• To update what you guys are preaching:

    1941 + NO: Axis too powerful, unless Allies go KGF ??

    1941 - NO: If Allies go KGF, Axis are toast

    1942 + NO: Balanced?

    1942 - No: Allies too powerful?

    Bardoly,

    Gameaholic!  :lol:
    How did you guys manage to play so many games in like, two weeks!?  Do you guys intend to continue playing on a regular (though less frequent) basis?  If you are, I’d like you to visit: http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=12942.0


  • @TG:

    Bardoly,

    Gameaholic!   :lol:
    How did you guys manage to play so many games in like, two weeks!?  Do you guys intend to continue playing on a regular (though less frequent) basis?  If you are, I’d like you to visit: http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=12942.0

    Well, we almost always play games until someone conceeds, so sometimes the game is over by round 4-5.

    Also, we have had an incredible rash of game-changing bad rolls.  For example, in one game, Germany built a large fleet of 4 Super Subs, 2 Aircraft Carriers with 4 Jet Fighters on them, 2 Cruisers, 1 Destroyer, and 2 Transports, in the Baltic Sea.  The UK, who was played by an average player, against my better judgement, attacked with only 1 Battleship, 1 Aircraft Carrier with 2 Fighters, 1 other Fighter, 1 Bomber, 1 Cruiser, and 1 Destroyer.  They battle lasted 2 rounds, and at the end of the battle which the UK won, the UK still had 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 1 Bomber, and 2 Fighters.  Needless to say, the Axis lost that game.
    In another game, the US sent out a sacrificial fleet (1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer, with air support of 2 Bombers (not Heavy) and 1 Fighter) to whittle down the Japanese fleet (1 Battleship, 2 Aircraft Carriers with 3 Fighters, 2 Cruisers, 1 Destroyer, and 1 Sub).  The US won that battle with the Battleship, Cruiser, and 1 Bomber remaining.  With incredible rolls like these and others, the game can be decided quickly.

    Also, occasionally a  couple of us will get together for a fast one.  We all live and work together in a compound, so we are able to just leave the board set up and easily finish the game later if we need to.

    I’ll try to write up some reviews.  We’ll see how long everyone’s attention stays on this game though.  We go through phases where we play a lot for a while, then very little for a while.  This is new, so we were pretty interested in it.


  • @Driel310:

    @Funcioneta:

    @Driel310:

    I know it sucks, but the KGF is even more scripted than in AAR since there is not KJF in this game. If performed well Japan won’t reach Moscow ever before Berlin collapses. I dunno how it turns out if Japan doesn’t advance on the mainland but goes to the USA. However I’ve still have to see a succesfull invasion of LA in this game. It’s so easy for the USA to counter and Japan keeps on having the logistic difficulties to tranny to LA.

    I think that in Revised KGF is not so scripted as many think, but that’s another different issue. I think Japan has more than enough income to attack America via Alaska landings and Alaska IC. If Japan gets improved industry … LA could fall before Moscow. And still there is that funny Ottawa VC there. Japan, with so much income and so much cheap bombers, can afford now a SBR campaign in LA (opposite as in Revised), so USA could fall even to 30 IPCs

    If Japan attacks America, with 65-70 IPCs still can afford 2 more ICs in mainland Asia and still annoy soviets and support Italy in Africa, because USA is fully busy defending their homeland. Soviets and UK must face now a 30 IPCs Germany, a 15-20 IPCs Italy and probably about 20 IPCs of japanese stuff (maybe even more, not sure). I think allies could survive more with a Pacific fleet, but without China (lost J1), that’s not a good option too.

    Allies are toasted in 1941

    There is a little problem in your reasoning, and that’s the time factor. Japan won’t reach 65-70 income until turn 5 at the earliest.
    Second problem: Invading Alaska AND holding it and resisting the USA counter takes a lot of troops which have to be trannied in. The extra trannies also cost you 1-2 turns.
    Third problem: You can bomb LA, but you can’t bomb Washington and LA at the same time unless you have a lot of bombers, again you need time to build up such a force.

    By the time Japan is all ready to rock to LA we are at what? Turn 10/11? Germany is toast by then. Another thing, you don’t actually need USA to take attack Berlin. USA only needs to secure Africa/take on mini-me (ehh, I mean Italy). That can be done in the first 5 turns, after which she can pay a lot of attention to the Japanese. UK at 30 IPC and Russia cashing 45 each turn will be enough to crack a Germany who gets 20 (not 30 like you said, remember you lose Poland+Scandinavia).  :wink:

    I agree, actually, I recommended the same exact strategy a while back.

    KGF will still be a killer, and until I see a successful invasion of the USA strategy (not just a fluke, an actual strategy that works most of the time unless America pays attention to the Pacific), I wont believe otherwise.  The problem is that by the time Japan CAN threaten USA/Moscow, the game will be over.  And by threaten, I don’t mean a puny force… I mean something that is actually significant.  Plus, even if Japan has 65-75 IPC… once France, Italy, etc. falls, who cares?  The Axis is toast!


