A Beginners Guide to A&A Global 1940 2nd Edition

I would really like to here the communities take on this subject. Praises and criticisms. I realize I’m late to the ball, but here I am and I’ excited about getting into this game.
Here is my take.

This board and map are great.

I love the hugeness of it; this thing is just massive.

The geography and how that effects play was very well thought out. Africa is squashed down abut as much as possible and there is more room available in Europe as one could have reasonably made without completely distorting the world map. The point being , the map still looks like the world while still being able to provide effective space for game play- that is a tough balance to achieve.

The idea of making the Himalayas and Sahara impassible was inspired. Of course they are impassible to large armies. If the Axis want to do damage to the British Empire in Sub Saharan Africa, they need to either turn the corner at Alexandria or win the Atlantic or Indian Oceans.

The neutral spaces are very well done. More on that when I review the Neutral Countries.

But the main thing the map gets right is what it’s supposed to get right, it provides the right geometry to promote good game play. Their are major regions and regions within those regions and each set has its own keys to being manipulated for offense and defense. That makes for interesting game play.

Even better, I haven’t found any rinky dink ways of manipulating the geography in ways that don’t feel true to the intent of the game/WW2. The space in the Pacific is an obstacle. The Space of Russia is an obstacle. As they both should be. The benefit from gaining Scandinavia is big, but its not a game changer. The Far East or the Black Sea can’t be used as some unanticipated flanking move. One doesn’t want to be tied down to replaying WW2 as accurately as possible, but one doesn’t want to completely break with reality either.

Every game I play I learn new things about this board. I’ve played 4 intensive games with myself and am still feel like I am a long long ways from mastering the geography of this board. That is a good thing.

Certainly there are things I could quibble about.
The names for the Chinese Provinces could be better. In that , as someone who lives in China, I would prefer the proper current Pinyin names for them, A westerner defiantly made this game. But I understand they are trying to keep with the Pre 1949 feel for the region and using the terms the west used back then; so ok.

Having Kazakistan so far south is a bit weird.

There are times where I wish certain spaces were larger; I’m looking at you Bessarabia and SZ110. But most of my spatial problems stem from my style of game play which is still rooted in monolithic stacks of enormous proportions which worked well in the Axis and Allies of old.

Which brings me to my biggest opinion about this board. This board is infinitely superior to the previous incarnations of Axis and Allies.

This is a very good and interesting game and it starts with the map.

What are your thoughts?

I know that this is a variant, but just wanted to give a brief review of the G42 variant in my Games 94 and 95, here is a link to the canon  :wink: version that I think breathes some new life into the game and the outstandingly designed board/map:

http://axisandallies.wikia.com/wiki/File:G42setup2013424.pdf

The beauty of this scenario is that many of the ‘Cadillac’ extra factories and naval and air bases have been removed from the game, so it makes strategic bombing much more viable and abusive against the Axis.  Germany has to be much more careful how it builds (in terms of +2 turns out planning) and Japan has to avoid losing 1 of its 2 (not 3-4) major fleets.

Also, many of the extra infantry and much of the fleet depth have been removed from the G40 setup, which means that production is more important than the starting pieces at the beginning of the game.

Overall, Germany is on the strategic defensive.  The turn order has been altered, which makes the strategic initiative operate in the Allies favor.  Huge back and forth battles in the steppe and marsh and islands and canals lead to a battle of attrition and placement.

The game has no diplomacy, and starts with everyone at war and the Axis near threshold income (50-60), so it is somewhat faster than G40 to get to the good stuff.    The Axis still have tons of planes and ships but are much curtailed so they have to make more focused choices in order to win.

New NOs and placements make the med, SE pacific, East russia and africa more dynamic areas of conflict.  Hackneyed openers are out forcing you to think dynamically, though the Allies still start with plenty of stacks so the Axis has to attack.

Have fun good luck. Taam

My group usually uses control markers for 10, especially in stacks that won’t be splitting up anytime soon (like in Moscow)

@CWO:

@Whitshadw:

Again I love the idea but the way they set it up looks like a 8 year old picked the colors and the map needs a incredible update.

I have a copy of Superpowers, and frankly the only thing about it that I really like are the little white missile sculpts, which I use as A&A atomic bombs.  (I put them horizontally in small plastic stands that I pulled from a different game.)  There are just eight of them, and considering that they came as part of a whole game with lots of other sculpts (none of which I use), this reflects nicely the rarity and high cost of WWII atomic weapons.

Back around the 1980s or so, there was a WWIII-themed global game called Supremacy.  It had some cool features, but it eventually faded from the scene, apparently because of two flaws: a simplistic economic model that could easily be manipulated, and a tendency to “go nuclear” that would end the game (the same kind of problem mentioned by rjpeters).

