The Return of Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition

Next: Japan and Italy.

Finally: China, plus the common IC and AAA units.

Hard to tell with the resolution… are they using “nation-specific” for all nations and unit types, or are some “borrowed” from other nations equipment… like is the Italian Battleship Italian, or is a German Battleship in brown as an example? Is every unit modeled on something from that nation?

Mine is out for delivery! Should be there when I get home tonight!

@Wolfshanze:

Hard to tell with the resolution… are they using “nation-specific” for all nations and unit types, or are some “borrowed” from other nations equipment… like is the Italian Battleship Italian, or is a German Battleship in brown as an example? Is every unit modeled on something from that nation?

Apart from the infantry and tank units, the Italian pieces are what they were in Anniversary.1 and/or Europe 1940.1: a mixture of German and Japanese units, produced in brown rather than black or orange.  I say “and/or” because, as I recall, the Italian set in Anniversary.1 and Europe 1940.1 weren’t quite the same.  Notice, for example, that the “Italian” cruiser in the picture above is the transom-stermed version of the German Hipper-class cruiser, not the later cruiser-sterned version.

And as for the other nations beside Italy, the sculpts partially reflect the era when the UK and the USSR had American units like the gun and the sub and the transport ship, and partially reflect the later practice of giving them nation-specific units like the new UK tank and the new USSR heavy surface-combat vessels.

And note also that Germany is back to using the old small 88mm FLAK sculpt as a field artillery piece, in contrast with the later practice of having a 105mm howitzer as a field gun and using an enlarged 88mm FLAK gun as an AAA unit.

So, as a whole, national units for countries like Italy and Russia are “more Italian and more Russian” in 1940SE than they are in AA50(SE)? Is that the gist I’m getting?

I’m just uploading a video of an unboxing that I took a minute ago. I can’t believe how much lighter the pieces are. They feel like they can’t be much more than half the weight of the Global 40 pieces.

I wish the Germans had the updated Artillery unit from AA42.2

Its so much better

@Imperious:

I wish the Germans had the updated Artillery unit from AA42.2

Its so much better

I don’t think there’s a law against using the 2nd Ed German artillery with the new AA50… I have a pretty good stash of them I know I will use once I get AA50.

@Wolfshanze:

So, as a whole, national units for countries like Italy and Russia are “more Italian and more Russian” in 1940SE than they are in AA50(SE)? Is that the gist I’m getting?

Yes, though Italy is a more extreme case than Russia.  In Europe 1940 2nd ed., all of Italy’s units are Italian-specific, whereas in the Anniversary reprint (which has fewer unit types than 1940.2, and has common generic AAA units), Italy only has nation-specific infantry and tank units; the rest of its equipment is German or Japanese.  The USSR has a British aircraft carrier, and American designs for its artillery piece and its sub and its transport ship; the rest of the units are Russian-specific, however, including the Soviet-design battleship, cruiser and destroyer that were introduced in one of the more recent games, and which is an improvement over the original Anniversary game.

@CWO:

Yes, though Italy is a more extreme case than Russia.  In Europe 1940 2nd ed., all of Italy’s units are Italian-specific, whereas in the Anniversary reprint (which has fewer unit types than 1940.2, and has common generic AAA units), Italy only has nation-specific infantry and tank units; the rest of its equipment is German or Japanese.  The USSR has a British aircraft carrier, and American designs for its artillery piece and its sub and its transport ship; the rest of the units are Russian-specific, however, including the Soviet-design battleship, cruiser and destroyer that were introduced in one of the more recent games, and which is an improvement over the original Anniversary game.

This sounds like a job for my “common unit bins” from my 2nd ED games… you wouldn’t happen to have a unit count for Italy would you? I have some Italian units as “flavor” for Germany in 1942SE, but I wonder if I have enough to cover a “full nation” like Italy in AA50.

The D. Jensen article on here shows the piece counts for the game thats how i ordered my “subbing” in pieces for what ill use.  also ordered the nation specific AA’s as i want to play with the updated rules for those. I was actually hoping to hear some feedback on how this may/would affect the gameplay using the new AA gun rules. (as far as taking for casualties )also if  it affects the battles much per the setup and if it should be the one AA shoots 3 planes or one AA shoots them all. getting game as xmas gift so cant check but was hoping someone can look in the setup boxes and see if the 2 dividers can come out or not. i have  the 80’s classic edition foam trays painted for storing the units i was hoping to use.

