AA 1914- WW1 ANNOUNCED!!!

[johnnymarr]

Excellent News!

[Viracocha]

Wow… this is exciting!

[lozmoid]

Fantastic stuff, I’ll be buying this!  :-)

[TheVenocWarlord]

:woot:

[Army of Northern Virginia]

I want my toys-in-a-box. I hope they have little plastic toys for this game. I would really like to have seen little Zeppelins. Sounds like no-go.

Not sure why they would remove things like gas attack from gameplay. I can understand the extremity of it, but it was such an integral part of the warfare.

[DarthShizNit]

Well this is basically the single greatest news ever. I am freaking out. Except now I have to wait  :cry:

[Clyde85]

I have spent the last year and a half working on a board game based around The Great War. I have a map drawn up, rules typed up, and have spent hours play testing the setup and various other rules.  I was hoping to get this game published with in the next year or so. Seeing this announcement brings that dream to an end. The Great War had always been an intensely interesting period of history for me and I have read a mountain of historical works on the subject. I hope that Mr. Harris dose a good job and doesn’t rely to heavily on his WW2 infatuation to create this game. I will more then likely buy a copy but will also likely be its harshest critic.

[P-Unit]

I’m going to ask Santa for this, … hopefully for 2012!!  Heh. :evil:

[DarthShizNit]

@Clyde85:

I have spent the last year and a half working on a board game based around The Great War. I have a map drawn up, rules typed up, and have spent hours play testing the setup and various other rules.  I was hoping to get this game published with in the next year or so. Seeing this announcement brings that dream to an end. The Great War had always been an intensely interesting period of history for me and I have read a mountain of historical works on the subject. I hope that Mr. Harris dose a good job and doesn’t rely to heavily on his WW2 infatuation to create this game. I will more then likely buy a copy but will also likely be its harshest critic.

Lol hey I’ve been tinkering with my own WW1 board game as well, yeah I understand, I’m kinda saddened by this lol. I mean I’m sure it will be fun, but I don’t think this game is going to fully satisfy my expectations…especially the “no gas” thing.

[Army of Northern Virginia]

@Clyde85:

I have spent the last year and a half working on a board game based around The Great War. I have a map drawn up, rules typed up, and have spent hours play testing the setup and various other rules.  I was hoping to get this game published with in the next year or so. Seeing this announcement brings that dream to an end. The Great War had always been an intensely interesting period of history for me and I have read a mountain of historical works on the subject. I hope that Mr. Harris dose a good job and doesn’t rely to heavily on his WW2 infatuation to create this game. I will more then likely buy a copy but will also likely be its harshest critic.

There is room in the market for more than one game set in WW1. Look at the large amount of WW2 games there are out there. If something’s good - it’s good. Don’t go giving up; you may have done something quite different (or even better) than what Larry does…

I don’t think this game is going to fully satisfy my expectations…especially the “no gas” thing.

This is just one way in which your game might be different.

[Hepps01]

I have to agree.  I fear that without some of the features that made WWI a truly unique and devastating affair this has the potential to be a fairly bland experience.  One can only hope for the best.

[DWoodchuck]

Well, those of you who have strong opinions on the matter can always use the forums at Harris Game Design to talk to Larry.  He really loves the games and really likes the community involvement in these games.  Offer to play-test, send him ideas, and see if you can lend a hand to the man whose ideas and games have brought us so many late nights of triumph or defeat.  I’m looking forward to this.

[Imperious Leader]

From Larry Harris

What units are included???
Infantry, artillery, tanks, fighters, submarines, battleships, cruisers, transports.

D6 or D12?
D6, but lots of them

I suspect the usual suspects in the game:
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottomans
Russians
UK
France
Italy
USA
Yes, and many minor powers

Map size?
I think it’s the same size as Europe 40

Are the sculpts all the same except infantry, or you got two sets of sculpts one for allies and one for central powers?
Each major power (eight of them) have their own infantry sculpts. Other sculpts are either allied or Central Power’s artillery, tanks or fight aircraft… and of course the naval lineup.

Special rules for Russian Revolution and American entry?
There are special Russian Revolution rules, as well as special American entry rules.

