A little background: I have played Axis & Allies for 15 years, and own multiple copies of every edition – including a still in shrinkwrap copy of Nova Games Axis & Allies. I also own many of the expansions, including some rare ones. I believe that I bring a good viewpoint to the table, but that is just my own opinion and feel free to disagree. This piece is intended to be supportive towards the 1942 edition, not critical of the Anniversary edition. I hope I have been clear in this regard.
I was a little late to the AA50 party, not buying my 2 copies until this year. After reading all the bashing of the 1942 edition, I was a little hesitant to purchase it but went for it anyway and was blown away with the quality of the plastic pieces – the best in any Axis & Allies game, I believe. I then purchased my AA50 games (1 shrinkwrapped, 1 opened but all pieces sealed and unpunched)
I hate to say this, but I’d like to know what most of you have been smoking – because it is some powerful stuff. The fabled “component quality” of the AA50 edition was sadly missing – the board is paper thin and prone to warping, the box is too big to not get damaged in transit, and most glaringly the pieces are HORRIBLE. I need to photograph the pieces side by side, but the 1942 US battleship is a good 4mm bigger than the AA50 US battleship, and my pieces were uniformly smaller and had flashing/molding problems. The ONLY piece that I saw that approached 1942 quality was the Italian tank (good size and width). In every other respect, 1942’s pieces are much superior.
In defense of AA50, the counters and play aids are marvelous – and the player receives counters for damage, etc, which is great. However, we don’t buy the game because it has nice cardboard – we buy it for a great board and great plastic pieces. In this respect Axis & Allies 1942 comes through with amazing pieces. In future reprints, I would kill the bottom charts on the game map and make Europe larger, but that is up to Avalon Hill.
You can find Axis & Allies 1942 for around $20-25 in most places and for that price it is a bargain. All I can say is, I love that Hasbro keeps producing more Axis & Allies games because it gives US, as consumers, the ability to pick and choose what we like among them and purchase those we value. I don’t understand when people talk about corporate greed – that would be Hasbro just producing 1 version and charging $150 for it, not 5-6 different copies, most under $30 – which is the price of a couple of meals. Thank you Hasbro – and I don’t mind paying more for a better product!