Posts made by toblerone77

@TG:

I see everybody saying bombers were used to hurt enemy shipping… is there even any enemy shipping in Axis and Allies?

In the board game abstraction that we call A&A, the answer is Yes – they’re transports.

Were they used extensively in all out naval warfare, to the extent where they wouldn’t have been just an accessory to a fighter squadron but a significant force?

Yes.  One fine example would be the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse.  By bombers – and these were capital ships!

I don’t know, I always pictured the bombers in Axis and Allies as carpet-bombing land machines, not things that go after boats.

The problem with Axis and Allies is that the pieces can confuse people sometimes.  You look at the USA and UK and see B-29s and Lancasters.  These must be heavy bombers!  But then you look at Japan’s bomber and say, “That’s a Betty Bomber!”  These must be medium bombers!  That’s true.  And it’s also false.  Yes, those are the bombers represented in this game.  But also remember, these pieces are just abstractions and represent the bomber arm of air power as a whole.  So a more “correct” way of looking at it is each bomber represents a medium, light, or heavy bomber or perhaps a combination of all three.

Yup.

One thing to take into consideration is that ICs aren’t just production facilities they are also deployment Army/Navy Bases/HQs/ Ports/Shipyards. Like the ICs in EUSA also represent Westpoint, Quantico,VMI, etc. How you could somehow incorporate that into the game otherwise I’m not sure.

@tin_snips:

germany used bombers against allied shipping

Yup. Tin is absolutely correct the Germans used a relatively small ammount of Condor four-engined bombers in conjunction with the u-bootewaffe to attack shipping. The production of the Condor was small and they had chronic mechanical problems due to the fact that it was orginally designed as an airliner and had difficulty in dealing with the stresses of combat flying. That being said the low operational quantities played a big role.

1-A&A Series
2-Castlevania Series
3-SOCOM Series
4-Final Fantasy 6 (3 US)
5-Sim City (expect SC4 and Societies)

@Cmdr:

Possibly my resistance to Italy being it’s own nation is previous experience with people trying to make Axis and Allies with an Italian player.

I like to think my resistance is just the fact that there are not enough territories on the map to make Italy viable.  Possibly if France was divvied up into 4 territories with Germany owning the north and Italy owning the south “Vichy” area.

Also, why does Italy not start with Italian East Africa?  It’s ITALIAN East Africa after all!  Outside of Italy itself, you would think this would be the number two spot for Italy to start with! (Just based on the name alone.)

I don’t know.  I guess things might be a bit more interesting if:  Germany was worth 12 IPC, Italy was worth 8 IPC, an new territory was added to Southern France worth 3 IPC and starts Italian.  This would give Italy +5 IPC (and Germany +2 which I think it needs, not to mention the extra building capacity would really help them.)

All good points. I think this was done with the expectation that there would be a sixth player for Italy there by reducing some of the pressure of the german player.

As far Italian East Africa, that territory, if history serves me, was occupied in the 30’s (maybe 35’) and the UK had already forced Italy out of there before 41’.

If you added Vichy France you would have to add French naval units and compensate for all the French colonies.

LOL…stop putting bad ideas into my head Jenn… now I’m going to have to work on this senario and I’m runnning out of playing pieces. Actually I have six other colors of A&A compatible pieces from the Eagle Games Attack! series,

I like the Italians in the game. China to me looks like it could play an interesting role in this too. I just wish they would’ve made them a little bit more useful (i.e. China)

I think it really depends on what side you’re playing and what stage of the of the game you’re in. My tactic in the early stages as the US I like to use CV task forces to island hop. I haven’t played AA50 even though I just got it. I’m going to try incorporating cruisers more into the game. I think alot of folks are already writing them off whereas I think they may have some value as a ‘poor man’s’ battleship.

I personally think the US/Jap/Ger are ideal for the sub/bomber combo. Ger especially in the early stages. I think it’s essential for Ger to preserve it’s luftwaffe as much as possible in any version of the game.

