Introduce or Re-Introduce Yourself (Nov. 2018)

[djensen]

Welcome to the Axis & Allies .org Forums! Please feel free to use this topic to introduce yourself to the community. Or if you’re a long time member, feel free to re-introduce yourself.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, for instance:

• Where are you from?
• What Axis & Allies games do you like to play?
• How often do you play?
• Do you use any customizations (tables, painted pieces) or house rules?

Finally, when you read something posted here, please give it a heart/upvote!

---

I’m Dave Jensen and I created this site in January 2000 and added forums about a year later. The origins of the site actually started as early as 1996 when I created a page on the web server of the college I was attending, Pomona College. The site was called David Jensen’s Axis & Allies archive and had a few articles and house rules.

I payed my first game of Axis & Allies 2nd Edition Classic in middle school when my good friend @rmorel introduced me and another friend, Ross, to the game. In high school the three of us go together nearly every Friday to play A&A or D&D (I was a terrible Dungeon Master).

Now, I live in San Francisco with my wife and two cats. I’m a software developer and entrepreneur, I run a tech startup that provides software for breweries, called Brewd.

My favorite version of Axis & Allies is Anniversary Edition but I mostly play 1942 Second Edition. I’ve been in the finals for 42SE at Gen Con but was narrowly defeated after getting the worst rolls of my life on USSR turn 1! I also enjoy a fun, casual game of A&A Zombies here and there.

[Witt]

I live in England, but wa born in Florence, Italy. I started playing A&A as an 18 year old at university. I only got to play once a week (4 hours) as part of the Boardgames Club and sometimes had to watch, if too many players wanted in. I was so obsessed that I would look forward to that one evening to the detriment of everything else. I would plan how Germany could win amd what I would buy. Russia was my nemesis amd my one goal was its conquest.

I did buy Classic in my Second Year, I think. Did not play much (except by myself, plannning!).
I got back into A&A when I heard Europe was coming out . Guess what? Yep, I got to invade Russia all over again.
Anniversary was a wedding gift and I have bought every game since then.
I don’t get any face to face games any more, as I have children and no time at the weekends (because of work).

[Young Grasshopper]

Hello everyone,

I am Young Grasshopper from the Cliffside Bunker in Toronto ON Canada, I’m a hardcore Axis & Allies enthusiast who loves to see new players entering the hobby. I make YouTube videos explaining how to play along with strategies, customizations, live play, and topical discussions about the game I love.

I’m also a born again bible believing Christian, saved by the grace of God in November of 2016. My wife (who was also saved in 2017) is an incredibly loving, compassionate, and supportive woman. We work 8 hours per day all week, but we like to stay at home with our pets most evenings, and of course go to Church most Sundays.

My favorite Axis and Allies game by far is 1940 Global 2nd Edition, with Anniversary Edition in 2nd place. I’ve had a devote gaming group at my bunker since 2010 and we are still going strong with gatherings 1-2 times per month. Currently I am working with a team of designers creating our own Axis and Allies variant called 3G40 Deluxe Edition.

[rmorel]

Hello everyone, I am a long time player of A&A. In middle school in the late 80s, @djensen, our friend Ross, and I played ‘Classic’ every Friday that we could. I remember Xeno games coming out with World at War and we played that version a lot too. We made our own custom maps on hardwood and spent summers painting them. By college I was running an unofficial Xeno games World at War website, but that soon became defunct after it was apparent that Axis and Allies itself would have many variations supported by big game makers. Dave assumed all web activities from then on, and kept introducing new variants of A&A to us. 1942 is the one we play the most, but I enjoy Anniversary edition, and if I really want to exhauste myself, 1940 global. See you all at the next tournament!

[siparo]

Hey Y’all! I’m Siparo from Nashville. I started playing A&A in the late nineties when I was in high school. I picked it up again when Global came out. Shortly after I travelled to Spring Gathering in Cincinnati, OH where I met a bunch of other guys with a passion for this game.

I loved the idea of finding new players and bringing together longtime fans, so I started the Nashville Axis and Allies Meetup Group,. If you ever get a chance, please join us for a weekend of gaming!

