@DoManMacgee I’ve used the OOB board without the zombies to teach new players, and so far I think it’s better than 1941 for that.
Axis & Allies and Zombies is REAL
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I’m willing to give it a shot, but I’m not going to be first in line to buy one.
-Midnight_Reaper
I bet you’ll find some excuse to get it on day 1. Chainsaw tanks? Zombie minis? :wink:
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I’m willing to give it a shot, but I’m not going to be first in line to buy one.
-Midnight_Reaper
I bet you’ll find some excuse to get it on day 1. Chainsaw tanks? Zombie minis? :wink:
Neither of those interest me. But we’ll see either way.
-Midnight_Reaper
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If you have questions about the game, please post them here:
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I initially didn’t pay any attention to this thread because its title made me think that it was some sort of bad joke. When I saw, however, that there’s now a child board on this forum for A&AZ, I got worried enough to go back and check this thread. Frankly, I’m still mentally processing the news. I had no difficulty wrapping my mind around the A&A Miniatures product line when it came along; I saw it as a reasonable “brand extension” (like Cherry Coke) of the A&A WWII board games, even though it wasn’t a board game. I likewise no difficulty wrapping my mind around A&A WWI 1914, even though it’s technically is an anachronistic game in terms of its title (since there was no “Axis” in WWI) because it’s an A&A-style game built around WWII’s global predecessor. But A&A Zombies? That’s not what I’d call a serious brand extension of A&A; it’s actually more of a satirical mash-up, along the lines of Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I suspect Jane Austen enthusiasts didn’t universally embrace as being a good idea.
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I really do think it’s too bad this was done with the A&A brand.
I could understand the appeal of some for this game (not me personally, but that’s because I’m a history game nut, a little less the fantastical), but that’s not what A&A is. WOTC, Hasbro, whoever, could have still made this game under it’s own auspices. They own the license for A&A, unless I’m mistaken. So they could borrowed stylistic/artistic liberties from it, with a new game all it’s own, from another brand they already control without legal issue, I would think.
I also do understand previous posts on what could be done with the A&A brand to attract newer/younger gamers to it, though. Be it a mix of shorter game play, as well as streamlined rules, are better for the casual gamer looking to fill up a Friday evening, and a Friday evening only.
I know they’re not the most popular with this forum, but I rather liked the individual battle A&A games of Guadalcanal, Battle of the Bulge, and D-Day, for their quicker pace. I still pull out the D-Day game if we want to get a craving in, but don’t have time or space to set up Global 1940. It’s a different game, unquestionably, but it’s still entertaining. A Stalingrad, El Alamein, Market Garden, etc. game would be appealing in that regard as well. Just because they’re different from the A&A games we know and love on a global scale, doesn’t make a localized theater game with a different/modified rule-set not fun in it’s own way!
But to play devils advocate again, I understand where the WWII/historical realm may not exactly excite the young gamer, so at that I’m at a bit of a loss as it comes to A&A in general.
djensen, I don’t blame you for contemplating opening up this forum to a wider array of games. You’d know more than I, but I’d imagine the traffic coming through, and amount of contributors would go up, making your life running this site much easier. All that means for us is one more sub click to get to the A&A section of a wider forum, not too hard I don’t think. :-)
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I’m surprised they went this way as well. Not because it will be A&AZ as I’ve come to see the A&A “title” as an engine rather than a specific game(s).
Sort of like the commands and colours brand.What I am surprised about is the zombie part. As a fad/craze, it has passed or on the downside of its life cycle.
I will be interested in seeing which board/map they use. Maybe G40 but on a size between Anniv. and 42.2?
Can’t see them creating much new with the amount of map versions/sculpts/graphics they have with Anniv./42.2/1941/G40.
We all know they will cut corners to save 6 cents. :-) -
Its like this all over, Harley davidson, Macys , Sears, DirectTV
Companies are struggling with old models and proven products with today’s new generation.
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Whats next…. “Axis & Aliens” … PASS on this… If there is any good sculpts, ill get them from HBG when Doug gets in some parts.
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Id would rather have “Axis and Aliens” as opposed to the Zombie idea. Like a war of the worlds circa 1940
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Or even an alternate scenario like the Axis invasion of the Americas or Cold War goes hot. There are plenty World War expansions that they could have resorted to instead of some bizarre fantasy. 1914 was a great example, it just needed some more work to be done on it. I cannot help but think that this new version is not going to cater to the same customers. I don’t think serious strategists who play with rules as complicated as neutrality for the sake of history are going to play a weird spinoff. It will probably be more mainstream gamers that will pick this up. Let’s hope this won’t be another poorly-executed embarrassment.
As an A&A gamer, this comes across to me as a “farewell,” but perhaps the company might make a big hit with this. Even though it will be minuscule, the title will undoubetedly make some people want to know what Axis and Allies is. I personally believe there will be fewer similarities to the series than we expect.
Anybody remember Risk: Battlefield Rogue? Yeah.
Guess I’ll go try War Room when my buddy gets it.
And no, I am not being pessimistic, I am only furious, outraged, sick with anger!
this is the opinion of a highly opinionated teenager that still plays Bf1942 because modern FPS games are garbage
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Chill down, man, maybe the zombies are optional ?
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Zombies? Really?
Seems like they are reaching here… trying to revamp the franchise by riffing off current cultural trends?
I can think of a dozen other ways to expand the franchise, and I would never have thought of zombies.
But then I never understood the recent popular fascination with zombies. They move slowly, are easy to kill and have nothing to say. Not scary, not interesting, not conducive to the experience of strategy and war.