@CWO:

@Wolfshanze:

So, as a whole, national units for countries like Italy and Russia are “more Italian and more Russian” in 1940SE than they are in AA50(SE)? Is that the gist I’m getting?

Yes, though Italy is a more extreme case than Russia.  In Europe 1940 2nd ed., all of Italy’s units are Italian-specific, whereas in the Anniversary reprint (which has fewer unit types than 1940.2, and has common generic AAA units), Italy only has nation-specific infantry and tank units; the rest of its equipment is German or Japanese.  The USSR has a British aircraft carrier, and American designs for its artillery piece and its sub and its transport ship; the rest of the units are Russian-specific, however, including the Soviet-design battleship, cruiser and destroyer that were introduced in one of the more recent games, and which is an improvement over the original Anniversary game.

Sad.
I had hope they would have made Italy all Italian’s unit specific sculpts.

This is great. Italy get a period specific sculpt instead of the M15-42 which was mostly used by the Germans. More modding to do. Yay!! (i’m not being facetious either) This was exactly what I was hoping for. Gotta say though that not using G40 pieces seems kinda stupid but I am extremely happy at the old Italian tank. I also noticed the italian cruiser looks different from any other sculpts. I am not as well versed with ships yet but is it truly an Italian cruiser?

One other detail I wanted to clarify. The German artillery is not an 88. It is the 105 AA gun which is a mid to late war model. The 88 used as AA in G40 is the ground version and unusable for AA duties due to the changes in sights and the fitting of the heavy armored shield. Just some details overlooked in development. It would have been perfect without the shield as AA. I’m either modifying mine to get rid of the shield or modifying the russian AA into a german 88.

Here are tables I’ve compiled giving: a) a unit count for the Anniversary reprint sculpts and b) the identification of the sculpt models used for each nation.  Please refer to my unit identification charts (http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=31982.0) for silhouettes illustrating these models; all have previously appeared in various A&A games, so no updates to the charts were required.

I’ll post the tables one by one as I complete them (I’m working on them right now) over the half-hour or so, then I’ll post a consolidated version for ease of consultation.

United States

Land units:
Infantry: 25 x American
Tank: 12 x M4 Sherman
Artillery: 12 x 105mm Howitzer

Air Units:
Bomber: 8 x Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Fighter: 11 x Lockheed P-38 Lightning

Sea Units:
Aircraft Carrier: 6 x Wasp Class
Battleship: 4 x Iowa Class
Cruiser: 8 x Portland Class
Destroyer: 10 x Fletcher Class
Submarine: 10 x Gato Class
Naval Transport: 10 x Liberty Ship Type

Next table:

United Kingdom

Land units:
Infantry: 25 x British
Tank: 10 x Matilda II
Artillery: 10 x 105mm Howitzer (US)

Air Units:
Bomber: 8 x Handley Page Halifax
Fighter: 12 x Supermarine Spitfire

Sea Units:
Aircraft Carrier: 4 x Illustrious Class
Battleship: 4 x Royal Sovereign Class [large version]
Cruiser: 8 x County Class – Kent Group
Destroyer: 10 x Fletcher Class  (US)
Submarine: 10 x Gato Class  (US)
Naval Transport: 10 x Liberty Ship Type (US)

Next table:

Soviet Union

Land units:
Infantry: 25 x Russian
Tank: 14 x T-34
Artillery: 14 x 105mm Howitzer (US)

Air Units:
Bomber: 4 x Petlyakov Pe-8
Fighter: 12 x Yakovlev Yak-3

Sea Units:
Aircraft Carrier: 2 x Illustrious Class (UK)
Battleship: 2 x Gangut Class
Cruiser: 4 x Kirov Class
Destroyer: 6 x Gnevny Class
Submarine: 6 x Gato Class  (US)
Naval Transport: 6 x Liberty Ship Type (US)

Next table:

Germany

Land units:
Infantry: 25 x German
Tank: 14 x PzKpfw V Panther [2nd version sculpt]
Artillery: 12 x 88mm FLAK [1st version sculpt]

Air Units:
Bomber: 6 x Junkers Ju-88
Fighter: 12 x Messerschmitt Bf-109

Sea Units:
Aircraft Carrier: 2 x Graf Zeppelin Class
Battleship: 4 Bismarck Class [large version]
Cruiser: 6 x Admiral Hipper Class [cruiser stern version]
Destroyer: 10 x Type 1934A Class
Submarine: 12 x Type VII
Naval Transport: 8 x Dithmarschen Type