m1b@rayssd.UUCP (M. Joseph Barone) (10/22/85)
Milton Bradley has (at least) three new games out that
seem to be crosses between Avalon Hill games and their own earlier
war games ('Hit the Beach', 'Broadside', 'Battle Cry', and 'Dogfight').
They're entitled 'Axis and Allies', 'Boarding Party', and a Roman
one whose name escapes me. I've only read the backs of these games
so I was wondering if there is anyone on the net who has played them
and who is willing to review them. Thanks.
Joe Barone, {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5}!rayssd!m1b
Raytheon Co, Submarine Signal Div., Box 330, Portsmouth, RI 02871westerm@ecn-aa.UUCP (Richard P Westerman) (11/07/85)
In article <1178@rayssd.UUCP> m1b@rayssd.UUCP (M. Joseph Barone) writes: > > Milton Bradley has games ... > entitled 'Axis and Allies', 'Boarding Party', and a Roman >one whose name escapes me. I've only read the backs of these games >so I was wondering if there is anyone on the net who has played them >and who is willing to review them. Thanks. I've played both Axis and Allies (A&A) and the "Roman" game -- Conquest of the Empire (CofE). A&A is played a lot around here (Purdue Univ -- we have a gaming club on campus). The best description is that it a sophisticated Risk. It is a game for 5 players (England, Russia, US vs. Germany & Japan) that "recreates" (and I use that term very loosely) the world-wide conflict of World War II. The mapboard is the world divided up into land and sea areas. The playing pieces consist of plastic models representing infantry, tanks, fighters, bombers, subs, aircraft carriers, battleships, transports, anti-aircraft guns (AA), and industrial complexes. Each player has his/her own models in different colors (e.g., US is green, Japan is yellow, etc), except for the AA guns and industrial complexes which can be captured and thus are all one color (white). If you have more than one of a model type in an area, this is represented by putting disks under a model (thus, if Germany has 5 infantry in an area, this would be represented by a German infantry model on top of 4 small white poker-like disks). Each model (or troop) type has different costs and capibilities, i.e.: Cost Attack Defense Move Infantry 3 1 2 1 Armor 5 3 2 2 Fighters 12 3 4 4 Bombers 15 4 1 6 Subs 12 2 2 2 (can "sneak-attack") Transports 12 0 1 2 (can carry 2 inf or 1 arm) Air. carriers 15 3 1 2 (can carry 2 fighters) Battleships 24 ? ? 2 Industrial C. 15 0 0 0 (is where your new troops are placed) [I think the above is correct -- anyway, you get the idea] The "attack" & "defense" numbers are the number or less you must roll on a 6-sided die in order to kill off an opposing piece during battle (the owner gets to decided which of his pieces you kill, thus infantry is usually the first to die). The "attack" number is used if you are attacking during your turn, the defense number is used if you are being attacked during somebody elses turn (and no, Allies cannot fight Allies -- no "pre-cold war" is allowed). The "move" number is the areas you can move during your turn (for aircraft they must use thier move to fly out and then fly back -- so the effective radius of a fighter is "2"). Each land area is worth so much money (e.g, Germany is worth 10, Western Europe is 3, Manchuria is 3). If you occupy a land area at the end of your turn you get the income from the area. With this money you can buy troops. To win the game the Axis must get so much income producing territories at the end of the US turn (I think it 75 income total), or occupy two Allied capitals. The Allies must occupy both Axis capitals in order to win, although the Axis will probably give up way before then. The turn sequence is: -- Russia -- Germany -- England -- Japan -- US With each player doing: -- Build & do research (for every $5, roll 1 die, if 6 then roll again to see which "secret weapon" you've discovered) -- Move attacking units -- Attack -- Move non-attacking units -- Get money from occupied land areas -- Place builds at Industrial Complexes In an attack both the attacker & defender roll dice to see how much of the other they kill. Battle continues until the attacker decides to withdraw or the defender is dead (are you beginning to see why it is known as "super Risk"?) Dispite having fixed starting forces & placements, each game turns out different (although the Allies, compentently played, have a very good chance of winning -- they are richer than the Axis). Some of my more succesful games were playing Japan (from Persia to Hawaii my empire stretched, there was no other navy in the world except the Imperial Navy), with playing Russia (just last week -- by overruning SouthEast Asia and ignoring Germany (more-or-less), I ended up making more money each turn than the US), and with the US (Dewey's raids were making life miserable for the Japs). Anyway, I could go on and on about Axis & Allies. In all, it is a good game; however, I would only buy it if you have 4-5 buddies who like playing Risk type games. It can be played with less people than 5, but I don't think it would be as good. Games take about 2-4 hours to play, so it is a good way to spend an afternoon or night. Conquest of the Empire (the Roman game) I've played only twice, so I'm not as familar with it. Like A&A it has a map divided into areas (in this case Europe & the Med). You control part of the Empire (Spain, North Africa, Greece, Italy, Near East) and try to take control of the rest of the empire. There aren't as many playing peices (legions, calvery, catapults, ships, and generals) and the rules are different; however, like A&A, it is a simple game that doesn't take too much time. I haven't played it as much because I don't see the owner of the game too often. Both A&A and CofE are fairly expensive ($35-$40) and come in boxes that are huge (6" x 15" x 24" [approximately]). The boxes are actually about twice as big as they need to be, maybe Milton Bradley wants to make you feel good about spending so much money on a game. The components are high quality and, if you play the game a lot, the cost-per-game is becomes low. I recommend both games. Whom: Rick Westerman Phone: +1-317-494-8344 UUCP: {decvax, ihnp4, seismo, ucbvax}!pur-ee!westerm ARPA: westerm@purdue.ecn.ARPA USPS: Ag Data Network, Purdue University, West Lafayette IN 47907 "I think, therefore I am ... I think?"
mazina@pur-ee.UUCP (Daniel J Mazina) (11/08/85)
In article <87@ecn-aa.UUCP> westerm@ecn-aa.UUCP (Richard P westerman) writes: > >Despite having fixed starting forces & placements, each game turns out >different (although the Allies, compentently played, have a very good >chance of winning -- they are richer than the Axis). Sorry to disagree with your reccomendation, but this is, I think, a major flaw in the game. If the Allies play at all sensibly, it becomes impossible for the Axis to win. Also, DO NOT play this game, if reality matters at all to you. In most games played here at Purdue, you see such things as: 1) The British build a factory in Persia, and proceed to build all their troops there. They NEVER build a navy, transports, or anything like that. In fact, most of the time, they don't build much in England at all.... 2) The U.S. does the same in China.... No US Navy... 3) Bombers fly from England, around the Iberian Peninsula (or over it), fly to the Italian dockyards, and bombard the Italian submarines there, and NO ONE NOTICES THEM COMING! Of course, fighters cannot scramble to chase them, nor can the submarines hide from them until they get their shot... 4) A trick I saw used, was to build a factory in some insecure place, allow your enemy to capture it, and then Strategically bomb it! (Which costs your enemy 1d6 $ / bomber) All of this makes it a game I wouldn't play. It doesn't make it a BAD game. What does make it (in my opinion) a bad game is the first thing I mentioned: If the Allies play intelligently, the Axis won't win..... Thomas Ruschak pur-ee!mazina