Ralph Boerke's Tribute to Axis & Allies
Disclaimer: Axis & Allies is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley. The use of their trademark 'Axis & Allies' by Tacit Memnos Infinitum is not approved by Milton Bradley.
I picked up the June issue of Computer Gaming World [CGW], on page 64 was a preview of A&A.
Turning on Its Axis
Potentially, Its the Biggest Wargame Breakthrough Since PANZER GENERAL.
The original text was written by Terry Coleman.
I will leave out the text of the article and you can go to the Computer Gaming World site and see it if its there or purchase the magazine (I got the CD ROM version for the cool game demos).
CGW site http://www.computergaming.com
Here is the jist of the article.
It gives a brief history of Milton Bradley's Axis & Allies. MB bought the game from Nova Games and released it Thanksgiving weekend 1984 and it sold 36000 copies in 5 weeks. It says MB has sold more than half a million units since then. [This I dissagree with as I have reasons to believe that they have sold more than 4 million, perhaps the CGW guy missed a 0 or something?]
It then goes on to comment on Hasbro's record of turning board games into good computer games. Hasbro does a good job with Monopoly and RISK but failed with Pictionary.
Global War. This paragraph talks about A&A for those who don't know what it is (ie the computer gaming wargamers).
True to its boardgame origins, Axis & Allies is strictly turn based (with each turn representing approximately 3 months of the war).
It should support every kind of multiplay: Internet (MS Internet gaming Zone & TCP/IP); modem to modem; LAN, hotseat and even email!
Designers might be looking at timed turns just to keep things moving in this turn based game.
The AI has five levels of opponent skill for each of the five powers. Has a tutorial mode and lots of help files.
The map is true to the board game (sort of) and being computer based will apply the rules correctly (for those gamers out there who have played the game with some rules distorted - even I did this for a while with my blitzing).
There are some small changes made - some suggested by Larry Harris, the original designer, and some by other players. These are the 3rd edition rules. But you can turn them off and play 2nd edition (board game) rules.
You can edit stuff. You can change the starting position of some units; example given: Place the German submarine off the coast of Brazil instead of the original placement in the Baltic Sea Zone.
There will be a chat window too - it is for allies.
Here is the list of Major Changes (3rd edition rules):
The editors at CGW give a release date of 3rd Quarter 98. Which is what I heard (September 98).
Picture of the MAP - with text on changes
Picture of the Attack on Karelia
Picture of the Games Options Screen
Back to the A&A Index page
Hasbro Interactive has a page up with some screen shots on the A&A game at: (added June 15)
http://www.hasbro-interactive.com/e3/axis.html
A bit more info on the game from the press release is available at:
http://www.hasbro-interactive.com/e3/strategypr.html
There was a precursor to the CDROM game and that was a Philips CD-I version brought out in 1994.
Thrasher has some stuff on it on his site: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Stadium/9025
|
Axis & Allies email: |
|
|
