Father/son games this week

I played Axis & Allies years before with friends and while it was fun it was hard to find people that I could enjoy the games with. But this week I broke out the games and my oldest son (16yr) and I really had a great time. I have the Original game, Europe (99) and D-day. I have Pacific (01) also but can’t find it.

We played Europe on Tuesday he was Allies and I played Axis. It was his first time every playing and my first in 15 years so it was a slow start but the game took us about 3 hours to get to where we could call a winner. The Allies held on for a long time but once Moscow fell it was game over.  After the game we talked about it and the options each side had. We both realized the USA was very slow getting support to France and that was the biggest mistake of our game. He was even texting me the next day at school about ideas he had for the rematch.

We played the Original game Thursday night, this time I was the Allies and he played Axis. The map is larger but the number of forces are much smaller so the game was faster. I think we played a lot more turns but still took little over 3 hours to play. The game worked very much like real life German hit Russia hard but Brits and USA landed in France and cause the Germans to fight on 2 fronts. In the Pacific Japan knocked out the USA fleet pretty fast but USA was able to hold on for a while. Germans ended up taking all of Africa because I didn’t have spare troops to hold it. About 2 hours into the game my youngest son (13yr) came to watch and started talking about he wants to play Japan next time we play and started talking about some house rule ideas he had while watching us play.

We are having a great time playing the games and I’m thinking about getting 1914 game or maybe the Global games. I can see us all playing a lot more games. The best part is getting to hang out with my teen boys and we all are having a blast. Just wanted to share and brag a little. :-D

Also looking forward to learning more about the games and how you guys customize the boards you game on.

I agree Wittmann would be nice to hear from others fathers enjoying the games with kids.

I do think there is a fair chance they will get hooked on the game.

Colt45  I really like the Global game from what I have seen and I’m learning toward that for sure. The price of two games kinda stinks but it is a huge game so I think it’s worth it. The main reason we are looking at the 1914 is my oldest is a fan of the WWI setting. My guess is we would play the games a few times before looking at the bidding system, we aren’t great players so thinking the lack of experience should keep the game even for a while.

That is what I’m thinking, just need to pick on to get first.

I was thinking of buying just the one but the issue there is which one to pick.  My oldest and I both like the European theater better so we would get that one but my youngest wants to play as Japan. To encourage him to play more I might need to buy that one first.  Good news is I have a $100 bonus coming in a few weeks and I count that as “free money” so buying a game or two would be a good deal. Could get the 1914 and basic 1941 edition but not sure how much we would play 1941 if the rules are pretty basic after playing the others. But honestly for the price might just get it for extra minis and stuff.

@wittmann:

You are sounding like one of us now! We are mostly sculpt collectors; 41 is too basic for us, but has its uses . It has Tigers amd IS2s.

Being one of you guys isn’t a bad thing for sure. I played 15mm WWII and other historical mini games for years so this is kinda like old times.

And for $20(amazon) I can get Tigers…. I’m okay with that will have to pick it up.

@Nowhere:

When you say you have the original game, are you speaking of the 1980s version?

Edit:  Doing more reading I think I might pass on the 1914 game for now. So that means I will be getting 1940 boxes.

Follow up question would it be worth getting the Anniversary Edition if I get the Global game?

I don’t know how old the game is but my son saw the 1984 date on some of the cards. The rules say 2nd edition and the box has the foam trays to hold the minis. I bought it used around 1999 or 2000.

@Gargantua:

Go out and buy anniversary edition.  Hands down the best out of box version of the game ever released.  Comes with two setups, 1941 and 1942.

Great story!  Enjoy!!

Would the Anniversary Edition be a better place to start over the Global boxes?

Thanks  again everyone.

I will talk to my boys and see what they think.  We even found global war 1936 and the 1939 map/games. Those look very cool.

We started a game of classic  (what I called original)  last night and should finish it today.

@Topmat:

Hope your game goes great!  :-D

Thanks we had a good time. We finished that game and played another on Sat.  Then I dug out my Axis & Allies Navel ships and Wings of War (WWI & WWII) we played all those too. So we played a lot of games over the weekend I really enjoyed the time glad I never got rid of those things.