Posts made by Wolfshanze

Nah, you don’t get the point of this dice tray.

You don’t leave it on top of the board 24/7 while you play… this is for people with cramped spaces and/or tables that don’t have room to either roll dice or put a proper dice tray to the side of the board (like your board takes up ALL your table space and there’s no room to put a dice tray down without messing up your playing pieces).

You play the game as normal, when it comes time to roll dice (presumably you’re not moving pieces at the same time you’re rolling dice), you put this down ON your playing board (that you couldn’t do with a traditional dice tray), and you roll away without either knocking down your pieces or having to shove stuff around to make room for your dice tray. This can just easily be placed down on top of an active board and roll your dice without knocking stuff over. You’d then take the tray back off the board when you resume moving pieces around… this tray is really to help people with cramped/limited game surface to play on, and its only on the board when you need to roll (which presumably is not all the time).

You obviously have tons of space in and/or around your table for a dice tray… that’s great, this is not for you… but if you have ever played where your board takes up your entire playing surface, you’d get the point of this dice tray pretty quick!

And no, I don’t have one, not advertising for them, but I saw the very unique niche this tray would fill and thought I’d put it out there… anyone with the problem this tray solves would recognize it for what it is right away.

You might as well be asking the same thing about the land spaces… many of which are representative of a country or territory, not of an actual “one-territory=x-number of miles” formula.

Axis and allies is not meant to be a historically accurate hardcore realistic wargame… it’s a beer and pretzels casual game… and nomatter what anyone tells you about anything from A&A 1941 to A&A 1940 Global, it’s still a casual wargame-light.

If you want something more hardcore, that has more set ranges and realistic limitations, try smaller scale wargames (usually the kind with cardboard counters), or something like Avalon Hills Third Reich game… be careful what you’re asking for, cuz too much realism can suck the fun right out of a game… something on the scale of Axis and Allies, and the target of a fun easy game isn’t meant to be counting off fuel supplies and realistic operational ranges… that’s not the intent of a game like Axis and Allies.

I saw this rather interesting Dice Tray today… looks like you’ll probably have to get it off Etsy, but you can do a google search… its a bit pricey, but damn, it looks good and what a novel concept… its see-through and elevated above your playing surface… people with crafting skills could probably even make their own.

Anyways, check out the Dice Shield… (and no I don’t have one, just thought i’d share something that looks cool).

I can’t either… I’m down I-10 from you, and when you can’t find players in Houston, it makes me nervous about Pensacola!

Everything in the pics looks awesome… the miniatures, the 3D map, even the unit trays (with the little swords… how do I grab a piece without slicing my finger off?!?).

Having said that…

If/when this game goes commercial, its either going to be super-crazy expensive (the miniatures, the 3D map and unit trays with little swords), or what we’re seeing in the pictures is not what we’d be getting (a much cheaper board, cardboard counters instead of miniatures, much simpler unit trays or ziplock bags?).

What’s in the pictures is TRUELY a work of art and a lot of love… but works of art and a lot of love is hard to mass produce at cost effectiveness… So will the final version indeed be what we see in the pictures (if so, this must be very expensive), or will there be cost cutting measures put in to make it more affordable to the marketplace?

How will the final product compare with what we’re seeing in the above pictures?

@LHoffman:

I like the round felt dice tray. Most people use the rectangular ones but for some reason I really like the round one.

Ya, I really like the round one too… if you like it that much, the one I have is currently being sold on Amazon.com brand new.  I’ve only had mine for a few months.

@LHoffman:

Battle boards… eh, never cared for those and never used them. I know some people do though. Nice that you printed a custom one though.

I can skip them personally, but you have to remember, I’m in an Axis and Allies void where I live… I’m going to have to teach everyone how to play the game. Having said that, I think Battle Boards help newbies to the genre a better grasp of the unit values and how the attack rounds work.  After you become a vet and know the values by heart, they’re skippable… but like I said, I had one made to help with training new people to the game… and I think the battle strips that come with the new games are terrible.  Hence, I went with a custom board.

Just tossing this out there… was thinking how the only OOB sculpts for Germany is either Tigers or Panthers… as has been discussed before, while HBG does offer a Pz-III sculpt, its’ pretty small in comparison to OOB tanks (obviously a personal preference as to if that bothers you or not).

Has anyone put much/any thought into the A&A Classic (1984) default tank model used for all nations… I know the track wheels aren’t right, but the hull and turret shape remind me a lot of a Pz-III (or maybe a snub Pz-IV). Slap a coat of black paint on them and they become OOB(ish) early war Panzers for Germany in the current 2nd Edition games?

I dunno, just tossing that out there, what do you guys think?

@Karl7:

Otherwise, I tend to agree AH is done w/AA. Larry seems to have moved on.

Ya, and I get back into it after missing the last 30 years of A&A, and now Avalon Hill seems done with the franchise… oh well, I’m stocking up plenty of units and making extra maps!

Maps are great… I will be printing one soon… aside from the size difference and the double/triple border between territories, I see the “5th” file differs by having the Mobilization box in the South Pacific (bottom right of map), while the other four have the Mobilization box in the South Atlantic.

1941 OOB map defaults to a Mobilization box in the South Atlantic while 1942SE OOB map defaults with the Mobilization box in the South Pacific… after reading this thread, its clear the first four files were made with it in the South Atlantic, and the 5th map, with it in the South Pacific was made per request to put it back in the OOB position.

