Seriously, it is truly sad that this game will probably see so much houseruling. With just a little more attention to detail, this could’ve been one of the best pure Axis & Allies games out there; now it’ll be distorted so much that everyone will basically be playing a different game.
Where is “All of the above?”
It’s pretty sad that we even have to consider an all of the above.
Generic sculpts. :-( It’d be like the sequel to a popular video game franchise going back to Original Nintendo graphics and gameplay…people have come to expect a level of quality from these games, in the form of unique national sculpts.
Where is the “meh” option?
I for one am pumped, only thing I can think of right now is to make the us inactive until turn 4, but even then I’ll have to see how it plays first.
I’m kinda upset about not having unique sculpts. But more upset about not having bombers and Calvary.
I’m kinda upset about not having unique sculpts. But more upset about not having bombers and Calvary.
This. There are far too few unit types…
Sculpts. Also unhappy about Moscow and East Prussia.
Africa !
I dont understand why Africa need to be representet in this game, and why it need to cover half the map. I know there were some figting in Kenya, but there were some fighting in Japan too, and Japan is not includet in the game.
A map with just Europe and North Africa would be better. More space where the main war actually was faught.
I think the old map from A&A Europe 1999ed would fit better :
US allowed to move before it’s at war.
East Prussia - Everything else is changeable by houserules
I agree with Chacmool about the East Prussia situation being hardest to fix, but I voted for rails as this is still my no 1 issue with Axis and Allies in general.
Nevertheless, I still think this can be a great game.
I’m waffling between “This game is associated with WotC so these problems are actually pretty minor” and “For $100 MSRP there is LESS unit complexity than A&A 1941! WHAT?!?”
My biggest concern now is that once the novelty wears off, this game will get boring faster than a lot of the others did. New sculpts are cool for about 11 minutes, new board for a day, Russian Revolution the first couple times it happens, and the new land combat system for 10 games or so. But I don’t really see much of anything that sets this apart, other than simply being WWI. Maybe multiple viable strategies for both sides will keep this interesting for a long time, but Alpha 3 Global didn’t give me much hope for that.
Historically, Livonia by and large conformed to the modern states of Estonia and Latvia. If Lithuania has been given to Poland instead of to Livonia, then Poland would have a Baltic coast without being given East Prussia. Given the distorted map (look at the eastern coast of Arabia), I still don’t think we can definitively state that East Prussia has been given to Poland, even though it looks that way at the moment.
I voted for other, because all of the items listed very well could make this game better, but would also raise the complexity level and possibly the time frame to play (the single drawback of G40). I still think 1914 will be an awesome game, and I for one am looking forward to it, and the new game mechanics involved. I expect this game to be under 10 rounds of play, and although there are 8 powers (well 7 as US will be coming in as Russia is exiting), I think the turns will be quicker then that of G40. I’m looking foreword to playing a game through in just one sitting of 5-6 hours (1/2 hour per round?)
I think this game will be easy to moderate on the complexity level. It will introduce yet more gamers into AA, and keep some of us old timers interest going for quite some time. This could be an intro for A&A to play into other wars, like Napoleonic, or US Civil War, or maybe a more in-depth WWI game later (for that I’m really excited).
BTW
I agree w/wove100 above, and pointed the same thing out weeks ago. Looks like Poland & Lithuania were merged for game play (not Poland & E Prussia), otherwise the Germans could advance from Prussia to Livonia in the first turn and be next to Moscow (or Petrograd if you house rule it in as the capitol, and allow units to also be mobilized there too). The game can’t allow the Germans to contest territories next to Moscow in the first turn, it’s that simple. They had two options, add another territory, or merge Poland & Lithu. Adding another territory would add time, and possibly throw off movement in the region.
Even if you use house rules for Russia after the Revolution and have Petro as the starting capital you’re not going to want the Germans to be next to Petro (or Moscow) in the first turn.
@WILD:
Even if you use house rules for Russia after the Revolution and have Petro as the starting capital you’re not going to want the Germans to be next to Petro (or Moscow) in the first turn.
If the set up was true to history, Russia would be the one on the offensive early on.
But about the Russian capital… Moscow allows Russia to reinforce their southern territories a lot better than Petrograd would. Then again, they could have extended the special rules for Britain onto Russia so it could produce in both Petrograd and Moscow. But oh well, I guess.
@WILD:
Even if you use house rules for Russia after the Revolution and have Petro as the starting capital you’re not going to want the Germans to be next to Petro (or Moscow) in the first turn.
If the set up was true to history, Russia would be the one on the offensive early on.
But about the Russian capital… Moscow allows Russia to reinforce their southern territories a lot better than Petrograd would. Then again, they could have extended the special rules for Britain onto Russia so it could produce in both Petrograd and Moscow. But oh well, I guess.
Agreed that for game play Russia will need the ability to get units into the south to fight the Austrians, and Ottos. That’s why their units are mobilized from a more central location (Moscow) so they can get to both fronts (yeah rail could also have worked LOL). There is a lot of room for house rules w/Russia including mobilizing units from both Moscow & Petro, capturing Petro as another way to force the Revolution, the Red & White civil war etc……
I think it is great there are so many possibilities, and what some ppl are saying the game lacks opens them up LOL.
Seriously, it is truly sad that this game will probably see so much houseruling. With just a little more attention to detail, this could’ve been one of the best pure Axis & Allies games out there; now it’ll be distorted so much that everyone will basically be playing a different game.
It still will be one of the best A&A games. If I could vote for “The fact that everyone is whining about it” I would, but people like you decide to ignore the fact that it’s a WWI game with, in my opinion, a perfect battle system. Cavalry wouldn’t fit into a system, because you would need complex rules about the speed of units. The advantage of cavalry is that they charge the guns quickly, so not easily representable. Bombing was a pretty minimal thing in WWI, as even zeppelin raids and bombings accounted for few casualties. Prussia is annoying, but have you never seen map inaccuraccies before? The russian revolution was about as good as it could be without supercomplex rules. Barring a ridiculously complex morale system, Capitals rule is as logical as anything (Meaning the war was illogical, so nothing really makes sense.) American Entry is literally exactly like G40 entry. Fixed turn if nothing else happens.
Gas. Again KISS. that is a very complicated thing to add in. This is supposed to compare with 1942, not 1940. Moscow is a valid complaint, but it it doesn’t limit my ability to enjoy a game. Finally, Rails? Okay flashman, I’ll let you have this one, because it makes some sense. However this game is supposed to be on the level of 1942, and y’all have turned your expectations into something more complex than G40!@vonLettowVorbeck1914:
I’m waffling between “This game is associated with WotC so these problems are actually pretty minor” and “For $100 MSRP there is LESS unit complexity than A&A 1941! WHAT?!?”
My biggest concern now is that once the novelty wears off, this game will get boring faster than a lot of the others did. New sculpts are cool for about 11 minutes, new board for a day, Russian Revolution the first couple times it happens, and the new land combat system for 10 games or so. But I don’t really see much of anything that sets this apart, other than simply being WWI. Maybe multiple viable strategies for both sides will keep this interesting for a long time, but Alpha 3 Global didn’t give me much hope for that.
What makes ANY game exciting? STRATEGY. The bells and whistles exist only to make the strategy fun.
