R2-D2

After much frustration playing the standard game with the victory point cards hidden, we tried the variant of revealing all of the cards at the beginning of the game for all to see. The pacifist and separatist cards cannot be used in this case, for obvious reasons.

Revealing all of the cards allowed all of us to plan and make better strategic decisions on what resources needed to be collected and saved versus which resources were expendable. This led to a much more enjoyable game, since everyone knew what would actually score points and which conditions would trigger the end of the game.

We intentionally do not give someone ANY clues about their hand when their oldest card needs to be discarded. This helps us not waste clues on someone who is holding multiple cards of the same number, when only one of those cards is actually safe to discard. Not knowing anything about the cards in your hand removes any temptation to attempt to play one that is unplayable.

We have a house rule of always designating one side of your hand of cards to be the “old” side and the other to be the “new” side. For instance, when I am looking at the backs of the cards in my hand, the card furthest to my right is always the oldest (has been in my hand the longest), and any time I draw a new card to add it to my hand, it becomes the left-most card in my hand.

This helps make discarding predictable for all of the other players, since they know which card I will be throwing away if I have to or choose to discard. It also insures the maximum amount of time for players to give me a clue about the 5 in my hand before it gets discarded.

The scoring mechanics for this game are a little tricky for first-timers, especially if you are introducing this to casual/family gamers or younger players.

Playing a “practice” game with all of the collected cards face up lets everyone see how many mammoths, horses, etc. everyone else has and gives a better sense of which animals they should be bidding on each round. It also gives players help determining how many points they might actually need to win as the game progresses.

Skip the weapons development and optional rules the first couple of times you play this version of A & A. If the right country gets a powerful development early in the game, it can really swing the tide from the outset and make it really difficult for the opponents to catch up (i.e., heavy bombers for USA or rockets for Germany).

Also, the optional rules are very cool for those of us who appreciate the historical significance of Radar, Superfortresses or the Russian Winter – but these are big game-changers as well.

This particular version of A & A makes the Axis stronger than what most of us have been accustomed to. Opening the door to these other options right away can result in a much shorter game than anyone anticipated.

Most of the Cuba games I have played have been won or lost based on who used the Mayor to their advantage the most. It is easy to score 9+ points in a single action if you can be the first one to load a ship that is in the last spot in the harbor. There are no buildings or other actions on the board that can score this many points so quickly. Use the market or your laborer to gather the goods & products you will need to load the ship with a turn or two ahead of time.

By and large, there is not a need to construct buildings after the first couple of turns. Try to be the first player to cover up the bonus victory point space by using your architect (el Constructor) action. It’s an easy 2 points each turn that will give you an advantage in the long run.

A common winning strategy is to sit on your money and go last every turn in order to go to the market first. Many players are uncomfortable being in the lead for any length of time due to this financial penalty. It is possible to win the game and go first every single round, if you can manage to:

1) offset the increased fuel cost with additional income from powering more cities than anyone else;

2) diversify your power plant types to avoid running out of fuel when everyone else tries to hoard it; and

3) avoid bidding wars at all costs.

The “green” power plants often turn out to be “Fools’ Gold”. New players tend to get into bidding wars to overpay for these environmentally-friendly plants. It is usually impossible to hold onto them for more than 2 turns before they become obsolete, due to the larger power plants that become available. The windmills look nice and may give you a warm, happy feeling on the inside, but they tend to keep you from being able to power the most cities (and win).