• '20 '18 '16 '13 '12

    Does anyone think it is a coincidence that just 3 days after this, admittedly bland, AA42 leak Larry drops the A-BOMB on the AA community with the announcement of the biggest most bad-assed AA game anyone could ever hope for?

    I am of course talking about what appears to be the ultimate mother(s) of all AA games, far surpassing AA50: AA Europe and Pacific 1940.

    Here’s my take:

    A few people have already mentioned this fact and they are absolutely right: AA42 is not for us. It was not designed with anyone in the AA community in mind. Take a look at it, compare it to Revised, and try to convince me that they expect all of us to pay for a copy of this game which features NOTHING we haven’t seen before. We weren’t meant to buy this game, we were meant to pay attention to it and then decide to save our cash for AA40E/P.
    AA42 is designed to sit on the shelves next to Settlers and the new RISK and Monopoly etc. It’s really the most basic version of the game ever produced and would be fantastic for a 14 year old RISK fan to open on Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Ramadan. (or all four depending on your family tree). That’s precisely what is game is and it will serve its purpose very well.

    Now… as we all got real hyped up on the news of a new AA game and started buzzing around this forum itching to get our hands on a new version of the game, Larry was quietly cooking up a 7-layer triple-chocolate ultimate-amazing fun-tastic new version of the game that would blow away just about anyone on this board.

    This is actually an extremely smart business decision. First, announce a new game and get the community really talking about it. Then, issue a reprint of Revised (AA42) and get everyone super bummed out about it. Then, announce a new game that will keep everyone here salivating for months to come. This offers AH 3 things:

    1. They get to cheaply mass produce a basic (yet still very good) version of the game that is really easy for newcomers to pick up and will not only bring in revenue for years to come but will also open the door for newbies to buy other versions.

    2. They get to extend the hype on the forums for the new AA40 Europe/Pacific Mega-game for an extra half year or so as to make sure every last person in the AA community is aware of its presence (they do this basically for free.)

    3. It allows them to make a ton of dough when we all willingly shell out $100+ for each of these 2 games. This is in addition to the revenue they will make from the mass-market 1942 edition which will likely be the bread and butter.

    Does anyone here think that Larry Harris is not a strategic genius?


  • @Canuck12:

    A few people have already mentioned this fact and they are absolutely right: AA42 is not for us. It was not designed with anyone in the AA community in mind.

    Well written article!
    +1 for you. :-)


  • I would have to agree with you on that one.  But do you really think it is going to be 100 a piece for that mega aa? :-o


  • It is reasonable enough but WOTC/Hasbro/AH aren’t that smart. Larry is that smart but the rest of them aren’t. The only thing I can think is they made this hoping it would be picked up by the veteran’s as a pieces farm and perhaps to defer some of the development costs of the A&A 1940 versions over an additional game.

    And if they want Buzz they can either call Drew Carey or just put articles and stuff up on the website they already own. They don’t need to produce a sub-par A&A game to get the veteran’s attention. Just tell us something, anything.


  • yea larry really spilled the beans and WOTC will not get around to saying anything till latter when they post errata. Its what they do. Now i know what Charlton Heston went thru back in the 1970’s.

  • '10

    I really enjoyed your article!  Thanks

    I have been thinking along the same lines about AA42.  It is a GOOD thing to have a basic INTRO game in the AAA line-up.  It will bring new blood and a whole new generation of players to our great hobby.  In fact I think I will skip RISK and buy AA42 to begin my young son’s  wargaming training right away!

    I know it is not what we want but in the end it will be better for the community over all.


  • I got this game today at Target

    Its got a very well written rulebook thanks to Kreighund. :-)

    I only had to read it once quickly to understand everything and didn’t have to reread any part that ‘wasn’t clear’

    It was funny that most of the latter pages of the rules contained only about half a page of text. The entire rules could be in 12 pages it it weren’t for the idea to separate each new concept.

    its got the same ideas as AA50 with no NA, No NO’s, NO Tech. Optional rules from AA50 included.

    I will scan the setup sheet because people are crying. The map is too small, but its looks great. The lines that separate the territories are less clear than AA50, which is bad because if the pieces spill over into other territories occurrences of “hey was that here or there will occur”.

