@LHoffman:
@calvinhobbesliker:
Do you mean aesthetic reasons(like matching ocean colors) or reasons that affect gameplay(prefer more realistic rules)?
Yes, non-matching oceans would be something to rectify. Mostly, my issues would be the minor ones… such as physical product qualities, not the dynamics of the game itself. I am not even finished with my firat game yet, so I do not consider myself qualified to take too many points off for bad game dynamics. I haven’t found any yet. But to really do so, I’d need to play more and then analyze the gameplay. I am already thinking the game is skewed a bit in Allied favor, but I am not deducting points for lack of balance yet. So you could say this is my first impression of the game: 9.5.
My personal concerns over the product are: lack in consistency (ocean color, unit mold quality), some unclear/undefined rules (I will have to ponder for examples, but some did come up in our game, some are carryovers from AA50), lack in AA50 style quality (cardboard nation setup/NO charts, money, research tokens, research card)… Most of these are minor, or simply less convenient, but the game would be perfect if some of these were ammended.
How would you rate the games Calvin?
Hmm, I don’t have AA50 and have never played it(except against a very weak AI in TripleA), so all I know about it is what I’ve heard-that’s 1941 is very unbalanced towards axis, and so is 1942, but less so. As for Global, assuming OOB+FAQ setup on the Pacific side(this will change as Larry is in the process of revising the P40 setup), I would give the game a 9.7. Here are my pros and cons:
Pros: Gameplay contains multiple options for th 6 major powers, and ANZAC to an extent; map is awesome, particularly with regards to a bigger Russia, China, Med, Atlantic, Africa, and Pacific; the new units and rules add more realism into the game(including kamikazes); the naval and air bases partially compensate for the doubling of spaces on the board and give more strategic options(making Gibraltar, various Pacific islands, and other places more valuable, as opposed to 1942 and even anniversary); the pieces generally are of excellent quantity; and the game seems to be balanced(even with the P40 problems).
Cons: Italian tanks and navy use copied sculpts, while Russian navy gets their own sculpts(minor problem with pieces); I prefer AA50 Tech system, although I can see the rationale for removing the tech tokens; the ocean colors don’t match up; and Japan has too many planes that it could send to Europe(Larry is in the process of fixing this).