Cmdr Jennifer Hijacks “Enhanced” – How do you really feel about it.

[Jennifer]

I know it doesn’t equal AA50.  AARe does not equal AAR either, nor does it equal LHTR.

What AA50:Enhanced does do is build off of AARe in a way to apply the rules of AARe to AA50 without ruining the balance and without making huge and drastic changes to AA50 or AARe.

[BadSpeller]

Now would you please answer some of the issues from the first post?  :-)

[Jennifer]

Thought I did already, in my first response.

[axis_roll]

@Cmdr:

1)  They felt left out.  Even though everyone was invited, the invitation was only on this game forum or by direct invite.

I never was invited or asked.  I guess the player who has held the A&ARe title the longest doesn’t warrant a personal invite.  Shame on me for not responding to 1 of 30,000 posts Jenn has made.

@Cmdr:

People like axis_roll determinedly and, in my opinion, pig-headedly refused to participate in the adaption of the rules to Anniversary.

@Cmdr:

Hello Pot. it’s the kettle over here…

Yes, axis_roll is the pig-headed one in these discussions…… :roll:

@Cmdr:

They felt that if they did not participate, that the entire world would come to a screeching halt and they could exist with their heads firmly implanted in the sand.  They were wrong.

Where do you get this stuff?  You are so deluded… what reality are you living in?

All I asked was to call your rules set something different.  A brand name comes with certain expectations, good or bad.  A name has a reputation.  This version of Enhanced was not made in the same fashion, does not have the same goals, and does not have the quality of game playout as the original AARe.

@Cmdr:

2)  Some think there were too many changes.  Well, sorry, but it is impossible to adapt Enhanced rules from Revised to function at all in Anniversary without at least some changes.  They were asked for their input no less than three times before the official final version was released.  No specific rules were challenged at those times.

Ah yes,  your post 25,278.  sure I recall that one.

@Cmdr:

3)  Even though Cousin_Joe and other creators of Revised Enhanced never questioned the creation of Anniversary Enhanced and were appraised at each and every step along the procedure (their non-challenging of the creation could be taken as tacit approval of the new version)

We’ve gone from “I have only gotten praise from C_J”:

@Cmdr:

I do have responses from him and NONE OF THE RESPONSES say not to use the “enhanced” tag.  They are all congratulatory and thankful for the hard work put in.  Not a single response contains a critique.

To “They never responded, so I take that as their approval”

BTW, even though I asked for proof of these alleged email interchanges with Cousin_Joe, I never saw one email from you that came from Cousin_Joe, not one.

@Cmdr:

some people have taken it upon themselves to complain about the name being used.  It’s akin to someone complaining that you named your dog “Buddy” because someone else named their dog “Buddy” one time and you “stole” the name.  It’s silly.  It would have more merit if they had named their dog “Buddy” but it wouldn’t be much more merit.

Your analogy is so lame.  “BUDDY” is not something I can use, you do not share “BUDDY”

Keeping with your dog analogy, however I will prove the point of what is implied in a  ‘name’.  A Labrador is a kind of dog, similiar to how AARe is a kind of rule set.  Now a Labrador is different from other dogs.  No one expects a Shitzu to be an outdoor hunting dog.  A Labrador is a hunting dog.  Most people who know about dogs, know this.  A&A players in the know (read: have played AAR and then played AARe) have a certain level of expectation from the ‘labrador’ of house rules: Enhanced.

It is this mislabelling of the Shitzu you are pushing as a Labrador that people are finding they have a problem with.

@Cmdr:

So, instead of saying “Hey thanks.  Cousin_Joe and company did not want to make an enhanced version of Anniversary and we missed a lot of the enhanced rules from Revised when we converted to Anniversary.  So it’s great that you and a team of players adapted the enhanced rules from Revised so that they would work in Anniversary and saving us the trouble of having to do it ourselves.”

