Whither Axis & Allies? Now we know

There's been speculation since it first cane out that the Anniversary Edition of Axis & Allies was a special limited edition run that would not be repeated. The deluxe components and the high price seemed to many to make it unsuitable as the standard A&A game.

We know today that they were right, because Hasbro has just posted on its Web site news of a new "Spring 1942" edition of Axis & Allies: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/prod/spring1942

So far there's not a lot of info. The only illustration is of the box:

It appears that it will be a game more on the scale of the Revised Edition, probably meaning just two mapboards again. A lot of rules from the Anniversary Edition will be ported over. The ad copy specifically mentions the cruisers and the naval rules from A&A:50, although I would also expect the artillery to show up as well as other systemic changes seen in A&A:50.

The cruisers were not an unambiguous success, so it will be interesting to see if there are any adjustments. The consensus of opinion seems to be that they were a bit expensive for what they brought to the table in capability, so perhaps there will be a tweak in that department.

The game is listed for 2-5 players, so we know that Italy is out again. Whether China will be back is harder to say. I think most players liked the way China was handled in A&A:50 so it would be nice to see some version of that, including China-specific infantry, in any new version.

What this means in the short term is that anyone interested in getting a copy of A&A:50 should act now, because it's highly unlikely anything like it will be done again. It's already reported sold out at the distributor level, although copies are still available at MSRP in stores and online retailers.