From: Tom Vasel (kcisnow@yahoo.com)
Subject: [Review] Axis and Allies, Revised 
 
I must confess that even though war games intrigue me, I've never
really been a big fan of them – because of their (usually) massive
rulebooks, and lengthy times it takes to play them.  I usually would
prefer to play a fun euro game that people of all ages and types would
enjoy and have fun with.  However, I am easily addicted to light war
games – especially those with plastic miniatures.  This is especially
the case with Milton Bradley's Axis and Allies – probably one of the
most famous light war games there is, now twenty years old.  I cannot
count the number of times I played the game and had fun as a kid – but
I remember battles, victories, losses, arguments, cheers, and many
more memorable times that I will cherish.  As I got older, I started
to drift away, playing Axis and Allies only occasionally.  Then I
found the two new Avalon Hill games, Axis and Allies: Pacific, and
Axis and Allies: Europe.  Both of these games played far superior to
the older edition, and I really enjoyed both of them.

 Still, there's something about playing the entire war, spread out
over the whole world that a theatre-specific game cannot accomplish. 
So when I heard that Avalon Hill was redoing Axis and Allies, designed
by Mike Selinker with input from Lawrence H. Harris – the original
designer of the game, I was extremely interested.  The thing that
really piqued my interest was a fifteen article series that Mike
posted at www.avalonhill.com, the fifteenth week before the game was
released.  In those articles, he discussed in detail the changes that
would be made in the game, and why those changes were made.  The
articles were fascinating reads (if the game interests you – I highly
recommend going there and perusing them), and they greatly increased
my desire for the game.  I was able to finally get my hands on a copy
– and with great enthusiasm, my gaming group (all big fans of the Axis
and Allies series) dove in.  And to our delight, the game was a hearty
success.  Aside from a few quibbles about component production, the
rule changes are fantastic, and I think that Mike and the guys at
Avalon Hill have injected a longer life in this classic war game.

 The changes are very many, and although basic game play is the same,
there are so many altercations that games play out quite differently. 
If you haven't played the game before, let me tell you that it's a
light war game, based on the Second World War, and has two players
take the sides of the Axis: Japan and Germany, and three others the
Allies: Russia, USA, and Great Britain.  If you're looking for basic
game play, look around the web, and you'll find entire rule sets and
summaries.  In this review, I'll concentrate on the changes made in
the revised edition, although I still won't list them all, as they are
rather numerous.  So here are some of the changes – some of the
important, others minor, that have been implemented in the 2004 A&A
edition.

- Tanks now defend at three, instead of two, making them much more
powerful.
- Japan, Germany, and the USA start with quite a bit more money.
- Transports can now carry one infantry, plus one other unit – even a
tank.
- Neutral territories can no longer be entered, and there are more of
them.
- A country can now try to research a specific weapons development,
rather than taking one randomly.
- Battleships take two hits before being sunk.
- Artillery and destroyer units were both added to the game.
- Even in home territories, the amount of units built there cannot
exceed that territory's IPC value.
- Submarines can now pass through hostile zones.
- Both attacking and defending submarines now have "first strike", due
to a streamlined combat sequence.
- There can be more than one anti-aircraft gun in a territory, even
though only one can shoot.
- Fighters and aircraft carriers are cheaper, costing 10 and 18 IPCs
respectively.
- Industrial Technology has been replaced by combined bombardment,
which allows destroyers to bombard land, just like battleships.
- Heavy Bombers now only roll two dice per bomber rather than three.
- There are now twelve cities on the board – Los Angeles, Washington
D.C., London, Calcutta, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Leningrad,
Manila, Shanghai, and Tokyo.  Players pick between three different
victory conditions – a minor victory, which requires a side to control
8 cities by the end of the round, a major victory, which requires 10
cities, and total victory, which requires all twelve cities to be
controlled.
- Optional rules include six different advantages that can be had for
each country.  They can be chosen, or rolled up randomly – as long as
each power has the same number.  Examples of these advantages include:
Mobile Industry (which allows the Russians to move their industrial
complexes), Wolf Packs (which gives German submarines in groups of
three or more a +1 to attack), Colonial Garrison (which allows the
United Kingdom to place an additional industrial complex at game
start, Banzai Attacks (which allow Japanese infantry to attack at an
attack value of two, as long as only infantry were attacking), and
Mechanized Infantry (which allowed US infantry to move two spaces and
blitz like tanks.)
- The mapboard has undergone a massive change, both in look, and in
territories.  There are many, many changes, but the most notable are
the addition of Central US territory, the Sahara desert, more German
territories, and more, distinct sea zones.
There are several other changes, but most of them are minor, and only
serve to help the aesthetics of the game, or streamline game play. 
For example, the blowup maps of the old board have been removed and
replaced with cards and corresponding markers that can be placed on
the board.  There are enough changes that a person can look at the
game and not immediately recognize it for what it is.

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components:  Some of the components are of very high quality, yet
I have some irritation at some of Avalon Hill's choices.  The army
miniatures are very well done, and each country has unit types that
are unique to that power – each tank model is different, etc.   This
is just like A & A: Pacific and Europe, and I really like it.  What
I'm not a big fan of is the colors.  The colors have all changed –
albeit the Germans and US just a little.  The lime-green color of the
Brits ("limeys"?) is a strange choice, as well as the burnt orange
shade of the Japanese forces.  Not only this, but the amount of pieces
is fairly limited, so that if I want to supplement my game from other
sets – the mismatched colors almost make it impossible.   There are
also not enough plastic chips in the game – not a problem for me, as I
have a whole bin of them, but could be a problem for first timers to
the series.  What irritated me the most about the components was the
box – which was small, and had no plastic insert, and no bags.  This
is frankly very poor taste on Avalon Hill's part, and I must scold
them for such thoughtlessness.  When you proudly include 399 pieces in
a game, you should provide a place to store them!    The box is
attractive, and easy to fit on a shelf – but for a BIG game such as
this, I wouldn't have minded a bigger box.