Lastly, and this one is my personal opinion: It is too early for rules sets that ‘fix’ the problems in AA50.  The game has not even been out 6 months yet!

I did have some time to read through the rules, I posted what I would consider to be major flaws (omissions, etc) that I found not only in the ‘official’ rules, but in my observations of what the game playout might be.

The “Shitzu” is not even a quality dog!

Your response was to dismiss out of hand my comments.  Not even a ‘hmm, perhaps someone should game play test the flaw axis_roll pointed out’

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I asked for a listing of the team of players who helped develop and play test your Shitzu of rules…. no response.

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have you ever heard of the expression:

“You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”

Consider this before responding, Jenn.

Several posters have expressed concerns over ruining the ‘Labrador’ of house rules.  You could continue to post and defend the work you have done.  Or these ‘rules’ should go back to square one and determine the true goal of the rules set.  Throwing together ideas (rules) from another game does not necessarily mean the end product will be the same.

I know you were not around as the original AARe went thru initial creation and several revision versions.  These rules were not made over night.  There are several threads on the old avalon hill message board that demonstrate the group mentality of rule creation and game play testing built into AARe.  If an Enhanced version of AA50 is ever created, it should use this model.  At least browse through the 20+ pages of threads there are look at the thread titles.  Open discussions on the rules.

As posted many times before, and again here:  Taking house rules written for Revised do not mean that they will be equally effective in AA50.  That may be a good start, but that’s all it should be at this time.

[BadSpeller]

@Cmdr:

Thought I did already, in my first response.

Let’s take this step-by-step. This is the first question. Please, what is your direct answer to this question? (not your thoughts in general, but your direct answer).

@Cmdr_Jennifer:

Why use the “Enhanced” term.  There are a variety of terms that mean relatively the same thing.  Modified, adapted, personalized, and custom are some possibilities.  Why pick enhanced, specifically?

Why utilize an established name?

[Zero Pilot]

This is AA50J which is being called AA50E because what, Jen’s got a patent lawyer on speed dial? Or so we are to believe. Ya know it should be painfully obvious to anyone who’s been here a while that the real game Jen wants to play with her faux AA50E ruleset has little to do with A&A. You do realize that to continue threads like this one is exactly the game she’s after at this point, don’t you?

Ya know if Jen’s the only one on the planet that truly believes she’s developed “the official” AA50E ruleset then she loses at the little power trip game she seems so fond of playing. She can call herself queen of the universe too and that doesn’t make it so. So if you care about and respect the work of Cousin Joe and the Enhanced team don’t post anything in these silly AA50J related threads. Realize you’re only lending creedance to this absurdity by it’s debate!

[axis_roll]

@Zero:

This is AA50J which is being called AA50E because what, Jen’s got a patent lawyer on speed dial? Or so we are to believe. Ya know it should be painfully obvious to anyone who’s been here a while that the real game Jen wants to play with her faux AA50E ruleset has little to do with A&A. You do realize that to continue threads like this one is exactly the game she’s after at this point, don’t you?

Ya know if Jen’s the only one on the planet that truly believes she’s developed “the official” AA50E ruleset then she loses at the little power trip game she seems so fond of playing. She can call herself queen of the universe too and that doesn’t make it so. So if you care about and respect the work of Cousin Joe and the Enhanced team don’t post anything in these silly AA50J related threads. Realize you’re only lending creedance to this absurdity by it’s debate!

It’s not so much those “in the know” I am worried about.  It’s those new to the site, who come here through a search engine, find the AA50J rules set tagged as “Enhanced”, trying these rules and then discovering that these rules do not have the same level of quality game play as the AARe we’ve grown to love.

I believe to just look the other way at someone’s highjacking a name under false pretenses is the easy way out.

[Jennifer]

BadSpeller:

In response to the question asked again, and answered again in the same fashion as the first time:

The name AA50:Enhanced (AKA Anniversary Enhanced, AA50:e, AA50e) was used because it is a direct result from Revised Enhanced.  Since all the same concepts are brought over from Revised Enhanced, the same balance, the same rules and the same ideas, it makes no sense what-so-ever to invent a new name.

