Get rid of the cardboard

As much as I like nice plastic pieces the cardboard bases, IC’s, and AA guns take up a lot less space on the board, which I think was their rationale behind putting them in.

I like the cardboard. I don’t need a dumb little plastic factory, or anchor, or control tower. Then what do you do for major and minor ICs? Two different sizes? Colors?

They have the feel of something that would normally be printed directly on the map but more configurable. They are consistent size and shape so you can line them all up next to each other and you know exactly what is there.

They area take up less space on the board. Furthermore, I would much rather have more plastic units than plastic auxiliary  pieces. I like the new mechanized infantry and tactical bombers.

I think the cardboard is an improvement on the game.

@djensen:

I think the cardboard is an improvement on the game.

Agreed.

Did anyone ever actually keep those plastic ICs and AA guns in Germany? or the UK?

I guess you might miss the sculpt for the IC… I mean did that ever look awesome!

Is is just me or are there a lot of complainers around?

I can’t believe people faithfully visit this site daily, play the games religiously, preorder not one but TWO copies of every single version so it can be played the DAY it comes out and then all anyone has do do is complain about what a shitty product Larry is selling us!

I’ve heard complaints about the price, the map, the sculpts, the release date, the historical accuracy, the status of France, the status of Finland, the status Mongolia(Come on! Mongolia!?) the Russian battleship, the number of units, the quality of units, the rules, the start date, the shape of China, chinese artiliery, the P-38 (Good God the P-38!) the battle strip, the map size, the map colour, the ocean colour, the dice colour, the colour of italy, the colour of russia, the colour of japan, the roundels for japan, the roundel for germany, the roundel for the uk, the roundel for russia, the roundel for italy, the roundel for anzac, the roundel for the us, the lack of box dividers, the lack of paper money, the lack of paper money and the lack of paper money! And a whole shwack of other things I haven’t listed… and now we’re hating on cardboard!?

Honestly people!

These are the most kick-a** games ever made. This is why we’re all here. Because we beg, cheat and bribe people to play with us because Axis and Allies is the most bad-assed boardgame this side of the armistice!

Larry Harris is a genius. And he is likely the most devoted boardgame designer out there. (And he doesn’t have to be!) All he does is listen to his fans and then make wonderfully balanced and beautifully crafted boardgames with the best gameplay I know of. Every element of these new games is in some way a response to fan input. Check out the archives on Harrisgamedesign if there are cardboard bits in the box, its because the guy who came up with this amazing game that we are all obsessed with decided that it was the best compromise to make for the best game possible.

If you can make games better than he can I suggest you go make millions instead of bitching about  how it didn’t come out exactly how you wanted it to. If not, post your preferences in the house rules (BD you’ve got a good thing going on with the roundels.) And lets stop flooding the boards with all of this meaningless criticism…

I don’t know about you guys but I’m going to play these games and I’m going to love them. Just like all those which came before.

Whew

…rant over.

I agree with the facility units, the IC, ports and airfields, they fit on cardboard. But the AA-gun that move with the army, that should be plastic. It feels silly to move a cardboard AA-gun together with plastic tanks and artillery.

@Canuck12:

@djensen:

I think the cardboard is an improvement on the game.

Agreed.

Did anyone ever actually keep those plastic ICs and AA guns in Germany? or the UK?

I guess you might miss the sculpt for the IC… I mean did that ever look awesome!

Is is just me or are there a lot of complainers around?

I can’t believe people faithfully visit this site daily, play the games religiously, preorder not one but TWO copies of every single version so it can be played the DAY it comes out and then all anyone has do do is complain about what a shitty product Larry is selling us!

I’ve heard complaints about the price, the map, the sculpts, the release date, the historical accuracy, the status of France, the status of Finland, the status Mongolia(Come on! Mongolia!?) the Russian battleship, the number of units, the quality of units, the rules, the start date, the shape of China, chinese artiliery, the P-38 (Good God the P-38!) the battle strip, the map size, the map colour, the ocean colour, the dice colour, the colour of italy, the colour of russia, the colour of japan, the roundels for japan, the roundel for germany, the roundel for the uk, the roundel for russia, the roundel for italy, the roundel for anzac, the roundel for the us, the lack of box dividers, the lack of paper money, the lack of paper money and the lack of paper money! And a whole shwack of other things I haven’t listed… and now we’re hating on cardboard!?

Honestly people!

These are the most kick-a** games ever made. This is why we’re all here. Because we beg, cheat and bribe people to play with us because Axis and Allies is the most bad-assed boardgame this side of the armistice!

Larry Harris is a genius. And he is likely the most devoted boardgame designer out there. (And he doesn’t have to be!) All he does is listen to his fans and then make wonderfully balanced and beautifully crafted boardgames with the best gameplay I know of. Every element of these new games is in some way a response to fan input. Check out the archives on Harrisgamedesign if there are cardboard bits in the box, its because the guy who came up with this amazing game that we are all obsessed with decided that it was the best compromise to make for the best game possible.

