Statement from Larry Harris in regards to AAP40

[johnnymarr]

LH  1/1/10

I’d like to take this opportunity to give a special shout out to my new right hand man Krieghund (plucked out from the ranks of this site and others). As you all know, Krieghund has been busy as a bee addressing your questions and concerns. I’m sure you join with me in thanking him for all his hard work.

Listen - I hope to see all you back here next year.
I wish you all the best of health and happiness in the coming year.

I deeply regret the errors that occurred in A&A Pacific 1940. I think these issues will be worked out, however. Let’s give the good folks at Wizards a chance to get back from this holiday break and straighten things out. Many lessons have been learned and we all will benefit from this experience. I don’t want to get into the reasons some of these mistakes were made, but Avalon Hill and me want to better understand how they were made. This will help prevent them from happening again. In the meantime, thanks for your long time demonstrated support and interest in Axis & Allies.

Know that you are being heard. Know that what you say matters. The games are not always perfect, far from it, but gosh darn it… it ain’t from a lack of trying. You’ve got to believe that. These games aren’t easy to design and produce. If all the details that go into one of these babies were tiny mechanical parts we’d have a machine that is no less complicated than that of a Saturn Moon rocket. That’s not an excuse for less than perfection, but it is an observation. If we’ve failed you in some small or big way it’s because we made human mistakes.

This I can promise you… no one is scheming up ways to trick you into buying more games by providing unit piece counts that end up being too small. No one is cutting corners. Some of you have been suggesting this… You think I don’t watch the sites? I’ve got your names and I know where you live. You better watch out…  There are no conspiracies to trick or manipulate you. We’re just a bunch of hard working folks doing the best we can. We value all of you, please continue to value us. I feel confident that once the bugs have been worked out this 1940 series will end up being the best Axis & Allies games ever published by Avalon Hill or any publisher out there.

Love you guys… So very often I have had the pleasure of getting to know you over the years. Almost without exception you have proven time and time again that you are indeed - the best and brightest fans in the world!

Happy New Year!

Larry Harris

[Kilukru]

I like what I hear.

But the real thing I am hoping for is results as great as the words, and in 6 months we will see  :-)

[Guest]

I’ve got no problems with Larry as his game design is superb. And I can see that Krieghund really cares. That said, typos for a product that you are putting out to market however is inexcusable, especially when they are on the box which is the first thing you are going to see. As far as the pieces go, c’mon how much more could it cost to give us a few more plastic pieces. If they just sold these pieces seperately, then there probably wouldn’t be such a public outcry.

[BlueIguana]

@johnnymarr:

LH  1/1/10

I’d like to take this opportunity to give a special shout out to my new right hand man Krieghund (plucked out from the ranks of this site and others). As you all know, Krieghund has been busy as a bee addressing your questions and concerns. I’m sure you join with me in thanking him for all his hard work.

Yes, much appreciated.
@johnnymarr:

LH  1/1/10

I deeply regret the errors that occurred in A&A Pacific 1940. I think these issues will be worked out, however. Let’s give the good folks at Wizards a chance to get back from this holiday break and straighten things out.

[
Fair enough.

[quote author=johnnymarr link=topic=16245.msg542005#msg542005 date=1262401526]
LH  1/1/10

I feel confident that once the bugs have been worked out this 1940 series will end up being the best Axis & Allies games ever published by Avalon Hill or any publisher out there.

Totally agree.  Played for the first time (non-solo) today.  Really good game with a lot of nuances that I had not appreciated at first glance.  I started out sure that Japan had the advantage.  Now, I am not so positive, even though I played Japan and won.    I believe the global game will be even better.

[Variable]

Once again,

Hats off to Larry and the design team.

[thenorthman]

@Brain:

I’ve got no problems with Larry as his game design is superb. And I can see that Krieghund really cares. That said, typos for a product that you are putting out to market however is inexcusable, especially when they are on the box which is the first thing you are going to see. As far as the pieces go, c’mon how much more could it cost to give us a few more plastic pieces. If they just sold these pieces seperately, then there probably wouldn’t be such a public outcry.

While they do suck I have not had a single game yet that has not had any typos or errata.

ALthough I am not liking the set up having to have an errata.

Sean

[oztea]

he should show us pictures of the europe board
to soothe the savages

[mojo33]

Thanks Larry, you ROCK!

[RJL518]

Thanks Larry…and HNY to you as well.

[Hellmet]

A ‘hats-off’ and Bravo Zulu to Larry.  Maybe we’ll be able to buy additional pieces as a booster pack in the near future.  :-D

[xxstefanx]

Great Words, Larry! :-)
Verry much appreciated!

Let’s see what the results will be: for this game, AAE40 and future games.

Tbh I really hate it that I cannot split Japanese forces right from the start due to lack of additional TAC bombers - that is a total NO GO! :evil:

[Bob_A_Mickelson]

@xxstefanx:

I really hate it that I cannot split Japanese forces right from the start due to lack of additional TAC bombers - that is a total NO GO! :evil:

I completely agree. Japan and US should have had more Tac bombers in this game as the current amount inhibits game play.

I fear that even if they correct this problem by including more Tac Bombers in AAE40 we will still run into a same problem with Mechanized Infantry in Europe 40 because Mechanized Infantry will likely be used alot more in that game along the german-russian front than they were in pacific 40.

[dinosaur]

You think I don’t watch the sites? I’ve got your names and I know where you live. You better watch out…

Larry Harris wrote that?

[Broker]

@dinosaur:

You think I don’t watch the sites? I’ve got your names and I know where you live. You better watch out…

Larry Harris wrote that?

Over Christmas I told my kids that Santa knows their names and where they live, so they better watch out…I guess if you believe in Santa you better watch what you say and do on the forums lol  :-D

[RJL518]

i know Larry has done the best he could…WOTC will fix these problems…actually im okay with what avalon hill has done…the piece count was bad but i have managed to deal with it…cmon europe 40

[maverick_76]

The only thing that kinda miffed me was the setup error on the cards and the battle-strip. Unit counts, as long as they give you enough to do a complete setup plus a few additional, I’m okay with that. But I will be e-mailing WOTC or calling them to get a new battle-strip.

[ZehKaiser]

Its this kind of developer support to the fans that will keep me with A&A year after year. If only other game companies would take the time to do something as simple as a statement like this then table top gaming would be in such a better place. Thank you for taking the time to be so candid and considerate to your fans Larry.