You might as well ask why AARe is still called AARe and not something else like Axis and Allies: axis_roll.

AA50e is AARe on the Anniversary Map.

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Axis, I asked the community numerous times for volunteers, you even responded in the thread, but never once volunteered.  On numerous occasions drafts of the rules were posted and I begged and pleaded for you guys to review them and toss out questions and comments, but the only response I got from you, and I am paraphrasing, was “too many changes.”  Never made a specific comment on what change was too much, not that you could since the changes are extremely minor, bordering on virtually non-existent.

Just because you have a selective memory does not make it my problem.

Personally, I hope people find the AA50e rules, try them out, and realize that they’re just as good, if not better, than the AARe rules.  They’re up to the same standard (if not higher, since they’re more recent and thus, take into consideration more experience than was available at the time AARe was created.)

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Zero Pilot:

AA50e has been play tested, it’s been developed by numerous people, it’s been copyrighted and it is the official version.  If someone wants to make a similar game, they’ll just have to use a different name.  If they attempt to use Anniversary Enhanced or any derivative thereof, they’ll be criminally liable for copyright infringement.

Sorry, I just got sick of axis_roll (primarily) and a few others pissing and moaning because they thought they could kill AA50 Enhanced by refusing to participate in it’s creation and by responding with a stock reply “too many changes” to every request for assistance in its creation.

[axis_roll]

Still waiting for that list of numerous people who have play tested these rules.
Your failure to list these people and from the lack of quaility in the Rules, I can TELL that list is small.

Still waiting on those Emails from Cousin_joe that he’s proud you’re working on AA50 “Jen”

Still waiting on your response to the game breaking strategic decision that BREAKS these rules:

INSTANT GUARENTEED TARGETTED TECHNOLOGY.

This BREAKS the game.  I do not even need to game play test.  Hell you might as well hand out light sabers to the guys who can buy them.

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I keep waiting and waiting but all we get are more posts on how wrong we are, without responses to our questions/inquries.

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@Cmdr:

You might as well ask why AARe is still called AARe and not something else like Axis and Allies: axis_roll.

Because I helped mold the rules thru discussion and game testing, I was not the originator of the rules nor did I try to high jack any rules or someone elses work and try to call it my own.

@Cmdr:

AA50e is AARe on the Anniversary Map.

This is where you are wrong, but yet you do not seem to be able to see the error of your ways even though it is just not me saying this.  You can not compile a set of rules from one game and mix them into another game and think those old rules will be just fine.  Sure, you made a few tweaks here or there (naming conventions or other similiar things like Chinese territory names, etc).

There’s a context that all rules must work within.  The ONLY way to decide if something works is to play many games with those rules.  We learned this in developing the original AARe.  This has not happened yet for AA50, let alone this version of the rules.

Top AA50 players need to be brought into the development of these rules.

[BadSpeller]

Thank you for your answer.
Now for Questions #2-6 (or maybe part B #1-5)

@Cmdr_Jennifer:

TESTERS:

1. Who are they?
2. What are their playing levels?
3. How many games of AARe and AA50 have they played?  (Because you are incorporating both sets of rules)
4. Who have they beaten?
5. What side(s) do they play (Axis, Allies, both)?

Again, direct answers please

[Cmdr_Jennifer]

Since we are back on the name topic, here are my thoughts.  While it may be mere semantics, to me the AA50e is misleading from the standpoint that it truly isn’t AA50 enhanced.  AA50 was not the foundation for the enhanced rules.  AARe was.  So, really, wouldn’t the rules being called something like AARe:Anniversary be more appropriate?  It is closer to how they were created.

Again, just my 2 cents.

@Cmdr:

What AA50:Enhanced does do is build off of AARe in a way to apply the rules of AARe to AA50 without ruining the balance and without making huge and drastic changes to AA50 or AARe.