Global 1940 is by far my favorite version. I enjoy playing 1914 and War at Sea as well.

[aequitas-et-veritas]

This is aequitas et veritas from Germany.
In 2007 after i relocated to the United States, i found a Store with Axis and Allies games and got interested in it.
My first Game was the 1999 Europe edition and we (my cousin and friends) set up a small playgroup.
I learned to know the game better and bought the next game, Pacific.
No turning back from this time on.

When i moved back to Germany with my family i left all my games there.

I found this site while i was in the U.S…
The feed back to my questions,the warm welcome, the sometimes funny and sometimes interesting discussions made me stay on this site.

The Play Boardgame section gave me a very good replacement for my missing copies and the League a very strong replacement for my playgroup.

After the years i sharpend my skills in playing and met a lot of new Friends.

If you are new to triple a you are welcome and enjoy this site like i do.

[The Pripet Martian]

Howdy! (translated from Texan: Hello!)

I was born, raised and still live in the Dallas area. I received Axis & Allies (what is now referred to as “A&A Classic”) as a Christmas present in 1984 and was instantly hooked. The varied forms of the game have remained with me throughout the years: Europe '99, Pacific '01, D-Day, Guadalcanal and Battle of the Bulge were all purchased for my son and provided us many hours of entertainment and bonding.

After several years away from the game, largely due to life’s various obstacles, I purchased Europe and Pacific 1940 in 2017. It was my wife’s fault - she said she loved playing Risk as a child and responded in the affirmative when I asked her, “How would you like to play a game similar to Risk, but infinitely better?”

Since the Global 1940 game came into my life, I haven’t played anything else. In my opinion, it’s far and away the best iteration of Axis & Allies.

[Private-Panic]

Hello my fellow A&A addicts!

I live in the middle of England and organise a quarterly Battle of Britain event, which attracts a number of members of this forum. Unfortunately they do not let me win often enough.😢 Where are their manners?

I have been playing A&A for 4 or 5 years now, starting when a brother bought me 1941 for Christmas. My wife has yet to forgive him. Since then I have acquired every A&A version currently in print and enjoy playing them all. Anniversary is probably my favourite, but I play 1941 most often, at least twice a month, as it is easier to organise an evening game.

I am a keen games player and play many other games too. But A&A is my favourite.

Cheers
PP

[Quirky Turtle]

Hi all,

Greetings from the Netherlands. I have been playing A&A for a little over 2 years now and love it to bits! I’m a huge fan of Global 1940 which I play regularly with friends.
I have some experience with other versions as well (classic, spring 1942, anniversary, 1914) which I like to play if I’m in the mood for something ‘light’.

Together with @Tjoek I work on a number of customizations and game aids. Although I have to give him credit for the artistic work and hard labor.

Cheers
JZ

[dezrtfish]

I’m William “Red” Cook. I live in Scottsdale Az, a suburb of Phoenix. I played my first Axis and Allies game in 1986, back when there was only one version. I had a group of friends that played through high school then the group eventually faded away during college.

Around 2000 or 2001 i started working in an office and had internet access from my desk. When I got bored I would search random things. Thats how I discovered that there was an online community for Axis and Allies. I jioned this site aswell as others, and i used the games locator forum to build a local group again. We played the original then World at War, then made house rules. We picked up other games as they came out and eventually I would have 8 to 10 people show up for game nights playing 2 games at once. I even got into miniatures for a while.

Once again guys moved away and I had interruptions visiting foreign countries courtesy of the US Army. I played Europe in Baghdad, D-day in Kuwait, Pacific in Jalalabad and 1942 at a place called Torkham at the Afghan border in the Khyber pass.

Now I occasionally get some guys together and play a modified version of The War Game.

