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[vogless]

Check it out!!

http://www.gamefest.com/news/feature_detail/2798_0_3_0_C/

[elbowsanchez]

now that is SEXY ;)

HAI!!!

cheers

-elbows...

[ArtBraune]

Vog's thanks for the phone call!

Nice of you to post it here as well!!!

Ciao!
Art

[Marat]

Here's another review:

http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=2257#

Closeup photos of about 20 different minis. Some of the vehicles show weathering/camo that wasn't apparent in the official previews. They look AWESOME!!!!

There's also good photos of infantry (finally), including a Japanese Type 92 Machine Gun team, an American M1 rifleman, and an American bazooka.

Enjoy.

Marat

[MEX10MM]

Thank You!!
The minis are great! I bet this game will be BIG.

[MEX10MM]

Vogless and Marat you made my day. :D
This is an excellent post so I will rate it as such

[vogless]

Thanks! Wow, the minis in the Wargamer review are AWSOME. I knew there had to be some detail on these babies. They seem to be going pretty heavy on the tanks for theset. There's some BIG guns there. I knew the Easy Eight would be the first Sherman!

[Marat]

I knew the Easy Eight would be the first Sherman!

Looks like there's 2 Shermans in the 1st set. The quickstart has the stat card for the M4A1.

[Plagued]

I'll be honest and say that I'm -extremely- disappointed that entire squads will be represented by single infantry figures. From an economic standpoint, it's really a borderline rip-off. You could be paying $14-17 for a package that may consist mostly of singly based 15mm figures.

Edit: However, you'll still get my business, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to trade off to get squads of 3+ minis on the table.

[oculona]

They look excellent, thanks for the info all.

[Hedgehobbit]

You could be paying $14-17 for a package that may consist mostly of singly based 15mm figures.
I'm sure the rarity will keep this from happening. I doubt you'll see rare infantry. By manipulating the rarity (i.e. tanks are rare, small vehicles uncommon and infantry common) you can pretty much guarantee that each box will have similar numbers of infantry v. tanks.

[qmp]

Thanks for the links!

From the online photos/info looks like the of the 48 units 25 are going to be Allied, leaving 23 for the Axis

Allied, US 10, UK 11, USSR 4.

Axis, 15 for Germany, 2 for Italy, 6 for Japan.

Gotta go put some eye drops in now.....

[Plagued]

I'm sure the rarity will keep this from happening. I doubt you'll see rare infantry. By manipulating the rarity (i.e. tanks are rare, small vehicles uncommon and infantry common) you can pretty much guarantee that each box will have similar numbers of infantry v. tanks.

That just compounds the disappointment. If you were guaranteed a vehicle or two in every pack, that would make me feel better about it, honestly. I'd be paying roughly the cost of two flames of war vehicles and I'd get some infantry with it. Wizkids managed to do that with their mechwarrior CMG and their Pirates CCG, it doesn't seem too hard. Perhaps something to consider in the expansions?

[fenyan]

Looks like there's 2 Shermans in the 1st set. The quickstart has the stat card for the M4A1.

Glad to read that there will be two Shermans in the set, gotta have the ubiquitous 75mm Sherman in there. Also, good to see the Pz IV with skirts!

>Plagued: I think each infantry represents a team of 3-4, not a squad, so the representation is not so bad. Also, I'm sure you'll get at least 2 vehicles per booster since most or all of the rares are tanks and probaby most of the uncommons are the other vehicles such as armored cars and light tanks.

[Der Panzinator]

Wow!!!

Some truly incredible revelations today about the game!
The minis look really awesome! I'm somewhat surprised about some of the "big boy" tanks that are released in the first set. The Tiger and Panther look great! Looks like there is also a Jagdtiger in there as well. Just skimmed through the pics cause I was so excited. I'll take a closer look later when I get a chance. The thing that surprises me is that I didn't think they would launch the game with mid-war units. I was kinda expecting a lot of PzII and PzIII. Then maybe some rare PvIV and a very rare Tiger or Panther. That may still be the case but it looks like they had almost all of the 48 starter set units on the table. I'll have to go back and count them.
I'm also a bit surprised that there is a significant number of Japanese units. I figured that these would make a bigger entrance in the December expansions.

Overall I am very impressed with what I've seen. This REALLY makes me want to make it to GenCon now!

[AAGeneral]

Here are my impressions:

- The artwork of the box is not good looking but it is the least concern.

- The map quality is not great like what I hope for (can they make it board mount like other A&A map?)

- The tanks look wonderful (that will be the main reason why people buy this game, including me, I guess). A bit bigger than what I thought but that's not a problem at all.

- The infantries are not as impressive as the tanks but it is expected.