  • In 1941, if allies ignore Japan, Japan can launch a big offensive to Alaska, round 3 or 4. And by big I’m saying at least 6-8 units each turn, 10 in round 5 or 6. You need 8 trannies for this (and later a Alaska IC) and Japan starts with 3. It was possible in Revised, even begining with (usually) 1 trannie. Of course, you must kill China in J1 or will have to fight merry popping guys there …

  • 2007 AAR League

    Since we can´t agree witch side is more powerfull then the other i say it´s balanced.

    personally i will play this game with NO´s and Tech (since techs are no longer gamebreaking “i win” buttons)

    This wil make it fun and make the game last long.


  • my brother and I played the '42 scenario with NOs and Tech. From now on,we will only play with  NO or tech, but not both. Its too much!! By the end of the game, Japan had everything from Tech 2 ( my brother rolled six every time he went for a tech!). US and UK had Heavies. In our game,even Russia could afford one Research token with the extra IPC it gets ( however,it never got one  :|). All of these techs and the extra money dragged the game into about 10 rounds,split over two days. The NO money is a little tricky to keep track of and its up to the player who collects the extra money to make sure that he is still eligible to receive it. In other words,the opposing player must remember to keep track of what requirement his enemy needs in order to collect the NO money. After all,the requirements are on the enemys Set-Up Card! Its a bit of an honor system unless you have a dedicated banker.
                    So we will just play with one or the other,or none. The games last too long with both.


  • Keep talking about my topic but if you can add this to your answer : Is there really a link between NOS,TECh and 41 or 42 with time to finish the game?


  • @Nix:

    Since we can´t agree witch side is more powerfull then the other i say it´s balanced.

    I am not so sure the few people posting a couple game results here indicates a hard and fast take.  Give it time.  2 months at least.

    @Nix:

    personally i will play this game with NO´s and Tech (since techs are no longer gamebreaking “i win” buttons)

    This wil make it fun and make the game last long.

    Techs are random (not so much fun unless you are a yahtzee fan) and I’ve heard rumblings of HB’s being an auto win type of tech.

    @$6 a bomber, I think HB’s could return to an auto-game winning tech (again RE:Classic)

    Similiarly, rockets for Germany seems very powerful as well (LHTR type restriction has been removed, 5 rockets can hit UK in one turn)


  • A lot of the tech’s breakthroughs can be a killer. Heavy bombers can lopside a big fleet battle or long range aircraft can cost you your invasion fleet or para’s even your capital……

    That’s why I personally hate techs. I like to win a game because one plays a better strategy not because one dice roll for 5 IPC. On the contrary, I don’t like low luck, the dice are part of the game and is something you need to take into account when making up your strategy. Against tech you can’t defend.  :cry:


  • @Driel310:

    A lot of the tech’s breakthroughs can be a killer. Heavy bombers can lopside a big fleet battle or long range aircraft can cost you your invasion fleet or para’s even your capital……

    That’s why I personally hate techs. I like to win a game because one plays a better strategy not because one dice roll for 5 IPC. On the contrary, I don’t like low luck, the dice are part of the game and is something you need to take into account when making up your strategy. Against tech you can’t defend.  :cry:

    You must take in count the possibility of LRA and paras, so protect England and over-protect your fleet. Against HBs or rockets, there are 4 techs to counter this: Improved industry, Radar, Warbounds and Shipyards (that’s good against naval HBs). You can also have your own HBs and rockets. I think this new system enforces a tech race, if you don’t spent something in tech, you can get obsolete and have no counter. I like it. I’d say if you are losing the game because of paras, you are getting careless, so you are not playing so good. You can still mod HBs and preserve the other techs


  • With all due respect, if you start defending yourself against LRA or para’s you end up losing too many games because you play too defensive.

    Sure you won’t lose that one game I would lose when my opponent gets that tech, but getting overprotective as Allies could lead to a loss of Moscow….


  • @Funcioneta:

    @Driel310:

    A lot of the tech’s breakthroughs can be a killer. Heavy bombers can lopside a big fleet battle or long range aircraft can cost you your invasion fleet or para’s even your capital……

    That’s why I personally hate techs. I like to win a game because one plays a better strategy not because one dice roll for 5 IPC. On the contrary, I don’t like low luck, the dice are part of the game and is something you need to take into account when making up your strategy. Against tech you can’t defend.  :cry:

    You must take in count the possibility of LRA and paras, so protect England and over-protect your fleet. Against HBs or rockets, there are 4 techs to counter this: Improved industry, Radar, Warbounds and Shipyards (that’s good against naval HBs). You can also have your own HBs and rockets. I think this new system enforces a tech race, if you don’t spent something in tech, you can get obsolete and have no counter. I like it. I’d say if you are losing the game because of paras, you are getting careless, so you are not playing so good. You can still mod HBs and preserve the other techs