@Cmdr:

The name AA50:Enhanced (AKA Anniversary Enhanced, AA50:e, AA50e) was used because it is a direct result from Revised Enhanced.  Since all the same concepts are brought over from Revised Enhanced, the same balance, the same rules and the same ideas, it makes no sense what-so-ever to invent a new name.

AA50e is AARe on the Anniversary Map.

[tekkyy]

Jennifer, I think I see what you mean
its mostly AARe so you didn’t call it AA50J
but AARe crowd would be happier you simply call it Jennifier’s adaptation of AARe

@Cmdr:

Sorry, I just got sick of axis_roll (primarily) and a few others pissing and moaning because they thought they could kill AA50 Enhanced by refusing to participate in it’s creation and by responding with a stock reply “too many changes” to every request for assistance in its creation.

are you actually looking for feedback anymore?
you were saying its the “final version” already with only erratas planned

as for responses of “too many changes”, it happens in discussions
ask yourself what is the very most important change and talk about that first
its easier for the audience to take in

[axis_roll]

@tekkyy:

are you actually looking for feedback anymore?
you were saying its the “final version” already with only erratas planned

as for responses of “too many changes”, it happens in discussions
ask yourself what is the very most important change and talk about that first
its easier for the audience to take in

I already gave you one game breaker:

Instant guarenteed tech.  Breaks the game.

[Lucifer]

@Trisdin:

I’m new to this conversation but if I were asked, I would say that unless it came from Larry Harris himself, they are all unofficial house rules.

I totally agree! Either Larry Harris has to make the rules himself, mandatory rules or optional rules, or he must approve of any rules regarding any A&A game, be it AARe or any other rule set. With the two new optional rules of AA50, there is actually 4 optional rules in AA50, and all of them are official rules.

Personally I don’t use house rules, but some rules have evolved because a large number of players would rather have it their way, like almost all TripleA AAR players will not use tech, and lots of other players also play without tech. So Larry decided to make tech optional.

Unless Larry Harris, teh main man, has personally approved of the rules, I will not accept such rules!

[d142]

i do not think that the name of the project has a bearing on the finished article,

i would call it axis and allies / enhanced house-rule set /

i would use the 50th anniversary rule set as the base,

taking into account the mechanic’s of all unit’s of the axis and allies edition’s,

if an individual would want to write a rule set, it is not mandatory to use that ruleset,

if i do not want to use a rule, i do not use that rule, whether it would be axis and allies / or enhanced
tournament’s and online would be the time that i would use an official rule set,

otherwise to change the layout, pace or direction of the game, i would invent rule’s, or take advice given by other player’s

[Jennifer]

@axis_roll:

@tekkyy:

are you actually looking for feedback anymore?
you were saying its the “final version” already with only erratas planned

as for responses of “too many changes”, it happens in discussions
ask yourself what is the very most important change and talk about that first
its easier for the audience to take in

I already gave you one game breaker:

Instant guarenteed tech.  Breaks the game.

It’s no more broken in AA50e as it is in AARe, dear.  It’s the same rule.  You may purchase all 6 tech dice in the same round and be guaranteed to get the technology or you can buy only four dice and hope to get it at a discount.

Furthermore, it’s equally as damaging as rolling Yahtzee on Round 1 by any nation.

Another thing, in AA50e we removed the ability for the Axis to roll Yahtzee on round 1 and win the game by Victory Cities.  It’s no longer possible to get enough victory cities or National objectives to win in the first round, guarantying that the game will have a round 2 now.

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And yes, Tekkyy, if there is a serious flaw that needs correcting because it unbalances the game in some way (ie: Axis can win by rolling Yahtzee and getting all the VCs needed like they could in AARe or Getting LRA on Germany 1 gives you a good shot at taking London Round 1 and thus, almost guarantee an Axis win like in AAR) then yes we’re looking for feedback.

