@djensen

I sent in for Gold as usual.

Thanks for running this site

@The_Good_Captain

Right, 5 years in the military make me read everything literally, letter for letter, to the letter, if you will. Unfortunately I don’t have power to make you edit your Headline to “I know 5 versions of A&A that surely are imbalanced” so I just move on. I let it go. Not my business.

I am aware of your YT Channel and have watched some, not all, and you have done a good job. I’m not a competitive player so I’m not qualified to comment on most of them. But as a history buff and vet I don’t appreciate silly game mechanics or rules that produce results which don’t make sense in the context of the historical setting, like Submarines shooting down Aircrafts, Trannies sinking Battleships, which was an issue with MB Classic but that have been fixed in later versions. I do like the rules and mechanic to be streamlined for ease of play, and IMHO Infantry shold always cost 3 IPC and not 2 like in N.A, and why do we need so many different Supply rules? Battle of the Bulge had one type of Supply, then North Africa had another type of Supply rule, and now Stalingrad have another Supply rule. And what about Road movement? In Battle of the Bulge everything on wheels move unlimited, in North Africa vehicles move 5 spaces, and in Stalingrad some vehicles move 2+2 spaces on the road. But StugIII and the truck with Katusjas only move 1 even they got the same engine as other vehicles. Don’t make sense to me. And then there is the scripted games. Like in Stalingrad Russian Infantry is restricted form moving in the first 2 rounds because Stalin had OCD and said not one step back. When I play Russia I am not Stalin, and I want my Infantry to move back, but silly rules prevent me. Enouch, maybe I’ll comment on some of your other threads some time. Take care and keep up the good work.

Renegade announce reprint of D-day for april 2026.

@CentralCommando

I surely don’t want to derail Jensens thread, so you should make a new topic. This issue need a dedicated thread, for sure.

That said, the quintessence of A&A is a simplistic game with simplistic rules. Easy to learn, and a lifetime to master. Either AA42 second ed or Anniversary, but not with dark colors. (The colors from MB Classic or Europe (1999) or Pacific (2001) had maps with bright colors. Too dark colors make me sad). Focus on that. All this Theather games with different and complex rules, some with D12, D10 or D6, or a dice Box, different stacking limits (in the range of 8 to 12 units) different supply rules, different road movement rules was a bad idea. Streamlining of rules and ease of play should be the cornerstone of A&A. Now make this new thread and I for sure will weight in, man

@The_Good_Captain

OK we are cool. My next post will be on the balance and bugs issue. Your statement is that adding one UK Infantry here (Anniversary) and removing a Ge Tank and Sub there (Europe) will fix the balance issue. You are not wrong, but as far as I’m conserned bidding have been taking care of that since 1988.

Looking forward to your next investigation. You now have finished 5 and only 14 more versions to cover.

@Imperious-Leader I was trapped in an unhealty relation to a woman that did not respect a real mans urge to play A&A, but I’m back now. Still waiting for my gold badge, that was paid for a week ago. Miss the Message Boards from the 1990’ies now that was action.

@vodot

Thank you, I love it, just printet it out as we speak.

How about the “Axis Advantage” Air Transport?
Of course the dive bombers JU 87 or SM.79 can’t transport infantry or artillery, they barely have space for the 2 men crew. But if we use the JU 88 and P.108 Strategic Bomber pieces from Europe 1940 as Air Transports, how about that? Each could transport one Infantry, or one Artillery or one Supply. I don’t belive any Air Transports of WWII could transport heavy halftracks of 8 tons, barely the artillery of 2 tons. IMHO

@Narvik

ANZAC AND UK PAC TURN 22 - WINTER 1945

COMBAT
OPERATION CAPITAL - INVASION OF BURMA
India: 4 Inf, Art, Tank, BMB (UK) + 4 Inf (Punjab) + 2 Inf (Gurkha) attack> Burma: 3 Inf (JAP) + Inf (BU)
Loss Allies: 1 Inf + Loss JAP: all units

BATTLE OF RAMREE ISLAND
1000 japanese soldiers retreat into crocodile-infestet mangrove swamps.
Only 20 survive.
This is known as the worst animal attack ever recordet. If it’s true. Historians differ

Burma switch side and join the Allies.
1 Inf (BU) join the Allies.

@CWO:

…. and two American fighter units represented by two different sculpts (though their cost and characteristics in the rules were identical).Â

Correct, One of the designers said he could not live with an Army P 38 Lighting as a carrier based plane, so they gave us 6 carrier based fighters too. Those were the days…

Got Gold

@The_Good_Captain

Hi Ryan, it looks like you were an official playtester in Renegades North Africa and Stalingrad versions, maybe even more games that I’m not aware of. So I got some questions. How exactely does the playtesting works? It’s basically an economic game based on math, so it would make sense to use computers, AI, data etc to sort out the patterns. And propably thousands of human playtesting games to include the human factor too. And yet still all games are imbalanced or bugged. Many A&A versions have second editions and erratas to try to fix some of the worst imbalances and bugs, but will A&A ever be a perfect game?

