Posts made by zooooma

There is now!

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41546

These are my solid top three in order:

• Axis and Allies (including all strategy level games with AA50 being the best)

• Titan

• Diplomacy (Including Colonial Diplomacy)

Picking my next two is less certain, but this sounds about right:

• Cosmic Encounter (FFG version best)

• Supremacy (with most of the expansions, but usually no Miniatures Of War, Officers, Mega Map, or Strategic High Tech)

Bridge and Texas Hold 'em for honourable mentions.

@captainjack:

1. A victory condition stipulating that Axis wins if they control all at-start European and Pacific VC plus Leningrad, Calcutta, Sydney and Honolulu.

That doesn’t promote the Pacific theatre at all.  Allies play KGF, Europe falls, Russia holds, Japan is toast and the concedes.  Even if the only victory condition for the Allies is to occupy Japan, the Allies will still play KGF!  It’s the surest way to (eventually) winning the Pacific theatre.

I’d like more incentive for Japan in the Pacific.  Make the West coast harder to defend.  An extra space in Canada would help.

@captainjack:

2. A changed IPC allocation: take IPCs from Africa in UK’s case and Latin America in America’s and put them in the Pacific. For example: India & Australia at ‘4’, Burma at ‘3’, Phillippines at ‘4’, Hawaii at ‘3’ and Wake+Midway+Solomons at ‘1’ each should really change things. Africa could have fewer territories and Mexico, Panama and Brazil be reduced in value.

This is the right line of thinking - more income in the Pacific.  Money and factories in that area will encourage both sides to fight for it.

Also make it harder to KGF.  Maybe another space between USA and Africa.  Give Germany more U-boats to start, close to US waters.

@captainjack:

3. Nothing   (This will probably be my vote.)

I’m sure an attempt will be made.

@Lynxes:

I’ve been intrigued by a shorter and quicker A&A game…

We hope this will be shorter and quicker - mostly to give us a reason to play it sometimes instead of the most likely superior AA50.  However, we don’t yet know that it plays quicker.  that’s a hope.

@Adlertag:

HOW TO PROMOTE A PACIFIC THEATER

1. Ships must cost less.

2. More VC’s in the Pacific

3. Convoy zones in the Pacific.

Well that would do it!  But I seriously doubt they’ll use convoy boxes after omitting them from the more advanced AA50.  It’s too bad they gave up on those.  :(

The VCs could help, but only if they actually make them meaningful.  If the VC conditions for winning are so high that world domination is by then a given, then the cities are meaningless.  You may as well play for world domination.  Minor victory in revised was the only scenario wherein you could win by cities but not have a complete lock on the rest of the board (and this is the scenario nobody played).

Factories in Hawaii and Australia (and maybe Philippines) would help, as well as more money generated in the islands.

@LuckyDay:

Can we get a new forum setup for AA Candyland, that should be awesome and sign me up for 3 copies!  Ah heck, with Christmas coming up, better make it 5…

That game’s basically the same as Hungry Hungry Hitler.  I wouldn’t bother.

@smo63:

IL, PLEASE do not make assumptions that, this is a good representation of what the new 42 board would look like.

That map looks a lot like a homemade version of World At war by Xeno games.  I think the link was posted as a joke.

@Romulus:

Some weeks ago I was accused of being too much lucky in a TripleA LL games becuse my dice hits more than the expected average…

Ironically LL can be more luck because fewer dice are tossed.  Standard deviation is higher in a smaller sized sample.  :P

@bugoo:

Ok here is the thing, it all depends what you want out of the game.

Dice players want a more ‘beer and pretzels’ type game, where the chaotic elements are seen as a positive as it keeps the game ‘interesting’ and more ‘fun’.  Kind of a casual serious game.

LL players want the pure competition, minimized chaotic elements, where risk management is a factor, but luck does not win the game.  They want the satisfaction of winning or loosing based soley upon there decisions, not the dice.

This is why Robin started this thread.  Not to say he prefers regular A&A, or to say it’s better.  Rather to defend it against the attitude that LL is somehow a more strategic game.

His main point is what he calls risk management.  In A&A, you must carefully weigh the desire to protect yourself from disaster (by playing cautiously) with the benefits you can achieve by stretching or even skimping (such benefits include efficiency, accomplishing more, and causing disaster for your enemies).

This element arises constantly in your A&A decisions.  Finding the acceptable success rate for a battle is a very tricky, highly strategic activity.  You must decide how bad it will be if it goes wrong vs how good it will be to scrimp and save forces (which cannot be perfectly quantified, btw) and compare that ratio to the actual success rate, and contrast that result with the same analysis for a more or less risky alternative.  Not a lot of people can make these decisions well.

Also the correct strategy in LL is often very different than in standard.  See my post directly above.  This is contrary to another common misconception regarding LL.

@HolKann:

Why would risk management be the aspect that defines A&A? Imho, it is not. To me, A&A is defined by its strategic character, giving you the feeling like you are a WW2 general trying to outwit the enemy.

A WWII general had less reliable means of predicting battle outcomes than in standard A&A.  LL, being more reliably predictable, is less like being a real general.

@HolKann:

The method of getting battles resolved is simply less important to me. I would even be fine with a no luck system since this would not take away the strategic aspect of the game.

Extrapolating the likely results of combat is at the heart of A&A strategy - LL or otherwise.

