Robertson Games

Something that came up during the recent discussions around Kenzer & Company’s new Kingdoms of Kalamar supplement and unlicensed 3rd party game expansions, was the number of unlicensed expansions for Axis & Allies that have been commercially published over the past 20 years . I’ve been a fan of A&A for ages, but I wasn’t aware of these products.

Here are some of the expansions I was able to find, and how they indicate their compatibility with the official Axis & Allies game. It’s interesting to note that most not only say they’re compatible with Axis & Allies, but also include a disclaimer that the use of the trademark is not approved. I wasn’t able to find anything that suggests Milton Bradley or Hasbro tried to block the sale of these products over the years. Nothing that indicated any sort of lawsuit at any rate.

If anyone has played any of these expansions, I’d be interested in hearing what you thought of them and how they changed the way the game plays.

Max’s Advanced Rules for Axis and Allies (1989)
by StrataMax, Inc.

Expansion Kit of Optional Rules for Axis & Allies®*

* Axis & Allies® is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley Company
The use of this trademark is not approved by Milton Bradley Company

World War II The Expansion (1989)
by Gamers Paradise

For Use With Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley. This use of Milton Bradley’s trade mark by Gamers Paradise is not approved by Milton Bradley

The World at War (1990)

World War II The Expansion 2 (1993)
by Gamers Pardadise

For Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley. This use of Milton Bradley’s trade mark by Gamers Paradise is not approved by Milton Bradley

World War II Expansion 3: The Battle of Midway (1994)
by Gamers Paradise

For Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley. This use of Milton Bradley’s trade mark by Gamers Paradise is not approved by Milton Bradley

A & A Accessories (1995)
by Table Tactics

This accessories kit is to be used with the Milton Bradley Axis & Allies Game.

Central Powers (1995)
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10170
by Table Tactics

Axis and Allies Expansion

New World Order (1996)
by Table Tactics

website:
AXIS & ALLIES® is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley. RISK® is a registered trademark of Parker Brothers.
The use of Milton Bradley’s or Parker Brothers’ trademark by Table TacticsTM is not approved by these companies.

The War to End All Wars (1997)
by Guild of Blades

World War I, Axis & Allies Variant

Axis & Allies is a registered trademark owned by Milton Bradley inc. Its use herein is without the express written consent of Milton Bradley Inc.

Axis & Allies Enhanced Realism Rules (1999)
by Argonne House Press

NOTE: This is not a self-contained game.
Milton Bradley’s Axis & Allies is required.

Enemy on the Horizon (1999)
by Black Baron Games

Expansion Set For Axis & Allies™

Axis & Allies is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley
This expansion set is not endorsed by Milton Bradley

Honor and Infamy: Commanders (2005)
by Armchair Commander Games

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Kenzer & Company have released the Kingdoms of Kalamar fantasy campaign setting as a 501-page PDF. The book references Wizard of the Coast’s 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons classes, races, monsters, and includes expanded background details, and more than 50 new game mechanics compatible with the 4th Edition D&D rules.

What is very interesting about this publication is that Kenzer & Co have opted not to use the Game System License that Wizards of the Coast has offered to 3rd party publishers to display the official D&D logo and associated text to indicate compatibility with their game. Instead they are simply displaying the text “for use with Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons®” on the cover of the book.

Nominative Use, also known as “trademark fair use” allows the use of a trademark as a reference to describe the product (eg. “All Parason Flexor and Gillette Sensor handles are compatible with this blade”) or to compare it to their own product (Pepsi and Coke).

David Kenzer, the president of Kenzer & Company, is also a lawyer specializing in Trademark and IP law. When asked whether referencing the 4th edition rules without signing up for the Game System License he had this comment:

“that is not copyright infringement.

copyright infringement is basing your work on someone else’s creative expression. Rules are not creative expression. Also, it is not “based” on their rules. It happens to “work with” their rules.

SHould every programmer that writes a program that works with a computer have to pay the owner of the OS it runs on? I think not. I could be wrong, but fortunately, the US and International copyright laws agree with me.

A world where one could not reference others’ materials in their product would be a dark and sad place.”

Indeed that echoes what the U.S. Copyright Office has to say about games and copyright.

“The idea for a game is not protected by copyright. The same is true of the name or title given to the game and of the method or methods for playing it.

Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in the development, merchandising, or playing of a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles.

Some material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game, or the pictorial matter appearing on the gameboard or container, may be registrable.”

It will be interesting to see whether other companies who had planned on producing supporting material for Dungeons & Dragons, but were put off by the strictness of the Game System License, decide to follow Kenzer & Company’s lead.