The more I think about this, the more I am dumbfounded. A complicated military factoring game that panders to history buffs now intersects with zombies? Seriously? Who are these zombies? The dead of WWI? Will the German zombies be allied with the Germans living?
Seems like a gimmick to pander to kids. So, I guess on that level I can understand.
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@Charles:
Or even an alternate scenario like the Axis invasion of the Americas or Cold War goes hot. There are plenty World War expansions that they could have resorted to instead of some bizarre fantasy. 1914 was a great example, it just needed some more work to be done on it. I cannot help but think that this new version is not going to cater to the same customers. I don’t think serious strategists who play with rules as complicated as neutrality for the sake of history are going to play a weird spinoff. It will probably be more mainstream gamers that will pick this up. Let’s hope this won’t be another poorly-executed embarrassment.
As an A&A gamer, this comes across to me as a “farewell,” but perhaps the company might make a big hit with this. Even though it will be minuscule, the title will undoubetedly make some people want to know what Axis and Allies is. I personally believe there will be fewer similarities to the series than we expect.
Anybody remember Risk: Battlefield Rogue? Yeah.
Guess I’ll go try War Room when my buddy gets it.
And no, I am not being pessimistic, I am only furious, outraged, sick with anger!
this is the opinion of a highly opinionated teenager that still plays Bf1942 because modern FPS games are garbage
Nobody is forcing you to buy it. :-D And it won’t be the last A&A game ever. Everything is going to be okay.
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But it’s not ok!
:cry:
Just kidding. To be honest, I am getting a good laugh out of this. It is always fun to plot the downfall of something I am too fanatic to like.
:-DI still cannot wrap my finger around the fact that zombies managed to get into the game but the Free French didn’t…I mean they could have even added a sculpt with a guy holding a white flag to represent Vichy.
But no, it had to be zombies.
How am I suppossed to sleep at night knowing that the plastic soldiers in the box under my bed might become undead from being put behind the casuality strip too many times?
I swear I am never to going to roll anything other than sixes from now on!
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It kills the brand of AA when you start making crap like :
Axis and Allies and the Three Stooges
Axis and Allies and Dinosaurs
Axis and Allies and the sun going supernova
Axis and Allies and Chris Farley
These fantasy idiots know nothing of what makes the games good. All they can do is concoct idiocy from their feeble minds from things they made before.
They should have made a Civil War AA or Barbarossa, but that would take Larry Harris and they kicked him out the door as well as anything remotely in terms of a practical idea for an AA game. IMO
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Do we know what makes games good? We play this game that lasts a minimum of 7 hours and usually doesn’t result in a victory, more like an exhaustion, “I give up.” This is in a world where you can walk into any game store and find hundreds of games that you can finish in 75 - 120 minutes or less and feel satisfied that you played something meaningful.
Anyway if Wizards can sell 500,000 copies of Zombies so that they can make 50,000 copies of a new “hardcore” A&A game later, I’m all for it.
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well said and summed up.
I figure that if the game tanks (for lack of a better word) then it will go silently away.
The A&A brand will not suffer from this new game, or short term only.
Now, if it is a success, then it will elevate the brand awareness to to masses.
The series will see a resurgence and we might see a new edition.
Personally, I’d like to see the mid-level game be the love child between 1942.2 and Anniversary.
The pieces from 42 and the armies and map from Anniv. would be glorious.
Rules wise, there needs to be a quick play set that uses all the pieces.
1941 is too dumbed down and has limited deployability.
I’ve seen games which start with basic concepts and add rules as players get familiar with the game.
This is what A&A needs. A game playable in the 2-3 hour range.Anyway, looking forward to their A&AZ game and see how it works.
Probably won’t buy it unless there are pieces for other games I need. :-D
Robert -
@Charles:
But it’s not ok!
:cry:
Just kidding. To be honest, I am getting a good laugh out of this. It is always fun to plot the downfall of something I am too fanatic to like.
:-DI still cannot wrap my finger around the fact that zombies managed to get into the game but the Free French didn’t…I mean they could have even added a sculpt with a guy holding a white flag to represent Vichy.
What ? All you need to do is paint some Zombies dark blue for FF.
But no, it had to be zombies.
Wish it was White Walkers instead.
How am I suppossed to sleep at night knowing that the plastic soldiers in the box under my bed might become undead from being put behind the casuality strip too many times?
Now you can sleep at night knowing you have F French under bed !
I swear I am never to going to roll anything other than sixes from now on!
Free French Zombies only can roll d8s ! :-D
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Hey guys, I want to send an assassin against the SS on the grounds of insulting my nation. Any Frenchmen interested? I hear he lives in Canada so a Quebecois is preferred.
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While I’m certainly not a fan of the concept of adding something as absurd as Zombies to Axis and Allies (Or, God Forbid, have the Axis and Allies work together to fight them) I don’t understand the surprise. Let me elaborate from the position of someone from a younger generation:
There is a popular series of first person shooter video games called “Call of Duty” where (for the most part) you play as a soldier on the front lines of World War II.
One of the most popular multiplayer game modes in later editions of this franchise is something called “Nazi Zombies,” where you and your friends fight against Zombies that are implied to be the creation of some absurd wonder weapon project.
My Point: I think all Wizards is trying to do here is cash in on a popular game mode in a trendy video game in order to appeal to a younger generation. Insulting to the hardcore base? Perhaps. Stupid? I think not, but time will tell.
I’m with djensen on this. The game might very well suck and I probably won’t buy it, but if this game does well and it might lead to the creation of a game that can surpass even G40, then more power to Wizards.
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