Axis & Allies 1941 First Preview

[gamerman01]

Board game geek summary says it uses “game mechanics” used in 2nd edition rules…
Does that answer any questions?

It’s selling at $19.99

[Bob_A_Mickelson]

@djensen:

Here’s what I’m thinking for the upcoming previews of Axis & Allies 1941: map & setup, rules, and finally a game review. Maybe a time lapse video of playing a game.

Excellent plan.

[Dispatch Rider]

Hard to get excited bout these new sculpts. I’m so used to great quality of the HBG and FMG game pieces now that the oob pieces look cheap and amateurish.

[Panther]

@Gamerman01:

Board game geek summary says it uses “game mechanics” used in 2nd edition rules…
Does that answer any questions?

This reflects to the sales flyer. There it was said:

@sales:

Familiar Mechanics:
This game utilizes the A&A game mechanics present in A&A 1942 2 Edition, as designed by Larry Harris (the creator of the original game).

[CWO Marc]

@djensen:

Is this correct for the new sculpts?

Allied Tank = USSR IS-2
Allied Fighter = US P-40
Allied Bomber = UK Lancaster
Allied Transport = UK Tower Hill
Allied Sub = US Gato
Allied Destroyer = US Sumner Class
Allied Carrier = Ark Royal
Allied Battleship = UK Hood

Axis Tank = German Tiger
Axis Fighter = German FW-190
Axis Bomber = German He-111
Axis Transport = Japan Hakusan Maru
Axis Sub = German Type VII
Axis Destroyer = Japan Akitsuki
Axis Carrier = Japan Akagi
Axis Battleship = Japan Kongo

The IS-2, P-40, Lancaster, Tiger, He-111, Akagi and Kongo listings look right, and they match the types/classes that were listed in the WotC announcement.

The Hood (also listed in the WotcC announcement) is definitely right for the British, but the Americans and the Russians share a different (and unidentified) capital ship, according to the still pictures which David posted.

The FW-190 (also listed in the WotcC announcement) looks right for Germany, but in the still pictures which David posted the Japanese fighter looks different from the German one.  It may just be because of the angle at which the pieces are lying on the table, or it may be that Japan has a different fighter from the FW-190 (in the same way that Britain has the Hood battlecruiser, while the US and the USSR have a different battleship).  Maybe David could look at his sculpts side by side to check if they’re the same or not.

The destroyers, subs and transports, plus the Allied carrier, aren’t named in the WotC announcement, so the classes listed here are guesses at this point.  Hard to tell definitively from the pictures if in each case the Allied countries all share one type and the Axis countries all share another; again, that’s something which David could verify for us by inspecting his sculpts side by side.

[lozmoid]

From what I can discern from the pictures, I would say that the Allies definitely share the same sculpts for:

Tank
Fighter
Bomber
Submarine
Transport
Destroyer
Battleship

And the Axis would appear also to share the same scuplts again:

Tank
Fighter
Bomber
Submarine
Transport
Destroyer
Battleship

And if we can assume that the pics are exactly of all the units taken straight from their bags, it looks like each power gets the following:

8 Infantry
5 Tanks
4 Fighters
2 Bombers
3 Submarines
3 Transports
2 Destroyers
2 Battleships

Of course, I could be completely wrong about this.

[CWO Marc]

@Lozmoid:

From what I can discern from the pictures, I would say that the Allies definitely share the same sculpts for:
Battleship

I think you’re right about the Hood.  I’ve had a closer look at the UK, US and USSR  capital ships (I cringe at calling the Hood a battleship – it was a battlecruiser) and I think I was fooled by the twin funnels, which because of the angle of the shots look round on the UK pieces but square on the others.  The Hood was famous for its balanced, symmetrical profile, which shows up nicely on the UK sculpts but is harder to recognize on the US and USSR ones because of the way they’re positioned on the table.

[knp7765]

I’m not sure, but I think the Allied Carrier is a US class, but I’m not sure which one. I know the Ark Royal was a British carrier. I think it was the one sunk early in the war by the U-Boat captained by Gunther Preen.

[CWO Marc]

@knp7765:

I’m not sure, but I think the Allied Carrier is a US class, but I’m not sure which one. I know the Ark Royal was a British carrier. I think it was the one sunk early in the war by the U-Boat captained by Gunther Preen.

Prien was the U-boat skipper who sank the battleship Royal Oak at anchor Scapa Flow in October 1939.  Ark Royal (which played a major role in the sinking of the Bismarck in May 1941) was sunk in November 1941 by a different U-boat captain.

[Rebel]

Maybe he was thinking of the HMS Courageous which was sunk by a sub early on in the war. The Ark was fired at, but the torpedos missed and hit some other ships IIRC. It was sunk a year later though! :D

My Guess is a Yorktown or Indomitable… but I’m no expert! :lol:

[djensen]

If you watch the video in HD, you can get a much better look at the pieces.

Maybe I’ll do better photos of the pieces today instead of the game setup.

[Bob_A_Mickelson]

Please do the setup instead. If you post a picture of the map setup we will see different angles of the sculpts anyways. I personally am much more interested in the setup.

Thanks for all your quick responses. It’s much appreciated.

[valtteri771]

I would prefer the setup too. You could also make them both. :roll:

[cond1024]

Set up would be great. I don’t care about the sculpts.

[lozmoid]

Couple of things I’ve noticed about the rulebook:

The silhouettes for the Tanks show different shapes than the Tiger and the IS2. But that’s not important I guess.

However, the setup chart for the U.S. clearly shows a starting income of 15 IPCs!  :-o

[djensen]

Sorry guys, I’m going to do unit previews first. I’m going to include the new unit stats with this.

[djensen]

Setup will be tomorrow.

[Bob_A_Mickelson]

@djensen:

Setup will be tomorrow.

Is that because your going to be trying the game out tomorrow?

[djensen]

No, just trying to space out the articles. Also, if I did setup first, it would have revealed a lot of details about the pieces so I figured I should do pieces first.

I have the game setup on top of my laser printer right now but I’m not playing until Sunday.

@Bob_A_Mickelson:

@djensen:

Setup will be tomorrow.

Is that because your going to be trying the game out tomorrow?

[Panther]

I wonder what the victory conditions may be…