If you can make games better than he can I suggest you go make millions instead of bitching about  how it didn’t come out exactly how you wanted it to. If not, post your preferences in the house rules (BD you’ve got a good thing going on with the roundels.) And lets stop flooding the boards with all of this meaningless criticism…

I don’t know about you guys but I’m going to play these games and I’m going to love them. Just like all those which came before.

Whew

…rant over.

I <3 you

well….

I like cardboard for Factories, AA guns, etc, units and things that you PUT on the board.  Saves space and looks more professional.

I do not like but also do not mind dumb cardboard printouts like the combat/casualty zone/table thingy, and the IPC counter.  Who uses these?

Mr. Canuck12, you do realize that part of the whole point of these forums is for us to share our opinions on how we think that the games should be. I too love Larry’s games, but that doesn’t mean that I think they are perfect. I happen to think that the new AA40 games are going to be awesome, but I still think that it was a dick move by WOTC to include just barely enough of certain units so that we’ll want to buy more than one copy of the same games. Why not invest more into advertising these great games instead of making loyal customers pay more? I also think that people complain about ridiculous things, but I think that they should share their opinions. Plus, I think that Larry wants to, or at least should want to hear our opinions, regardless of whether or not he agrees with them, or will decide to act upon them.

Opinions are one thing, speculations and accusations are another, and not understanding the reason behind decisions is yet another.

If you prefer more of one unit, less of cardboard, and so forth, you are certainly entitled to that opinion. Even complaints about the lack of marketing is a very legitimate opinion.

However, speculating that there is a conspiracy to get consumers to buy more than one copy of the game is a ridiculous accusation. Having just enough tactical bombers was, yes, annoying for the first 2 turns of the game. After that, in my opinion, there were almost too many pieces in my tray and I kept having to dig around like they were disorganized Legos.

Why are there not enough? I don’t know. It could be a production issue. It could be the difference between a $70 game and a $100 game. It could also be a lack of foresight. It could be the opinion that tactical bombers wouldn’t be popular. Maybe there was the anticipation that we would think the game came with too many tactical bombers. Perhaps there were supposed to be more but the factory in China messed up the order (it has happened before).

But is it a conspiracy? For a board game? I highly doubt it.

@djensen:

Perhaps there were supposed to be more but the factory in China messed up the order (it has happened before).

Oh, I understand. You mean real worl 2009 China factory, not any board IC!  :lol: Crappy globalization …

Use white IC’s for major factories and the grey ones for minors.

Thanks, Canuck12.  You just made my day!  :-D

@djensen:

However, speculating that there is a conspiracy to get consumers to buy more than one copy of the game is a ridiculous accusation.

Plastic cost from less to nothing, so its not a money issue. It is making the mold that cost money. And they should not be afraid of putting too many units in the bag, because if I got too many units I just trash the ones I dont need. Butt if I am short of units, I’ll need to buy another copy of the game. That is the difference.

As for the conspiracy part, the company’s history will show. Every product they release got plenty of common units, and are short of the rare units. AA50 Anniversary only come with 2 Italian cruisers. Guadal was short on cruisers. BotB was short on trucks and ge fighters. D-day was short on blockhouses.

They use the same way of bussiness in the Minis. Lets say you want a Tiger tank. Then you will have to buy a Booster Pack with 8 common units, and one rare unit that may be a Tiger, or maybe not, so you need to buy lots of Booster packs before you get lucky. And the same s*it goes with their other product, Magic the Gathering, you must always buy the new cards because your old ones get obsolete after some weeks. Its not a conspiracy, its thei bussiness philosophy.

Better not talk about that Magic money sink … let’s keep the evil far from us!  :oops:

National Production marker for this game only goes to 48?

Seriously?

WTF?

Not to complain or anything but is this serious….? If they short us on the paper money I’m fine with that if the National Production goes to 70 or so, so we can follow it easily. Did I just mis-view that picture because that’s what it looks like. Is there two?

I love this game and will find a way either way, just looking for a clarification, not a fight.  :evil:

Razor think that the National Production chart is printed on both sides, so when you reach 48 points just turn the chart around, and it continue on the other side, man.

That will not work: USA or Japan can reach 49 and more, but at the same time, ANZAC, UK and China will struggle to reach 20s

The answer is using two markers, so if you have 55, put one at 48 and another at 7

Cheap, but you could call this new game: “Axis and Allies: Global Crisis” (AAGC) just for changing the numeric abreviatures :lol:

And chances are most of the time Japan/US won’t be making 70 from territory income alone which is what the production counters are for.  A bunch of that income will be coming from achieving NO’s (I don’t keep track of NO income with National production chart but maybe some people do).