2.) Other components:  The board, with such a massive upheaval, is
really nice looking.  The entire thing has been redesigned, and the
colors changed – I think for the better.  It's smaller, which is not
necessarily a bad thing.  I wish that they had made it bigger – say
the size of an Eagle's board game, but this is a minor quibble.  The
battle board and other table are all very well designed, and are
thinner than before – but didn't find this to be a problem.  The only
time I was annoyed about how thin something was were the territory
chips for each country.  They were almost paper-thin, so I glued them
to the back of the chips from the first game, and now I have nice,
duel-sided thick territory chips.

3.) Rules:  The whole rulebook ahs been redesigned also, and it's very
comprehensive and extremely well written.  There are thirty-nine
pages, but they are filled to the brim with illustrations and a
full-blown example, with excellent, easy-to-read formatting, so I
don't think most people will have a problem with the game.  One thing
that really pleased me was a four-page pamphlet explaining all the
changes from the original Axis and Allies, with the reasons for those
changes.  This is really all an experienced player will need, and
makes a good quick reference.  The game may take a bit to explain to a
new player, but those who played the old version should have no
problem picking it up in a hurry.

4.) Gripes:  If you surf the web and read comments on the new Axis and
Allies, you will find, especially on pages dedicated to Axis and
Allies, many complaints and gripes about the new game, and how they
didn't do this right, or added this stupid rule.  Well, I haven't had
the pleasure of playing 1,000 + Axis and Allies games like these folk
(I also enjoy other games), but let me assure you – I have absolutely
no problem with any of the rule changes, and indeed found that ALL of
them enhance game play.  I have to laugh when I read essays that say
"on turn one, Germany should attack such and such a territory with so
many forces….on turn seven, Russia should be in this territory, and
should buy this much…."  Axis and Allies is a great, fun game.  But if
you play the game so many times that the optimal strategies allow you
to know what's going to happen next – then I think you should probably
get out more.  For the rest of us – the MAJORITY of us – we will enjoy
the game, because we will play it at most once a week, and it will be
new and exciting to us each time.

5.) Optional Rules:  Speaking of which, I really enjoyed the optional
rules.  They ensure that the strategies employed by each country would
vary from game to game.  For example, one such rule had England's and
America's IPCs drained according to how many German subs were on the
table.  This ensured that the German player would build a lot of subs
– something they normally might not do.  I thought that all the
optional rules added not only historical flavor – but something I
really desire in board games – diversity.

6.) Changes:  People often resist change, and this game is going to be
no exception for many.  But to those I say – try it out!  You'll
probably really enjoy it, as every change was made for a good reason. 
Let me discuss some of them, and how they affected the game.
- The tank's defense raising to three was a huge change in the game,
and really helps offset the fact that many players buy tons of
infantry.  Now tanks will be bought (as well as artillery), making
choices more varied.  In play, this really made tanks a worthwhile
choice to buy.
- Aircraft carriers and fighters were nice to have, but rarely bought
– because they were vastly under-priced.  Now that they are much
cheaper, more of them are seen in games, again adding to the variety.
- Submarines became much more useful and powerful, being able to move
through enemy ships and allowing them to fire first even when on
defensive.  Yet at the same time, the addition of destroyers also
helped out tremendously to balance them out.
- Developing weapons always seemed like a crap shoot in the old
version – you spent money and hoped you got something good.  It's
still a gamble in the new version, but at least you can pick a
technology that your country can use more effectively.  And all the
technologies are balanced now, so that they all are highly wanted.

7.) Time and Players:  The game plays just as well from two to five,
but the time needed to play the game has changed quite a bit with the
addition of victory cities.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to
play an epic game – where they humiliate their opponents, crushing
them and their egos into the ground, but I can often see where a minor
or major victory would be played.  Eight cities seem to take around
two hours, a reasonable time, although it seems to give the slightest
edge to the Axis.  10 cities take much longer and give more bonuses to
the stalwart Allies.

8.) Fun Factor:  Axis and Allies is fun in all the forms I've played
it in.  I liked Europe better than the original, and Pacific more than
that.  But now I think that I like this new version the best – because
fighting on a global scale is the most interesting, and allows the
most options.  We had a blast playing the game, trying out new
strategies, working with the optional rules, trying out all the
changes.  The game looks fantastic on the table, and shouts of outrage
and joy were heard by all when those dies just would not obey our
wishes!

As you can probably tell, I'm a fan of the game.  I probably won't
play it more than once a month – but will probably often get roped
into a game of it, as many guys really like games such as this.  If
you liked the original Axis and Allies game, then this is a must buy
for you.  If you've never played it, then I highly urge you to try
this very fun, interesting, original game out.  Quibbles with the
components aside, it's a real pleasure to see a large company taking
care to put out quality, fun games such as this – and I'm even more
excited now to see that a line of smaller battle Axis and Allies games
are planned.  If the company keeps up their fantastic repertoire with
the customers, such as the articles Mike wrote – and his and Larry's
active involvement on forums on the internet, I think the future is
very bright for Axis and Allies fans!

Tom Vasel