- Unless I misunderstand (and I did before), there are 12 units in the starter (11 fixed, 1 random rare) and the booster has 9 randoms. But there are 48 models in total, so if I want to collect them all ... chances are, I have to buy a lot of booster packs. Or that depends on how random they are, I may end up buying a lot of booster packs and still don't have a completed set. They surely know how to do business ....

[Marat]

From the online photos/info looks like the of the 48 units 25 are going to be Allied, leaving 23 for the Axis

US 10, UK 10, USSR 4. Leaving 1 Allied unit unknown.(My guess is a Russian artillery piece, or machine gun etc). As for the Axis I was able to ID 15 for Germany, 2 for Italy, 6 for Japan.



Disecting the photos further, it looks like the starter box contains:

American:
M4A1 Sherman
"Red Devil" Captain
Bazooka
M1 Garand Rifle

English:
6 Pounder antitank gun

???:
Another Allied (non-American) artillery/anti-tank gun

German:
Panzer IV Ausf. G
Pak 38 Antitank Gun
Another gun/artillery
2 soldiers/officers

Plus your one random rare.


Marat

[NewtonCain]

The minis look great but;

Whats w/ the Paint scemes? Panther thats Panzer Grey, T34 thats tan, WTF?
I like it, but give us historical paint scemes please.

[qmp]

Disecting the photos further, it looks like the starter box contains:

American:
M4A1 Sherman
"Red Devil" Captain
Bazooka
M1 Garand Rifle

English:
6 Pounder antitank gun

???:
Another Allied (non-American) artillery/anti-tank gun

German:
Panzer IV Ausf. G
Pak 38 Antitank Gun
Another gun/artillery
2 soldiers/officers

Plus your one random rare.


Marat


I was just going by the symbols on the cards. I think the break down will be more random per box. They have gone out of their way to let people know it will be random, and that you will need a booster or two to make up a 100 point force.

Anybody else notice the wicked bend in barrel of the tiger?

[skeevo666]

Anybody else notice the wicked bend in barrel of the tiger?


Yeah, it's the same bend that about half of the lightsaber-wielding figs in Star Wars Minaitures have :mad:

Luckily, it's fixable by dipping the bent part in boiling water or using a hair dryer to apply heat, followed by a dunk in ice water :cool:

[fenyan]

Good dissection on the Starter. Nice to see the M4A1 and the Pz IV will be uncommon.

[Wargamer]

There's a little more information posted on The Wargamer here (http://www.wargamer.com/articles/axisnallies_miniatures_firstlook/).

[JasonR1]

>while soldier units represent a squad.


Let's hope the wargamer preview has this wrong and it represents at least a half squad.

Otherwise, I am rather disappointed

>Two units from a side may be stacked in a hex, for a total of four units in one hex

I guess this means you have some sort of "assualt" combat or over-run where one player's unit's enter another player's hex. This then could mean that a man represents a "half" squad and is perhaps where the confusion came from regarding "fire-teams."

I am trying to get my arms around this game. We shall see.


-Jason

[VFults]

- Unless I misunderstand (and I did before), there are 12 units in the starter (11 fixed, 1 random rare) and the booster has 9 randoms. But there are 48 models in total, so if I want to collect them all ... chances are, I have to buy a lot of booster packs.

The set will probably have a seeding scheme similar to what is used for D&D minis and Star Wars minis. Buying one case of twelve boosters should yield 3 or more of each Common, 1 or more of each Uncommon, and 8 to 12 of the 15 Rares. Since this release has only 48 figures instead of the 60 for D&D and SW, two cases should be enough if you're trying to "catch 'em all." One case should give you plenty to play with and extras to trade for missing pieces.

Regards,

V

[qmp]

... two cases should be enough if you're trying to "catch 'em all." One case should give you plenty to play with and extras to trade for missing pieces.



I just saw a pre-order price for a case of boosters. $124.99 plus shipping!

I suggest everybody buy 6 or 7 cases and sell your spares on ebay. I'll be there waiting for you.

[fenyan]

>while soldier units represent a squad.
Let's hope the wargamer preview has this wrong and it represents at least a half squad.


JasonR1, here's what Richard Baker (lead designer) posted previously on this forum:

"Most infantry figures are just 1 soldier on a base. Some, like the machine gun teams, have 2 soldiers on the base. But the exact number of people represented by the piece isn't terribly important in game play. You can assume that an infantry "piece" represents anywhere from 1 to 4 or 5 guys."

[vogless]

Is it me, or did they pull a load of pics off the wargamer article?

[mhensley]

Is it just me or does anyone else find the scale of the maps to be way off? A tank dwarfs the roads on the maps. These maps look like they were designed for 6mm figs. :(

[DocD]

Is it me or does this remind anybody else of Advanced Squad Leader? The models look nice, but I'm worried about game play with such few infantry units. I mean is this a tank game or what?
Hmmm....I guess I will buy my starter set and go from there, but my hopes aren't that high on this one...sorry fellows.

