Product Description

Axis & Allies celebrates 50 years of Avalon Hill games with this Anniversary Edition of the classic World War II strategy board game. Designed by Larry Harris, A&A Anniversary Edition utilizes the standard D6 combat system found in Axis & Allies Revised, Europe, and Pacific, and contains two different set-up options. Italy will debut as the third Axis nation, China will be operated by the U.S. player, and cruiser class ships will join the naval line-up for the first time. The largest board ever produced for an A&A game (24' x 46'), along with new sculpts and deluxe components will ensure this is the granddaddy of all Axis & Allies board games. Deploy your forces and prepare for battle!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53151 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Wizards of the Coast
• Model: 95775
• Dimensions: 11.00 pounds

Features

• 600+ Playing Pieces
• Ages 12+
• 2-6 Players

Customer Reviews

Updated version of a great classic game
Axis and Allies Anniversary Edition is an updated version of a board game classic. The original game was designed by Larry Harris and was part of the Milton Bradley GameMaster Series - large box games with full color mounted boards, simple mechanics which allowed rapid understanding of "how to play" yet with deep subtle strategies, and of course wonderful little plastic soldiers, tanks, planes, ships and submarines. The game has changed hands over the years passing through Avalon Hill/Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast currently is the publisher. This new version is published on the 50th anniversary of the Avalon Hill company. Avalon Hill is widely regarded as the company which helped to popularize board wargaming in the US and was for many years the leading producer with mounted game boards and die-cut counters. The company produced such classics as Panzerblitz and Squad Leader.

For people who are unfamiliar with the game, Axis and Allies is a board game recreating World War II on a grand strategic level. Armies, fleets, and air armadas are represented abstractly by wonderful plastic pieces (battleships, tanks, soldiers, etc.). Movement is by area and combat is resolved in a simple yet satisfying system. Research and industrial production are key parts of game play. It was a huge hit when first introduced and spawned variants and a Revised version a few years ago.

If you are familiar with the original game and the later variants (A&A Europe, A&A Pacific, etc) the fundamental mechanics are the same. The designer and developers have clearly been tracking the progress of this great game and have incorporated many of the rule changes seen in later variations. The major differences are:
1. There are now three Axis powers: Germay, Japan and Italy. This alters the game play sequence from Germany-USSR-Japan-UK-US to Germany-USSR-Japan-UK-Italy-US. This eliminates the Allies "double move".
2. There are special rules for China - there are now specific Chinese game pieces and help to recreate the historical situation where huge numbers of Japanese troops were tied down in China - making an attack against the USSR (a favorite strategy) in coordination with Germany more difficult.
3. The map is smaller than the original version but about the size of the Revised version. The colors are a muted green/brown earth tones. It may be nostalgic or just my eyes getting older, but frankly I liked the original primary color map - the details were easier to see and less fatiguing. Admittedly, the newer maps are more artful.
4. The game map now includes major cities (sort of like the key cities in Third Reich)and controlling form the victory conditions (unlike the older Industrial Production Certificate [IPC] total method)but in practice this is quite similar.
5. The game map now has impassable and neutral territories which cannot be crossed/invaded/flow over. The Sahara, Switzerland, and other territories are now impassable. Other territories don't have much IPC value.
6. Ships are a bit cheaper to acquire than the original version. The commonly used "double hit" rule is now standard for Battleships. There are now cruisers and destroyers in addition to the original Aircraft Carriers, Battleships and Submarines.
7. Transports now no longer automatically defend with a value of 1. The old strategy of having an armada of transports (e.g. 10 or 12) overcoming an attacking sub force is no longer allowed. If attacked and undefended by other forces, transports are automatically destroyed. It is also no longer possible to move-unload-and-scoot. I understand why this rule change was made but at the large grand strategy scale, the transport unit represents not a single ship or small flotilla of transports but a whole transport fleet - with minor escorts, oilers, etc. So it is reasonable to think it has some self-defense capability.
8. Research now has 12 possibilities. Old favorites like Heavy Bombers and Jet Power are still there but tweaked down. Heavy Bombers only inflict two dice worth of damage and not three. Jet powered fighters attack at 4 and not 5.
9. Armored or tank units are upgraded and attack and defend at 3. The older version attacked at 3 but defended at 2.
10. The little plastic pieces are all there and have been tweaked a bit to reflect the different nations. The UK tanks look like the Churchill and the USSR tanks look a bit like the T34.
11. Rule books and misc. Again, I fear it is just my aging eyes, but the newer version with the darker muddier colors and fancy watermark/faded images on each page are quite beautiful but are a bit harder on the eyes. The game play examples are hard to see the colors of the printing obscures the detailed outlines of the pieces. Again, maybe a simple bright colored illustrations would be more legible. I saw an comment on another site complaining that the IPCs were printed on only one side - but that was the case with the original version. The box art on the site is a bit off. On the actual box, it is entitled "Spring 1941" and not "1942"

Who will like this game? Anyone who is familiar with the original or later Revised version will appreciate this new version. For newcomers, Axis and Allies is a wonderful system - simple and easy to learn, but full of subtle moves and strategies.

