Are people still into 2nd Ed?

[C_Strabala]

The 3rd edition rules allow submarines to submerge and battleships can have 2 hits. Very good for the Japs!

   This is good for everyone, not just the Japanese...

[ABWorsham]

I'm in the navy, and on every ship I've been assigned to, I've recruited new players in order to have someone to play with, and we've allways started with the classic, and moved on to europe and pacific editions. The classic is the best game to intoduce to new players.

Thanks for your service.

[C_Strabala]

The 3rd edition rules allow submarines to submerge and battleships can have 2 hits. Very good for the Japs!

Now here's a question that I have. Have the 3rd edition rules ever been published? Or do they merely exist on the electronic platform of the 1998 A&A computer game?

[Krieghund]

They were not published outside of the computer game, but I have seen them in PDF form.

[moralecheck]

Submarines did not submerge, but they could retreat, buying you 3 movement points half of the time. (assuming 1 fighter vs 1 submarine with a non-enemy occupied sea zone to retreat to.)

*Dusts off thread*  That was only in the 3rd ed. (PC version).  In the 2nd ed, the defending sub just waited until the fighter sunk it.  Mind you, the 3rd ed rules became very popular with the boardgamers, too.  Too bad they never became official.  Maybe we need a new alpha for it. 

[Krieghund]

Defending subs can indeed withdraw in the 2nd Edition rules, assuming there is an appropriate sea zone available.  The 3rd Edition rules added the option to submerge.

[moralecheck]

My bad.  It's a been a long time.  I should have doubled checked that before posting.  I just remember the Russians always sinking the helpless sub in the Baltic, but I get it now...the british fleet was blocking its retreat.

[ABWorsham]

During a game as Russia , I was able get my sub into the Pacific and proclaimed the unit the Red October. It became very fun. Then I sank a japanese transport and the hunt was on. The sub ended up along the South American coast.

[empireman]

I was able get my sub into the Pacific and proclaimed the unit the Red October.

XD

[Hobbes]

During a game as Russia , I was able get my sub into the Pacific and proclaimed the unit the Red October. It became very fun. Then I sank a japanese transport and the hunt was on. The sub ended up along the South American coast.

Completely unrelated: when I play and the Japanese submarine is moving or whatever I start singing: "we all live in the yellow submarine"...

[Bashir]

Recruiting new players, even with 2nd edition is/was always hard, because of the skill level. Even if the opening moves for every country are optimized it is far from clear for new players. It takes a while to comprehend the mechanics of pushing, retreating, feints, death zones etc. If a new player is willing to pretty much lose the first 20 games he/she will become a worthy opponent, but most people are not that persistent to learn a game that takes a pretty long time to understand. When they finally are decent enough to understand why bids are a necessity it will have taken a long time. Times have changed as well... When I grew up I didn't have internet or a computer, so when it rained we had to play board games, nowaday it is almost an exception if teens play a board game.