GEN CON Anniversary Game

AWESOME!

Can I say any more. Larry was present and showing off the new anniversary game at GEN CON. We, six of us, were able to get one game in while the game was on display at GEN CON. The second game was scheduled, but WotC came and took the game back before we had a chance to get the second game in. And boy were they pretty stern about taking the game...

Anyhow, the play was great! The Allies were played by myself, Eric Mynster and Brandon Roscoe. The Axis were played by James Milazzo, Paul Milazzo and Brian Miles.

Yes, six players. Paul took the Italians and Brandon the US/Chinese. We played the 1941 scenario. Yes, the game comes with two set up scenarios. 1941 & 42.

There are also some great new things about the game; the board, new pieces, new techs (which actually rock) and the way in which one rolls for such, new order of play, new stats of some of the old pieces (ex. transports no longer have any defense value! Great new rule!) and the biggest is the damage IC take during bombing runs. There are more that I will get to but just some of the few off the top of my head.

In game we played, one of the big reasons the Allies won, the Allies just beat down the Germans. The US and the UK just bombed the hell out of Germany and it really hurt them to the point of having almost an impossible time recouping infantry to defend the Russian onslaught...yes, in the new game, bombing IC now places damage on the IC in the amount of hit tokens and the IC's must be repaired at a cost of one IPC for each damage token on the IC. IC's may be bombed for up to twice the original amount of the territory cost. SO, in the case of Germany at 10, could be bombed up to -10 in IPC cost. Thus, having to repair all damage before producing out of that IC. And yes, lets say Germany was hit for 7 damage over two runs by the UK and US, then on Germany's next turn, they could only produce 3 units out of Germany unless damage was repaired to a value in which they could produce more...

I guess I must also prempt all my comments in that, I was one of the play-testers and the only one having experience, so I had some idea what to expect, maybe a big advantage to the Allies but nonetheless, it is what it was.

Moving on...The Russian immediately consolidated forces and had Germany retreating on G2 back into there home land. Now Italy is a pain in butt! They have just enough units and ships on the board to keep Russia and UK at bay. They did so the whole game, basically keeping the UK from taking back Africa and always forcing Russia to keep more than they would prefer in the way of infantry in Leningrad.

As for the Pacific. The Japanese in the 1941 scenario start the game with three VC's and nine fighters...a really tough, tough torn to get out of ones side...and with the new sea zones, it is very tough for the US to make it over to the Islands to start causing a real havoc at any point in our game. In the last round we played, the Japanese forgot about the transport no defense rule and left 5 transports unprotected and the US were just licking their chops at the opportunity to sinks ships (transports) without dice rolls... yes, the way this works is that with no defense value, a enemy unit just needs to fly over or run a ship into the space killing any unprotected transports. Also, Transports, since they no longer have a defense value can NO LONGER be used as fodder. So, if you have a BB and a transport in a sea zone and two hits are taken to the ships, the BB must take both, it gets it return fire and then both ships are lost at the end of the round of fire...cool!

So, in short, we had a blast. The Allies won decicively and we really looked forward to playing a second game but unfourtunetly, the opportunity did not present itself.

Now, as far as the other that played, I would love to hear your comments as well on the game...

Until the next post...

Peace,
GS

So why did the WOTC folks take the game away?

The biggest game con and they don't want to display arguably their biggest release of the fall?

Were they upset that you guys had it at all?

Frimmel wrote:So why did the WOTC folks take the game away?

The biggest game con and they don't want to display arguably their biggest release of the fall?

Were they upset that you guys had it at all?

They were quite protective of it. They want to hush as much info as possible apparently.

I would think you would want the hype, but thats just MHO.

They just want to control how the game is presented. They don't want someone else to frame the info in a way that they can 't control.

Unfortunately, the way it is now "reported" it makes them look bad. Like they got a report that a game of the Anniv. Edition is being played and that the goon squad needs to be dispatched to confiscated it immediately!

Craig

I understand that they want to control it. I guess that is the part that is so confusing. The best way to control the information that is getting put out is-- to be the one putting out the information.

Biggest game fair on this continent and they are not showing off ALL their products for the rest of the year? Baffling.

Frimmel wrote:I understand that they want to control it. I guess that is the part that is so confusing. The best way to control the information that is getting put out is-- to be the one putting out the information.

Biggest game fair on this continent and they are not showing off ALL their products for the rest of the year? Baffling.

What makes sense to us gamers just doesn't seem to jive with what "The Man" thinks is proper.

Their actions, while ridiculous to us, are in line with pretty much everything else we have seen from them in the past 4+ years. That is why I don't go them for official support and/or sanctioning as it relates to the A&A tourney I run.

I don't want the hassle!

Craig

Greg: I want to throw in my 2 cents for making this the master's game for next year! I like the new anniversary edition that much more, and if given the choice of the new edition in the mega tournament versus the old game in the master's tournament---I would prefer the mega.

