Justin Heimburger
United States
St. Louis
Missouri
-
Myrdin T Sasnak wrote:
“To everything (turn, turn, turn). There is a season (turn, turn, turn).”
Some byrds trying to quote Psalms
That would be Ecclesiastes.
EDIT: Chapter 3, Verse 1, to be precise.
-
Bill Morgal
United States
Elkridge
Maryland
-
Oops! Thanks! I fixed it.
-
Joe Donnelly
Canada
Unspecified
BC
-
Good review!
It is, in fact, the cruisers that have reversed colours, not the destroyers.
-
Kevin Chapman
United States
Powhatan
Virginia
-
Sunray11 wrote: It is, in fact, the cruisers that have reversed colours, not the destroyers.
And Avalon Hill will replace them for free if you contact their Customer Service department.
-
Bill Morgal
United States
Elkridge
Maryland
-
Thanks. I fixed it. I have never paid that much attention when I played. I just remember a lot of angry posts back when the game was getting ready to come out. I can at least tell that they got the carriers and battleships right (unlike the film Midway which subbed US carriers for Japanese carriers for a lot of the film's scenes).
-
Alan Richbourg
United States
Arlington
Texas
-
I gave this post a thumb up based on sheer volumetric displacement.
-
David Siskin
United States
Playa Del Rey
California
-
Bill,
One of the best reviews I've ever read. Thanks for being insightful, but keeping it fun too.
-
Michael Parchen
United States
Annandale
Virginia
-
"BRILLIANT!"
- Mr. Burns, of the Simpsons
-
Bob Blaser
United States
Wildwood
Missouri
-
Great review! Very detailed!
Looking forward to trying this one!
Thanks!
Bob
-
Bob Blaser
United States
Wildwood
Missouri
-
Great review! Very detailed!
Looking forward to trying this one!
Thanks!
Bob
-
What do you mean, there is no Purple in this game! You want me to play, don't you?
Netherlands
Eindhoven
Noord Brabant
-
What a great review! Good recap on the rules and some humor as a side dish. Marvelous job!
-
Matthew Morgal
United States
Maryland
-
Robert Aspin called, he needs another author to co-write a Myth book with.
Nice review. Someone I know got this game recently and said it was pretty good, and this review makes it sound wonderful. Methinks I'll have to take him up on his offer unless he wants to make another failed Kennedy run at the white house.
-
-
Thanks Myrdin for your review!
I bought the game a few weeks ago and there were no reviews of it at that time. I'm glad to read someone else's impressions. And I like your style of review, with the quotes and subtle humor.
I was enthusiastic when I saw an A&A game had been made about Guadalcanal. I liked very much the A&A D-Day game and declined a A&A Market Garden scenario out of it. But the A&A Battle of the Bulge left me cold (no pun intended) - I didn't even buy it.
Contrarily to A&A Pacific, A&A Guadalcanal enables me to enjoy the Pacific War in a manageable time length. I doubt I will ever play a game in 2 hours, but knowing I can finish a game in an evening is a big plus.
Mighty thanks for the clarification about the purchase points. I thought our troops were on a diet when I played!
I'll add that, although the rules manual is very good, two points were not clearly explained: 1. the use of supply to move naval units directly from base to the board (I finally got it) and 2. if the base island counts as two purchase points (I deduced that it was the case).
Initially, I was a bit disappointed that the rules are so different from other Axis & Allies titles. For me, Guadalcanal is a wargame borrowing A&A style board and units.
But when playing it, I definitely liked the new aspects. The dice box resolved the issues I had with the best units being always the last "chosen" to die. The broken up move and combat sequence is less predictable than the "move all units-fire all units" of other A&A titles. And it provides an efficient alternative to written orders that slow the gameplay in other wargames. Am I right saying that it will also reduce the number of "Ooops, did I already move this unit?" situations, because there's fewer units to move in each phase?
Finally, having tried before to import some World in Flames (WIF) aspects in Axis & Allies, I appreciate very much the distinct Air-Sea-Land combat factors.
