This post got moved over from a different thread.
@imperious-leader I’m not sure to what extent the team will feel empowered - or have the appetite - to revise things like rules etc. for the flagship games. They seem, at least right now, content to simply own and reprint the flagship IP while releasing only new entries into the (quite dated) family of “standalone satellite games”. This is after all the age of the timid ‘remake’, for better or for worse.
I would personally hope that we will see an even more revolutionary version of what @Black_Elk has recommended:
@black_elk said in Advice to Renegade! What is on your top 10 for adjustments to G40 3rd edition?:
So the Q was for Global 3rd Ed, but while we’re at it… I just got 3 to add
A legacy version of the base game (midscale board), that is simply called “Axis and Allies” ie don’t include a start date year or an edition number in the name for that one. It should present as the basic starter set. Provide unit set ups for a couple dates like AA50 did, but do that in the manual instead. The idea being that it’s easier to re-print or revise or download material for unit set ups in a manual than on cards/boxes. So you could do 1942 as the default, but also 1941 or 1943 say, just by referencing a page in the rulebook.
Axis and Allies Global - Sell it as a single complete game, rather than 2 separate theater games. For packaging maybe have 1 box be for the maps the cards and all the paper stuff, and then have units sold separately? I think the players that are most interested in the more advanced game just want G40, rather than Europe and Pacific 1940. By selling the sculpts separately there is less need to divide the boards by theater, and then it can build on the starter unit set included with the base “Axis and Allies” game mentioned above.
Include a small Art book/History of the Axis and Allies game and it’s creator, including the images from all the cover boxes and such. Legacy style! I just think that would be a nice touch and cool to see.
I would take this idea even further - a complete restructuring of the product line into a modern “base game + expansions” system with a basic tier (“Axis and Allies”) and then more complex and theater games layered on top of that. How many olive drab colored US bits does one A&A player need?? I have thousands of plastic bits across dozens of different color variations and decades of different injection molders, and tooling changes both major and minor… and I am by no means a “major collector” by the standards of some of the regulars here.
Instead, in 2024 maybe we could begin a new three-tier system, something like:
“Axis and Allies” (essentially, this would be AA41 or, even better, AAZ without zombies)
basic units (inf/art/tnk/ftr/bmr/sub/trn/dd/cv/bb)
simplified board with drawn-on infrastructure
Expansion 1: “Advanced” Axis and Allies
this expansion would, when combined with “Axis and Allies” above, create AA50 or AA50+. Contents:
bigger/more granular map; maybe add a minor power or two (Axis minors/Italy, etc.)
Set of new ‘basic’ units for the added power(s) only
New unit rules + sculpts: Cruisers, AAA units, ICs, etc. for all powers
This would not come with the basic pieces for the other powers
Expansion 2: Axis and Allies: “Global War”
this expansion would, when combined with the Base game and Expansion 1 above, create G40 or G40+. Contents:
even bigger/more granular map and add more minor powers
Sets of ‘basic’ and ‘advanced’ units for the added minor powers only
New unit rules and sculpts: Mech Inf, Tac bombers, Minor ICs, Bases, etc. for all powers
These three would be the “mainline” series, which would then be further extensible by at least three additional series:
A “Great Battles” product line that zooms in on battles of particular interest like Guadalcanal or the Bulge; or perhaps even whole theaters and regions like North Africa, the Eastern Front, or Operation Overlord and aftermath.
- These would use but not contain the “Basic” units, rather expanding upon them by adding only the missing needed bits for those battles, scenarios, or theaters. The trucks from Bulge or the Blockhouses from D-Day are examples of these; and these theater games could include rules for incorporating these additional units into the “Global” game as well.
A product line that adds rules, units, and complexity for the “Global” game. These would be “packs” of additional sculpts and units, with each including enough units to add a particular unit for every power or new rules for the Global game; adding things like Transport Planes, Heavy Tanks, Mobile Artillery, Oil/resource bits and rules, new maps and overlays, etc. This could even introduce goofy/fun shenanigans like a “Zombies” deck with zombie figures, or other bizarre and alternative scenarios.
A product line for aesthetic game/sculpt changes - blister-packs releases of special/interesting replacement sculpts for the given powers.
Very good comment. As I said before, RENEGADE, look here! BE and I talked about this in another location. I would add, alternative set ups, even mid game set ups from top tier players actual games. And of course, official house rules like rails, marines, additional or reduced national objectives and national advantages.
