There have been discussions about this on this site (just don’t recall which forum), with the most experienced players preferring A&A. Other comments I remember: that AAP makes for fast play, great sweeping maneuvers across the ocean… that AAE boils down to a slogging war of attrition between Germany & Russia (but with this you get a great feeling for the importance of coordinated maneuver, deployment and counterstrike).
Personally I started with AAE – and I’m still with it! But I am looking forward to playing the A&A and AAP. In AAEurope, I have found enough complexity and variety to see that it gets more interesting all the time, like any good game. There are new strategies and tactics that each of the players can attempt and perfect. There are enough combinations of these, to keep the other side off balance and scrambling.
Another thing I notice is that different players bring their own style to the game – and the game is better for it, another sign of great game design.
Anyway, it seems to me that any of these three versions will be challenging, entertaining, and historically stimulating … if I had it to do over again, I might go with A&A first, because after all::::: it really was a WORLD war.