M
-
Bill Morgal
United States
Elkridge
Maryland
-
Quote: 2. if the base island counts as two purchase points (I deduced that it was the case).
Glad you liked the review.
We do not use the base cards when counting island ownership for reinforcements. I checked the rules and FAQs and unless I missed something, you are right by saying they are unclear as to whether or not you should count the base cards as islands when calculating your reinforcement purchase points. Perhaps someone else knows the answer?
It's my guess that Rabaul and New Caledonia were not intended to count towards that total - it is tactically improbable to capture them (the game would have been long over before that's possible).
Having said that, I would imagine that it should be fun to experiment by varying the reinforcement points before the game starts as agreed to by both players. The errata that says each player should receive 10 plus 4/island instead of 5 plus 2/island also states that the game is playable either way - so why not try something in-between or a little bit more?
And since I guess this touches on house rules a bit, I did not see anything about varying the length of the game by increasing the victory points needed to win, but I suppose you could do that also in order to lengthen the game. But there is probably a point where the balance swings too far one way or another and perhaps 15vp is the point where the designer decided that occurs.
And also your games would tend to play longer with the reduced reinforcement points. Our games seem to be in the 2 to 2 1/2 hour range.
-
Kevin Chapman
United States
Powhatan
Virginia
-
Myrdin T Sasnak wrote: Quote: 2. if the base island counts as two purchase points (I deduced that it was the case).
We do not use the base cards when counting island ownership for reinforcements. I checked the rules and FAQs and unless I missed something, you are right by saying they are unclear as to whether or not you should count the base cards as islands when calculating your reinforcement purchase points. Perhaps someone else knows the answer? It's my guess that Rabaul and New Caledonia were not intended to count towards that total - it is tactically improbable to capture them (the game would have been long over before that's possible).
The Base Cards do not count toward reinforcement points. The rules say that each player gets "2 points per island that he or she controls" (4 points in the FAQ erratum). The term "island" is consistently applied in the rules to island zones on the board, and that term is never applied to the Base Cards in any way.
Nice review, by the way.
-
Josh Cappel
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
-
Quote: Note that the bases are treated like a single area that contains both land/air and sea units. I doubt very much that they were meant to be included as islands for the purpose of calculating reinforcements.
The base cards are actually not to be treated as a single area. They are distinctly a land territory and a seazone.
This is made clear in the "Example of Air Movement" on page 15 of the Operations Manual. It shows a fighter flying from the base card onto the board, and it clearly shows that the fighter must spend one of its two moves to fly from New Caledonia on the base card to the seazone on the base card.
On page 7 of the OM it also states (under Base Cards) that "moving from its sea zone to its connecting route-to-base sea zone on the board takes just 1 movement." (emphasis mine.) Implication is that it takes more than one movement to move from the land territory on the basecard to the route-to-base seazone on the board.
I played this wrong throughout my first game and only noticed it since. I hope that playing it properly will help alleviate the "giant clump o' ships" problem we developed in Seazones G/H.
I think that the label on the gameboard should read "1 move to New Caledonia Sea Zone" instead of "1 move to New Caledonia". (And the same for Rabaul, obviously.)
~Josh
PS - That being said, I don't think that New Caledonia or Rabaul count towards reinforcement calculation. Neither of them are actually called "islands" anywhere in the rulebook, (in fact Rabaul is not itself an island, it is a port/base on the island of New Britain), and the rulebook states that control of islands is the factor used to determine reinforcement points. That, and the fact that only six control markers exist in the game leads to the conclusion that only the six on-board islands are intended to be part of the calculation.
-
What do you mean, there is no Purple in this game! You want me to play, don't you?
Netherlands
Eindhoven
Noord Brabant
-
mrodrigue wrote: 2. if the base island counts as two purchase points (I deduced that it was the case).
Huh? Or in the quiet words of the virgin Mary... come again?
-
-
Thanks all for your replies.
They show that my confusion regarding the status of the bases - island or not island - was founded!
On one hand, the rules are consistent never referring to bases as islands.
