A&A Europe 1940

[darkwing]

I just finished my 2nd game of A&A Global 1940 (the combined maps of Europe 1940 and Pacific 1940). I must admit it's pretty epic. And fun. The first game we played was back in September and was won by the allies after about 9 hours. Yesterday we used a timer which cut the game time down to about 4 hours. The timer made the game more exciting but unfortunately the Allies ran out of time and Axis got a default victory (Allies were winning on the board).

Has anyone else played the Global version of 1940?

 

[Agamon]

Soon, I'll give it a try. My buddy has Europe, I've got Pacific on the way. How much time did you use on the timer? Cause, 9 hours, yikes.

 

[Jhaelen]

Has anyone else played the Global version of 1940?

Not yet, but a friend of mine who is a long-time A&A fan would really like to try it.

Having played my first game of Revised A&A using LHTR this weekend which we aborted after 12 hours, with both sides controlling six victory cities again, I'm not sure I'm interested.

I think the game probably works best if played by mail - it just takes too darn long.

 

[Crothian]

I've got both but we want to have 6 players for this. How many people have you been playing with? Do you use the tech rules? How does it play out for the different countries?

 

[darkwing]

@Agamon - We used a chess timer and gave both sides 1.5 hours (so 3 total) but we paused it whenever it was time to roll dice or look up something in the rules (so about 4 hours overall, including setup).

@Crothian - We had 5 players. One reason it took so long in the first game was some of the people had never played axis and allies before so there was a lot of cross talk. Plus conversations tended to wander off instead of everyone concentrating on the game. The game was a lot more focused with the timer and players who had played at least once. I think 1.5 hours per side was a bit too few for the Allies because there's more for them to do (especially UK/ANZAC which was controlled by the same player).

We did not use the tech rules. About how it played out: I played the US. I noticed that if the Axis don't move quickly and decisively enough then the US will be able to crush them with its enormous production advantage. I know it was like this in previous versions too, but it really seems noticeable in this version (or at least the group I played with who had a rather timid Germany player).

 

[Crothian]

How did you use the timer? Was the whole round timed or just parts like buying and deciding how to move pieces?

 

[darkwing]

Buying and moving was timed. Combat itself with dice rolls and units being destroyed was not timed.

 

[Crothian]

Did the axis ever provoke war before the allies are brought in by the rule? What do you mean the allies ran out of time? How far did the game go till it was called (how many turns?)

 

[darkwing]

Yes. Japan provoked in the Pacific turn 2 or 3. By run out of time I mean we used up all 1.5 hours on our timer while the Axis till had 25 minutes. I'm not sure on the exact turn the game was called. But the US had troops on Iwo Jima if that gives you an idea.

 

[Crothian]

So, the timer was a hard cap? first side to run out of time loses?