The War Game - Massive Axis and Allies Variant

Can’t read all the IPC values so will withhold comment on that.

As a qualified gameboard surgeon the following issues have to be addressed:

I don’t think the equal Atlantic/Pacific anomaly is much of a problem.  At least the Atlantic is sufficiently wide to produce an interesting theatre, a big improvement on Revised.  The Pacific was largely empty of units, and if it was realistically larger it would discourage any significant Pacific action, already a problem in Revised.  Nevertheless it does look wrong, but not something that can be cured with acrylics.

I would:
add impassable zones of Amazon and Congo Basin
separate Algeria from Algerian desert
restore Sinai (and hence Suez canal) to Egypt
India needs major surgery to remove Pakistan and add sensible divisions
There are too many petty states in Africa
As IL has pointed out there are too FEW areas in western Russia; at the very least
add impassable (to armour) Pripet to southern Belarus
divide “Caucasus” n/s
divide “Central Russia” into 3; Moscow(west), North bordering Leningrad, and East between Moscow and Urals

They have impassible zones. The picture does not pick it up however. You have to roll to cross and if you fail you lose infantry. When you cheap people finally buy a copy you can add whatever zones you want and screw it up as you like.

I would add some western Russian zones. India needs to remain as one, when you play you will understand wh

Adlertag… if theirs anything i will ever say to you for your own good…PLEASE buy a copy… once you open the package you will thank me very much as i will make your year complete. This game is as close as possible in this moment to an advanced axis and allies game. Trust me.

Your true Heydrich.

Poor old India, the whipping boy of Axis and Allies maps.
A sub-continent which houses the second largest population on earth reduced to a measly single territory with a putrid 3 dollar value.
To make matters worse, a completely fictional slice is carved off from Sind, NW Province and Punjab and called “Pakistan”.

There’d BETTER be a damned good reason for doing this.  See my next map for further “comment” on the pestilent “Pakistan Syndrome”.

Sorry to sound negative about the game, generally I have to admit this is the best map I’ve seen (apart from my own, obviously).  But historical inaccuracies really bug me; why continue the error of having Sinai in Arabia?

The rules I like; something along the lines of the naval pass-through has been badly needed, and (although nit-picking nay-sayers claim the scale is wrong) a land based equivalent to replace the redundant blitzing rule is a logical addition; hence my 2-1 armour breakthrough rule.

Defender retreats
neutral armies
diplomacy
D12
separate air combat hit allocations
better national unit costs

many new ideas are used.

I am hoping to get this in time for my gameday on the 29th if I do I’ll give you all my “expert” opinion.  :-D

Im having lunch with jeff today. Ill tell him to try to send out his orders ASAP

LOL, tell him the one to Phoenix, the other ones can wait.  :-D

I know you don’t have the exact breakdown for units, but are the nations all the same, or are they realistically structured like AAR; e.g. loads of infantry and very few battleships and bombers for Russia and China?

Of course some nations have different amounts of certain types of units. China,Soviets,and france have less naval. I don’t have exact breakdown… buy a copy of the game and count to your content.

I own 2 copies and i suggest everybody buy the extra one so they use those pieces for other games and have still one original set. $200.00 is a drop in the bucket.

But I have to pay to get it shipped over the duck pond.  Depending on exchange rates, that can DOUBLE the price.

Plus I have to take out insurance against U-boat sinkings.

ask or email them how much that will be. Tell them “Imperious Leader said give me a discount.”

@Imperious:

Im having lunch with jeff today. Ill tell him to try to send out his orders ASAP

Well yo ueither hooked me up or Jeff is just a good guy, I got it yesterday and will be setting it up for a full house on Sunday.

OK hers a few pointers:

if your Germany you must attack Egypt and Caucasus on turn one. Each turn after you try to grab one additional territory. You must build ships every turn or the allied power will mess you up quick. Finish off Russia by about 5 turns… doing this does not mean victory… the allies often still win eventually.

if your japan you must attack Peking on turn one. Also you should take out the US fleet, but advanced players have other options. Try to keep the fleet balance with USA and Japan. If Japan gets in a hole their game goes bad.

Read and reread the rules many times … if your doing something incorrectly it will dramatically alter the result.

dont forget to tell the defender to make retreat declarations at the start of each turn.

the site has a few player aids to keep track of Lend lease which can be tricky.

Since your giving tips for axis play can I assume that the odds are in favor of the allies?

not really, but i figured you as an ‘axis’ type of player.

The options for the allies don’t require any ‘very necessary’ types of moves because they get killed in the beginning.

Well I do lean a bit axis, agressive tendancies… :D

I’ll let you know how it goes on monday.

was my post deleted ?

no i see its right above mine

More questions about the unit pieces; will they be available per country, or just as a complete set?

And is there any chance we can order them in custom colours, for example Japanese doods in white?  Or maybe in “singed tangerine” for incorporation into A&A standard games?

I want Chinese Nationalists in poached Turquoise, damnit!

We played The War Game yesterday for the first time.  Over all I am highly satisfied.  We set up a five player game, I drew Germany.  My first impression was that is was overwhelmingly complex.  After a turn or two with major mistakes I settled in.  On round one I lost France and almost lost my capital, due to extremely rapid expansion and getting used to the purchasing process.  Fortunately I recovered quickly from that.  The eastern front was a slugfest, with Russia coming out marginally better.  This was due primarily to massive amounts of lend lease.  The up side, if any, was that America played a very minor roll in Europe/Africa.  And when they did show up it was weak and late.  I was able to turn a drawn out marginal defeat into a spectacular long drawn out toss up, by invading Britain in a surprise sealion that left the allies with little to no counter.  I will post pic later.  Based on this game I have some comments:

1. I can’t say enough about the map.  The size is spectacular.  The number and layout of the territories make for an intense complicated game.  It is easy to get blindsided and at first it was almost overwhelming.
2. Easily playable for 6 or even 7 people.  Italy is individually playable and Germany can use the extra eyes on Europe.  China surprisingly looks playable to me.  With Generals and the Infantry placement rules China can actually fight back.
3. The income collection puts a stop to trading dead zones.  If you don’t keep it for a turn you don’t get paid.  There are some loopholes with allied assistance but overall a great improvement.
4. The addition of defensive retreat wasn’t used much, but I think that with experience it would be used more and it’s and interesting option.
5. Using Generals was a blast, and really added something to the game by giving players the ability to emphasize key battles and territories.
6. Naval pass through make it possible to be even sneakier and we had fun with it.
7. Artillery, holy crap artillery is awesome in this game.  Artillery can target air and really changes the dynamic of battles.  Fighters end up being used much more cautiously.
8. Naval build strats are quite different.  Aircraft carriers are not as dominant as before and destroyers are a great unit.  Battleships as well may actually be considered for purchase.
9. I do not care for the Neutral rules.  I will be playing a couple more games to be sure, but I will probably go to a system of Armies for neutrals.  I prefer something similar to the system in World at War.
10. Bombers in the base rules are very nice and I anticipate the allies particularly US making more Bombers in future games.  We need more games before I start using the advanced rules.
11. The potential lend lease to Russia is really tough for Germany to overcome.  But this bears more study.

I am no expert yet, but I can try to answer questions and offer oppinions on how the rules work and playability.