On the other hand, the graphic style of the bases is exactly the same as the islands. And there is a land zone (island?) and a sea zone included on each base ;-)
This particular point of the rules would definitely have needed an example, note or other to avoid that confusion. What several of you wrote makes me 90% sure the bases must not be counted.
And with the errata of more purchase points (10+4/island) instead of what was written in the rules (5+2/island), I'm comfortable playing that way.
M
-
Lawrence Davis
United States
Indiana
-
Wow! That was a spot on review!
I was going to write my own review, but you hit everything so well. Great job.
My own thoughts on A&A:G
Look Mom! NO tanks!! If you had told me 20 years ago I would be playing an Axis and Allies game that did NOT include tanks, I would have said you were crazy! I don't know why this caught me by surprise when I ripped up my unit bags and began separating the figures.
Surely there were some light armored tanks used in this battle!?
Doesn't matter....this is a Naval battle with land units added in for flavor.
Seems everyone is concerned about the BattleBox keeping up to the test of time. I'm glad to see that some have come up with some neat ideas to replace the BB if needed.
Having played A&A since the 80's, it great to see the design around combat hits and choosing casualties getting better and better. The BB is one step above the combat strips in Bulge and continue the idea of adding the unknown to axis and allies games.
My one gripe....well not really a gripe. I was concerned about the size of the cruisers while looking at advertisements in mags. I was right to be concerned. The US cruisers are so similar in size and shape to the destroyers is hard to tell the difference btwn them at a quick glance. I've already pulled out the modeler's paint for them.
I've only played one game of A&A:G, but I'm going to go out on a short limb and say this is the BEST A&A game variant ever! I'ved own and played them all (A&A acific, Europe, D-Day, and Bulge).
I reviewed AABulge on another site and left Mr. Harris several of my opinions on the bulge game. I'm thrilled to see that many of those critiques I spoke of were used in this game.
Great job Mr. Harris! I'm so looking forward to your next project.
-
** Punkle Josh ** [Here to have fun!]
Canada
Cambridge
Ontario
-
Huh? Where did the review go??
-
Todd
United States
Cleveland
Tennessee
-
squash wrote: Huh? Where did the review go??
My thoughts exactly
-
Chris Armstrong
United States
Shoreview
Minnesota
-
seriously--how can a review disappear? I want to read this one!
Admins????
-
Todd
United States
Cleveland
Tennessee
-
the original poster sent me the review in a GM I will paste it here
“Ah, to live in such times of wondrous glory and splendor!”
G. Pyle, USMC
Late last year, from the company consuming behemoth who provided us with the miracle that was and still is known as Mr. Potato Head, we have a boardgame that is described on the box flap as “A Sweeping Conflict Where Military Forces Struggle for the Control of the Solomon Islands” (the capital lettering is theirs, not mine). The game to which the quote belongs is Axis & Allies Guadalcanal, and this, such as it is, is my review of the game that aspires to be ASCWMFSFTCOTSI.
“But out of all of us, why is Donny always considered to be so special?”
Anonymous member of the Osmand family
A&AG: ASCWMFSFTCOTSI is the latest boardgame to carry the Axis & Allies moniker started so many years ago by Milton Bradley’s Axis & Allies game. The present day imposter of the now defunct Avalon Hill gaming company which is managed by Wizards of the Coast which in turn is a subsidiary of Hasbro (the boardgame equivalent of Microsoft) is the current steward of the A&A line of games. Some Axis and Allies games use a hybrid of the original game’s mechanics and some resemble the original in little more than name. Except for the collectable miniature game which doesn’t really fit anywhere in the A&A scheme of things, the common denominators of an A&A game are the small poker chips and the miniature plastic pieces used to represent the forces used for the various conflicts. A&AG: ASCWMFSFTCOTSI is no exception. Unlike its immediate predecessor, A&A Battle of the Bulge, this game at least looks like an A&A game. There is an area movement map, tiny little plastic miniatures, baby poker chips, and control counters. Its rule set however, is unique unto itself.
“It costs HOW much? You must be joking.”
J. Benny
If one shells out the money to get A&AG: ASCWMFSFTCOTSI, what exactly does one get?
