On the New Avalon Hill releases + some other musings

Good Job Hasbro!

So the new Avalon Hill releases have been pretty nice.

I own Diplomacy and now Acquire.

I think the quality is quite good, despite the pieces being all cardboard. The board AH is using is similar to what Fantasy Flight Games uses for all their uber-thick counters - so it's pretty durable stuff.

Granted, these new editions of Diplomacy or Acquire aren't as good as previous editions (particularly Acquire) but the argument there is mostly from an aesthetic viewpoint. With Acquire a plastic board like the older 3M/AH version would have been nice. That edition was designed such that the hotel tiles couldn't slide around the board (think the Deluxe Edition of Scrabble). But playing Acquire with Scrabble-esque "don't bump the board" rules is fine by me. Nothing is going to top the 1999 edition of Acquire, however, but then again the new edition is in print with an MSRP of $30. Last I checked the 1999 Acquire still goes for around $100 used on eBay. No thanks. I was pleased to see one of the hotel chains in this 2008 edition is named "Sackson." Much respect to an awesome designer!

A note on the Diplomacy Counters: They're actually doubled sided, with different art on each side. Basically one side shows the Unit art (different type of boat/cannon/or flag) while other side simply displays a solid color. Each type of counter is a different shape so you wont be getting confused if you opt to use solid color side. I thought that was a nice touch.

The actual gameboard in the new edition of Diplomacy is beautiful. Really good looking map on a nice single piece mounted board.

AH actually included a ton of Planning Maps too which was really nice. I was shocked months ago when I bought Downtown: The Air War Over Hanoi, 1965 - 1973 and found out it only came with three planning sheets of each kind that you needed (map/aircraft loadout) which was not even enough to play all the game's scenarios! Ah well, GMT is still a quality outfit in my book.

Some other musings:

40K + Xbox 360 have been consuming quite a bit of my entertainment income as of late. Thats not a bad thing, since I am enjoying 40K and I believe i'll be playing video games until I die.

There are still some boardgames i'd like to get though, particularly I want (need) to get Combat Commander: Med to finally round out the base game. Since Chad and co over at GMT have pretty much stated that all future Combat Commander: Europe expansions will require Med. Plus i'm pumped for that Stalingrad battle pack, which I preordered.

I also would like to get Federation Commander: Klingon Attack to round out my Klingon forces. From there, who knows? There are just so many ship options available and a host FedCom products. I think I'll pick up either another attack module or some boosters.

So Agricola is supposed to be shipping soon. Am I excited? Not really. This shit is overhyped to the max. Bear in mind, however, that overhyped does not in any way mean it wont be good. It will be a pleasure to play with some friends who have never heard of the game and won't be influenced by the hype machine. Personally, I think the game is going to be fun but certainly wont replace my current favorites. From a thematic standpoint I think the game is totally awesome.

It's about farming. Sorry, that's rad. I guess i've just done too much reading in History/Anthropology/Geography courses to not think that agriculture isn't completely awesome.

I mean, who doesn't love Harvest Moon anyway?

Only time will tell if I regret this pre-order.