@Krieghund thanks again. Pretty sure they are going J4 and sealion. Hold on!
New to Axis and Allies Global – What do I need to get started?
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Hello friends!
So I’ve played Axis and Allies in the distant past and me and a friend wanted to get into Global. I have printed out the huge map that Cliffside Bunker provided. What I wanted to know was what pieces I need and where would be the best place to acquire them? Maybe a comprehensive list of the pieces with recommended quantities or what not. Do I purchase the 1940 Pacific and Europe boxes for them or can I just purchase all the necessary pieces from a site like historical board gaming or field marshal games?
Thanks a bunch!
DonGo to Amazon .com, spend the $150 (combined) for the Europe and Pacific games, and play. :-)
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Hi,
I haven’t been into Global for too long, in fact I have only recently begun playing it, but after a few rounds of it I kind of grasped what is useful and what isn’t.
For instance, when it comes to pieces, you are fine with the stuff that comes in the box and are definately able to play. However, depending on your playing style, there are some things that will greatly faciliate your gameplay.
So far we did not need additional units, so you should be good there.
As for the dice, in theory 1 single dice would be sufficient, but then bigger battles would take forever. That said, the more dice, the easier and faster it gets. But what you want is not only many dice, but different dice. There are 4 different values for a successful attack/defense, which is the max value on the dice you roll for that unit. So if you do an attack with different units, you probably wanna roll for all of them at the same time to speed up the battle. Same goes for the defenders…
So group up your troops to units that attack at 4 or less (Bombers, Battleships etc), 3 or less (Tanks, Fighters etc), 2 or less (Artillery, Destroyers etc) and 1 or less (Inf, Mech Inf) or if you are defending, do so accordingly with the defence values, and use different dice for them all in one roll.
So yes, get some dice, but get some that are different to those that come in the box.
For example, for those huge infantery battles in Russia, we use the small dice from A&A 1914, and there are many of them ;)One more thing that is really more than nice to have is paper money. Get the Battle Bucks from HBG, they are nice. FMG also has nice paper money. Tracking IPCs with pen&paper sucks.
I am also really not fond of the cardboard markers for the factories that A&A 1940 comes with. They are ok for air&naval bases, but for the factories, I tend to overlook them. I much more prefer actual factory pieces, which are also available at HBG from earlier A&A games. You will need pieces for both minor and major factories, which are not available. But you can go ahead, buy a bunch of the same pieces and then mark or paint some of them to represent minor or major ICs, as you wish.
Something we also did from our 2nd game on was to use little pieces for those victory cities, also available at HBG. We use black ones for axis cities and red ones for allied cities. They go onto the board at the start setup and once they are conquered by the enemy, that enemy takes them in his possesion so it is instantly visible how many victory cities already have been conquered by both sides. As this is what determines who wins the game, and in our first game we overlooked it for a while when the game actually already was over, we felt that it was very useful.
Other than that, be aware of the fact that the rules are very complicated for new and unregular players, as there are so many things to be observed, many little extra rules, many excemptions from the basic rules etc.
To keep those in mind, unfortunately there is nothing out there that you can buy.However, gladly enough, there is material made by the community and published in this board that you can download for free, print, cut and maybe laminate, which will greatly help in not loosing track of all those rules.
A good example is to have cards for the National Objectives, which are available from a few guys on this board.
There are also custom game boards which you can have printed that already have additional info boxes for turn sequence, combined arms rules etc etc…
I also plan to use setup cards in the future like those made by Minor Threat.I also do have a custom rulebook that merges the rulebooks of Europe and Pacific to a version that omits the single rules and focusses on the Global rules, but it is in German (thanks to the German A&A Club). However, people like Young Grasshopper are already on it and might release such a rulebook in the future. It does greatly help in getting all the rules, because as it is now, you practically have 3 rulebooks (Pacific, Europe and the Global section in Europe) from which you have to extract those complex rules. That results in almost constant uncertainty about the rules, the size of the 1940 Global FAQ on this board tells it all. I think that a dedicated Global rulebook is the key to better understanding the rules.
These have been the most important points in my young experience. There are a few other things that can be purchased or done that either help with gameplay (like remaining-movement-markers for planes or IC damage markers), with clarity (like using actual infantery pieces for Neutrals) or which just beautify the game (like using little blast markers for damaged capital ships instead of laying them to their side), but all of these are optional by all means.
Last but not least, you need to carefully study the rules. As reading a rulebook before even playing does not really promote comprehending those rules, you are much better off if you watch some of the tutorial videos on Youtube, especially those by Young Grasshopper. They are more than great and can be found on his channel “The Cliffside Bunker”. It will take a while to watch those, but it is well worth it. Watch the first video, then read that section in the rulebook, then watch the next video etc.
You will both learn what is meant by what is written in the rulebooks and also where to find that rule in those 3 above mentioned rulebooks.Ok, I think that’s it. Sorry for the long text, I hope you got to this point. I am sure other people have other things to add, as my experience as mentioned above is still premature.
Best wishes and enjoy this great game!!!
