@Paper_IPC:
If you have an original and are concerned over it losing value, don’t. In time people will still want one of the original games and the value will come back - maybe not what it’s at now though - heh.
I’ve always held the belief that people with that mindset don’t really love the game (AA50)… or they love the almighty dollar more than the game. If you are a TRUE fan of A&A and you have a rare gem of the game like AA50 (especially before the reprint), then what you care about is… well… YOU HAVE THE GAME THAT FEW OTHERS HAVE… if its worth 10-cents or 10,000 dollars is irrelevant… you have this rare game, you love this rare game, you want to play this rare game, you’re not selling this rare game. It’s true value is that YOU OWN IT… selling it for any amount means you didn’t really love the game, you loved the money more. Okay, selling it to give your daughter the cancer treatment she needs, i’ll give you a pass on that… but I don’t think the game was ever worth that much. Bottom line, if you only have the game to see how much it is worth so you can sell it… you obviously don’t love the game (if you sell it because you love a different version of A&A, nothing wrong with that, but it goes hand-in-hand with the fact, that AA50 wasn’t what you truly loved). Knowing it’s “value” if you were to sell it, with no intention of actually selling it… well, that’s an irrelevant point, isn’t it… if you’re not selling it, it’s value is precisely zero, because you’re not selling it… its value is that its in your home and you get to enjoy it.
Then there’s the “Limited Edition” people who seem to only care that they have it and you don’t. They focus on the words “Limited Edition” like it is the most important thing about AA50… as long as they have something that you don’t, they find pleasure with that knowledge… it bothers them if someone else is happy about finally getting AA50 after all these years. There’s a special Chinese Hell for people who obsess about those things (The Chinese have a lot of Hells).
For everyone else, who do love the game… I’m happy for the people that have always had AA50 and enjoy it (or at least have an honored spot on the shelf for it as they moved on to 1940)… for those that didn’t get the chance to grab it, now they will… so they can rejoice as well (and for Grasshopper that passed his on to others so they could enjoy it as he had moved on to 1940, that was very nice of him too).
@Young:
FROM THE WOTC SITE… “Upon its release nearly a decade ago, the Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition became an instant classic! Now this deluxe board game designed by Larry Harris, returns with rulebook updates and streamlined gameplay.With over 650 playing pieces including the largest board ever created for an A&A game, this beloved board game is a must have for the strategy gamer enthusiast”
What do you think “streamlined gameplay” means?
Obviously it can only mean one thing… they rewrote the rules to match 1941’s rulebook, and they cut the income on the board by a significant amount… Germany’s starting income, for example, is now 10 IPCs. It’s a bigger board, with more units, but it’s totally a clone of 1941 now, just bigger. Enjoy the reprint of AA50 everyone! :-D
[Ducks for cover under my desk]