Hey everyone! This Covid-19 social distancing thing is killing me! I am having two dear friends come over this weekend for an in-person game of Axis & Allies Revised (2004).
We want to use the OOB ruleset, and find a way to have a shorter game, but the “minor victory” rules where you only need to hold 8 victory cities for a full round of play seems a little too short. The “major victory” rules where you need 10 victory cities seems a little too long (and typically boils down to moscow falls or berlin falls).
What does everyone think about playing a match for 9 victory cities. I know that is in the LHTR, but I wanted to play the OOB rules with this one tweak.
My question is really: If we play a house rule of "must hold 9 victory cities for one full turn (Russia-USA), will the game still play out in less than 5 hours?
Just started playing “Revised” (picked it up 1.5 years ago, but just opened the box to try something g smaller than Global). It’s a fun version with some cool/interesting twists.
I see your point, though…trying to take 10 cities…especially for the Axis…turns into a looong game, as you end up needing one of London, L.A., or Washington. If that’s all that’s left to the Allies…well, they tend to concede anyway.
I’d be happy to call 9 a “major” victory for either side. More than that, and you’re just drawing out what is (most likely) already a curb-stomping in progress.
; )
@black The WBC Tournament Rules are the best IMO.
@slip-capone Adjudication System:
The determination of who wins a game will be based upon the control of Victory Territories (VTs). The Victory City method of determining a winner will NOT be used. Each side controls 12 Victory Territories at the beginning of the game. The Victory Territories are listed below.
AXIS POWERS
GERMANY
Germany
Western Europe
Southern Europe
Eastern Europe
Ukraine SSR
Norway
JAPAN
Japan
Manchuria
French Indochina
Philippine Islands
East Indies
Borneo
ALLIED POWERS
USSR
Russia
Caucasus
Archangel
Novosibirsk
UK
United Kingdom
India
Anglo-Egypt
Australia
USA
Eastern US
Western US
Hawaiian Islands
Sinkiang
If a player holds 18 (or more) VTs for a full round of game play (from the end of a countrys turn to the beginning of that same countrys next turn.), then that player automatically wins.
In the event of a VT tie at the end of the game, whichever side increased its IPC total is the winner. If the game is still tied after reviewing the IPC totals.If a player chooses to concede before the game has reached the 18 VT automatic win threshold or the game time limit 6 Rounds. The winner will be give a victory total of 19-5.
Huh. Well, under those rules, the Allies had 20 VT at the end of our last round (we’re still playing…Japan is making a last ditch push to land in a…poorly defended…Los Angeles).
; )
Do you have a link to the WBC tournament rules? Or could you tell me where to find them?
Thank you!
@black That is them above mate. The tournament no longer exists but I still swear that they are the best around for this version. A bid of 3-5 to the allies was the most common. Usually placed in Caucasus or India.
Another bid utilised was a inf in India, save a dollar and build an IC (for India) and an AC for UK on UK1.
This ruleset allowed IPCs to be held that were not spent during bid placement.
the Allies had 20 VT at the end of our last round:
So under the tournament rules the Allies win 20-4.
6 rounds is the most even with the bid of 3-5 to the allies as once it goes to 7,8,9,10 rounds it moves more and more in favor of the Allies.
I would be keen to play under WBC rules via triple A (play by email) if you are interested.
The links to tournament results are on the A&A WBC archive pages. This index links to all the history pages so you can see what the meta was like over the years:
http://boardgamers.org/eventhistory/a&a.html
The actual link to the rules is dead because A&A is no longer hosted by WBC (due to low attendance numbers among other things). Fortunately, a link to the rules is still available via Archive.org and the wayback machine. Link below:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150905215134/http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbkex/a&apge.htm
Full dump of the rules in my next post.
NOTE: I omitted irrelevant stuff related to the con itself so you can just have the rules.
The WBC Axis & Allies tournament will be using the Revised version of the Axis & Allies lineage.
Schedule:
Each round is 4.5 hours in duration.
Important: Keep track of the time left in a round. The GM will alert players at each hour mark as to how much time is left.
At the 4-hour mark of each round (i.e. 30 minutes left in the round), the GM will announce that whatever “game round” your game is currently in will be your last. At the end of that full “game round”, adjudication of the game will be made. The term “game round” refers to each power taking a turn. The “game round” starts with the USSR and ends with the USA. If the beginning of a “game round” coincides with the reaching of the 4-hour mark, the game will be played for one more “game round”.
