Unique

[Citadel]

There are many aspects of the game I enjoy. The mapboard is simply Awesome. Area locations are well thought out especially for Sea Campaigns. I have found the Initiative aspect of the game thrilling and enjoyable unless of course it means I lose an army. I have played often enough to see that either side has a chance to win and there is a large amount of room for surprising the enemy even though it is not a 'blind' game. I enjoyed raising the Japanese flag in Tahiti and wasted many good German troops assaulting the French. I am not forced to play historically but find that veering too far off course will penalize me in the end. Spain is conquerable but at too great of cost. A good solid map, variable initiative, and even the use of commanders puts this game as my best in my collection. As with A&A I am able to mod the rules to how my friends and I prefer. Mark and John have been fantastic keepers of the faith in their product.

Thanks guys!

Craig Tower
Mass. USA

[John D.]

The surprise aspect in a non double blind game is one of my favorite parts!

[Uncle Joe]

I am a big fan of this game and agree with Citadel about what makes it unique.  The best part of this game is the chits for initiative and the use of leaders.  Rolling for initiative and drawing chits to move makes nothing certain and the best laid plans go horribly wrong.  It creates a great fog of war feel.

Leaders provide an added layer of strategy and historical flavor without being too overpowering.  They also help with some of the things that other games fail to model such as the operational superiority of the Germans earlier in the war and there decreasing ability later in the war as well as the horrible Russian leadership in 1941 and their much better leadership later in the war.  Adding air leaders to the game would be cool.

One of the things I would like to see improved are more varied diplomatic rules for minor countries.  While the triggers for Spain and Turkey create some uncertainty, other countries join the Axis pretty automatic on a pretty historic timeline.  There is room to make this a better aspect of the game.  Soviet and US entry could be made more uncertain too.  But, because the rules are pretty standard, players can make their own mods for things they like and it does not mess other parts of the game up.

Overall, this is a great game and probably the best WW2 European Theater game I have played. 
AWESOME job John and Mark!

Uncle Joe

[John D.]

Funny you mention the diplomatic side of the game - Mark is actually working on a new minors triggers system that can be influenced by both sides!

[Uncle Joe]

Great - I am looking forward to seeing your ideas on diplomacy and minor triggers.

The game does a fantastic job of simulating the big battles (at a strategic scale).  I love the movement of reserves and the idea of support and front line units and the ability to break the front line and force retreats.  These are all great concepts.

A little bit better system for diplomacy would be the icing on the cake. 

Uncle Joe

[John D.]

Coming soon - stay tuned!

[Mark]

I've been working on an updated diplomacy solution rather than the straight forward activation and triggers that are in the current rules.  We have not had a chance to playtest these yet, but may at ConsimWorld at the end of the month.  The current WIP draft of the minor diplomacy chart is attached - but not completely baked yet and still needs rules written around it - but here you go - appreciate any feedback or suggestions:

[Yoper]

While I don't specifically remember the rules and/or ideas that govern the minor activation in the advanced game, I can point out that various explanation bullets on the bottom of the chart are jumbled up.

It would seem that what ever program that you are using flip-flopped different sentences around.  (Or would that be Mark just being Mark?  )  The end of the Belgian Dial River Plan bullet has the words "with Germany" in front of the words "until Belgium is at war".  The same problem occurs with the two Yugoslavian bullets.

And there are various spelling errors too. 

Spelling includes the extra "e" in the word "triggeres" up in the first explanation bullet for the Diplomatic Trigger chart.  The word "diploamtic" is located in the first bullet of the lower section and also in the two Yugoslavian bullets.  The second bullet has the word "yoursides" instead of your sides.  The Swedish Ore bullet has the word "provices" instead of the word provides.  Capitalize "yugoslav" in the second to last sentence of the last bullet.

[Mark]

Thanks, Yoper - I did not proof read it - was focused more on the tables and numbers and making sure they worked out.  I'll correct the text.

[Uncle Joe]

I like the ideas here.  Interested in how they play out.  Will you be using these diplomacy rules at CSW Expo later this month?

[John D.]

We plan to try them there