Axis & Allies Anniversary upgraded version

Thank you for sending the map to my printer. I have been testing scenarios out with my A&A using my 1942 second edition. I just have been using sticky note paper to mark my Italian territories. I used the game pieces from my anniversary addition for the Italian pieces. I also added have tracks: cost is IPC 5. Attack 2, defend 2 as tanks cost 6 IPC in this version. Its nice to spend 5 IPC on an actual unit other than an AA gun. No artillery bonus on half track in this version
I also added the recruitment center from zombies.
Please see the chart below
MOBILIZATION ZONE
UNIT STATS COST MOVE ATTACK DEFENSE
LAND UNITS
INFANTRY 3 1 1 2
ARTILLERY 4 1 2 2
HALF TRACK 5 2 2 2
TANK 6 2 3 3
ANTIAIRCRAFT ARTILLERY 5 1 0 1
RECRUITMENT CENTER 10 0 0 0
INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX 15 0 0 0

My group has taken the ultimate step that many on this and other sites are loathe to do. We have unified turns, 1:Axis 2:Allies. We mainly play a modded AA50 with slightly (5-10) more territories. This greatly increases the speed and playability for several reasons.

Positives
Firstly, the vast majority of the engagements can be done simultaneously without any real issues.

Everyone can purchase simultaneously, and if you are not particularly a-retentive some people can finish their purchasing while others are moving forward with their attack declaring, but please make sure all attacks are declared before any attacks begin, to easy to start conflict there with meant-to/didn’t-do.

The most important factor in time improvement is not the actual simultaneity of the turn but that every turn, every round, attack and defense, involves every player. No one is bored (US/USSR) for turn after turn of waiting to do anything. This engagement greatly increases the camaraderie (heh) and the pressure of the turn. Everyone’s attention is focused. We REGULARLY complete our AA50 to a satisfying surrender in about 3 hours. In fact most of us have young kiddos so we don’t really have a choice.

Another useful point is that if someone brings an uninterested significant other or newbie, Italy makes a great and dynamic option when coordinating with an expert playing Germany. I find that scheduling is one of the hardest issues with getting a group together and perhaps one of the main reasons you would want a shorter game.

Counter points/Solutions
No 1/2 punches with Italy/Germany or UK/US. This might be a bigger problem on Global but I do not feel that it is an issue in AA50. To correct this we use some special rules including a reserved 2nd attack round for unused armies that want to attempt a blitz through/drop past a recently conquered territory or Sea Zone.

Massed Allied navies, especially in Europe. Haven’t really figured this one out, but it is historically accurate and axis can usually get the allies to a surrender point without Operation Sealion anyway. Massed navies is one of the reasons we support the 7/0 Transport rule in the recent editions over the 8/1 of the old editions.

Starting positions for UK and USSR. Since Axis will move collectively ahead of them, USSR and UK might need a little tweaking in the setup. I usually move some of UK’s Pacific/Indian navies one space further from J1. Additionally we give a territory or two to USSR to absorb the assault of G1.

Conclusion
I feel like if you really want to make A&A work for you, it can. It just might take a little more willpower in working through and agreeing to some compromises on OOB rules.

P.S. It always helps if the scheduling problem is with other people, you be the one to set up ahead of time. I always end up falling on that sword.

@AlphaKappa:

That is so helpful!  Thank you for the analysis!

It was my pleasure. A chance to pull out my games and admire them? If I must…  :-D

@AlphaKappa:

It’s too bad Avalon Hill didn’t print the new Anniversary Edition in the same colors as Europe '40 Second Edition.  I really like the lighter shade of those Italian pieces because they’re easier to distinguish from Soviet red-brown.

To be fair to Hasbro/WotC/Avalon Hill, all they promised was a re-print. And to a large degree, that is what the New A&A Anniversary edition was: a straight up re-print of the original go at things. Were there differences between the two prints? Of course there were. Were all of those changes for the better? I don’t think so, no. I especially wish they had kept the US F6F Hellcat fighters but instead we got more P-38 Lightnings. But overall, it was probably as faithful as they could do and a long shot better than either 1) not doing it at all (what a pity that would have been) or 2) just phoning it in and wholesale dumping all of the right pieces from A&A 42 and A&A Europe 40.1 Italy.

Instead, we got the original Anniversary Edition Italian tank, the M14/41. We got the Italian brown Japanese Betty bombers and Type 92 Howitzers (artillery). And they put them into a shade about as close as to the shade of the original Anniversary Edition Italians as they were going to get from two print runs separated by 9 years. And that meant that we got a bunch of Italian brown German ships and fighters. But we got a re-print of a game I didn’t think was ever coming back.

And for that, I don’t mind dark brown Italians. Even if I would have rather gotten the F6Fs and the Maroon UK Country class cruisers, I’m happy with what we did get.

-Midnight_Reaper

@CWO:

@Drfrozenfire:

I’m going to probably print a large transparency map based on the board I’ve been designing based on satellite imagery that is in some serious high definition.

If you’ll be using satellite imagery as the basis for your map, will you be keeping the real-world proportions of the land masses and oceans?  The Global 1940 game map, for practical game play purposes, distorts both the size and the shape of various geographic areas.

No, I’ve taken the satellite images and enlarged certain areas so that there is room in places like Europe for the large scale of battle that often takes place there. When I’m done with the map file, I’ll post it here if you’re interested

When I painted my units, I had issues with Britain, I originally made 2 schemes, then decided I only wanted the tan, not green… On my painting, I used a combo of lacquer Enamel and acrylic, it was at the enamel stage, but I soaked them in paint thinner (in all preparation to consider them toast and order new units)… but they came clean, they soaked for 10 min or so, and I used my tooth brush (yes mine lol, bristle’s turned green, and yes, I still use it, the green faded away HAHA) to scrub away the paint film.

@dazzaman77
Can you email me at trisdin@younggrasshopper.org

It does fit, u place the two pices on top of eachother (they are only 40 mm high, the man board is 50 mm outside = 42 mm inside). The space is 600x800x84 when folded, the two pices on top of eachother are 500x600x80. That leaves a 300x600x80 space and my plan there is to make box of wood or paper to store units, dices etc!  :-D

@sgtwiltan:

It’s really too bad you didn’t make the side piece so that it would fit into the inner portion of the main board where the map is.
You could even make a simple cover to keep the pieces inside from falling out all over the place. It’s a great idea you have there though.

@aaronimpulse:

Should have tried to sneak the maple leaf in there somewhere!

Like most artists, the obvious often evades me. Next version I will definitely do that.

Yrs.,
R.