Convoy zones?
Not exactly… but there is an unrestricted submarine warfare moment during the Collect Income phase.

Tech tree with at least 12 choices?
No tech tree…

will it be to AA42, AA41 or AA40 scale and complexity?
If I understand this question correctly I’d say it’s just left (meaning easier than) of AA42.

How many players will it be for and how many nations will be playable?
This can be a 2 or 8 player game or any number in between.

How will the Western Front be simulated in the game?
I don’t want to get too deep into this. I will say, that there is only one round of combat dice rolling per turn per battle. The game, IMHO, feels very Western Front as you play it. It’s very cool and interesting how this system works and plays out. I like how it feels.

And since this starts in 1914, I wonder how the nations that opted to stay neutral in the beginning will be played. Many minor powers are neutral initially, including the US, which if not attacked by the Central Powers will enter the war on turn 4.

I also wonder what the nation colors will be…
Particularly Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
I think you will like the colors. Some of them are your standard colors and others are brand new. Germany will be grey.

What’s the release date?
March or April 2013

The Map, will it be fully global or 2/3 global covering from Eastern US into the Middle East or maybe India. Will Anzac and India be represented as UK units entering the war through Egypt, or will there be a commonwealth unit? Will the map stretch to E US (US needs transports etc…), or will American units just enter through England, or embattled territories in Western Europe.

The map will range from Calcutta to NYC and from the top of Norway to South Africa

Having Turkey (Ottoman Empire) as one of the Central powers and not neutral is going to be very different, looking forward to that.

Yeah… it’s a fun power to manage, but then again… they all are! Of course, as usual, its’ hard to resist the desire to play an aggressive Germany!

[Bluecoat1861]

I see Cavalry is to to be out of the mix interesting as it played a big role on the Eastern front and in the Middle East. :?

[Imperious Leader]

I know, and no rail-guns or Zeppelins. That sucks.

[DarthShizNit]

Yeah, no Cavalry, especailly if the game is supposed to start in 1914, is a little odd. I like how they function in the Triple A Great War mod, same attack and less defense stats as Inf. but a way to creat break throughs. I shall miss them. Also, still don’t understand the lack of gas. Zepplins and Rail-Guns i can live without but they would have been fun.

Oh well, I’m just glad there will finally be a WW1 board game

[CWO Marc]

@Army:

There is room in the market for more than one game set in WW1. Look at the large amount of WW2 games there are out there. If something’s good - it’s good. Don’t go giving up; you may have done something quite different (or even better) than what Larry does…

I agree.  No game is ever definitive.  If Larry’s game isn’t as good as it could be, this creates an opportunity for someone else to create a better one.  If Larry’s game is as good as we all hope it will be, this creates an opportunity for someone else to create a “differently good” game that uses another approach.  WWI was a huge and complicated conflict, so there is a vast range of methods that can be used to translate it into a game.

[AlphaKappa]

Yeah, I would have loved to get Zeppelin units but I guess their role in World War I was so minor it doesn’t really fit the scale of the game.  Cavalry would have made sense… I wonder why it was left out.

[almashir]

Yeah, cavalry wouldn’t really make much sense on the Western front.  Even on the Eastern front, while they were tactically useful for scouting, raids, and cutting rail lines, it would be hard to represent them on the strategic level.  If they don’t move faster than infantry, then what’s the point?  If they do move faster than infantry, there is a danger players will build more of them than would be historically accurate, and they might become defacto blitzkrieg machines.

The combat system that involves only one round of combat is interesting.  Given how it would tend to have the effect of preventing territories from changing hands quickly, it must somehow generate massive casualties.  Either that or the cost of new units must be relatively high compared the income available on the map.  If not, you’d end up with massive stacks of units in some of the key territories after a couple of turns.

[AlphaKappa]

@almashir:

The combat system that involves only one round of combat is interesting.  Given how it would tend to have the effect of preventing territories from changing hands quickly, it must somehow generate massive casualties.

I think that’s what Larry’s going for.

At first I was imagining that the static nature of World War I would make for a somewhat uninteresting game… but on second thought, it might be a really tense if both sides are losing massive numbers all over the place. Although the battle fronts might not move very much, it sounds like they will be highly unstable.