    The chips are very few and you get like only 8 red chips. You get a set of really dark dice and they look otherwise like original AAR dice sake the colors.

    Now the pieces….

    This refreshed thing is kinda a letdown. The pieces for the most part are not different from AAR.

    HOWEVER, some of the pieces are slightly different.

    The Infantry and Tanks in all 5 cases have some additional detail on the sides. I like this.

    Soviet:
    Soviet Bomber has flat wings. Its alot better

    Soviet infantry are ‘different’ they seem larger and different… no really.

    The prize in the Soviet Cruiser… its incredible!!!..worth the price of admission

    The allied artillery for Soviet, UK, USA has some minor detail about its nozzle/turret…minor

    The Soviet battleship is horrible. My god its horrible.

    Germany:

    Submarine has moire detail. Its slightly thicker and has some more detail. I like it alot, but still too skinny for me.

    The Cruiser is definatly awesome!

    The Infantry are different as well… larger in some respect. I see a pattern here. They changed the infantry for all nations with something slightly different.

    Japan:

    Very minor changes on artillery.
    japanese battleship has more detail and is slightly different.

    UK:

    not much to report here. the UK Battleship is better but marginally.

    Just tanks and infantry changes.

    USA:

    The dreaded p-38 is back

    the US Carrier is now a bit better with some deck details

    I think its worth it for the infantry and that Soviet and German Cruiser upgrade.

    The setup is basically the same ( sort of). You have to take 9 VC to win or go for decisive VC by taking 12 VC.

    http://www.mediafire.com/?jdeurowntit

    above is the set up sheets.

    also you get 10 red chips ( which are now kinda reddish orange to match the dice) and about 40 grey chips… :x

    The tokens are skinny like in revised. :-(


  • It is cheap so you can’t really expect top quality map/pieces.

    I agree with the OP 100%, well said.


  • Question: Is IL, AH Von Manstein?

    I normally don’t go to the AH forum but wanted to see if the rulebook for AA42 was online or even if there was a FAQ and I run across this post, page down until you see AH Von Manstein’s review.

    It’s exactly the same as IL’s post above, even with the smiley and angry face?

    http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1222684

    If it’s not the same person then who did the review?  IL’s post here is a day earlier than Von Manstein.


  • von Manstein is a thief, he steal IL’s ideas and post them over at AH forum.

    Of course IL is not von Manstein, I know this because IL is banned from the AH forum after calling them chimps


  • @Adlertag:

    Of course IL is not von Manstein, I know this because IL is banned from the AH forum after calling them chimps

    LOL @ IL perm banned  :-D

    AH forum is for chimps  :lol:


  • …or should that be chumps  :?


  • @Adlertag:

    von Manstein is a thief, he steal IL’s ideas and post them over at AH forum.

    Of course IL is not von Manstein, I know this because IL is banned from the AH forum after calling them chimps

    That’s good to know.  Wow, copy and paste!  No revision or anything.  Here I thought IL was moonlighting at WotC/AH.


  • @Imperious:

    Now the pieces….
    This refreshed thing is kinda a letdown. The pieces for the most part are not different from AAR.
    HOWEVER, some of the pieces are slightly different.

    I agree.  I would believe that they actually got someone to re-sculpt all the pieces, but for most of them they must have said, “Now here’s the old one, copy this” and really just re-made the same old piece model.  They look good, have good weight in my opinion, seem better than AA50, and I see enough ‘small’ differences in them to see how they can be called ‘refreshed’, but I won’t go so far as to say that they ‘justified’ the statement…


  • @Canuck12:

    Does anyone think it is a coincidence that just 3 days after this, admittedly bland, AA42 leak Larry drops the A-BOMB on the AA community with the announcement of the biggest most bad-assed AA game anyone could ever hope for?

    I am of course talking about what appears to be the ultimate mother(s) of all AA games, far surpassing AA50: AA Europe and Pacific 1940.

