1) Zombie figure on the board, if that’s the way you and yours wish to play.
So let’s relax and wait to see how things actually turn out, for a change.
-Midnight_Reaper
@Charles:
I had a lot of hopes and dreams for the possibility of A&A being continued without its legendary creator, but those were smashed with bloody zombies. Although I won’t be quitting A&A anytime soon, the lack of fresh appeal in the franchise is slowly taking away my game players. Alternate setups and house rules help but take too long to perfect to keep the less interested crowd from leaving after they’ve tried every strategy they wanted to.
I don’t get angry often or use such foul language but�
���� you WotC. ���� you.
To be fair, G40 was Larry’s love letter to the fans and basically the peak of what Axis & Allies can be without becoming overly complicated (GW1936) or a proper War Game. I doubt the franchise is going to go in the “bigger and more in-depth” direction for a while, if ever again.
If bigger and more in-depth if what you want, we have an entire sub-forum for the Global War series, which is an evolution of A&A built to be more complex, with more nation-specific rules/details, special events (Spanish Civil War, US Entry into the war), etc. I’m not shilling or anything (I don’t own any GW products myself), but it might be the thing for you.