    This sounds ridiculous to me. You say the game encourages a tech race, but that if you are losing the game due to an imbalance in tech, its a fault in your strategy.  :?  Well i have played only one game, but i have found that some countries have more room to invest in tech as others. no surprise!! Russia cannot. They start with virtually no high end piece (tanks/planes). they need to accumulate some, and replace all the dead inf!! Tech is still a gamble!! SO if the game mechanics encourage a tech race as you say, now the game hinges on whether you roll a “6” or not. In my game, UK and US both bought tech tokens early, but took forever to hit anything, then UK got super subs!!! and had no subs!! US got radar. umm useless!  Can you imagine the let down when it take 5 turns to roll a 6, then get radar with the US!!! ugh!   You have implied that there are tech counters. Well ok, you are now implying a strat in which tech you develop. But its random which tech you get. So you can keep developing in a branch until you get the “counter” you are looking for, but this could take ALL game to achieve!! It isnt a viable “strategy”. Id like it better if it had the revised way of picking which tech you were going for. This would add more of a strategic approach to tech. But tech may be a change of pace for the game, in that it changes the dynamic of the game. But it is a randomizer, and I just cant buy the notion of turning into a strategic approach to winning.


  • After two games, and much thought, I hate the NO rules because they are far too many of them to track, dragging down the game with everyone evaluating 6-10 extra territories a turn. Think about it, pretty much every nation has to not only track ~5 territories for their own NO, but has to keep an eye on the ~2 enemy nations around them to make sure they aren’t getting all of their NOs. Boooo, sorry, too much friggin work.

    They went WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY overboard with the NOs. Instead, they should have made each nation have one obvious NO and there should have been a way to track each of them on the board with some sort of marker or plastic flag.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    Yeah P-unit, I feel the exact same way.
    National Objectives were a good idea, but the implementation was not what I was hoping for.

    I feel like they made the same mistake with National Advantages in Revised. There are just too many, and as a result people find them too hard to integrate into the casual game. I think the AA50 NOs just raised the bar a bit too high for most players. There should have only been 1 per nation, and they should have been engineered to compensate for the disparity in production (especially in the S. Pacific.) Simplicity and ease of use is the most important element of this game, and 1 per nation would have been much easier to track.

    I think the problem is that Larry just gets all these people throwing nuanced House Rules at him all the time, and pushing him to increase the complexity of the game beyond what it should be. Almost all of the posts in the AA-50/Deluxe and AA-Advanced section of his website seem to be heading that direction. I don’t dig it though.

    Axis and Allies was never that kind of wargame, and it shouldn’t be twisted into one.
    If they really do move to anything other than a 6 sided die, the game will lose all its charm for me.


    Right now I like the 42 set up, with no Tech and no National Objectives. :)


  • Even if there was a local AA50 playgroup in my vicinity, with 1 game pr. week it would take several months before we remembered all the rules. AA50 is not a very good design as a board game imo. AAR was not so different from Classic. AA50 with all its complexity should be considered a PC game, and for my part thats exactly what it is.


  • really? i read the rulebook from cover to cover when i first got it, and have played two games, and i feel like i know the rules well enough (after checking one or two things in the forum of course)

    mind you, i’ve even had dreams about this game, so maybe i’m just obsessed? …  :roll:


  • @P-Unit:

    After two games, and much thought, I hate the NO rules because they are far too many of them to track, dragging down the game with everyone evaluating 6-10 extra territories a turn. Think about it, pretty much every nation has to not only track ~5 territories for their own NO, but has to keep an eye on the ~2 enemy nations around them to make sure they aren’t getting all of their NOs. Boooo, sorry, too much friggin work.

    They went WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY overboard with the NOs. Instead, they should have made each nation have one obvious NO and there should have been a way to track each of them on the board with some sort of marker or plastic flag.

    If you find keeping track of the NO’s too much work, maybe you shouldn’t be playing A&A but chess?

    Come on, if you play a few games you know all the NO’s by head. At least our playgroup does… :wink:


  • @Driel310:

    @P-Unit:

    After two games, and much thought, I hate the NO rules because they are far too many of them to track, dragging down the game with everyone evaluating 6-10 extra territories a turn. Think about it, pretty much every nation has to not only track ~5 territories for their own NO, but has to keep an eye on the ~2 enemy nations around them to make sure they aren’t getting all of their NOs. Boooo, sorry, too much friggin work.

    They went WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY overboard with the NOs. Instead, they should have made each nation have one obvious NO and there should have been a way to track each of them on the board with some sort of marker or plastic flag.

    If you find keeping track of the NO’s too much work, maybe you shouldn’t be playing A&A but chess?

    Come on, if you play a few games you know all the NO’s by head. At least our playgroup does… :wink:

    I totally agree. After playing a few games, my group pretty much has the NOs memorized.


  • So guys, have some thoughts about the question?

    I just played once….41 with NOS…Favor the Axis but i did make several mistakes…but the NOs favoeur the Axis this is sure

    SO 1941 with NOs and no Tech = Favour Axis


  • I’m not sure i really favor either a 41 or 42 setup, but I absolutely love the inclusion of NO’s and the new way techs are handled. It makes the game more fluid and organic, and less predictable. Buying naval units is actually possible now without people questioning your sanity. You can field a decisive field army, and still be able to fight it out on the sea and air. Who would have thought? A WORLD war with conflict in every battlespace.

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