Post originally by Ralph Mazza at 2005-05-26 12:24:08
Converted from Phorums BB System

The best part about all of the changes...is in the end, the game is still 100% Axis & Allies.

The changes are almost all notable improvements.

The biggest change is the map. MAYBE after a few dozen plays you'll figure out the ideal strategy for the opening turns, but I've yet to uncover anything as broken as Russian first turn attacks against Germany.

The map changes also change ALOT of the "obvious" strategies from the first map. The Sahara Desert is probably (after rearraging East Europe / West Russia) the most important change. It makes control of Egypt key for control of Africa. No more can the Germans just ignore Egypt and sweep up alot of British PPs on the cheap.

The expansion of Australia and the Pacific Islands, assigning points to many more islands, and giving both sides a fleet big enough to actually engage in island operations opens a whole new theatre to the war.

Other changes like the addition of Destroyers and 2 hit Battleships make the naval campaign in the Pacific much more sensible (massive subfleets are no longer the obvious...or even a very good strategy). Tank defense and the ability of Artillery to upgrade infantry attacks makes the game much more fluid. Instead of buying hordes of infantry on defense and tanks on offense the new units...plus the cheaper fighter cost...makes combined arms much more effective than in the original version.

The new map and new naval units (and new Transport capacity) also makes it possible to have a strategy for Britain other than simply maxing out Strategic Bombing Runs.

So far, the game has enough to offer that I haven't even needed to start playing with any of the special nation specific rules in order to keep things interesting. There is no reason to EVER play old A&A again.


Personally I found both A&A Europe and Pacific to be pale reflections of A&A and not really worth playing, so I was worried about the new full game. But the new full game is a MUCH better game than any of its predecessors.