Anniversary edition reprint announced at Origins?

@ChromiumAgeCollector:

I saw on BGG that they are reprinting AA50 at Origins…  can anyone confirm?

Are you referring to this?
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1798595/reprint-d

The two BGG posts (the first one and the follow-up one) are quite vague.  The “announced at Origins” part of the first post could mean anything from a private conversation between two people to an everyone-in-the-room formal statement in front of a microphone on the main podium (if there is one).  The follow-up post crediting the information to “a rep for Avalon Hill (Hasbro)” whose name the poster doesn’t remember or didn’t catch doesn’t shed any light on the circumstances under which the alleged announcement was made.  Frankly, I’m doubtful.  If this projected reprint is a) real and b) ready to be revealed publicly by WotC – a company that has tended to play is cards close to its vest when it comes to A&A – then why would this rep tell just a few people (or perhaps even just one person) at a major gaming conference?  Conversely, if this was an official, “all hands, this is the Captain” type of announcement, why haven’t a whole bunch of people plastered this information all over the internet in general and this forum in particular?  I can’t believe that there would be nobody at Origins who isn’t an A&A devotee and who wouldn’t have perked up at the announcement of an Anniversary reprint.

Oh yeah?  I bumped into a guy on the street who said there would be an Anniversary reprint, so it must be true…

Ha ha…

A reprint of AA50 has been in the rumor mill for years… big problem with such a thing is that AA40 and 2nd have advanced beyond AA50, so it would, in many ways, be going backwards in terms of number/type of units, rules mechanics etc.

Also, how would they market it?  “Hey, here is an old, out of date game that celebrated an anniversary long past…”?

The only market for it would be us, here.  Not sure we have the numbers ensure the success of such a venture.

but hey, weirder things have happened.

@Karl7:

Also, how would they market it?  “Hey, here is an old, out of date game that celebrated an anniversary long past…”?

The only market for it would be us, here.  Not sure we have the numbers ensure the success of such a venture.

Reprints of older A&A games would indeed be niche-market items, as you’ve said…and in the case of Anniversary there would be the added problem that re-issuing a game that was meant to be a one-time, anniversary-specific release would undercut the point (or at least part of the point) of having a one-time, anniversary-specific release in the first place.  There are lots of collector-oriented, anniversary-themed products on the market in all sorts of areas (like for instance the products that were themed around Star Trek’s 30th anniversary and 40th anniversary and most recently 50th anniversary), and one of the things that makes these items so collectable at the time of their original issue (and so high-priced on the secondary market afterwards) is precisely the fact that they’re one-shot products rather than regular staple ones which get reprinted and restocked periodically.

Additionally AH had removed every AA50-related information from their websites when they relaunched their appearance in early 2016.
There is not a single clue that this game even had existed …

I bumped into a guy on the street who said there would be an Anniversary reprint, so it must be true…

Ha ha…

exactly.

@ChromiumAgeCollector:

@Imperious:

I bumped into a guy on the street who said there would be an Anniversary reprint, so it must be true…

Ha ha…

exactly.

I’m sure you guys are j/k-ing, but I did title this thread with a question mark because I was doubtful.  I was looking for a more credible source, so I came here.

Sorry CAC, wasn’t poking fun at you directly.  Just that the A&A community has been asking for a reprint for years with no results.

Plus, Larry Harris is out of the loop with Avalon Hill, so can’t really lean on him.

Further, 1942 2nd is almost the same game in many ways.

Saying that, I loved AA50 – it was one of the tightest designed game.  Nice add-ons and what not.

I guess if they rebranded it A&A 1941… oh wait…  :-P

Look, in all seriousness, if they republished it as a “2nd Ed,” I’d probably buy it.  So I am just as guilty as the rest of you…

@ChromiumAgeCollector:

Here is confirmation….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IqynPwXfl4&feature=youtu.be&t=5h21m27s

I am gobsmacked. That’s quite the reversal on all these years of ignoring that it even existed!

This is great, imo. I still say AA50th was and is the best version of the game made to date.

@ChromiumAgeCollector:

Here is confirmation….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IqynPwXfl4&feature=youtu.be&t=5h21m27s

INCREDIBLE!!!

Interesting! And very pleasing to know that the A&A concept has life left in it. :-)

So I have the map and loads of pieces from all the other A&A games I have. What value would I (or anyone else) gain from buying this when it is reissued?

@Private:

So I have the map and loads of pieces from all the other A&A games I have. What value would I (or anyone else) gain from buying this when it is reissued?

For one thing, the reissue will appeal to anyone out there who wished they had bought Anniversary when it came out but failed to do so (or who weren’t even around to do so at the time).  It will also appeal to obsessive collectors like me who buy A&A games as a matter of principle, even though they already own enough A&A sculpts to stage an A&A tournament.  Note also that Shelly Mazzanoble, in her video interview with BGG, said that the rulebook will be updated…though I imagine it will also be downloadable from the Avalon Hill game site once the game is released in the fall.

I’ll definitely be picking one up! I suppose Avalon Hill wants to make this the flagship A&A game since it’s less intimidating (in price point and rules like neutrality) than Global.

By the way, Shelly Mazzanoble mentioned that the Avalon Hill website will provide info “soon” (whatever that means) on the Anniversary reprint.  I’ve just had a look there, and found nothing on the game so far…but I did notice something that had never caught my attention before today: the Avalon Hill A&A page includes a link to this forum, along with the endorsement of our community as being “robust”.  It’s nice to know that A.H.'s official page includes recognition for AxisandAllies.org.

The link is over here:

http://avalonhill.wizards.com/games/axis-and-allies

FORUMS
Get help, find players, and join the robust community at AxisandAllies.org.

Should I wait for the fall and get this one or get Pacific 1940.2 now?

@Benito:

Should I wait for the fall and get this one or get Pacific 1940.2 now?

The 1940 games (Pacific 1940 and Europe 1940) are not the same game as Anniversary.  The Anniversary game is more or less similar to the 1942 game, but larger than 1942 and with a few 1940-like features (notably the presence of Italy and China as player powers).