Funny. I too pretty much bought the game for parts originally and I thought of using the map for my own game idea.

Exactly, knp.  Someone once asked me why I bothered to DOW Japan as France.  On rare occasions it has proven useful as a blocker.  Why give up something from your bag of tricks out of laziness?

@Young:

Can T-Bombers scramble into an adjacent sea zone from an airbase, or is that just for fighters as well?

T bombers can scramble.

I just made a quick guide as we are new and learning the new rule set with these same questions.

Scramble
A quick reaction team of no more than 3 defending fighters and/or tactical bombers  located on each island or coastal territory that has an operative air base can be scrambled to defend against attacks in the sea zones adjacent to those territories.

Scrambling is a special movement that the defender can make at the end of this phase.
It must be done after all of the attacker�s combat movements have been completed and all attacks have been declared.
The attacker may not change any combat movements or attacks after the defender has scrambled.

These air units can be scrambled to help friendly units in adjacent sea zones that have come under attack. They can also be scrambled to resist amphibious assaults from adjacent sea zones, whether or not the
territory being assaulted is the territory containing the air base.
They may defend against the enemy ships conducting the amphibious assault even if friendly ships are not present.

A quick reaction team on 3 defending fighters and/or tactical  located on each island or coastal territory that has an operative air base can be scrambled to defend against attacks in the sea zones adjacent to those territories.

In situations where a sea zone is adjacent to more than one territory containing an air base (sea zone 109 and
Scotland and United Kingdom, for example), each of the territories can scramble up to 3 fighters and/or tactical
bombers.
In situations where a territory containing an air base is adjacent to more than one sea zone (United
Kingdom and sea zones 109 and 110, for example), the territory may still only scramble up to 3 fighters and/or
tactical bombers, but they may be split between the sea zones in any combination.

Scrambled fighters and tactical bombers are defending, so refer to their defense values.
Fighters                   Tactical Bombers
Defense: 4                       Defense: 3

They are treated as normal defending units in their sea zones. As defenders, they may not retreat. They
can�t participate in any other battles during that turn, including a battle in the territory from which they were
scrambled.

After all combat is completed, each surviving scrambled air unit must return to the territory from which it was
scrambled. If the enemy has captured that territory, the unit can move 1 space to land in a friendly territory or
on a friendly aircraft carrier. If no such landing space is available, the unit is lost. Surviving scrambled air units
land during that turn�s Noncombat Move phase, before the attacker makes any movements.

Amphibious Assault Sequence
1. Sea combat
2. Battleship and cruiser bombardment
3. Land combat

Step 1. Sea Combat
If there are defending surface warships and/or scrambledair units, sea combat occurs.
If there are only defending submarines and/or transports, the attacker can choose to
ignore those units or conduct sea combat.

If sea combat occurs, all attacking and defending sea units present must participate in the battle. (Even if the
attacker chose to ignore defending submarines and/or transports, they will still be involved in the battle if the
defender scrambles air units and forces a sea battle.)

Conduct the sea combat using the rules for General Combat (below), then go to step 3 (land combat).
No bombardment occurs.

Strategic and Tactical Bombing Raids
Fighter Escorts and Interceptors
Defenders uses interceptors-Any number of defending fighters (not tactical bombers) may intercept.

� The attacking bombers and fighter escorts and the defending fighter interceptors will be the only units
participating in this special combat.
� The combat lasts for only one round.
� All of the air units have attack and defense values of 1.
After the air battle is complete, or if there were no defending fighter interceptors, surviving fighter escorts
are considered to have retreated. They don�t participate in the actual bombing raid, are not subject to antiaircraft fire, and will remain in the territory until the Noncombat Move phase. Any surviving attacking bombers carry out the bombing raid. If the territory offers more than one target, the bombers may be divided into groups, and each assigned a specific target (tactical bombers may not attack industrial complexes).

Each complex and base rolls one die against each bomber directly attacking it.
For each �1� rolled, a bomber of the attacker�s choice is immediately removed.

An industrial complex can�t receive more than 20 total damage for major industrial complexes and minor ones can�t receive more than 6 total damage for. Air bases and naval bases can�t receive more than 6 total damage. Damage exceeding these limits is not applied.

After resolving the antiaircraft fire, surviving bombers each roll one die.
Add 2 to each die rolled for a strategic bomber (but not for tactical bombers), then total the results.

Strategic Bombers 1-6+2 against an enemy industrial complex, air base, or naval base.
Tactical Bombers   1-6     against an enemy air or naval base.

That answers my questions.
Thanks!

Epic