I was very impressed with the new edition. Some very nice changes so that all the units and aspects of the game are worthwhile now (the lowered cost of air and fleet units, new technology upgrade system, new strategic bombing system, much bigger map, many new territories, China and Italy as new countries, new cruiser unit, bonus IPC income for owning certain blocks of territories, etc.).

It will open up a lot more strategies, which is the key to a fun game.

Some points of interest for me:

1) The strategic bombing changes are big. Being able to make life hell for the Germans by constant strategic bombing will open up a new way for the US to do something meaningful prior to the 60 minute mark of a game
2) Germany only starting with 4 fighters makes the Germans pick and choose what they really want to do. They don't have that huge air umbrella to hit north, south, east, and west all at the same time.
3) That Italian fleet is very strong in the beginning. There are all kinds of possibilities to use it for because of the offshore bombardment capability it has.
4) Japan with 3 carriers and 9 fighters to start, enough said.
5) Japan really only having access to a slew of 1 IPC countries to conquer early on and the way Southeast Asia is designed now, it throws a wrench into Japan getting fat by taking it's own backyard and setting up industrial complexes.
6) Germany going 1st now is big, the Russians get to take it on the chin to start.
7) Russia has no fighters to start. Really they have nothing but infantry to start (maybe 1 tank, 1 artillery, and the rest is men? something close to that)

ANY PICTURES OF THE NEW GAME???

PICTURES!!!, WE'RE ALL WAITING FOR PICTURES AND MORE DETAILS OF COURSE!!! WHAT ARE THE NEW TERRITORIES AND SEA ZONES, RULES??? LET'S GO- SPILL IT!!!

IMPATIENT QUESTIONEER

To Q - See A&A.org for some pics. Greg should have some up soon as well.

To EM - I think that eventually AAA will be the Masters. I don't, however, think it should be the masters for next year.

1 - The year Revised came out, it was in the mega first. It was our real first shot at seeing how it played tournament wise. And back then, it was 8VC and a "different" tournament game, with the much-disliked "adjudication" in effect.

I think AAA will work at 4:45, but it needs actual tournament game testing, which can really only be done at Origins and Gencon 09.

Plus, we need to see how many people actually sign up. I would guess it will sell out, being a "main" version as opposed to a theatre.

I think AAA as its own kickoff tournament in 09, with AAA being the masters in 2010 is a pretty good time table. This leaves Revised to be the masters game for one last year, which I think is a nice tribute to a great game.

For anyone else, a slideshow (about 10 great pics) is at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/362529
check it out!!
already preordered 2 copies a couple of weeks ago!
Origins/GenCon 09 will be great!!!
Will there be 3 man teams?????

Questioneer

Guys,

Thanks for commenting...keep'em coming. I will have pictures up tomorrow. Sorry for the delay...it just takes me a bit to unpack from GEN CON...

I know everyone wants to see them, but I guess we will have to wait.

As for tournaments for next year...over the next several months, I believe just like Revised when it came out, we will have to play-test tournament formats. How will we get a game in under 4 or 5 hours? What scerario do we use? 41 or 42? A lot of questions that will need to be ironed out. Also, there are bonuses that are for optional play. These will need to be tested as well. Bonuses such as if Germany holds X amount of territories, they get a bonus of 5 IPC at the end of the turn. All countries have these bonuses but we did not play with them at GEN CON...

More to come...

Peace,
GS

Yoper wrote:
What makes sense to us gamers just doesn't seem to jive with what "The Man" thinks is proper.

Agreed after all what do we know we're just the guys keeping them in business.

Their actions, while ridiculous to us, are in line with pretty much everything else we have seen from them in the past 4+ years. That is why I don't go them for official support and/or sanctioning as it relates to the A&A tourney I run.

I don't want the hassle!

Craig

Back in my Magic playing days we looked into getting sanctioned tourneys and also didn't want the hassle. Waaaayyyyy too many hoops.

For all the Results and Pics, go to:

http://www.geocities.com/headlesshorseman2/GENCONpics.html

Peace,

Yoper wrote:They just want to control how the game is presented. They don't want someone else to frame the info in a way that they can 't control.

Unfortunately, the way it is now "reported" it makes them look bad. Like they got a report that a game of the Anniv. Edition is being played and that the goon squad needs to be dispatched to confiscated it immediately!

Craig

Guys,

I know it sounds harsh, but look at the positive...we at least got one game in...and they had it available for viewing...and as for support, it may not always be the way we want it and/or like it, but they do support our efforts.

The one thing you did get right Yoper was they sent five workers ("Goons") down to get the game. Five, and they weren't taking no for an answer...?

Peace,
GS

I'm pretty excited about this game--it looks like the one we've been waiting for! I wish I could have been there. I would like to see a list of rule/other changes once everybody gets a chance to recover...