@The_Good_Captain

Right, 5 years in the military make me read everything literally, letter for letter, to the letter, if you will. Unfortunately I don’t have power to make you edit your Headline to “I know 5 versions of A&A that surely are imbalanced” so I just move on. I let it go. Not my business.

I am aware of your YT Channel and have watched some, not all, and you have done a good job. I’m not a competitive player so I’m not qualified to comment on most of them. But as a history buff and vet I don’t appreciate silly game mechanics or rules that produce results which don’t make sense in the context of the historical setting, like Submarines shooting down Aircrafts, Trannies sinking Battleships, which was an issue with MB Classic but that have been fixed in later versions. I do like the rules and mechanic to be streamlined for ease of play, and IMHO Infantry shold always cost 3 IPC and not 2 like in N.A, and why do we need so many different Supply rules? Battle of the Bulge had one type of Supply, then North Africa had another type of Supply rule, and now Stalingrad have another Supply rule. And what about Road movement? In Battle of the Bulge everything on wheels move unlimited, in North Africa vehicles move 5 spaces, and in Stalingrad some vehicles move 2+2 spaces on the road. But StugIII and the truck with Katusjas only move 1 even they got the same engine as other vehicles. Don’t make sense to me. And then there is the scripted games. Like in Stalingrad Russian Infantry is restricted form moving in the first 2 rounds because Stalin had OCD and said not one step back. When I play Russia I am not Stalin, and I want my Infantry to move back, but silly rules prevent me. Enouch, maybe I’ll comment on some of your other threads some time. Take care and keep up the good work.

@The_Good_Captain

OK we are cool. My next post will be on the balance and bugs issue. Your statement is that adding one UK Infantry here (Anniversary) and removing a Ge Tank and Sub there (Europe) will fix the balance issue. You are not wrong, but as far as I’m conserned bidding have been taking care of that since 1988.

Looking forward to your next investigation. You now have finished 5 and only 14 more versions to cover.

@The_Good_Captain

The Headline of the video read “Rating Imbalance” Now if you had used that Headline in the Thread too I would’nt have derailed your thread. I’ve played A&A since 1988 and totally agree with your investigation. But of course you had to use “Every versions” and “All versions” and that is not correct. You have so far investigated 5 versions, and we don’t even know what Anniversary edition. Is it the 20th, 25th, 50th Avalon Hill or 40th Anniversary version? That matters.

FYI: As of 2026 there are 19 spin-off versions. 4 are updated or expanded versions of the global Classic. 5 are Theater games. 4 are local games of specific battles. 1 is WWI and 1 is Zombie apocalypse. The Video-games, online games and A&A Minis are kept outside of this.

List of all versions
1981 Nova ed Global
1984 MB Classic Global
1999 AH Europe Theater
2001 AH Pacific Theater
2004 AH D-day Local
2004 AH Revised 20th Anniversary ed Global
2006 AH Battle of the Bulge Local
2007 AH Guadalcanal Local
2008 AH Avalon Hill 50th Anniversary Global
2009 AH 1942 25th Anniversary ed Global
2009 AH Pacific 1940 Theater
2010 AH Europe 1940 Theater + Global when combined with Pacific
2012 AH 1941 Global
2012 AH 1942 second ed Global
2012 AH Pacific 1940 second ed
2012 AH Europe 1940 second ed Theather + Global when combined
2013 AH WWI 1914 Global (for some reason)
2018 AH Zombies Global
2024 Renegade North Africa Theater
2024 Renegade 40th Anniversary ed 1941/42 Global
2025 Renegade Stalingrad Local

Now when you have analyzed and investigated all the games on the list, then you can claim “Every game” and “All games” and I will comply.

Also your investigation is adressed to the expert players that play competitive. I don’t know how many that is. I figure 99% of the A&A community are casual players with a military power fantasy that also are plastic piece junkies, that played with Airfix miniatures as kids and now is a step up the ladder. To back up this:
A&A MB Classic is the best selling physical wargame ever with one million copies sold by 1998, and 2 millions sold by 2008. (if we can belive Wiki) But A&A online only have 11 000 ranked players. And if you play competitive at Tournaments just how many expert players do you spot? Right, my point is valid.

Sorry for the derailing but be careful next time you make a Headline that is in-correct.

