MINIATURES GAMES NEWS
August 22, 2005
Avalon Hill Activates Axis & Allies Miniatures
 Indianapolis, IN -- Hobby gaming "superpower" Wizards of the Coast wowed Gen Con Indy gamers with a limited launch of the new Axis & Allies Miniatures game. The company enlisted enthusiastic attendees by giving demos of the new WWII collectible strategy game. Limited copies of the starter set and boosters sold out quickly at the Wizards Gen Con store.
For Wizards, this is another foray into the pre-painted miniatures arena. The company's recent successes with Star Wars and D&D minis have encouraged them to reach out to the historical gaming community. They hope Axis & Allies will appeal to entry level gamers as well as those that no longer have the time to paint miniatures.
Axis & Allies Miniatures has a name only relationship to the classic series of board games. The publisher has relied on its long history in strategy gaming to come up with a product that is playable out of the box.
“In its nearly 50 year history, Avalon Hill did a tremendous job in introducing some very unique mechanics for wargaming that are still defacto standards today, said Linda Cox, brand manager for Avalon Hill at Wizards of the Coast. “So we incorporated many of those mechanics but not in a way that it would take all day or a whole weekend to play. We wanted to create a gaming experience that is quick, easy to learn and that is accessible to everyone.”
 A&A Minis will provide gamers a chance to engage the enemy in historical, squad-level combat. The game features pre-painted 15mm scale plastic miniatures of WWII era vehicles and troops. And of course, the miniatures are produced in varying degrees of rarity to enhance their collectibility.
The publisher claims that the rules are easy to master and that extensive research into vehicle and infantry unit strengths and weaknesses makes the game play is authentic as possible. The Axis & Allies Miniatures Base Set features 48 vehicles and infantry with. A Starter Set contains 12 minis including one random rare miniature and 4 double-sided hex maps representing battlefields in Europe. The Starter also contains dice, a quick-start guide and the advanced rule book. Booster packs contain 9 miniatures. A 48 figure expansion set will be released in December with more to follow in 2006.
Copyright 2005 BigBox Games. All rights reserved.
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