The 4.5-hour time frame is enough to finish at least five “game rounds” minimum.
Tournament Rules:
the rule set that will be used for this tournament is the Larry Harris Tournament Rules (v 2.0). No Appendix 3: Optional Rules (National Advantages) will be used. Larry Harris Tournament Rules (LHTR) can be downloaded at http://www.axisandallies.org/LHTR.
Adjudication System:
The determination of who wins a game will be based upon the control of Victory Territories (VTs). The Victory City method of determining a winner will NOT be used. Each side controls 12 Victory Territories at the beginning of the game. The Victory Territories are listed below.
AXIS POWERS
GERMANY
Germany
Western Europe
Southern Europe
Eastern Europe
Ukraine SSR
Norway
JAPAN
Japan
Manchuria
French Indochina
Philippine Islands
East Indies
Borneo
ALLIED POWERS
USSR
Russia
Caucasus
Archangel
Novosibirsk
UK
United Kingdom
India
Anglo-Egypt
Australia
USA
Eastern US
Western US
Hawaiian Islands
Sinkiang
If a player holds 18 (or more) VTs for a full round of game play (from the end of a country’s turn to the beginning of that same country’s next turn.), then that player automatically wins.
In the event of a VT tie at the end of the game, whichever side increased its IPC total is the winner. If the game is still tied after reviewing the IPC totals, then the GM will make a determination of the winner based upon the game situation at the time the game ended.
If a player chooses to concede before the game has reached the 18 VT automatic win threshold or the game time limit (4.5 hrs), a default score of 19 VTs and +30 IPCs will be awarded to the winner.
Bidding for Sides:
If the players cannot agree upon which side they will play, then they will bid to play the preferred side.
Players roll one die and the higher roll starts the bidding. The player who won the roll (Player #1) starts with an IPC amount that he is willing to give to the other player for the privilege to play the desired side. The other player (Player #2) then decides if the bid is an acceptable amount to receive for playing the undesired side. Player #2 can either accept the amount bid by Player #1 or Player #2 can counter with an IPC amount higher than that of Player #1. Bidding continues until one player decides to accept the amount of IPCs offered by the other player.
Example:
Player #1 rolls a 5, Player #2 rolls a 3. Player #1 starts the bidding (The player who wins the privilege to start the bidding can choose to defer the first bid to the other player.). Player #1 puts forth a bid of “Allies (+4)”.
What this means is that Player #1 wants to play the Axis and is willing to give Player #2 four IPCs to play the Allies. Player #2 must either accept the bid amount to play the Allies or counter with a bid greater than the one offered by Player #1.
Player #2 decides to counter with a bid of “Allies (+5)”. Now it is up to Player #1 to decide if he will accept five IPCs to be the Allies or counter with a higher bid.
Player #1 changes his mind about wanting to play the Axis and decides to accept the offer of five IPCs to play the Allies.
The player who accepts the offered IPCs receives that amount from the bank. These IPCs can be split among the countries of the accepted side in any manner that the player chooses. The IPCs can be used to purchases units that are immediately placed upon the board and/or the IPCs can be saved for use during that country’s turn later in the game. Units can only be placed into territories or sea zones that that country controls. A controlled sea zone is one that has units of that country in it. There is no limit to the amount of units that can be added to one territory or sea zone.
NOTE #2: The link I posted earlier suggests that the tournament allowed players to play 42 1st Edition OOB instead of Revised if both players agreed to it (probably because 42 1st Edition has 1:1 the same map as Revised, but with AA50’s core rule set). HOWEVER, I should point out that in all the research I did + the tournaments I personally participated in, no game was ever actually played on the 42 1st Edition map, so this rule is more or less irrelevant.
Thank you!
@black said in 9 Victory Cities for a shorter game??:
Thank you!
Yeah what Doman posted was the full rule set at the tournament. On average 4.5 hours will get six rounds. So my groups plays for 6 rounds. We usually play 3, break for food, play 3.
Thanks for finding that @DoManMacgee
@black
Any more games under your belt with the rules set?
We played a couple, then moved onto a week-long game of Global. I like “Revised” quite a bit, but my usual opponent is none-too-happy with the ability of transports to shoot back.
; )
