 Box art for the first edition Axis and Allies is a strategy board game by the Milton Bradley Company set during World War II. Milton Bradley released it as part of their Gamemaster Series in 1984 and it was the most successful of the five; in April 2004, Hasbro released the Revised Edition under the Avalon Hill name. Up to 5 players can take control of one of the Axis (Germany or Japan) or Allied (UK, Soviet Union or USA) nations. The object of the game is to win the war by capturing enough critical territories.
For a boardgame with a realistic setting, Axis and Allies is a fairly casual game; in fact, it is often played in high school classes to help teach students about the economic climate and tensions the world was involved in during World War II. A&A is not a strict historical wargame, due to its streamlining for ease of play and balancing so both sides have a chance. For instance, the economic model is rather bare-bones, with each territory producing a number of "IPCs" (Industrial Production Certificates) good toward the purchase of any unit. Moreover, the game is supposed to start in spring of 1942, but Japan is immediately in position to attack Hawaii again, while Germany is pressed well into the USSR with an initially superior force. Another significant difference is that the Soviet Union and Japan are opponents at the start of the game; historically, they did not go to war with each other until 1945. If this game were truer to history, the Axis empires would be at their apex at this time, about to be pushed back home – but of course that would not be a very competitive game.
While the original edition was recognised as a classic, many experienced players felt the game quickly became unbalanced and repetitive, finding strategies that would ensure an Allied victory.
Original Version Strategies
Axis & Allies centers around co-operation ammong the powers to ensure victory. The following strategies are based on the classic edition.
Russia's main goal is to take out Berlin since Japan is busy with the United States in naval conflicts which is compounded by the problem that Russia starts with no industry on the Pacific coast. Russia generally should pull back from the east and consolidate her forces in the area in one territory to ward off Japan picking off the units easily and seizing the entire soviet far east. However, Russia's resources should be focused on keeping Karelia and using her industry to send troops down Germany's throat. Once Berlin is taken out and a decent ammount of Europe is under Soviet control, Russia will use her IPC power to kick Japan off the Asian mainland, and possibly build industry on the coast to launch an invasion of Tokyo.
Germany's general strategy is to use her superior forces to quickly take Moscow to get Russia off their Eastern front, while trying to expand their sluggish economy through conquest in Africa and beating back British invasions. Once their foothold in Europe is secure, Germany should take Britain, and then invade Canada and from there the United States.
England has the duty of distracting Germany from focusing all their efforts on Russia. They can accomplish this by using their superior naval power to sink the German fleet, and proceed to use forces to hop arround Africa just out of reach of the Germans to prevent them from taking total control of the continent. Eventually seizure of Africa is necessary to strip Germany of her IPC's, and England is in the best position to land troops on the continent. England also must prevent Germany from ammasing any sort of navy, quickly taking out ships before they can be deployed, or she'll find herself blockaded. The English player must also take advantage of a distracted Germany to invade either Western Europe or Scandinavia when the opporunity arises, stripping the fatherland of much needed IPC's and providing a site for the invasion of Berlin.
Japan has two major obligations in the game, to distract Russia and keep the United States out of the European and African theatres. With scarce Soviet forces in the East and Russia focusing on the Germans on Moscow's doorstep, Japan should try to expand her industrial abilities by seizing the Soviet far east and pushing the Russians back, hopefully eventually meeting up with German forces from the west. Japan should also take the Asian continent, focusing on China and India, where Japan will gain the ability to launch bombing raids to cripple the Russian economy. Japan's second goal is to keep the US out of Europe, and accomplishes this by taking out the US fleet at Hawaii on its first turn, and then Island hopping to take Hawaii, Midway, and others. Eventually, Japan should invade through Alaska and western Canada. The Japanese player should also be sure to pick up easy IPCs in Australia, New Zealand, and Madagascar, and should even consider taking the southern African territories if Germany can't hold onto the continent.
The United States has the resource of time that the others do not. While it may have the most industrial might at the onset, America has no way to get its troops to the fighting. As a result, naval supremacy is critical if the US should ever get involved. If the Atlantic is kept clear, America can invade Western Europe and supplement English forces in driving Germany out of Africa. In the Pacific, the United States must push Japan back, and supplement Soviet troops for an eventual invasion.