But we’ve pretty much ironed out all those game breaking things.  There might be a few things that should be clarified in the rules: ie: Paratroopers have to stop at the first hostile nation in non-combat moves might be confusing, but once clarified, makes total sense (you cannot cross hostile territories with Paratroopers in NCM, you have have to find a route with all friendly territories or drop them somewhere else.)

Anyway, yes, we worked up from the current rules and over laid the others in an attempt to maintain the integrity of the game.  There were no serious rule changes.  As mentioned, things like Western Europe being changed to France or allowing friendly forces to join the D-Day invasion from NW Europe were pretty standard things and in line with AARe rules to begin with.  CRD and Submarine combat were brought over and I can hardly imagine those are unbalancing rules any more than they were in AARe.

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PS: axis_roll: guarantee has two ‘a’s’.  Doesn’t your web browser have a spell checker function?  If not, may I suggest FireFox?

[Unknown Soldier]

@Cmdr:

PS: axis_roll: guarantee has two ‘a’s’.  Doesn’t your web browser have a spell checker function?  If not, may I suggest FireFox?

@Cmdr:

It’s no longer possible to get enough victory cities or National objectives to win in the first round, guarantying that the game will have a round 2 now.

Apparently your spell checker sucks. Seems it can correct ‘guarantee’ but not ‘guaranteeing’.

Now could you please get off your high horse for a second to address this, instead of continuing to ignore it:

@BadSpeller:

Now for Questions #2-6 (or maybe part B #1-5)

@Cmdr_Jennifer:

TESTERS:

1. Who are they?
2. What are their playing levels?
3. How many games of AARe and AA50 have they played?  (Because you are incorporating both sets of rules)
4. Who have they beaten?
5. What side(s) do they play (Axis, Allies, both)?

Again, direct answers please

[Jennifer]

It did correct gauranteeing, I just didn’t see an alternative spelling I liked.

The game testers, AGAIN, were anyone who volunteered from here, real life gamers at Saluki-Con in Carbondale, IL, they were gamers who were directly invited from FOE and AAMC and a couple of buddies of mine who stopped by one Saturday and played it once. (They were not really “game testers” but they ended up testing it with fresh eyes.)

[axis_roll]

@Cmdr:

@axis_roll:

I already gave you one game breaker:

Instant guarenteed tech.  Breaks the game.

It’s no more broken in AA50e as it is in AARe, dear.  It’s the same rule.  You may purchase all 6 tech dice in the same round and be guaranteed to get the technology or you can buy only four dice and hope to get it at a discount.

Um no, it’s NOT the same rule.  AARe techs became active (like the base LHTR) at the end of a players turn.  AA50 tech is instantaneous, that means I can buy Long Range or Heavy Bombers, or Paratroopers or whatever WEAPON you want to use this turn (if you have the money).

I didn’t see in AA50Jen where techs are changed to be deferred.

[Jennifer]

Unlike in AAR, instant tech does not mean instant win.  So what’s the point in making a huge, game changing, change to the rules?

Heavy Bombers can make Egypt go almost 100% for Germany each time, but it also takes your entire pay check AND that means 3 rounds with no reinforcements against Russia.  Not worth it.

Long Range Air same thing, you can take Egypt easier, but three rounds without reinforcements pretty much means a win for Russia.

Japan has no use for any tech in round 1, not that they could afford to buy it even at the reduced cost of 4 dice.

England could maybe use LRA to sink the Italian fleet early, but honestly, that’s still a crap shoot even with LRA (2 fighters, bomber vs 2 cruisers, battleship….not really good chances.)

Instant tech does not break the game.  It’s consistent with the rules.

And hey, unlike in AARe, the Axis can’t win in round 1 because of really good dice!

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PS:  AA:Jen will be posted soon.  It’s a completely new, and unique, set of house rules that are not based of Enhanced, Historical or any other rule set.