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Russia (the unfavored whipping boy) is no longer on total defense at all times and can even counterattack and claim Axis territories from both German and Japan. If you have played the original A&A at any length you will be pleased with this edition. At some point there would be a "Battle Royale", typically with Germany the victor. One small detraction I have with the current setup is that the small map blowups of various cities have been removed. It's a good bet that if you know anyone who plays "Risk" or "Stratego", they've probably got a well-worn copy of A&A somewhere in their game closet as well. In every single game I have played previous to this the Germany vs.
The addition of Destroyers prevents the secret torpedo attack option made by interloping enemy subs and can even assist with shore shots like their larger Battleship cousins. Russia was the country *no one* wanted to play, although they could occasionally pull off some mind-boggling land acquisitions. In previous editions this would give the Bomber unit the ability to attack with 3 dice in lieu of one, making for an extremely over-powerful unit given that it attacks on a 4 to start with. This has changed and most definitely for the better. There are more zones (both land and sea) which were placed in to eliminate some mechanics issues that were quite prevalent in the first edition.
Weapons Development has been somewhat revamped, the most notable change (to my group) being the revision of the Super Bombers option. This has been overhauled and you'll see that Russia is now much more powerful and not so easy to bottleneck in. Much of the gameplay remains the same and only small detail changes have been made, as well as the addition of a few new units, tweaks to game mechanics, and much needed redrawing of the map to create new zones in which to do combat. This really hit home when a friend of mine from Norway came to visit and utterly obliterated stockpiles of our troops and tanks in just one pass with 3 Super Bombers and a few fighters and then proclaimed the superiority of the Norwegian navy to all other navies in the world. Those flaws have been fixed and the game has even taken on extra depth as a result. Various zones are color coded to indicate where the front lines are, as well as to indicate where a particular country's "influence" is strong (China is colored green for instance, indicating the US's heavy influence there at the time). The end result being that at 2am we were preparing to call Milton-Bradley for rules clarifications on a hotel phone which cost $95 an hour.
I could write many more paragraphs on the game but I will simply sum up by saying that the original game, while incredible fun, was flawed in many ways. He never knew how close he came to being physically throttled that day.Much of the gameplay remains the same, albeit you can feel the changes on the Russo-German front almost immediately. Allies 2-player game. Oh the stories I could tell about my experiences playing "Axis & Allies" over the course of 20 or so years. The game has a very solid base design and the mechanics work well enough so that it's never a foregone conclusion who is going to win each game.This review is for the new and improved "Revised" edition, rather than the original version of A&A. The pieces are very well made and really add extra flavor to what is already a smorgasboard of a game.The Board:If you've played the previous edition of A&A this is where you will see the largest change.
The game board itself is a large world map portraying the world as it was known in the Spring of 1942. The map isn't as bright as it's forebear and zones appear to actually have shrunk somewhat. This forces you to cram lots of pieces on a zone which has already been marginally shrunken from it's original size and makes it tricky to move units.The rulebook is nicely laid out and easy to follow. Oftentimes whoever is playing the Allies in our matches will engage in quick coordination breaks, which we colloquially refer to as "Yalta Conferences". Additionally all those islands in the Pacific have now been assigned IPC points, finally giving you reason to invade and take them over. In addtion to this are a number of white plastic factories and AA guns. The Pieces:Each nation is given a stockpile of varying types of color coded plastic playing pieces including infantry, aircraft, naval ships, factories, etc.
It is a game which is deeply gratifying, interestingly rich, and can evoke a plethora of emotions during it's long course of play. The original game had nation-specific infantry pieces while the remainder were homogenous depicting generic fighters, battleships, etc. I can't remember a single game previously where Russia ever had the time or resources to build anything but infantry and the occasional tank or fighter. Originally meant to be part of a 5-part series of light wargames from Milton-Bradley in the mid to late 1980's called the "Gamemaster Series", A&A far surpassed the other 4 games in popularity and really achieved a life of it's own apart from it's brethren and maintains an intense loyalty from the vast majority of tabletop gamers who have played it over the past two decades.
