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Plot. The game takes place in the spring on 1941 . . . I think. Whenever the winter where the Nazis invaded Russia was, this takes place the following spring. The actual piece setup reflects fairly closely the forces and positions of each nations military at the time. Cool huh? The sides involved are Britain, Russia, Japan, Germany, and the United States. (Italy is part of the Reich for purposes of the game.) The game is for 2-5 players, and regardless of how many people play, all five nations are always played. If 2 people play, one plays the Allies, and the other the Axis. If three people, two people play Axis (one Germany, one Japan), and the third player plays all the Allies, etc. Graphics. (Yes, a board game can have graphics) Well, the game comes with a nice, sturdy game board, made out of thick cardboard, of the type that game boards are usually made of. You get something like 199 or 299 plastic pieces, of 5 different colors (one for each country). The pieces resemble what they actually represent, kinda like Micro Machines. The pieces are all the same from nation to nation, except for infantry troops, which come equipped like the infantry from each nation. So the American infantry looks like American G.I.s, the British infantry have long guns and different packs, the Germans have those German style helmets, and also carry a different gun, etc. Each infantry piece is in a slightly different pose. The aircraft carriers are even big enough to place 2 plane units on the decks. I would like to make a note here, that these units are not a single infantry, or a single tank, or plane, or battleship, these pieces represent large numbers of actual people and equipment. An infantry token is actually something like an entire brigade or battalion. A fighter plane is 2 or 3 squadrons of planes. A battleship token is like 4 actual battleships, plus cruiser and destroyer escorts. So when the rules say that a transport ship "can only carry two infantry or one tank," remember that actually means its carrying thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks. Sound. (Of course theres sound when you play.) (Unless youre deaf) Yes, thats right! The sound is the wonderful conversations you have with your friends (or enemies) as you invade their territory just to ruin their day. The sound is the sound effects you make when you attack, like a long whistle that gets lower and lower in octaves for falling bombs, or something like that. Failing everything else, you can always go put in The Four Horsemen or Carmina Burana while you play. Gameplay. Ok, heres how the game works. Play proceeds in a set order: Russia, Germany, Britain, Japan, USA. On each players turn they have 5 things to do. First they use notes that represent 100,000 man hours on production. They use the notes pretty much like money, where all units have a set price. (Infantry 3, Tanks 5, Battleships 24, etc). They do not get these units until the end of their turn. The player then gets to do combat, where they move units and attack. They do all combat movement before combat is resolved. After combat is resolved (combat is a phase, if you are actually bothering to count), you get to do non-combat movement, like repositioning units, or moving a fleet across the Pacific, and finally you get the units you paid for. Unlike Risk, however, you dont get to drop them wherever you please. They come into play next to "Industrial Complexes." Industrial complexes are factory looking things located in certain regions (you can build more if you want). It makes sense, though. When the Americans build a regiment of tanks, they dont come into play on the American beach-head in Germany, they come into play at the factory where they were built in Chicago. On the next turn you have to move them to the coast, onto a transport ship, sail across the ocean, and unload them. If your transport ship gets sunk en route, too bad for you (this is where the Sound Effects come in). Difficulty. Axis is the harder of the two teams to play. With Axis you have to hit hard really early, or the combined industrial strength (every region adds industrial strength. The more you conquer, it adds to yours and subtracts from your opponents) of the allies will pull them down. Also tactics, in general, take a while to figure out: whats a good idea and whats a bad idea. Overall though, the tactics of the game are quite intriguing, and the game is much better balanced than Risk. Replay. Its a board game. They generally have high replay. The one thing I dont really like though, is that because the pieces always start out in the same position, and you dont get new units until the end of turn, the first round can be always the same. Spiffiness. Not so much spiffy this time as some good advice and ideas. First of all, read the rules, and then read them again, because youll miss something. Second, battleships are really cool. (Remember what I said about the pieces being whole task forces?) Well, the way the rules are set up, when a battleship attacks a transport ship, the transport ship can have a high chance of sinking the battleship (16%), even though it will most probably be sunk too. In reality, this is exceptionally unlikely, and so we have a house rule, that actually I believe is a real rule in the companion games (Axis and Allies: Pacific and European Theatres), and that is that battleships have 2 hit points per battle (basically 1 free hit. Think: armor). The first hit on a battle ship turns it on its side, the second sinks it. Battleships repair after every combat. If you dont play like this, then even though they are cool, the cost of battleships (the great bulk of an entire turns production) means that once all the starting ones are sunk, then no more get built. Aside from that, keep in mind that it will probably take 2 or 3 games to really get proficient in it. (And no matter what some reviews may say, the rules are pretty simplistic, so dont be intimidated.) Overall. This is a fun game. It beats Risk hands down, because it relies on strategy more than die rolls, and the game is better balanced for playing with more than 2 people. The only drawback is the price ($40). Overall, if you like strategy games, and you have a little bit of money to blow, go for it. Final Ratings:
* Editors note: No, Frau Herr Editor wouldnt have liked it. |
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