The War Game - Massive Axis and Allies Variant

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.

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?

This will never happen unless you buy 2 copies of the game yourself. I told you if you sit on the fence and wait for nation specific units… then you will wait forever…

And as i told you earlier and jeff… don’t sell any pieces separately until you recoup your original investment. He is going to follow this to defeat the people who think…" gee ill just do what i want anyway and wait for the pieces to be sold separately and get out of buying the game…"

I can promise you if i keep hearing this i will use all my power to make it never possible to buy “just the pieces”

Just buy the freeking game and get over it.

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.

Jeff is working on something for that. His original intention was to keep them out of the game and only allow the neutrals under German occupation to have any play.

The neutrals should have their own armies. I have some house rules for them and ill post that soon when the forum goes up.

I would stay away from advanced rules until you got your strategy down.

on the lend lease remember only USA can do it and they are limited to 1/3 of their total income… the first 15 IPC spend can be infantry but the 16th IPC onward must be ‘hardware’ —no infantry…

USA can play a strong role against Japan. Also, you have to keep the German and Italian navy ready to counter the allies as they approach Europe… keep buying those subs and destroyers.  USA can upgrade the factory in Alaska and build a huge 1 turn fleet to attack Japan. Watch that.

Get some more D12’s and use the long box to roll. Its perfect for a dice roller

I really think the game is a great value for what you get. Especially for such a small time company.

And now you also have nice tiger tanks for Bulge and for house games.