I’m a long time A&A player and modded. I wanted to love this game. There are some cool things about it. The way they model the attrition of warfare on the western front is good IMO. The fragility of the Russians as Allies is another. But holy heck does the map need work. The countries in Western Europe are way too small for the amount of pieces that end up there by mid game. The lack of pieces was another issue (at least in 1st Ed.). House rules can make up for some issues, but the map is nearly unplayable. We still revisit this game once a year or so.
Back when this came out we had fun playing it. We wound up using "tournament" rules we got off of BGG, which kinda helped to speed up game play. Despite constantly hearing a lot of negative comments about the game, we really enjoyed it. The combat system was different enough to not make it feel like Axis & Allies WWII. Loved how the aircraft and tanks factored in. The one round of combat only, really captures the feel of what you read about attritional WWI static warfare. We did have to get two copies of that original version to cover having enough pieces, but that was the only negative we had with the game. Sounds like they got that fixed though.
A couple of comments about what you can expect when you play this version; (1) have extra chips available. Unfortunately, we found there is still a piece/chip inventory shortfall in most plays. (2) strongly suggest that you raid an Axis and Allies game and pull out the paper money for use with this game. It makes for cleaner play than messing with the map treasury track. (3) get ready for very slow game play that has no real historical correlation to the passage of time represented on the turn track. Often times takes several turns for CP new builds to "march to the front". No portrayal of rail movement. (4) suspend all believe in the effect of mass casualties on national morale and/or manpower pools. There is none. (5) All of the above said, the game really does create a good sense of the static attrition grind the west front was, the vulnerability of Italy and Russia, and also letting players gain some sense of the global nature of the War itself.
THX for your unboxing.... Sadly: The first edition was a failure: not enough pieces and much worse: not enough space on the map! If you want to move pieces around, it ended in a complete mess... I wanted to love it, i tried to play it... but now i use the figures in WW2 Axis an Allies ---> recycling ;-)
I understand it's a spinoff of the original game, but as a matter of fact there was no Axis in 1914, Germany ans Austria were called the Central powers.
Let's see u play then,,, only British infantry bys from the Indian factory ,( Emden ) !!!! Plus there weren't any big industry, so no artillery, air, naval builds , to harass the turkey whith Ayo Gurkha
I was upset when this version was out of print. Glad they are making it again.
I’m a long time A&A player and modded. I wanted to love this game. There are some cool things about it. The way they model the attrition of warfare on the western front is good IMO. The fragility of the Russians as Allies is another. But holy heck does the map need work. The countries in Western Europe are way too small for the amount of pieces that end up there by mid game. The lack of pieces was another issue (at least in 1st Ed.). House rules can make up for some issues, but the map is nearly unplayable. We still revisit this game once a year or so.
Glad they resolved the issue with not enough units with this printing; I know the original printing from Avalon Hill didn't have enough.
"Because I wanted it so badly," I hear that ! Great unboxing looks really good 👍
i will start looking for this one Grant Thank you this one Grant
Back when this came out we had fun playing it. We wound up using "tournament" rules we got off of BGG, which kinda helped to speed up game play. Despite constantly hearing a lot of negative comments about the game, we really enjoyed it. The combat system was different enough to not make it feel like Axis & Allies WWII. Loved how the aircraft and tanks factored in. The one round of combat only, really captures the feel of what you read about attritional WWI static warfare. We did have to get two copies of that original version to cover having enough pieces, but that was the only negative we had with the game. Sounds like they got that fixed though.
Great review. Hope you guys can show us a playthrough some time.
A couple of comments about what you can expect when you play this version;
(1) have extra chips available. Unfortunately, we found there is still a piece/chip inventory shortfall in most plays.
(2) strongly suggest that you raid an Axis and Allies game and pull out the paper money for use with this game. It makes for cleaner play than messing with the map treasury track.
(3) get ready for very slow game play that has no real historical correlation to the passage of time represented on the turn track. Often times takes several turns for CP new builds to "march to the front". No portrayal of rail movement.
(4) suspend all believe in the effect of mass casualties on national morale and/or manpower pools. There is none.
(5) All of the above said, the game really does create a good sense of the static attrition grind the west front was, the vulnerability of Italy and Russia, and also letting players gain some sense of the global nature of the War itself.
Belgium should be coulorerd to represent the British Alliece, can't believe they haven't fixed, easy mod mate holy makarell ✍️🌏
It's pretty basic but a fun game. It needs a few house rules if I play it. The geography errors in the map are annoying.
THX for your unboxing.... Sadly: The first edition was a failure: not enough pieces and much worse: not enough space on the map! If you want to move pieces around, it ended in a complete mess... I wanted to love it, i tried to play it... but now i use the figures in WW2 Axis an Allies ---> recycling ;-)
I have the original AH game of this I wonder how it might work together?
Thanks for your unboxing. Don't you think that those british tanks used by russians and austrians are very clunky?
It’s a second printing moreso than a second edition… I don’t believe the game was changed at all?
He said there is some errata in the rule book and more chips and plastic unit pieces in this version... aside from that, it is the same game.
I understand it's a spinoff of the original game, but as a matter of fact there was no Axis in 1914, Germany ans Austria were called the Central powers.
Let's see u play then,,, only British infantry bys from the Indian factory ,( Emden ) !!!! Plus there weren't any big industry, so no artillery, air, naval builds , to harass the turkey whith Ayo Gurkha