AA41 Complete Review

[cebrickey]

In the sales solicitation flyer, WOTC stated that the play time for A&A 1941 runs between 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  How long was the playing time for your A&A 1941 games?

[DarthShizNit]

Variable-What was the “moderate” counter to germany on R1 and what “modified strat” did you use to get US air power into the south pacific?

[Variable]

@Col.:

Variable,

How much time have each of your game been taking, and about how long does each round take to play?

Thanks for all of the information so far, but these are the two biggest questions for me when it comes to getting new players.

Since there is generally only 1 or 2 combats to resolve and no complex rules to deal with, each power can do it’s turn in about 5 minutes. So figure on 25-30 mins per turn times 6 or so turns is 3 hours.

[Variable]

@DarthShizNit:

Variable-What was the “moderate” counter to germany on R1 and what “modified strat” did you use to get US air power into the south pacific?

They retook West Russia using the fighter  and infantry, but saved the tanks.

Modified US strat is something new I will make a new thread on…

[Col. Ty Webb]

Thanks.

I think the turn length time is more important than the overall time. As long as everybody is active and the turns go quickly and smoothly, they probably won’t notice if it goes a few extra turns.

[cebrickey]

@Col.:

Thanks.

I think the turn length time is more important than the overall time. As long as everybody is active and the turns go quickly and smoothly, they probably won’t notice if it goes a few extra turns.

Good point. The key is for players to stay involved in the game and maintain a high level of interest / excitement. I believe A&A 1941 will do just that with its faster playing time per game turn.

[WILD BILL]

I just noticed the IC on Australia for 1941 (when Variable mentioned it above).

I know this is off topic, but I wonder why they didn’t include the Aussie IC in E Australia for 1942 2nd ed. It can only produce one unit (1 IPC value). Maybe Japan has a hard time in 1942 game (that’s what I’ve heard anyway).

[mastermind93]

@cebrickey:

Good point. The key is for players to stay involved in the game and maintain a high level of interest / excitement. I believe A&A 1941 will do just that with its faster playing time per game turn.

Yeah, this version is really for less experienced players. I remember pulling an A&A all-nighter with some friends, and because the turns took so long, one of them actually fell asleep. Meanwhile, as the mastermind of the bunch (heehee… get it?) I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of strategizing and trying to outsmart my opponents. I’m just not sure if I could take the simplicity. Either that, or my fellow players would get so fed up with me because I’m taking so long to finish my turn.  :-P

[Cow]

I feel it is a good map for even the most experienced players as well. Sometimes you don’t have all night to play game of global. aa50 can turn into long games too, I had a few 24 hour aa50 games berlin and russia just would not fall, it was crazy.

Most turns take 5 minutes in all axis and allies games minus the rolling dice part. On crossroad rounds it is okay to think about things a bit, because you are deciding on a direction.

If you are take too long to do your turns, people tend to lose interest, get tired, or not have as much fun as otherwise.

If you really want to insist on min/maxing every little thing, I recommend learning statistics and probably on your own time so when you show up you can do the math in your head no problem as you go along. I use the built in calculator in triple a only for big battles in dice games.

Low luck games are another story, you have to do every little thing min/maxed and run every little calc, because you are calculating for next round and the round after usually. Dice games, you don’t know what your casualties will look like so you are always adjusting based on what happens.

[cebrickey]

With respect to the game board, I would have preferred the Chinese territories be divided east / west instead of north / south. Also, given the late 1941 start date for the game, Southeast Asia should have been divided into two territories - British Burma and Japanese occupied French Indochina.

In regard to the setup, why is there no Chinese (American) infantry in Northwestern China? I guess the Soviet player could move some of his infantry to Northwestern China from the Caucasus. I hope this is a mistake that will be corrected by future errata.