@CentralCommando

I remember when A&A Minis come in 2005, some players had the main movements on the Revised 2004 ed map, but resolved the battles with the Minis. You are basically suggesting the same, but switch the Minis with a First Shooter Game online. Could be fun.

@The_Good_Captain

As of 2026 there are 19 spin-off games in the A&A franchise. You only investigated 5 of them. Also we are aware of the imbalance and bugs, and that is why we have bidding. No games are strictly balanced, not even Chess. If you start with white pieces in Chess you got the advantage. If you go first in Monopoly you got an advantage. Your study is not wrong, I appreciated it, and would like to see you do all the 19 spin-offs. You shold also look into the Tournament Rules, like LHTR, etc, and joined with bidding the games get fairly balanced, That said, the casual A&A player, like the casual Chess player, don’t play competitive. 99% of the A&A Community love to fool around with the plastic pieces and don’t mind any imbalances. We play for fun. Now keep that in mind.

I’m a Boomer and when I grew up all kids were outdoor playing soccer, or climbing in threes or playing boardgames. My grand kids that are zoomers and Gen Alfa are always indoor, behind a pc, and their parents need to arrange a play date if they want to go over to their friends. I belive the last generations are lost to our cause

I was an adult the first time I played the famous A&A MB Classic edition in 1988, Now that was a great game, plastic soldiers and a beautiful map, simple rules easy to learn, and a lifetime to master. The Classic rules didn’t always produce results which made sense in the contest of the historical setting, like Submarines shooting down lots of Aircrafts, and Transports sinking lots of Battleships, so of course revisions and House Rules followed. I suspect the designer never joined the Navy nor Airforce so basically it was an Infantry game, and still is. The Ships and Aircrafts behave like Infantry because it need to be simplistic streamlined for ease of play. So I was told. Also the game balance was not fair, but what game is? In Chess white is favoured, and in Monopoly the first to go is favoured, and in Risk the owner of America always win. Anyway that could be solved with bidding. Then the Tournaments startet and LHTR solved the problems. Great fun.

I figure that Europe 1999 ed and Pacific 2001 ed was the golden age. Streamlined rules and beatiful maps with light colors but they could not be joined into a Global game and that was a misfortune. Then we got Revised 2004 ed with black water and black German pieces and really dark colors on everyting, but the game play and playability was superb. Best game ever. Except from the too dark colors.

My favourites are 50th Anniversary and Europe 2 ed and Pacific 2 ed. The only but is the high cost. No school kids can afford it, so they buy 42 or 41, with too dark maps. All the Theater games is too heavy with too complicated rules. also no rules are streamlined. You need to learn new rules for every game, and that is a loss. Some of the Theater rules could be streamlined. Like Road Movement. BotB have unlimited, NF have 5 and Stalingrad have 2+2. The Supply rule could have been streamlined. Unit cost and combat value could have been the same as the standard game, easy to remember. The Theather games are for nerds, not for the casual player. The nerds are happy, but I belive the franchise suffer from this. A&A have always been KISS =(keep it simple stupid. )

No need to design a new A&A game. Just take A&A 42 or Anniversary, give the map lighter colors, and use Tournament Rules. Now that should do it. Not a lot of traffic on this thread, where are all the players?

@CentralCommando

I surely don’t want to derail Jensens thread, so you should make a new topic. This issue need a dedicated thread, for sure.

That said, the quintessence of A&A is a simplistic game with simplistic rules. Easy to learn, and a lifetime to master. Either AA42 second ed or Anniversary, but not with dark colors. (The colors from MB Classic or Europe (1999) or Pacific (2001) had maps with bright colors. Too dark colors make me sad). Focus on that. All this Theather games with different and complex rules, some with D12, D10 or D6, or a dice Box, different stacking limits (in the range of 8 to 12 units) different supply rules, different road movement rules was a bad idea. Streamlining of rules and ease of play should be the cornerstone of A&A. Now make this new thread and I for sure will weight in, man

@djensen

The decline in love of A&A is sad. 10 years ago there were like 100+ patrons, now only 20.

Anyway, I suggest a new perk for the distinguished patron. You should be able to lock your own thread. Currently only mods can lock a thread. So I got this Blog running, “The Grand Strategy Game”, but I don’t want it to be an open discussion thread, I want it to be a locked Blog thread. If you can make that happen I’ll be distinguished in 2027. (Can’t afford this year sorry, on a budget) Also I have a Blog with a lot of pics. I don’t know the cost of a pic. I want to pay for my Blog, I’m not a freerider. How many pics do Gold cover and how many can distinguished cover? My Blog is based on pics.

@vodot WOW you really put some effort into this. I will look into this and give feedback later.