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Hi mastrtonberry & Sureman,
welcome to the board! As it has been already said before, if you are completely new to the game it is cheaper to buy “A&A 1940 Eur & Pac” from your local shop.
On the other hand, if you’ve already downloaded and printed the map an option might by to look at eBay for older A&A versions like the old “Europe” and “Pacific” from 1999 and 2000. Sometimes you’re lucky and get them both for the same amount as one part of “1940”. (And btw. the old “Pacific” is still a great game! :-) )
When you get these boxes you should have enough miniatures for the big 5 nations AND some paper money and the plastic factories.
All you need then are some miniatures for France, China, ANZAC and Italy. Since they are minor powers you don’t need many of them.
Concerning your question of how many pieces you need, take the rules and set up cards as a guide. For the ‘great 5’ use the number of miniatures listed under the game components; for the other nations count the number of territories for each individual type of unit at the game start and add about 20%. this should be enough.
Nobody needs Russian or French carriers or battleships! :-D -
I am also really not fond of the cardboard markers for the factories that A&A 1940 comes with. They are ok for air&naval bases, but for the factories, I tend to overlook them. I much more prefer actual factory pieces, which are also available at HBG from earlier A&A games. You will need pieces for both minor and major factories, which are not available. But you can go ahead, buy a bunch of the same pieces and then mark or paint some of them to represent minor or major ICs, as you wish.
Actually HBG are out of stock of factories and have been for a long time (according to their website which I keep checking) so if anyone does know of a source for factory pieces that would be much appreciated. :-)
PS - Have just e-mailed HBG to discover if they will be available again in the future.
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I agree with what several people have already said: that you’re far better off buying the actual games. You can always supplement them later with a additional items, if your experience in playing the games leads you to conclude that you want extra stuff. This approach has the advantage that you’re starting out with an already-functional game, and therefore that you only need to add the specific extras that suit your particular playing style and interests – something which can be done at a minimal cost.
By contrast, trying to cobble together the entire game from separate bits and pieces is inefficient (it takes a lot of work to figure out what’s required and to place all those orders) and probably more expensive too. After all, the individual units which can be bought from HBG all originally had to come from complete games, and in order to make it worthwhile for HBG to sell them separately HBG presumably has to mark them up in price. If you were to “reassemble” all of those separate units at their marked-up prices, you’d no doubt end up with a higher price than what the original games cost. To use a restaurant analogy: if all you want is a single glass of wine, then buying wine by the glass makes more economic sense than buying a whole bottle (because most of the bottle would go to waste), but if what you want is a bottle’s worth of wine, then buying a bottle makes more economic sense than buying several individual glasses because six separate 125ml glasses cost more than a single 750ml bottle (even though the total quantity of wine is identical).
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Thanks for the responses! So you’re saying there are adequate number of pieces in the Pacific and Europe sets that I won’t really need extras?
Buying a copy of 1940 Europe 2nd edition, and 1940 Pacific 2nd edition (make sure they say 2nd Edition) is very important in my opinion. There are a lot of things you can add and customize to make your gaming experience better, but the base games will give you that immediate foundation. If you have printed my custom map, you can use the OOB (out of box) boards as a strategy tool in a separate room where teammates can discuss. Watch out for a new video on my channel in September about getting started, but for now, here are my suggestions…
Money
The game does not come with any tangible currency, you can get special paper money at HBG (historical board gaming), or special poker chips at IWNGU (I will never grow up).Facilities
Everyone hates using those cardboard counters for facilities because they are hard to pickup, time consuming for setup, and they take up valuable space. You’re already ahead of the game if you have printed my map with the bases already on it, but you will need something for your factories. I use the gray factories from 1942 1st edition, and the factories from risk revised, but you could use anything from settlers of catan settlements, to monopoly houses and hotels. HBG also has small and large plastic houses in many different colours.Extra Units
I myself bought 2 copies of both 1940 Europe and 1940 Pacific when I first got started, and I have never run out of anything during a game, but I understand if people don’t want to spend that much. My next suggestion is to play the game and find out what you ussually run out of and then buy extras from HBG. For example: if you find that the Japanese tend to use mech infantry a lot, or if Germany always buys bombers in your games… than add units when it calls for it.Chips
The game does not provide enough chips, and HBG is always out of stock when it comes to the A&A oob chips… so apart from buying 2 full sets of 1940 global, I suggest replacing all of them with HBG chips. I would get 100 whites, 50 greens, 50 reds, and 10 blues.Dice
Even if you buy 2 full sets of 1940 Global, you won’t have enough dice… and HBG is always out of stock. I just got a ton from IWNGU which are almost identical to the A&A oob dice.Game Aids
There are helpful game aids here like what Sauffenberg was saying, here are my national objective cards you can print and cut in order to track them better. Just keep in mind that there is an error on the “North Africa” NO for Italy.http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=36011.0
Hope that helps.
