Axis & Allies 1914: Round Robin

@jim010

@barnee said in How much complexity do you want in your Axis games?:

I prefer a base game with a lot of optional rules or scenarios or both.

yea, so the base game would acomplish what Roger prefers and the optional rules and scenarios would be for people who want a more in depth game.

It does both.

From the time we played online at the legendary “Game Table Online (GTO)”, I have kept some file documents of the bids we made at the beginning of the matches. These are actually Custom Setups. Here is the pdf files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/80ejfkvzh7f57fv/A%26A Custom setups.pdf?dl=0

Axis & Allies Custom Setup:
WHAT: As an alternative to the traditional beginning set-up for the game, bidding allows you an optional supplement to a country’s normal starting position. This supplement can be units and/or IPC’s. Bidding is done before play begins. In multi-player games you are also bidding to select a side with the winning bidder generally selecting his partner from those remaining [see recommendations below].

REVISED AXIS & ALLIES: You are bidding to play the AXIS side. Players may start with any bid from the list that follows. Subsequent bids can be made by any other player for any amount that is of less advantage to the axis [further below on the list] than the the current bid. Bidding ends when no one is willing to take a bid of less advantage than the current bid. That winning bidder is an Axis player. If you make an Allied bid, you are still bidding to be Axis, but you are giving those extra units or IPCs to your opponents.

AXIS & ALLIES 1942: You are bidding to be the ALLIED side. Players may start with any bid from the list that follows. Subsequent bids can be made by any other player for any amount that is of less advantage to the allies [further above on the list] than the the current bid. Bidding ends when no one is willing to take a bid of less advantage than the current bid. That winning bidder is an Allied player. If you make an Axis bid, you are still bidding to be Allies, but you are giving those extra units or IPCs to your opponents.

Here is a list of the custom setups you can select in the table:

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REVISED EXAMPLE: One player starts the bidding with the number of extra IPCs worth of units he will accept to play the Axis. Then if another players thinks he can do better with less, he’ll bid lower. The players continue alternating bids until no one wishes to go lower. Unless agreed otherwise a Japanese bid is lower than a German bid for the same amount.

For example in REVISED Axis & Allied bidding if Erwin and Winston are playing bidding might go like:

Erwin: “I’ll play Germany +9”. That means he’s willing to take the Axis countries with 9 extra IPCs worth of gear to start the game with.
Winston then says: “I’ll play Japan +9.”
Erwin then counters with: “Germany +8.”
Winston says, “fine… you play Axis.”

So now Erwin gets to start with 8 extra IPCs worth of troops for Germany. Per the list this would mean: an extra tank and infantry in Africa at the beginning of the game.

Note in Axis & Allies 1942 bidding procedes in the opposite direction.

RECOMMENDATION: If players are NOT at similar experience levels - DON’T let bidding decide teams. Especially in 2 vs 2 team games it is recommended that you select partners FIRST and THEN bid. This will avoid the situation where 2 very experienced players are paired against 2 less experienced players and make for more competitive game play.Custom setup in Axis & Allies Revised & Spring 1942 Custom setup in Axis & Allies Revised & Spring 1942

@nolimit Really looking forward to play Classic Axis and Allies game with these expansions. Keep you updated.

And to all:

What would you have liked to be included in such an official expansion back then? (Had Hasbro/MB released one.)

@jesse144 I don’t know about Football or whomever “John Boyd” is. Clausewitz is the real genius and to read his book is to profit from real military wisdom. You can believe that.

Thats a pretty general question, and I assume the answer varies depending on which WWII board game you are playing. I personally can’t speak regarding other games (Global War 1936, War Room, Triumph and Tradgedy)… I can only speak about my experience with various versions of axis and allies.
Most of the axis and allies variant games I played this year lasted very long (7 or more full rounds) and were fought to a stalemate, with the axis player eventually conceding that they were going to lose in the long-run.
The original classic A&A, revised A&A, and A&A europe 1940 2nd edition often seem to boil down to this: If axis powers take moscow, the game is pretty much over. If the allies conquer either Berlin or Tokyo, the game is pretty much over. Its rarely necessary to continue once either of those conditions is met, because the income bonus and momentum is hard to overcome.
I would say that most games I play end in less than 10 rounds.

Winston Churchill Quotes
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

@Karl7:

@CWO:

@Narvik:

Pacific 2001 was the first game with convoy zones, naval bases and air bases, and my favorite, the CAP, Combat Air Patrol, the current scrambling is by far not that good.

Another novel feature of the original Pacific game was that it came with two types of American infantry units (regular infantry and Marines, represented by one sculpt model in two different shades of green) and two American fighter units represented by two different sculpts (though their cost and characteristics in the rules were identical).

And don’t forget the sheer number of bright red toys you got to play with as Japan!

Or that crazy J1 turn where you had to try to get in as many attacks in as possible while your opponents were defending at 1.

Ahhhh, the memories….

Also, don’t forget the unique victory condition. Could result in real cliffhanger games–the US bombing Japan trying to claw back the VC points while Japan tries to hold on/capture India.