Is it worth the price ($80-100)? For collectors and nostalgia buffs, it is probably worth having a nice new version. If you are just into playing the game, and have already your own set of homebrew rules then you are probably already using most of the new rules and could draw up your own maps!

A great game for the board gamer!

Very nice improvements over previous editions
I'm going to write this review from the point of view of those who have already played previous editions of A&A - there's way too much to cover to do a full review from scratch, and besides, that is the point of view from which I'm best suited to write.

I'm not going to touch on EVERY change, just the major ones. First of all, the introduction of Italy as a 3rd Axis player is substantial. Sure, Italy is a minor nation, starting the game making only 10IPC, but it has potential to do much better than that. More importantly, it removes the Allied Advantage of getting 3 player turns to 2 every round. Having US and then USSR go back to back every game turn was often brutal. Now there's at least SOME response the Axis can make.

They also made the game have 2 start dates, 1941 and 1942. I haven't played the 1941 start yet, so I can't really give constructive comments on it...most of my comments apply equally to both versions, but if in doubt, assume I'm talking about the later version.

Another major change is with the navies. Cruisers have been added, and they essentially occupy the slot previous held by destroyers. Destroyers, then, are cheaper and less potent, but have nice anti-sub rules. Subs themselves have changed, and can go through enemy held sea zones and move through to the other side (unless destroyers are present). They also can't be attacked solely by aircraft. Navies are also generally cheaper overall. Battleships are only 20 now, for instance.

Transports were substantially changed as well, in that they now have no combat value whatsoever (even on defense). The more vital change (at least the way I play the game) is that you have to take Transports as the LAST casualties of a naval battle. No more sending transports to die as cannon fodder to give your battle units more shots. This was always one of my peeves with the game in that historically navies NEVER did that sort of thing.

Industrial bombing has made a minor change for the better - too complicated to go into here for the amount of change it makes. The research mechanism is a bit different as well - you actually get some credit for past failed rolls, which makes sense to me. There are also twice as many advances, on two tables. You decide which of the two tables you're rolling on. So it is random, like older editions, but also somewhat targeted, like the latest one.

The map is bigger and nicer, and the territories are a bit different. This affects play as you might expect. China in particular is much more complex, and difficult for the Japanese to totally occupy (as it should be)

The biggest change to me though, by far, is the way IPCs are distributed. Beyond simply getting paid the sum total of the value of the territories you occupy, you can qualify for IPC "bonuses" based on your nations goals. This is where a little nation like Italy suddenly has a chance to matter. A LOT. I won't go into every one, but suffice to say that most give a 5IPC bonus, most nations have 3 they can qualify for, and some are almost "automatic" while others take more effort to acheive. So Italy, which starts at 10 IPC, can suddenly be earning 25. To do so, the Axis have to more or less own the entire Med Sea area (including N Africa) Not so minor any more, eh?!

Anyway, there are other changes to the game, but these are most of them, and the most important ones. For those that have never played A&A before, this may not be as useful to you, hopefully other reviews will help more. But to those who are A&A veterans, this is what I wish someone had been able to tell me before I bought the game - a general overview of what the big differences are. Hope it helps!

A return to the "All Nighters" of my youth.
Back in college in 1990 I remember playing this game late into the night with buddies and a fair share of beer. Now it is 18 years later and the good times are back. Of course now we drink far better beer or wine and we all need to put our kids to bed first but as soon as they are down let the good times roll!

Julian Wan has given an excellent review of the contents of this box and some of the changes. I have played A&A Europe but none of the other incarnations so some of these rules are new to me but I like them. Some he has not mentioned are:

1. Strategic Bombing does not remove IPCs, it damages the factories in the region reducing what can be produced there UNTIL REPAIRED. That is a big difference as this damage can build up or occur in multiple areas forcing hard decisions on what to fix and where to build units.

2. For Research you buy research tokens and then roll the amount of dice for the tokens you bought. If you get at least one 6 you turn in the tokens and roll on one of two tables (your choice). If you do not roll a 6 you RETAIN YOUR TOKENS. Yes, you are not throwing money down a black hole with research as you can continue to roll each turn until you get something after paying for it!

Other observations:

The board and pieces are all beautiful. The board is in three sections and does not fold. This makes moving it easier and will also prevent the joints from wearing out as there are none.

The pieces are all removed from their sprues already; a nice feature that saves lots of time! I have encountered plenty of other games which do not do this for you.

The cardboard tokens appear far more resilient than others I have had. They almost feel like they have a plastic coating and look to be very durable.

Each nation has a storage box for all their items. There are two general storage boxes. All the boxes have three internal compartments. This is a very nice feature for keeping everything organized.

As an old time Axis and Allies player I really like this set. If you are looking to drop the cash on a great game that truly is timeless and comes with everything you need this is an excellent choice. Everything about it screams quality.