I guess that’s why it’s AA50. It’s the 50,000th time that fighter’s been killed.

@Zero:

I paid the full retail price at my local gaming store. Why? Because if we don’t support places like that (with games going on at tables in back) there won’t be any more of them. I buy my WWII aircraft models at the local hobby shop too whenever possible for the same reason.

So I reserve the right to b*tch about my $100 game thank you. With special mention of the cheap-A$$ who decided to put 20 cents worth of plastic (instead of the maybe 25 cents worth we really need) inside all those fancy cardboard boxes (that we could do without.)

Hey… you might not have enough pieces/dice/chips to actually play the game but do just marvel at those matching printed boxes your reduced piece count comes in. IMO this is the epitome of penny wise/pound foolish.

I can easily come up something to hold units (I bought Guadalcanal too, 3 ziplock baggies - done.) But I can’t supplement units (ya know, because they won’t let you).

This crap where one nation gets 8 cruisers, one 6 and another 4 is total bs for a game that ok… “retails” for $100.

~ZP

Oh hell yes my brother!!! Preach it!!! I stil love it though.

@MP84:

Yea, 100 bucks…i make myself feel better by telling myself i supported the local board game shoppe.

LOL…actually That’s one reason I did. It does make me feel better. We used to have alot hobby/game shops around this area now there only like one that isn’t just a million baseball cards and like 10 copies of Risk.

@TG:

Marquis,

Thank you for your numbers.  They seem quite accurate.

toblerone77,

If Hasbro makes a billion dollars on GI Joe, and makes 800,000 on A&A50 and needs to cut costs, where do you think they’ll cut?

Neither.  Whether you have a product that makes $100 or $1000, why would you afford to cut either?  They’re still making you a profit?  I never saw a company cut costs by slashing something that already made them money.  Normally you cut the deadweight, the lines that put your company at a financial handicap (where people simply aren’t buying).  I guarantee if even the Wizards stories were making corporate even $1 in overall profit, they would still be open today.

About the mini’s.  I’ve think they’ve had their time and I wouldn’t be afraid to see them go.  They did what they were suppose to do, and I see no sense trying to prolong them after all’s said and done.

That’s a good point also, I’m just trying to point out that no franchise is invinceble or as huge as we may percieve. I used some of those examples to show that if you like something enough you should get it while you can.

A prime example for me is I collect RPG books. Some of them were very easy to find in the 90’s but by 2000 they were pretty much gone. Just WEG was announcing more SWRPG for the Phantom Menace WEG lost the license.

If your familiar with it, look up an e-bay a copy of Pirates and Privateers. Cha-ching!

That all depends on how fast you want to get it, and given the season now ain’t the fastest time to get it online.

I bought my copy at the closest gaming store I could find that actually had it in stock.

Yup I paid the hundred bucks.

Does anyone know how to get this? I’m having nothing but problems trying to get it work but some on here mentioned that they couldn’t either.

If anyone knows anything, info would be much appreciated.

Doh!!! I thought I had something brilliant.  :oops:

@Marquis:

This was in response to the same thread on the Avlone hill boards and I copied and pasted it here for this discussion too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nexus73 
What I am curious about is the true production number for AA50. The War Game: World War II was a 2000 unit production run and it still has yet to sell out.

You can’t compare “The War Game” to AA50. The war game is a self published product with little or no distribution chain. AA50 has the backing of Wotc, it’s distribution chain, the Axis & Allies brand name and Larry Harris. Yes the marketing for AA50 has been horrid but let’s look at some numbers:

In publishing, publishers price an item at 5 to 8 times the cost of the item. So if AA50 retails for $100.00 then it costs Wotc $12.50 to manufacture (100/8=12.50). They sell it to a wholesalers for 50% of retail, $50.00 and they make $37.50 (12.50-50=37.50) They give Larry his royalty say 10% of net or $5.00 taking their profit down to $32.50.