The box is sturdy and not obtrusively large. A plastic tray is included for storing the various pieces. There is a large full color rule book.
The game has A&A’s requisite plastic chips used for denoting the number of units in an area along with an assortment of miniature Allied playing pieces and miniature Axis playing pieces. The pieces are unique to each side, that being that the Allied infantry is attired like a U.S. marine and the Axis Infantry is attired like an Imperial Japanese soldier and likewise the ships, planes and artillery pieces resemble their appropriate corresponding entities. Well, almost anyway. The cruiser pieces seemed to be switched. This does not affect the play of the game but judging from some posts it may affect some people’s psyche.
There are two ‘base’ cards made of thick cardstock that are positioned next to the board on opposing edges when the game is played. One represents New Caledonia, the Allied base and frequent stomping grounds of Quentin McHale and his crew, and the other represents Rabul, the Axis base and staging area.
There are two reference charts provided that are also on thick cardstock, one for the Axis player and one for the Allied player. Each chart lists the game’s turn sequence. Also shown are the units available to the players along with the unit’s particulars like type, movement, and various attack dice. The information is nicely formatted and easily located.
The game has several different types of markers and counters made from thick cardstock. There are control markers used to denote the ownership of the various islands being contested. On one side is the Japanese rising sun starburst and on the other an American white on blue star with a red center. They look like the ones used in the original A&A game. There are rectangular markers used to denote if an airfield has been constructed on one of the islands. The reverse side of each airfield counter denotes a damaged airfield. There are supply tokens that serve several purposes within the game. There is an Allied victory point marker and an Axis victory point marker. There are assorted ‘advantage’ markers for both sides that can be optionally used. For those who are forgetful, or like me who are approaching senility, there is the all–important and indispensable ‘First-Player’ marker used to denote the player that acts first in each of the game’s numerous game turn phases.
The game board is shiny and unlike A&A Bulge’s rather bland hexagon spaced board, is colorful and uses area oriented spaces depicting six of the contested islands and their surrounding sea locations. It is sturdy and when looking at the box you can get a good idea of how big the board is by imagining four box-tops laid together into a rectangle. The locations of the starting pieces are indicated in each area of the board’s land and sea areas. There is an Axis victory point chart on one edge of the board and an Allied one on the other. Unlike some other A&A games, the areas provided to hold the playing pieces are of adequate size and shape so that massed groups of pieces do not become a bother.
Lastly, there are 12 six-sided dice included with the game along with, drum roll please, the wacky widget of the week --- the Battle Box. Is that ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ I hear, or moans and groans? The box is made of the same sturdy card stock as the counters. It comes pre-assembled. The twelve dice are placed in it, the box is then shaken, and a flap is used that slides out a compartment that shows the rolls and denotes how any hits that were rolled are applied. Graphically, the box is laid out very nicely. How well it stands the test of time is another matter. So far, it shows no sign of wear. As wacky widgets go, this serves its purpose. If you do not like it, not using it is not a show stopper. The BB is not a necessity for playing the game, but playing without it will require rolling multiple dice singly and keeping track of the results in sequence.
"Rule Six, there is NO Rule Six."
M. Python
What are the rules of A&AG: ASCWMFSFTCOTSI like?
The rulebook is about the size of a regular sheet of paper comprising 27 pages with a copious number of full color illustrations and examples in a very legible font style and size. It is an easy read and its length is miss-leading since a vast majority of most pages are taken up by pictures or empty space. The rules are available on-line at www.avalonhill.com. There is also a FAQ and designer notes available there. The game is not nearly as complex as I am probably going to make it sound.
“The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers.”
E. Weaver
How does one win a game of A&AG: ASCWMFSFTCOTSI?
The game take around two hours to play and has no set number of turns. It ends when someone reaches or exceeds 15 victory points at the end of a turn. If both players exceed 15 points at the same time, the player with the higher point total wins. If both players reach or exceed 15 points and are tied, play continues until the tie is broken.
How does one obtain points? By controlling airfields and sinking capital ships. Each undamaged airfield owned by a player nets that player one point at the end of the turn. Each opponent’s aircraft carrier or battleship destroyed immediately nets the player one point.
