@Woodstock:
Okay…I will probably get flamed for this, but I have played Global '40 only once, 4 months ago, never had time to get my playgroup together again ever since, haven’t read up on anything, up untill now.
We have a new game planned in a week.
Why all these changes?
And…will someone provide me with a new board, new charts, a new rule book, or am I supposed to figure it out myself?
Axis and Allies is turning quite gimmicky, when I have to confront my playgroup with: “Ow yeah, btw…that rule book, and all those pics you have been studying the past time…? Throw them out.”
Board doesn’t change (why would it? It still has the same ol’ typos it always had). Rule books are constantly updated with Errata as an “print it yourself” for most any game of complexity, A&A is HARDLY an exception. If by charts, you mean setup charts, and you feel that they absolutely have to be printed by the mfr and glued to your nation boxes, well, sorry, that’s unlikely to happen until a reprint. But that setup was wrong to begin with on the Pacific side (ANZAC factories), so if you use any errata you already HAD altered setups.
The rules haven’t changed THAT much. Basically they are the same, but refined to mainly clarify neutral behavior, especially Russian aggression techniques and cheaterific US naval ploys. Scrambling makes more sense (coasts now included) you just need to remember it’s a max of three (not hard to remember). And the Sub transport pot shot which had epic debates regarding the nature of “escorts” simply got removed for simplicity. Price change for AA guns back to AA50. And I don’t know about you, but I’d have printed out the National Objectives for each country anyway, so it’s just a new print and list. It’s too tedious to pass the rule books back and forth.
As for studying the board… well, now everyone is in the same boat again. We all have a new setup but the same basic premises apply, and if you’d only played ONE global game, you still probably hadn’t developed an optimum strategy. So now it’s something new.
If your group is resistant to Errata (some people insist on OOB) then no worries. This in the long run is just a better setup that leads to more balanced play without requiring a bid that can VASTLY imbalance the game (imagine a G1 bid of 14 for 2 transports… ugh).