[taamvan]

Hey Crew–Taamvan from Kansas City here
My favorite version is also, G40, though I have every edition save AA50 and BoB. Enjoy all wargames, role playing games, strategy games, and eurogames.
Played Classic to completion about 4 times in college, never alotted enough time to really get into it back in the day.
Starting in about 2014, my best friend Maphead Dave and I play head to head about twice a month, often G40 (mod’d) but in 2016, 42.2, and 2018, AAZ. Our next game will be Game 187.
We also have a local KC club with about 15 members, they play G40 in one live sitting, about twice a month and at local cons

I have attended Gencon for the last 3 years, and consider myself to have many friends from this site–people I keep in contact by phone and DM regularly; YG, Dave Jensen, Argothair, Black Elk, Hambone, plus the regulars from Gencon. I enjoy playing in the tournament games and being a booster for the game, in general. I’m not as into customizing as some of the others, but look forward to a chance to meet these guys live, so they can whoop me.

The game itself is great, but the community and friends are what its all about, to me, if this were just another video game with a vast audience, it wouldn’t have this kind of grassroots following, that’s what makes the effort worth it.

[vodot]

Hi All, I’m Nate from Detroit, MI in the US, currently living near Portland OR.
I first played A&A in middle school when my board-flipping cousins brought a copy of classic A&A to a family retreat. We woke up when it was still dark every morning and played some sort of A&A-army-men-hybrid with the pieces (boards were flipped), which developed over the years into actually reading the rules and playing the game as intended many times. I finally bought AAR in college and drummed up a group of guys to play it with a few times every semester. I would say the real “hook” moment for me was discovering the Caspian Sub AAR strategy articles in the old yahoo group. I can’t tell you how many times I have read those papers!

I own AAR, 41, 42, 42.2, and AA50, but my copy of AAR (with Italy as a separate power sharpied and taped on to the board) will always have a special place in my heart. These days I’m a father of two with a real job, and A&A and board gaming in general is solidly on the back burner, but I dream, and host the occasional game night. :) I think my main interest here is in tweaking and customization, and in my ongoing search for the spark of genius from those Caspian Sub articles.

[arathorn]

Hello everyone,

A&A super geek here. I’ve played A&A since I was 12 years and 2 days old, starting as Russia in Classic on Friday December 11th, 1998.

My 17 month younger brother is also an A&A-addict, and we were both blessed to have another ardent A&A-player and addict under the same roof for years, providing the easy access to hundreds and hundreds of games.

I own at least one copy of every A&A version ever published, including reprints and 2nd Editions. Wife shakes her head at my closet.

I’m originally from Kristiansand, Norway, but I’ve lived in Atlanta, GA of the glorious U.S. of A. since 2013.

I’m the facilitator for the MeetUp Group called Axis & Allies Atlanta, and we host a lot of tabletop games. We have several huge enthusiasts here that have dedicated entire spaces of their house to A&A, so we’ve fortunate to enjoy a lot of good gaming.

Looking forward to any game put out by Larry Harris.

[DanishArmy]

@arathorn your brother is less than 2 years old and plays Axis and Allies? Wow!

[aequitas-et-veritas]

@DanishArmy you have to

[djensen]

@arathorn Welcome to the forums. If you have any events that you’d like to promote just let me know. You can also post them in the Events forum.

[JDOW]

Hi everybody,

I’m Tobias from Germany.
I played my first A&A in the mid-90s and got re-introduced to the game in about 2011-2012 when a colleague invited to play the game. Playing Japan in the first game with no clue what to do I started to look out on the internet to find some strategies.
Boy, I would love to see how we all played this game back then. If I recall correctly we forgot to put the Chinese fighter on the board as well as the Naval base at the Philippines:D If I recall correctly I made some crazy excursions in J2 to Canada and fought for California for 1-2 turn while doing a J1 DOW LOL. I found a way for the J1 DOW in this forum and that is the way I got introduce to this community.
Later, I guess in 2012/2013 I learned about the tripleA online client and league play. At first, I played with a friend in the online live client before I found out about the option to play less stressful league games.
I played my first league game in 2013. Since then I participated in every season.

Next to 1-2 games 1941/1942 on a board game I have played G40 global online exclusively. Since last season, I play BM only, because I believe BM is a great addition that does not only make the game more balanced, but also just a better game in general. Kudos to the creators of BM!

Cheers,
Tobias

[taamvan]

@JDOW Great story Tobias, I must say your “JDOW J1” is the classic G40 opener, ala a chess gambit. I can’t improve much on it, though I don’t necessarily recommend a J1 in the face of a full USA KJF.