“To everything (turn, turn, turn). There is a season (turn, turn, turn).”
Some byrds trying to quote Ecclesiastes.
What makes up a turn in A&AG: ASCWMFSFTCOTSI?
Each turn is divided into three phases:
o Movement
o Combat
o Regroup
“Good luck moving up, ’cause I’m moving out.”
B. Joel
The movement phase consists of eight parts that breaks down like this:
o Each player loads and then moves their transports
o Each player moves their battleships
o Each player moves their aircraft carriers
o Each player moves their cruisers
o Each player loads and then moves their destroyers
o Each player moves and attacks with their submarines
o Each player moves their bombers
o Each player moves their fighters
Naval units can move one sea area. Fighters can move two areas. Bombers can move three areas. Land units can only be moved by transport or destroyer and are dropped off onto an island area. Transports can carry two land units or supply counters and destroyers can carry one land unit or supply counter. Opposing units do not restrict movement in any way. The only grouping limitations apply to aircraft carriers and airfields. An aircraft carrier can hold a maximum of two fighter units. An airfield can hold a maximum of any two air units. Other than that, you can have as many of whatever wherever.
“Combat! a Quinn Martin Production.”
a 1960’s television announcer
The Combat phase consists of four parts.
o Air units are attacked
o Sea units are attacked
o Unload transports and destroyers
o Attack land units or airfields
Air attacks are first resolved for each area. Sea attacks are then resolved for each area. Units that have been transported can optionally land on an island (note it is possible to load a transport, move the transport, and then land its contents all during the same turn albeit in different phases). Lastly land attacks are resolved by area.
How are attacks performed? Each player determines the number of attack dice they have in the area based on the units that qualify for the attack. Each unit in the game is either an air, sea, or land unit. Units have a designated number of dice that is used in air attacks, sea attacks, or land attacks. If the unit has the capability and is present in an area at the beginning of the appropriate phase, it contributes its number of dice to the attack. Then each player uses the Battle Box once to resolve the attack. The attacks conducted by each side are considered to be simultaneous. Destroyed units are removed from the board. Damaged units are removed and placed back on the player’s base card. A die roll of 1 or 2 designates a hit. Some naval units are only damaged if a 2 is rolled. A unit damaged twice is destroyed. A battleship gets to ignore the first hit scored against it.
It is likely during a game that both sides will have units left contesting areas on the board at the end of any turn.
“Phew! I need to catch my breath!”
S. Pickens after filming campfire scene
The Regroup Phase consists of six parts.
o Determine who controls the six islands
o Each player lands their air units
o Each player builds airfields
o Each player reinforces, makes repairs, and deploys units
o Each player scores their victory points
o Pass the ‘First Player’ marker to the other player
Determining control of the six islands is important not for victory points, but for reinforcement points. Each island contributes four points towards the controller’s reinforcements. Keep in mind it is possible, even likely, that both sides will have units present on an island. The player that controls the island is the player whose units have the most attack dice presently on the island. If the player has a land unit on the island and sea units adjacent to it, that player can likewise add the sea units land attack dice to that total.
Air units must find a place to land. They are always considered to be in the air during the movement and attack phases. Fighters may move two areas and bombers may move three areas looking for a place to land. Airfields can each base two of any air unit. Damaged air fields cannot be used to base any air unit. Aircraft carriers can hold two fighters. Bases can support any number of air units. Air units that can not find a place to land are kaput.
If a player has three supply tokens on an island, and there is available space, that player may build an airfield there. Three of the six islands can support two airfields. The other islands only support one. A player that builds an airfield ‘owns’ the airfield until that player is totally kicked off the island. It is possible for a player to own an airfield on an enemy controlled island and it is also allowed for a player to build an airfield on an enemy controlled island. Airfields are key to victory since they generate a victory point for the player that owns them each turn.
Each player receives ten reinforcement points plus four points for each island they own. These points are used to purchase new units and supply tokens. All costs are shown on the reference cards. New units are placed on the player’s base.