    Here’s my take:

    A few people have already mentioned this fact and they are absolutely right: AA42 is not for us. It was not designed with anyone in the AA community in mind. Take a look at it, compare it to Revised, and try to convince me that they expect all of us to pay for a copy of this game which features NOTHING we haven’t seen before. We weren’t meant to buy this game, we were meant to pay attention to it and then decide to save our cash for AA40E/P.
    AA42 is designed to sit on the shelves next to Settlers and the new RISK and Monopoly etc. It’s really the most basic version of the game ever produced and would be fantastic for a 14 year old RISK fan to open on Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Ramadan. (or all four depending on your family tree). That’s precisely what is game is and it will serve its purpose very well.

    Now… as we all got real hyped up on the news of a new AA game and started buzzing around this forum itching to get our hands on a new version of the game, Larry was quietly cooking up a 7-layer triple-chocolate ultimate-amazing fun-tastic new version of the game that would blow away just about anyone on this board.

    This is actually an extremely smart business decision. First, announce a new game and get the community really talking about it. Then, issue a reprint of Revised (AA42) and get everyone super bummed out about it. Then, announce a new game that will keep everyone here salivating for months to come. This offers AH 3 things:

    1. They get to cheaply mass produce a basic (yet still very good) version of the game that is really easy for newcomers to pick up and will not only bring in revenue for years to come but will also open the door for newbies to buy other versions.

    2. They get to extend the hype on the forums for the new AA40 Europe/Pacific Mega-game for an extra half year or so as to make sure every last person in the AA community is aware of its presence (they do this basically for free.)

    3. It allows them to make a ton of dough when we all willingly shell out $100+ for each of these 2 games. This is in addition to the revenue they will make from the mass-market 1942 edition which will likely be the bread and butter.

    Does anyone here think that Larry Harris is not a strategic genius?

    My thinking is… A&A Anniversary just came out and its a masterpiece so that fact that A&A 42’ has come out so quickly after that… was just to update the entry level A&A to be in line with the experienced player version of A&A 50th… it just got a tuneup which is great. It was probably time to make another production run, just made since and the price is nice… I’ve seen it online for $19.95. Now a new player can go from 42’ and move into A&A 50 smoothly. From a players stand point this is all good and for Larry Harris… I don’t think its all about the money but im sure it helps with his kids in college :)


  • LOL!!! :-D


  • Canuck12

    Totally agree with your analysis.  There’s an AA42 “Entry Level” / “New User” / “Mass Market” / “Unit Volume” strategy and an AA50/AA40 “Step Up” “Higher ASP” strategy - this is actually marketing 101 by WOC/Larry - We’d never get the Step Up games (which visitors of this site are all about) without the volume variants to drive cash flow for WOC…So in a weird way we should be thankful for AA42.

    That said, I received AA42 today (from Target.com - Mass merchant…).  Worth the price to get some of the new sculpts (per IL’s summary). But the Russian Battleship sculpt is a disaster…I’m all for differentiation/new sculpts, but I mean it looks ridiculous.  Does anyone know if this sculpt is based on an actual historic ship?

    I’m sure I’ll never actually play AA42, but I’ll use the scuplts for other variants.

    Can’t wait for the AA40s…


  • Well said Monroe


  • In reply to inquiries regarding the Soviet BB, the mold appears to based on the Gangut class; the only class of Soviet BB (other than the UK Royal Sovereign) to see action with the Soviet Navy during WWII.  It is quite a…well…interesting…looking ship, but from the pictures I have seen, the AA42 mold actually looks fairly accurate. Perhaps it would be fair to direct complaints towards Soviet naval engineers who modernized the class prior to WWII instead of WOTC… 8-)

    Here is a line drawing of the Gangut class, for comparison purposes (the lower image depicts the class as it appeared during WWII, with the upper pictures illustrating the vessels prior to their modernization):

    Personally, I have always stated my preference for the incomplete Soyuz class, for reasons I have stated elsewhere on this forum. Here’s a hypothetical illustration for consideration (although I am not terribly disappointed by the Gangut class, I do hope that FMG decides to use the Soyuz class instead):


  • If they had used Soyus class, then they could used that mold for the French battleship too, since Soyus look very similar to Richeli-class. But now we will get Gangut as French battleship, how nice.

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