do any of these games allow players to take turns to place initial armies on various countries like the original board game did?

does anyone care?

welcome ekztul!

there are a few boards that allow that as a setup option, tho I can't think of which ones off the top of my head. most don't as it will break the balance the designer has built the board around. i'll go thru and find a few later on (if noone else pops in with some before i get back). 

as to the 2nd question; most don't take the time to use that option - it drags things out quite a bit. 

The closest you'll get to the original is Global Warfarre

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Global+Warfare

There are a variety of scenarios - "turn territory and simul unit" goes back and forth picking territories but then you place all at once. 

All of the people who have responded to you thus far are board designers, and it also bears noting that placement of initial armies IS an option for designers. Though I can't speak for other designers I will comment that the reason I don't offer it as an option (to date) is not because it would be unfair so much as because it would SLLLLOOOOOWWW the game down immensely.  In some cases the time it takes to populate the board (i.e. the number of turns) is probably as long as it takes to play the game.

That said, there are a number of games that allow you to order your preference of territory, which functions not unlike a fantasy football draft..  Pirates of the Caribbean comes to mind - and it is an excellent board in all respects.

M57 wrote:

That said, there are a number of games that allow you to order your preference of territory, which functions not unlike a fantasy football draft..  

ekztul - this is called 'simultaneous' territory selection.  Most of the active designers (myself included) would be willing to create a "turn-based" territory selection scenario for you if you want.

I actually created one for a group of players once, and after attempting to play it they gave up and went back to simultaneous selection, because turn-based is just so cumbersome.

fyi - there are also simultaneous and turn-based options for unit placement which can be controlled by the board designer separately from territory selection.  

Not exactly what you were asking for , but similar:

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/1982

The Twist scenario has turn based territory selection

Some boards that have simultaneous Territory Selection (players rank their preferences of starting territories, and then territories are based on the players pre-ranked priority...):

Ancient Isles of Kjeldor - http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Ancient+Isles+of+Kjeldor
Hoards of China - http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Hordes+of+China
Gearstorm - http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/GearStorm

Boards that have Simultaneous Unit Placement (once your territories are assigned, and a single unit is placed on each territory, the player gets hand select where their armies are placed)

Mars 2210 - http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/Mars+2210