[GoblinSlayer]

The games that we have seen pics of are just tutorials for beginers I'm sure in real play infantry will be a must or your tanks will be to far outnumbered.

[gamesy]

Sweet pics and a great review. The more I hear the more I want...

[fenyan]

Is it me, or did they pull a load of pics off the wargamer article?

I think it's your browser, the pics seem to be working for me when I go to the site http://www.wargamer.com/articles/axisnallies_miniatures_firstlook/


Is it just me or does anyone else find the scale of the maps to be way off? A tank dwarfs the roads on the maps. These maps look like they were designed for 6mm figs.

We're going to have to suspend disbelief here...even the stacking is off, with one vehicle per 100 meter hex (other games allow 1 per 40 meters or 5 per 100 meters).


Is it me or does this remind anybody else of Advanced Squad Leader? The models look nice, but I'm worried about game play with such few infantry units. I mean is this a tank game or what?

They did say the game was going to be tank-focused, but I really don't see the resemblance to ASL, which really is infantry-focused (most scenarios are all-infantry or have just a few tanks). Plus, we'll be pulling scads of common infantry and only one rare tank per booster so I have no doubts that the design team has balanced the game so that we can find some use for the common stuff.

[JasonR1]

I think it's your browser, the pics seem to be working for me when I go to the site http://www.wargamer.com/articles/axisnallies_miniatures_firstlook/



We're going to have to suspend disbelief here...even the stacking is off, with one vehicle per 100 meter hex (other games allow 1 per 40 meters or 5 per 100 meters).



They did say the game was going to be tank-focused, but I really don't see the resemblance to ASL, which really is infantry-focused (most scenarios are all-infantry or have just a few tanks). .

I agree with Fenyan that the stacking is actually way off and that this game seems to be more "tank-focused." I think is a bit of a shame because I was looking for a game that was just WWII tactical focused. By that I mean a game that gave as much weight to infantry as it does to tanks as far as the game development effort.

Based on the pictures from Orgins where there were so few infantry, and that very poor decision to have a “single” figure per base represent an entire squad, I think it may be obvious at this point that we have a tank-focused game. That being said, I will still buy the game and I am looking forward giving it a go. I hope it turns out ok, we shall see.


-Jason

[NewtonCain]

Is it me or does this remind anybody else of Advanced Squad Leader? The models look nice, but I'm worried about game play with such few infantry units. I mean is this a tank game or what?
Hmmm....I guess I will buy my starter set and go from there, but my hopes aren't that high on this one...sorry fellows.

I think It looks like a simple version of ASL aka Accountant/scholar/lawyer.
A game you play for an hour or so. ASL was the bomb in my younger days, but a domestic supervisor and 3 kids makes it hard to play Piper or Red Barricades mega scenarios.

[Arnminster]

Was this a press only event at Origins. I went to the WoC booth to ask where they were displaying the A&A minis and was told they did not bring them to the show.

[TheFoeHammer]

Was this a press only event at Origins. I went to the WoC booth to ask where they were displaying the A&A minis and was told they did not bring them to the show.

Yes it was Press Only. One of the guys at the WOTC booth told me that they only brought them for the Press Room. I tried to think of ways to get in there but pretty much came up with nothing since I have no press contacts. ;-)

[DocD]

I agree with Fenyan that the stacking is actually way off and that this game seems to be more "tank-focused." I think is a bit of a shame because I was looking for a game that was just WWII tactical focused. By that I mean a game that gave as much weight to infantry as it does to tanks as far as the game development effort.

Based on the pictures from Orgins where there were so few infantry, and that very poor decision to have a “single” figure per base represent an entire squad, I think it may be obvious at this point that we have a tank-focused game. That being said, I will still buy the game and I am looking forward giving it a go. I hope it turns out ok, we shall see.


-JasonI couldn't agree more Jason. I mean any "real" land tactical WWII game has to include Infantry as a main focus or it's just faking.

Nobody is going to convince me that WWII action was mostly comprised of tanks dueling it out. It should be advertised as a tank battle game than a tactical WWII game, IMO.

I will still purchase my starter set, I mean I own every Axis and Allies board game since the MB version, and I don't plan on stopping now, but I also don't want to be just flat faced lied too either. The game is what it is, so just say what it is.

[TrimChris]

Yes it was Press Only. One of the guys at the WOTC booth told me that they only brought them for the Press Room. I tried to think of ways to get in there but pretty much came up with nothing since I have no press contacts. ;-)

Aren't we all reporters for the AH boards? :confused: :)