@HolKann:

If you really think risk management is the “soul” of A&A, go poker.

The key element in Poker is hidden information, not randomness.  Psychology is the soul of that game.  This means the ability to interpret your opponents’ bets, check, and raises as well as to predict how they will interpret and respond to yours.

There is no secret information in A&A, and hence nothing like the above elements.  Poker is better likened to bridge.

@HolKann:

Change the word “strategy” by “tactics” and I’ll agree. The strategies in LL are EXACTLY the same as in ADS. Only some tactical tricks are not.

In regular A&A, it is often the right strategy to make a battle when you are a slight underdog.  And not only when you are losing and need a break to catch up! (Though those situations have interesting and valid strategic repercussions too).

You could also be strategically correct to enter two battles both as underdogs when it is only important for you to win one of those battles.  If you are a forty per cent underdog in two battles, you are actually a sixty four per cent favorite to win at least one of those.  In LL you will lose both every time.  It is fair to say that strategy is affected.

Tactical effects would be such as this:

An attacker does not generally need as favorable odds for the battle as the defender, because the attacker can pull out if things go bad.  In this way a 50/50 battle  actually favours the attacker, as may even a battle which would slightly favour the defender were it a fight to the death.  In LL this is less a factor.

The tactics of strafe attacks becomes stronger in LL.  (I don’t think this is an improvement though, as strafing used to be a hard decision.  With the risk removed, it is an easier decision).

@Imperious:

i found this picture of the game. I don’t know if its the final map but it looks close.

http://redcoat668.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/axis08-001.jpg

That game looks like it has French forces and IPC values in neutral territories.

I have two copies, one unopened.  I’ve already added chips and Japanese flags from older versions, so I really only need it for possibly more Italians (I think there are plenty of cruisers) and for eventual replacement once I’ve worn my copy into dust.

I have no plans to sell it.  It’s for playing.

They can’t reprint AA50 because it’s no longer the 50th anniversary of AH.  IF they reprint it, they would have to call it something different, say A&A: Deluxe.  If they give it a different name, they will want to modify it at least slightly.  Lest they upset anyone who buys it thinking it’s new.  I imagine the absolute soonest we can expect a new deluxe edition would be 2014 - A&A’s thirtieth.

@Imperious:

preorder it for $25 bucks. Thats a drop in the bucket. I spend that just walking downstairs.

That’s hilarious IL!  Where do you preorder for $25?

This is happening in a game my Father is playing.  I thought you’d all enjoy the scenario:

There is a large stack of German armor occupying Karelia.  These tanks can attack Moscow on the next German turn.  England sends a suicide force against Karelia in order to weaken the German army and take pressure of Russia.

Here’s the twist.  Russia can hold out against those tanks (for the time being) without British interference.  In fact England is not attacking Karelia to save Moscow, but rather to take pressure of the Russians so they can spare a small force to attack Transjordan, locking the canal so that Japan can’t sail into the Mediterranean and prevent USA from capturing Italy!

This exchange involves all six world powers.  It is the most awesome thing I have ever heard!  Just thought I’d share.  ;)

I have aa50 (two copies) and Italy is my favorite addition.  That said, I will still buy and play AA42.  AA42 will have it’s own set up, and be a unique A&A game in its own right.  It will be its own puzzle with its own strategies and solutions.  Why wouldn’t I want to play it?

AA50 is currently new, exciting, and all the rage.  Once it’s been out for a while and played many many times, the novelty of a fresh set up will become more alluring.

Heck, one of these days I’m going to bite the bullet and shell out for the original Axis & Allies by Nova Games!  I don’t imagine it will be as good as AA50 - or even the old Gamemaster series version - but I’ll still want to check it out and I bet I’ll enjoy it.

And $35.00 is almost worth it just the box.

Happy gaming all!
-Luke

AA42 will have a new set up by definition just because there will be cruisers on board.  Most likely this will have small ripple effects throughout the placements of other units.  I think we can expect other minor tweaks to the rules and/or map.  SBRs and Weapons development?  Who knows.

This game will be worth owning and playing even for those of us who own AA50 - it’ll be a different game!  AA50 is new and exciting right now, but years down the road when I’ve played '41 and '42 many many times, I will tear the cellophane from my AA42 eagerly.

Then again, AA42 might take less lime to play than AA50.  This would make it useful just as a shortened version.

It’s hard to go wrong for thirty five bucks!  This is good for the gaming community (and A&A’s place within) as well as good for us hardcore can’t-get-enough-Axis & Allies types.  The only bad news news that AA50 is less likely to be reprinted anytime soon.  I’m sure glad I’ve got two copies!  Bring on AA42!

It’s the boo boo prize - probably has new rules from A&A:50 but no Italy and maybe fewer board spaces.  Here’s the blurb:

Spring 1942… the world is at war! Five world powers struggle for supremacy: Germany and Japan are aligned against England, the Soviet Union, and the USA. You control the military and economic destiny of one of these countries in the titanic struggle that will decide the fate of the world. You will need the perseverance of Montgomery, the daring of Rommel, the courage of Patton, the timing of Yamamoto, and the steadfastness of Zhukov! This new edition of the classic game of strategic conquest features new units, sculpts, and updated rules.

Which can be found here:
http://previewsworld.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=23&s=134&ai=81067&ssd=

Edit - could this spell doom for an A&A:50 second printing?