@Col.Stauffenberg:
AA50 strikes me as a game where you don’t have to think to much, because every countries objectives are spelled out for you. I think people are in denial because of the money they blew on this attractive albiet broken game.
Interesting statement, and one I hope I will not take out of context by quoting you here.
Axis & Allies is a strategic game that uses dice to determine battle outcomes. Therefor, there is an element of randomness to the game. That may drive you crazy, or it may give you hope to play on:
Craziness: You take 6 tanks on 3 inf and lose the battle :-o
Hope: You’re on the receiving end of the battle :-)
I think A&A has chess like aspects where you need to plan your moves over a few rounds and react to your opponents moves appropriately. However, the dice can negate the definitive outcomes in chess: I know that my pawn will kill your pawn when it’s my turn to move… but my 3 tanks MAY not win against your 3 tanks.
I know that our playing group has always opted towards more strategic rules (house rules, newer versions, etc). The original game (aka ‘Classic’) often turned into a Tech heavy race to roll “6”'s. First to get HB’s with LR wins! Revised diminished some of this (especially with the LHTR variant so widely adopted by the A&A community). AA50 is even more strategic due to it’s many optional rules: two scenarios, NO’s, Tech, Escorts, closing the Dardenelles.
What is my point in this reply?
I think your statement about the game being about not having to think much is off base. This is one of the reasons I LOVE A&A so much: Needing to think of new ways to defeat a strategy that has been employed successfully against me. For the most part, there are counters to <most>strategies in AA50. And the beauty of the optional rules I mentioned above, is that if your playing group gets into a rut where you determine that SBRs are the way to go for the allies and then the axis always reacts properly to offset this move… so the game becomes predictable, then incorporate some of the optional rules (or don’t use them if you had been). Mix things up. Think anew!
I have been playing this game since 1986, I’ve seen alot of claims about this game: broken due to unstoppable strategies, too dice heavy: Tech should never be used, use low luck, the list goes on…
But I have never seen anyone say the game in one “where you don’t have to think to much, because every countries objectives are spelled out for you”.
I would have to say that to overcome the ‘unbeatable strategy’ (Allied SBR’s as mentioned by the OP), you NEED to think out of the box to defeat these moves. It can be done. Just like in real life, every move has a trade off. If you are doing one thing, you sacrifice doing another. The axis need to find out what the allies are sacrificing when they conduct the SBR campaign and react accordingly.
Some posters here are telling you that these Axis reactions have been tried and are used in the PBF here. If you have the time, at least peruse the PBF games and look for how these are countered. Or better yet, join the group here and put your ‘unbeatable strategy’ to the test.
Good luck and good gaming!
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