Now, I know that for the Minis they like to produce about 50,000 units. This is boxes of minis. So if we guess that they did half that for the AA50 game, which would be 25,000 then we take their profit $32.50 x 25,000 =$812,500. That’s a tidy sum. Now out of that has to come all the expenses of design, game testing etc. but these people are all full time and working on games any way so production of AA50 doesn’t effect the overall cost of running Wotc. After all they are in the business of making and selling games.

You’ll never get a real answer. In publishing, knowing how much to print is a very hard thing to judge and the information is closely kept.

This is my best guess.

I gladly paid $100.00 plus tax for the game.

What I’m saying is: Compared to EVERYTHING ELSE Hasbro makes; Avalon Hill, WotC, etc., is ‘chump change’.

In corporate market, in times of trouble, executives count how many forks are being used in the staff lounge. When retailers like Walmart buy cargo loads of and stocks pallets of other stuff Hasbro makes, A&A is like a minnow in an ocean.

I’m just trying to point out that buying a thousand copies of a game doesn’t save it from extinction and that it would be a good idea to buy an extra copy.

WotC used to have a chain of stores if we all remember, and now they’re gone, to save money. I’m not saying they shouldn’t. Just because most people on this site love the game doesn’t mean that A&A is profitable. Just because the license has changed hands several times doesn’t mean it’s amoney maker.

If Hasbro makes a billion dollars on GI Joe, and makes 800,000 on A&A50 and needs to cut costs, where do you think they’ll cut?

As popular as WotC was the stores were losing money and they cut them.

WotC has the Star Wars RPG license, (A big license) and product from that has been cut recently. All I’m saying is if you like A&A you should buy any A&A products while they’re around because in my opinion and observation they are likley to not be her in a cuople years.

I think they should’ve made Las Vegas a VC you could bet IPCs if you caputed it. And there should be an NO for the US called “Mafia Stomp.”

Here’s how it would work:

For every turn the US holds Las Vegas the Italian player must give 10 IPCs to the US player.

LOL……I heard this one just barely missed the cut during play testing…direct from LH :evil:

Has anyone thought about the AA50 rules concerning placement of units? What I’m getting at is the fact that you don’t have to place all of you units at the end of you turn. So has anyone thought of using this as an ambush kind of tactic? Especially with China?

I don’t know if I’m repeating old news but in the old days we used to do a ‘build-up round’ where everone got so many number of rounds to do nothing but non-combat, puchase and deployment. usually one or two rounds.

I’m sure it’s been mentioned somewhere around here but if there’s anyone who hasn’t thought or heard of it I thought I’d mention it.

The fact that Hasbro is a toy company and makes Its’ money on toys is a big reason.

In thier big picture A&A is just another toy. I’ve stated before that the AD&D minis game is going to the chopping block sometime in the next year or two.

The plastic components made for the A&A series are more than likely made in the same place in China if not the same factory. Toy production in China is a fraction this year of what it was in previous years due to consumers not buying.

Toys for Tots has also had a significantly lower donation rate as ro previous years. Last but not least is the cost of foriegn patrolleum which adds to Hasbro and it’s subsidiary Avalon Hill’s production cost.

I love A&A but walk into any major retailer and look for A&A products, you won’t find alot if any. That right there should tell you that the A&A line is a minor part of Hasbro.

Any parent looking for games for thier kids is most likely going to pull Risk or Battleship of the shelf at $20.00 before A&A at $40.00 (AAR) let alone $75.00-$100.00 (AA50). They’re going to say, “A hundred bucks for that ?” even if they understand what the game is.

Given the fact that the Chinese FIG is so limited, what can you really do with it?
If the it’s in a defensive role you’re going to have to have infantry stacked for it to survive. If you’ve got that kind of infantry then Japan is most likely going to have some pretty heavy combined arms up against the Chinese.

I guess it’s kind of a cool novelty to have Flying Tigers in the game but I don’t se a whole lot of use in it.