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I also didn’t enjoy the cardboard pieces. I usually play with my dad (I’m 27) and he has a hard time noticing the flat pieces. Shapeways, link below, has some great pieces. I bought a bunch specifically from eBard (I am not allowed to post links I guess, but it’s at shapeways.com, under “eBard Models”, and they are perfect. Naval bases, airstrips, and I even bought his capitals sets to add some nice flavor to the board  :-)
He was really great and actually only made the Sydney and India pieces because I and a few others had asked about them, so he was great to work with. Got them to me in a timely fashion as well.
He also has some factory pieces, but I had bought some from Shapeways through HBG’s site before, but am not seeing them there now. Perhaps that’s because they’re out of stock as was mentioned above.
Anyways, check out his stuff, was very happy with it.
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And to supplement what YG said about alternates to the cardboard markers, HBG sells many kinds of acrylic markers that are attractive and easy to manipulate. Here are a few examples:
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Convoy-Marker-x5-Acrylic-_p_829.html
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Kamikaze-Marker-x5-Acrylic-_p_830.html
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Airbase-Small-Marker-Acrylic-_p_1523.html
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Naval-Base-Marker-Acrylic-X5_p_800.html
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Factory-Marker-Acrylic-_p_809.html -
I also didn’t enjoy the cardboard pieces. I usually play with my dad (I’m 27) and he has a hard time noticing the flat pieces. Shapeways, link below, has some great pieces. I bought a bunch specifically from eBard (I am not allowed to post links I guess, but it’s at shapeways.com, under “eBard Models”, and they are perfect. Naval bases, airstrips, and I even bought his capitals sets to add some nice flavor to the board  :-)
He was really great and actually only made the Sydney and India pieces because I and a few others had asked about them, so he was great to work with. Got them to me in a timely fashion as well.
He also has some factory pieces, but I had bought some from Shapeways through HBG’s site before, but am not seeing them there now. Perhaps that’s because they’re out of stock as was mentioned above.
Anyways, check out his stuff, was very happy with it.
Thanks for the recommendation. Had to do a little searching but found factory pieces. Got 30 factories for 40 bucks with shipping.
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Man, thats pretty expensive. Check with me. I could of sold you some factories and maybe some other pieces.
Ray
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Answer from HBG re factory pieces as follows:
My Query: The above white and grey pieces have been out of stock for months. Will they be available in the future?
HBG Answer: Hard to get them in, keep checking
Very helpful!
Here’s a link to the ebard factory pieces mentioned by Chris_Henry:
http://www.shapeways.com/product/GMSPEQ3DN/factory?li=search-results-1&optionId=43304218
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Thanks to all for the recommendations… allthough I find Shapeways to be very expensive :-o
Thanks also for posting HBGs reply, I was going to ask as well.
“Hard to get”? That’s hard to believe as it is nothing but another piece of plastic…Oh well, I guess I’ll move on to something else for factory pieces. Yet to find a shop that ships to Europe where I can find those Risk Revised factories.
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Yet to find a shop that ships to Europe where I can find those Risk Revised factories.
If you do find a decent source then do please share.
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Oh well, I guess I’ll move on to something else for factory pieces. Yet to find a shop that ships to Europe where I can find those Risk Revised factories.
Hi Stauffenberg,
my local dealer might help you. (www. stratak. com) Currently he’s got no factory pieces in stock but maybe he could provide some…
Greetings, Lars
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For those that don’t know about the Risk revised factory peices, here are some pictures…
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37198/risk-revised-edition
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Is this the factory piece you have in mind YG?
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@Private:
Is this the factory piece you have in mind YG?
Yep, That’s it… I use those as Major factories, and the regular A&A grays as Minor factories.
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Those are the ones YG meant…
I have yet to find them sold individually. Risk Revised was marketed under different names in different languages. The German version is called “Risiko Deluxe (neu)”
Danke Lars, Stratak sieht gut aus. I didn’t know there was such a shop around here. They are just around the corner outside of Frankfurt, maybe they’ll even let me choose and pick up the stuff at heir location.
I still find Bob Michaelson’s solution of sawing&hacking some of the grey factories to smaller grey factories the best. It just looks right!
Best wishes
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I didn’t know there was such a shop around here. They are just around the corner outside of Frankfurt, maybe they’ll even let me choose and pick up the stuff at heir location.
Found their web-site by pure luck. In the last 6 or 7 months I’ve ordered several times online; delivery was very prompt 2-3 days after they received your money. (Und ganz nebenbei kann man seine Bestellung auch persönlich abholen.)
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Gutten Auben Stauffenberg (forgive my spelling). May I suggest an alternate course if you do not find what you are looking for. It sounded by one of your posts that you are not opposed to modifying existing products to make what you are looking for. If you have plastic structural pieces availalble such as you might find at a model rail road shop or hobby shop, you may be able to find some small round plastic rod (0.25mm to 1mm diameter) to use as smoke stacks. Cut to an appropiate length and glue them on the Monopoly style houses and hotels. Three stacks on a hotel for a major IC and one stack on a house for a minor IC. you can then spray paint them to what ever color you want. My dad was a US marine and he was very fond of saying “adapt and overcome”. Good luck.
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