Axis & Allies and Zombies is REAL

I mean, sure, why not, but I’d seriously rather have an American Civil War A&A, or maybe Korea/Vietnam games. I’m just saying this seems like they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel with this, while there are still plenty of good ideas out there. Still, looks intriguing.

This is one of the stupidest things I have ever seen or heard. Disrespectful to the memory of those who fought and mentally lazy game design.

First A&A game I won’t own.

@djensen:

The upside is that a younger generation might see this game and become interested in the regular Axis & Allies game as well as WWII history.

Precisely.  This is the reason that Larry created A&A in the first place.

This may be controversial, but anything that gets new players interested is a good thing.

@Krieghund:

@djensen:

The upside is that a younger generation might see this game and become interested in the regular Axis & Allies game as well as WWII history.

Precisely.  This is the reason that Larry created A&A in the first place.

This may be controversial, but anything that gets new players interested is a good thing.

Speaking as a member of the “younger generation,” it doesn’t matter if you’re selling nazi’s, zombies, nazi zombies, star wars, or superheroes. A 6+ hour game is a 6+ hour game, and unless you dumb it down to the level of 1941, it’ll always be a game for hardcore gamers.

You make fair points, but I think Larry wouldn’t think A&A is disrespectful. In fact, it seems he views it as an outlet for his deep respect of the WWII generation.

Alternate history (like Amerika) is a finer line, I suppose. That is speculative, but ultimately serious.

Zombies just seem to cheapen the whole experience. My opinion, of course. Perhaps it will be the most fun and engaging of all the A&A games … I just won’t find out. Interested in seeing what everyone here thinks, though…

I’m willing to give it a shot, but I’m not going to be first in line to buy one.

-Midnight_Reaper

Sourly disapponted.
:-(
It is a good thing that this game is timeless, because it seems Larry is not the only one who has lost interest in making classic A&A.  All my hopes of the brand owners independently continuing the series are crushed in an odd way—darn zombies.

@Charles:

Sourly disapponted.
:-(
It is a good thing that this game is timeless, because it seems Larry is not the only one who has lost interest in making classic A&A.  All my hopes of the brand owners independently continuing the series are crushed in an odd way - darn zombies.

I suspect that Larry’s disinterest ran the other way - the brand owners didn’t want to further develop the property and Larry decided to find something else to do with his time. In 2012 Avalon Hill pushed out 1941 and the Second Editions of 1942, 1940 Europe, and 1940 Pacific. In 2013 Avalon Hill published the woefully under resourced 1914. In 2017, War Room is announced and it was stated then that Larry had been working on War Room for the past 5 years.

Reading between the lines, I think that Avalon Hill stopped development of A&A games in 2012. Even allowing for development of 1914 only pushes development of A&A titles to 2013. The A&A community has heard almost nothing out of Avalon Hill between 2013 and now. I would say that we’ve heard nothing if you except the reprints of D-Day and Anniversary Edition.

And now we get A&A Zombies. I will take one good thing from this announcement - somebody, somewhere is still developing new ideas for Axis & Allies. Many people didn’t like 1941 but liked to ghoul the minis from 1941 for their other games. Depending on what’s inside A&A:Z, we may yet get a similar situation. Time will tell.

My 2 IPCs

-Midnight_Reaper

@djensen:

@Midnight_Reaper:

I’m willing to give it a shot, but I’m not going to be first in line to buy one.

-Midnight_Reaper

I bet you’ll find some excuse to get it on day 1. Chainsaw tanks? Zombie minis?  :wink:

Neither of those interest me. But we’ll see either way.

-Midnight_Reaper

I initially didn’t pay any attention to this thread because its title made me think that it was some sort of bad joke.  When I saw, however, that there’s now a child board on this forum for A&AZ, I got worried enough to go back and check this thread.  Frankly, I’m still mentally processing the news.  I had no difficulty wrapping my mind around the A&A Miniatures product line when it came along; I saw it as a reasonable “brand extension” (like Cherry Coke) of the A&A WWII board games, even though it wasn’t a board game.  I likewise no difficulty wrapping my mind around A&A WWI 1914, even though it’s technically is an anachronistic game in terms of its title (since there was no “Axis” in WWI) because it’s an A&A-style game built around WWII’s global predecessor.  But A&A Zombies?  That’s not what I’d call a serious brand extension of A&A; it’s actually more of a satirical mash-up, along the lines of Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I suspect Jane Austen enthusiasts didn’t universally embrace as being a good idea.

I really do think it’s too bad this was done with the A&A brand.

I could understand the appeal of some for this game (not me personally, but that’s because I’m a history game nut, a little less the fantastical), but that’s not what A&A is. WOTC, Hasbro, whoever, could have still made this game under it’s own auspices. They own the license for A&A, unless I’m mistaken. So they could borrowed stylistic/artistic liberties from it, with a new game all it’s own, from another brand they already control without legal issue, I would think.

I also do understand previous posts on what could be done with the A&A brand to attract newer/younger gamers to it, though. Be it a mix of shorter game play, as well as streamlined rules, are better for the casual gamer looking to fill up a Friday evening, and a Friday evening only.

I know they’re not the most popular with this forum, but I rather liked the individual battle A&A games of Guadalcanal, Battle of the Bulge, and D-Day, for their quicker pace. I still pull out the D-Day game if we want to get a craving in, but don’t have time or space to set up Global 1940. It’s a different game, unquestionably, but it’s still entertaining. A Stalingrad, El Alamein, Market Garden, etc. game would be appealing in that regard as well. Just because they’re different from the A&A games we know and love on a global scale, doesn’t make a localized theater game with a different/modified rule-set not fun in it’s own way!

But to play devils advocate again, I understand where the WWII/historical realm may not exactly excite the young gamer, so at that I’m at a bit of a loss as it comes to A&A in general.

djensen, I don’t blame you for contemplating opening up this forum to a wider array of games. You’d know more than I, but I’d imagine the traffic coming through, and amount of contributors would go up, making your life running this site much easier. All that means for us is one more sub click to get to the A&A section of a wider forum, not too hard I don’t think.  :-)

I’m surprised they went this way as well. Not because it will be A&AZ as I’ve come to see the A&A “title” as an engine rather than a specific game(s).
Sort of like the commands and colours brand.

What I am surprised about is the zombie part. As a fad/craze, it has passed or on the downside of its life cycle.
I will be interested in seeing which board/map they use. Maybe G40 but on a size between Anniv. and 42.2?
Can’t see them creating much new with the amount of map versions/sculpts/graphics they have with Anniv./42.2/1941/G40.
We all know they will cut corners to save 6 cents. :-)

Its like this all over,  Harley davidson, Macys , Sears, DirectTV

Companies are struggling with old models and proven products with today’s new generation.