The US tanks are Shermans and fighters P-38's, while the Germans get Panzers and Stukas (which technically was a dive bomber and a pretty poor dogfighter, but it's iconic of the Luftwaffe as a whole, so I'll let it slide). Artillery pieces will boost infantry attack power and result in their not being used solely as cannon fodder to preserve more expensive units. The game can be played between 2-5 people, but I find that it works more realistically with 5 as the on board coordination between nations isn't as well-oiled as it would be playing a simple Axis vs. I must give credit where credit is due. There are also 6 red "attack" dice and 6 white "defense" dice. Not like the first edition, which once caused some strife between me and my best friend when we were on deployment to Honduras and almost came to blows over some questionable move he'd made.
Most notable of these is that the Eastern Front has been dramatically reworked. In the revised edition each nation is given plastic pieces depicting actual weapons of war used by *that* country. USSR game usually worked into a stalemate with both sides stockpiling infantry and the occasional tank unit. Pros:-Very in depth game, and yet very fun-The individual pieces really add flavor to the experience-The reworking of the map helps resolve previous combat issues-The game feels more streamlined with minor rules tweaks-Addition of new units makes the game even better than it wasCons:-Expect your avage game to last 4-5 hours, not including the setup time-The map zones are small and cramped making unit movement tedious at times-Game has a moderate learning curve, and may throw off folks accustomed to games like "Monopoly" or "Life".-The game pieces do not have containers like they did with the original, which makes for issues of it's own.
Other than these complaints, the game is very enjoyable and can last several hours, so prepare a lengthy afternoon with friends to play this game. One of them is that memorizing the many rules of the game can take a while so players will most likely forget special rules their first time playing. Upgrades can also be purchased and require the roll of dice to determine what kind of upgrade and if the upgrade was successful.There are a couple of downsides to the game though. This is a complex strategy board game that will keep players playing for several hours.
The game is best played with two or five players. In a five player game each player controls one of either of these nations: United States, Germany, Russia, Japan, and Great Britain. The game is for two to five players. Purchasing new units is done through the use of fake money, much like that in Monopoly. And another downside is that the plastic figures are very simple and some of them can easily break if they are mishandled.
There are several types of units which adds to the complexity of the game, from factories, soldiers, tanks, fighter jets, bombers, submarines, battleships, and aircraft carriers. The objective is to conquer victory point cities and the number of victory points needed to win a game varies depending on how long the players choose to play.The rules are rather complex, with units having special rules such as the submarines and destroyers, but to sum things up, each nation has their own turn order and during a turn players can purchase new units, move units already on the board, and attack or engage in combat. In a two player game one player controls the nations of the Allies and the other the Axis. Combat is resolved by using dice and there is a battle board for use in combat situations to make things easier for the players, detailing how much damage a unit can do and receive, etc. And the ships look very similar that it was rather hard for me to identify which was a battleship versus which was a destroyer.
Axis And Allies RevisedThis revised version of an older game really brings history to life. Young men especially find it challenging and entertaining, all at the same time. Would be useful as a supplement when studying this period of history.
I want to play not spend 20 minutes trying to figure out where to make ends meet to get the game pieces I need. Its a great game, only one spends more time splitting up forces to make enough game peices to battle or to place down for purchases, when one buys for new replacements. The company could have doubled up on game pieces. This game sucks only because there is not enough battle pieces to play the game. I called the company and they dont sell more game pieces. I am forced to buy another game just to enjoy this game. THIS IS THE ONLY FLAW IN THIS GAME.
The various charts and boards are also much more colorful - more pleasing to the eye, but harder to read during play.2) The pieces are worse. (a) You thought the bombers and fighters in the original game were delicate. But yeah, they look more like the actual subs. Just a quick overview for people who may already have the original Milton Bradley game.1) Yes, the map is much prettier. (b) The submarine pieces are now so narrow and tiny that they easily topple over, and are more difficult to pick up and move. So if realism is more important to you than playability, you might enjoy this version.Bottom line. I wonder how much these new components were play-tested.
If you play with people with clumsy fingers, be prepared to move their pieces for them. Far worse. I'm thinking that to keep these frail pieces intact, I'll have to get one of those trays that gamers use to store miniature figures. If I had bought it at a store instead of Amazon, I would have returned it already and looked to replace my original game on eBay instead.
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