Did this game do well financially?

[taamvan]

@superbattleshipyamato

There was much disdain.

I tried to find sales numbers, but couldn’t. Its not a god-awful game since its unpredictable and thats different.

They did reprint Global in 2021, like thousands and thousands of copies (as cheap as $35 retailing for $90) so they are still making $

[Panther]

Concerning AAZ:
They obviously never put any aftersales efforts into it. Until today there is no official FAQ/Errata or corrected setup for the 1942 scenario. They have banned everything related from their website.

[DoManMacgee]

@superbattleshipyamato You should have been here when the game was originally announced/being promoted. The amount of absolute vitriol and outright unreasonable amount of hatred being thrown at this game because of how “”“disrespectful”“” it was was absolutely mind-blowing.

It didn’t help that when the game actually came out, it was more or less just A&A 41 (the super watered down beginner version) but with an ugly Zombie paint job, some extra unit types (compared to 41, so stuff like ART are in the game), and the IPC values of some territories bumped up. The only interesting things to come out of this edition IMO were:

• Territories with Factories than only produce INF specifically (Sinkiang and India).

• Giving IPC values to neutral countries like Spain/Sweden/etc. for the off chance that a card comes up during the game that activates them. AAZ itself might be a bad game but it’s map is fun to make up house rules/alternate scenarios for (what if Spain joined the Axis, etc.)

The fact that the game sucks (poor balance, low-quality components, etc.) + the sheer temper tantrum thrown by the community over this game, coupled with the fact that it tried to cash in on the “X + Zombies” craze like 5 years after it stopped being culturally relevant + the fact that Larry left WOTC (probably over this game being made let’s be real) + the fact that there hasn’t been a new A&A game since leads me to believe this game sold extremely poorly to the point where it probably killed the franchise indefinitely.

[Imperious Leader]

@domanmacgee It was a flop as everyone predicted. You wont see any more of these silly Fantasy/ Historical game settings. Everybody know WOTC is a bunch of fat greasy D$D payers who were commandeered to design and produce a few Historical titles so it wont look ridiculous after they got rid of Larry Harris. You wont see anything except possibly a Civil War game with this system but only if they bring back Harris to make it.

[DoManMacgee]

@imperious-leader I doubt Harris is ever going to come back to WOTC now that he has his own thing going on. I do agree that a US Civil War A&A game is at the top of everyone’s wish list if the franchise ever comes back, though.

[taamvan]

@domanmacgee @SuperbattleshipYamato @Imperious-Leader

Battle cry is ok. The community already created a Total Civil War game that’s likely to be as good or better than a corporate product.

Like Star Trek, they’ve essentially lost control of the future of the franchise by abusing it. Then, the fans take over and fix that.

I don’t Larry was cashiered–I think he makes plenty of money off his association with AxA and Hasbro and he also makes fine new games. Why mess with that?

I also dont think it behooves us to shit on the products or people who design them–its extremely unbecoming for people to look at a work or art or product they would never and could never create themselves and cynically dismiss it

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@taamvan

Yes. I personally like the additional rules even if I never bought them myself.

My wishlist are:

Kursk
Stalingrad
World War 1 revamp, so I can actually play it physically (make sure there are enough pieces, I hate chips)
Battle of the Bulge remake or reprint
Guandacanal remake or reprint
Maybe Battle of France or Operation Wesurberg?

Operation Downfall would be cool, though. So would Iwo Jima, Second Sino Japanese War and Okinawa

[taamvan]

@superbattleshipyamato

You should look into Kings and Kaisers, a WW1 Global game created by my buddies. If you want more details, I’ll DM you.

[DoManMacgee]

I don’t Larry was cashiered–I think he makes plenty of money off his association with AxA and Hasbro and he also makes fine new games. Why mess with that?

I don’t think it’s a “WOTC fired Larry thing”. I think it’s a “Larry doesn’t want anything to do with WOTC anymore” thing. As much as I personally don’t mind the zombies in AAZ I doubt someone like Larry would have accepted them and probably opted to leave WOTC/Hasbro and pursue his own thing with Nightingale Games, which I think is great. It’s just a shame he couldn’t get the rights to the A&A license on his way out.

I also dont think it behooves us to shit on the products or people who design them–its extremely unbecoming for people to look at a work or art or product they would never and could never create themselves and cynically dismiss it

Not sure if this part was directed at me specifically, but I defended AAZ from the people who mindlessly bashed on it for having zombies in it for ~6 months back when the game was coming out. I bought a copy and played a few games of it. The game is simply not good and after going to bat for it to the point where I alienated myself from most of the community here I think I’ve earned the right to say that game is simply not a very good product.

[taamvan]

@domanmacgee

I dont think its either. That relationship has run. If he was an employee of MB then his are works for hire, and he would have no unreserved rights to any of it. For all we know the franchise has run, minus the hasbro activist investor agitating them for the past two years.

That comment was directed at every cynical nerd including myself; (see Broken, Busted or Both). The game has exploits and I reviewed it harshly, and reappraised the game later as having some merit as being more unpredictable and less on rails than other versions.

[Imperious Leader]

@domanmacgee Well in a way i disagree. WOTC went in a non A&A direction and no money was available to hire the bloke, so he went in another direction. Avalon Hill is now dead and Historical games from them are not forthcoming. If Hasbro would sell AH , another producer would bring back the brand and these types of games.

[taamvan]

@imperious-leader Still a positive result because War Room and Imperial Borders are unlikely to have been the product of a corporate and mass market strategy

Back to the activist investor, who would attempt to get them to sell or market what they already have

[Imperious Leader]

@taamvan Im waiting to buy Imperial Borders. That game gives me goosebumps. War room isn’t really another AA game, its too different and not of my taste. The game has to have a rectangle map and real pieces! This is what im waiting for as an extension of AA products by other means.

[taamvan]

@imperious-leader

I would describe IB as Diplomacy + Castle Risk–though I’ve never actually played a complete game of those.

The pieces are simplistic, and the battle is sandbox-like so much more like Twilight Imperium, all the teams are vying the open spaces and choke points, but you can’t leave your home bare. Hidden movements encourage secret alliances made by sms during the game and by phone before, so the game is in some ways intentionally not a “controlled” type approach (its a free for all with up to 6 players that all start with the same stuff)

There is also a scenario where france starts out with a much bigger force and its everyone vs france.

[mictator]

@taamvan A WW1 Game? Please give it to me?

[DoManMacgee]

@mictator You mean 1914? It has its own sub-forum: https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/category/51/axis-allies-1914

You can also try finding the game online to buy. It’s from 2013 though so I doubt it will be cheap. It has a TripleA build though if you’re into that.

[mictator]

@domanmacgee No, No. That i know. The King and Kaisers Rules.

1914 has very expensive prices in Germany. I wait for Renegade Games.