For both sides, there are a few key things to keep in mind. First, posession of Karelia is critical. If German takes it, the Axis will have a factory to launch fresh units directly into Moscow. If Russia holds it, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to Berlin. Secondly, don't underestimate the power of an airforce. Planes are expensive, but their range gives the player the ability to launch a decisive strike their opponents weren't expecting. Fighters are excellent at breaking naval blockades and seizing supremacy in the seas, especially since submaries can't shoot them down. Bombers are also vital in grinding the economies of stronger nations down so you can stand a chance, or preventing a crippled nation from stockpiling troops on their capital to take out as many of your troops as possible in their last stand. Third, focus on one enemy at a time. Japan is much easier to take without Germany launching bombing raids, and the Allies fall much more easily with Moscow taken. Fourth, attack with all you have. Unless you're planning to just take the territory and then lose it again, make sure you have enough soldiers that will survive to occupy the territory. Fifth, spend your IPC's wisely. Infantry are excellent for the early part of the game, they're cheap and pack the same punch as tanks, but later on you will have to make critical decisions, between a small army of tanks, a few planes, or a battleship. Your scenario should dictate what purchases you make and when. Make sure you spend all of your IPC's too, they don't carry over so just spend what's left on infantry. Lastly, play to your personal strengths. Each player brings certain skills to the game, focus on where your personal strategy works best. Even though Japan is set to be a naval powerhouse, many players for the Empire simply give the Pacific to the United States and focus their attention on seizing Asia, and this tactic can be very sucessful. Use what you have to get what you need.
Revised Edition
To revise the original game, Mike Selinker led a design team that included Larry Harris, designer of the first edition. The revision aimed to address some major concerns with the original and make the game more fun. Selinker also wrote a series of articles (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/article/ah20031205a) describing the changes.
The overarching change is in the victory condition. To win in the original, either side could seize two enemy capitals, but the Axis could also win an economic victory by capturing enough resources. This rule gave the poorer Axis a leg up, but led to anticlimactic endings. Also, it often took many, many turns to finally capture heavily fortified capital cities. The designers scrapped this rule and implemented victory cities, where each side starts with 6 of the 12 cities. In addition to the national capitals, they include Paris, Rome, and Leningrad in Europe, Calcutta, Shanghai, and Manila in Japan's reach, and Los Angeles in the US. With this rule, players can decide what constitutes victory at the start – playing only to 8 makes for a shorter game, while the more hardcore crowd can play until one side controls all of them. [1] (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/article/ah20031223a)
Another important change concerns the unit statistics. In the original, infantry were a cheap unit and turned out to be most useful as cannon fodder - to take hits. This tended to lead to massive buildups by enemies amassing stacks of infantry in neighboring territories, unable to do anything but buy more because infantry are stronger on defense than attack. While infantry were left unchanged, the tank unit now has greater defense, intended to encourage players to use combined arms rather than just buy soldiers. [2] (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/article/ah20040302a) Other changes to forces include the addition of artillery units, which can support attacking infantry, and destroyers, which are great at hunting subs.
The map was also reworked (http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/images/aabigmap.jpg), with a new art style and many gameplay changes. Especially dramatic are the fragmentation of Germany's Eastern Front, designed to encourage more dynamic play in an area that often bogs down into heavy fortification, and the newly lucrative South Pacific region, designed to foster more intense island-to-island battles for control. [3] (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/article/ah20040227b)
Many other changes are documented in the manual, available for download (http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/axis2004.pdf) from Avalon Hill.
Spinoffs
When Hasbro acquired the Milton Bradley Company, they kept Axis and Allies in print as part of their Avalon Hill lineup, a rather prestigious game company they bought in 1998. Under the same brand, they published two follow-up games, Axis and Allies: Europe (1999) and Axis and Allies: Pacific (2001), that were designed by Larry Harris, the original designer of Axis and Allies. The latter especially tinkers with the original game mechanics and tries to make the game feel less scripted while keeping the appeal of the original.
Mike Selinker designed the newest game in the series, (released June 2004). Based on the Allied liberation of France, the game plays at a tactical level (rather than a strategic one like its predecessors), getting rid of most resource management and using a smaller-scale world.
Several computer games were also based on Axis & Allies. They include turn based strategy closely based off the board game, while more recently a real time strategy game was based off of it. The real-time strategy (RTS) game includes a mode that is more closely related to the board game, but you can only attack one enemy occupied territory per turn and can either fight battles in RTS mode or have the computer decide the outcome. There is also a campaign mode in which you can fight as the Allies and try to defeat the Axis or be the Axis and try to change history and in the end defeat the Allies. All of the battles in the Campaign mode are faught in the RTS mode.
See also: Axis and Allies Members Club
External links
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