Aside from personal preference I guess… is there any rime or reason one is better than the other?  Or is it really just a personal preference thing.  Even OOB maps have it in both places (1941 vs 1942).

@CWO:

In fairness, so were most of the Imperial Stormtroopers in that spectacular scene in Return of the Jedi when the Emperor arrives at the Death Star, where a very large guard of honour is waiting for him.

I’m sure the Emperor said “I’m only going to ask this once, are there any exhaust ports that lead directly to the main reactor on this new Death Star?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdukWtJwlPU

@MagnuZealot:

You could always make a portable top to put on your regular table. If you have storage space.

Ya, I’ve located my largest useable playing surface (my kitchen island is far bigger than my kitchen table, it has space around it, and I scored four nice barstools for it)… so that’s my playing surface for when/if I find some opponents… now as for the map(s) themselves, since the kitchen island is definitely only a temporary surface for gaming, I’m debating between a roll-out vinyl map, or hard mounting the map to something perhaps hangable on a wall when not in use, and laying it flat on the kitchen island for gaming.  Still not sure which direction to go, but I’m probably leaning just a rollout… unless the corners not sitting flat starts to bug me a lot.

@Imperious:

Its just a soapbox of the same ideas that is brought up in virtually every single thread regardless if said thread has any relevance to these topics. Its been going on for years and is pretty funny actually.

Ya… Kurt and Colt… some people you just have to let them talk… nothing you can say otherwise.  :-P

Not really expecting a response, but I can at least say I tried… would like some face to face Axis and Allies play (not interested in Online)… I have 1941 and 1942SE and time for either… so, if you’re in the area and are interested (or are crazy enough to travel all the way to Pensacola from any part of the earth, just to get destroyed), lemme know.

There… I tried… let the dust begin to collect…

Every Imperial officer of the Empire in the Star Wars franchise… British… we always knew you guys were evil.

When did Batman become British?

@Krieghund:

AAA units defend only against attacks on combat units.  They do not participate in SBRs.

Ok thanks… thats what I thought, just wanted to make sure.

I know factories defend like AA in Strategic Bombing Runs (SBR)… I know AAA defend against aircraft in ground combat… does AAA ground units and Factory AA both defend together against SBRs?

Say if I have three bombers doing an SBR against a factory that is just the factory and a AAA unit in the territory… would the defender roll 6 dice against my bombers (three for the factory and three for the AAA), or would he just roll 3 total (for the factory) because the AAA unit does not participate in the defense of factories in SBRs?  Just a little confused on that.

Actual shortcut to the FAQ (instead of clicking through 20 pages):
http://media.wizards.com/2015/faq/AA_1942_2nd_Edition_FAQ.pdf

Besides the fact they were obviously playing A&A (to fans of the game) and mentioned “teams”, did any of the cast actually call out the game by name on the episode… did anyone say “Axis and Allies” in that episode?  If not, the potential increase in awareness would have been mostly lost.  For example, the Settlers of Cataan episode is fairly famous and there’s much actual playing of the game in the episode and explaining of the rules… an episode like that for A&A would have been great, but I can’t seem to find any video links or mentions of it anywhere other than on this forum.

@Black_Elk:

It’s just unreasonable to expect that most people will be able to drop a couple hundred dollars on a board game that requires an 8 foot table’s worth of surface area (or more) to play on comfortably. And then to have that version become outdated within a year or two, just makes it even less likely that all the potential players are on the same page.

Unfortunately, it would only become outdated in a year or two if they kept making more versions of Axis and Allies (ie: 3rd edition)… but I think its been made pretty clear they don’t seem interested in making another Axis and Allies (at least not a WWII version).

@Black_Elk:

My hope is for one final Legacy Edition of A&A, with enough staying power that it can be kept in print indefinitely, the way most other successful boardgames are. If the core game until this point has not been dynamic enough to remain enjoyable over time, such that all these different editions are necessary, then more dynamism should be built into the core game/rules.

That would be nice… something like a final Edition that is a little closer to Anniversary would be nice, but like I mentioned above, I don’t think they have plans for more… I think the current lineup is meant to be more a final version whether or not they said it in plain english… they have a learners version (41), a mainstream version (42) and a hardcore version (40)… I think its’ a little excessive, but it seems to be the way they want to leave it.

@Black_Elk:

I don’t see for example, why a game like 1941, or 1942 couldn’t have a dozen different set up cards for each nation. So you could get a dozen “official” games out of the same map, instead of just one. Or similarly, why those same games couldn’t have a set of optional/suggested expansion rules included in the manual.

They could definitely do more… 1941 as it stands is waaaay too static, even for a learners version… I felt after my first play of 1941 that the money constraints were too strict, and even my kids who have never played before wanted to spend more… I think they went a little draconian on the money limitations which is a shame, because 1941 could do a lot more with a little more cash flow… and yes, varied setups would be nice.

It is what it is… i’m no expert on what they plan on doing with the line, but from the research and articles i’ve read, they don’t seem interested in doing more with the lineup… at least not WWII.  I’d LOVE to be proven wrong… but it is what it is.  Its just one more reason why i’m stocking up so much in extra units and downloading map files before things (potentially) dry up if the company stops supporting it… i’d like to at least be covered for the next 30 years! lol.