The supply tokens can be used for three things. Each damaged ship at a base can be fully repaired with one supply token. Three supply tokens that have been moved to an island can be used to build an airfield on the island. Each damaged airfield can be repaired with a single supply token if it is on the airfield’s island. Lastly, supply tokens can be used to deploy ships directly into sea zones on the main board. The further the sea zone is from the base, the more expensive the supply cost. It normally takes one move to get a ship from its base to the main board.
Finally victory points are scored for airfield ownership and the all–important and indispensable ‘First Player’ counter is given to the other player. What on earth would we do without it?
“I’m so confused.”
V. Barbarino
All this may sound complicated, but in reality the play flows simply because almost all of the stuff I’ve droned on and on about concerning the movement and combat phases is right in front of you all the time on the two reference cards and the wacky widget Battle Box.
The one thing that should be remembered regardless of where you are in a turn, is that one player has the all-important and indispensable ‘First Player’ marker. That player always moves first or determines the order in which actions are resolved. Sometimes this is good, sometimes not.
The strategic considerations of movement and combat may take some getting used to – I don’t remember coming across anything like them before. They definitely make for some interesting tactical conundrums. For movement, even though one player is moving first each phase, the two players only move the specific subset of units allowed by the phase so each player is never moving their entire force at one time. This creates interesting give-and-take situations as far as threats, feints, attacks and defenses work.
Likewise it is important to consider the sequence of attack phases remembering units can attack in each attack phase that they are eligible and that also in each phase only a specific type of unit can be affected. First everything attacks air units and the air units take casualties. Then the same with the sea units, and lastly the land units. Even though all eligible units contribute to each attack, only the specific group of unit associated with the phase suffers casualties. By the time the land combat phase rolls around, you might not have that cruiser any more that you were counting on for shore bombardment or even that bomber you were counting on to deliver hell from above.
“All men do not, in fine, admire or love the same thing.”
Q.H.F.
So far I’ve tried to just describe the game so you can get an idea of its contents and how it works. Now I’ll give my opinions on it. Hold on while I step up onto my soapbox.
Was it worth the money I paid for it? I think so. I have worries about how the wacky-widget Battle Box will hold up with continued play and I still can’t make up mind if I like it or not. For the most part, except for the cruiser colors, the miniature pieces are all just fine and that’s just a nit-pick since it does not affect game play. The board is impressive. The counters and reference cards are first rate and I can’t say enough about how helpful the reference card is the first few times you play.
The rule book is also very well done – except for one very major gripe. There is one VERY IMPORTANT piece of errata at the AH site that really should have been placed into the boxes. The rule book states that each player receives FIVE reinforcement points and an additional TWO per controlled island. The errata states that the rulebook is incorrect and that each player receives TEN reinforcement points with an additional FOUR per controlled island. Since reinforcement points are a use ‘em or loose ‘em proposition each turn this makes a very major difference in game play and unit selection. Unlike the cruiser debacle, this DOES affect how the game works and I bet many people are not enjoying the game as much as they could because of it.
Strategy wise many other A&A games settle into sameness after awhile. So far that has not been the case with A&AG: ASCWMFSFTCOTSI. It has not become wrote or repetitive yet, but as time passes certain strategies may be developed that make it so. That to me is one of the neat aspects about this kind of game. It is fun trying to develop or debunk the ‘perfect’ strategy. To be honest, when I first sat down to play this game, I did not know what to do. Not rule wise anyway, but tactics wise. The first few games are like an adventure into the unknown. Most games I play for the first time I at least have some idea of what to attempt.
Like other A&A games, there is a lot of dice rolling. One can still get screwed by playing the odds and having a lucky throw of the dice (or in this case shake of the Battle Box) render an attack impotent or wipe out a group of units you thought were relatively safe. For the most part though, luck does not outweigh sound moves and sensible tactics.
Is the game fun? I enjoy it. The games I have played have been close. I recommend giving it a try if you like playing abstract simulations. If you want a detailed simulation complete with order of battles and historic unit designations, this is not for you, but you already knew that when you saw the A&A in the title.
-
|
|
Posted Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:15 pm