Post originally by Ralph Mazza at 2005-03-23 11:58:40
Converted from Phorums BB System

I didn't have the slightest bit of problem with keeping the pieces in line, but there were occassions where I missed the chips from regular A&A.

My biggest problem with the game was how completely programmed it is and how virtually 100% of the the difference in experience between 1 game and the next will come not from trying different strategies...but from different random rolls.

The reinforcement system is the worst offender here. Initially I was impressed by how simple yet clever the system appears. But ultimately in play it sapped almost all ability for long term planning from the game. The swing between getting a big reinforcement roll and getting scads of troops and getting a low reinforcement roll and getting barely any will literally determine your strategy for you. All of your efforts will be based on what random roll you got for reinforcement with little ability to plan.

This problem is slightly less for the Germans because it usually takes them a turn to get into position anyway so this turn you're actually using last turns reinforcements so you know (at least for this turn) what you have to work with.

The second big problem with the game is the air power and air defense rules. In a nutshell allied air power is brutally effective...at least in the hands of a competant player who understands its roll in interdicting German maneuvers. If late in the game the allies have preserved a strong air force, the Germans are in trouble. If, however, they've lost most of their air force...they lose...almost automatically. How many plans get shot down is almost completely random. On occassion the allied player will have to choose between a high risk use of air power and a safer one but mostly the amount of AA fire you're exposed to is pretty controllable. It then comes down to whether the Germans get a great roll and shoot you down, or they don't.

The random event cards are equally problematic. Some of the events in most situations are pointless...but some are pretty usefull. Unlike Card Driven Games (in the We the People mode...or more recently War of the Ring) the play of one of these powerful events is not determined by strategic play from a limited deck of cards...but soley by randome roll.

When you combine all of these random elements on top of the well known random nature of Axis & Allies combat you have a game that practically plays itself.

Many of the subsystems are actually pretty good simulations (from an abstract perspective) of the chaos of war...but ultimately, nearly every major turning point in the game is decided by how the dice fall.

I'm a big believer that randomness in a game can enhance strategic depth by providing uncertainty that a good player must learn to compensate for. But when you get SO much randomness that its virtually impossible to compensate, you wind up with a game where the fall of the dice matter more than the input of the player.

The game has a very programmed feel...almost like the old Avalon Hill B-17 game.