Played another AA title? Then you might be confused when you play this one.


  • I tried this game today. My friend and I were drawn in by the promise of a 2-3 hour game. We thought we might beat through a game of this plus something else (D-Day or Battle of the Bulge) in the same afternoon rather than only getting through half a game of Global or Spring 1942. Neither of us had played this title before and it looked promising.

    Unfortunately I think our mutual experience with other Axis and Allies titles hurt us for this game. The rules are so different - the way the turns go back and forth every step, the battle box system for dice, the way you do not roll combat to completion but merely do one pass each round leaving survivors from each faction in the same square - that we had to spend a LOT of time reading and re-reading the manual. We set out for a leisurely game, but it ended up taking nearly six hours to get everything completed. We were constantly having to dig back through the manual and errata looking for answers to questions we thought we knew (based on other titles), only to find out that we were completely wrong in our assumptions. Needless to say we didn’t get through two different games today.

    I’m disappointed in this one. So is my friend. We don’t get a lot of dates on the calendar for face to face games any more, and now I’m thinking we should have done Spring 1942 or one of the 1940 titles instead.


  • Six hours? The game is really different but it isn’t that hard. If you’d visited this forum before playing you’d likely have come across the advice to throw out everything from other A&A games given in nearly every question on the rules.

    This story keeps coming up over and over again. I suppose it is why we basically only get reprints out of Avalon Hill any more.  :x


  • I’m going to hit up my first game of Guadal Thursday.  Gonna double check the rulebook and FAQ to keep a heads up for what might slow the game down.  I’m looking forward to it.


  • The biggest impediment for new players in this, BOTB and to a lesser extent D-Day, is a tendency to think things work like they do in the global A&A games. You must read the rulebook as an independent document. If you get stuck on something DO NOT fall back on a ‘that’s the way it works in _________’ method to sort it out. You will be wrong.

    Do not use the optional national advantages rules for your first game. Note the errata on the reinforcement point system.

    This is a fun game but it is really different. You have to set aside all of your thinking from other games with “Axis and Allies” in the title except for the most fundamental strategy considerations. The considerations that you’d apply to any war game fundamental. This radical difference is both the game’s blessing and curse.


  • @frimmel

    Amen. You are absolutely right about that one. My first Guadalcanal game also took way longer than expected. But we were both rather unprepared and thus it was our fault. With a few games played I do like Guadalcanal a lot. It is different, but very balanced. Battles can be a nail-biting experience, especially when a lone enemy subs preys on your carriers or transports.

Suggested Topics

  • 3
  • 2
  • 2
  • 11
  • 5
  • 7
  • 2
  • 7
Axis & Allies Boardgaming Custom Painted Miniatures

41

Online

17.0k

Users

39.3k

Topics

1.7m

Posts