Axis and Allies Board Game

[Blacklight]

I have this game and think that it's a great "rules light" wargame. The only problem is that I just can't get any of my friends to play it because they think that it's too complicated. I don't get it. It's not complicated at all and pretty "dumbed down" from my perspective. I wonder if "Candyland" would be too complex for them.

I own the original set from the early 90's and the one new rule that's implemented now is the bomber now can carry infantry units and drop them off (think parachute brigade). That's nice because prior to that rule, bombers were actually pretty worthless unless you wanted to use them to do bombing runs which was kind of rare as they were so expensive and ALWAYS got shot down.

I think my favorite wargame of this style is "War of the Ring". That thing is FANTASIC. If you like Axis & Allies, you'd probably like "War of the Ring" It's a nice, yet relatively easy step up in "game meat" and it's absolutely EPIC and totally captures the feel of the "Lord of the Rings" books and movies.

[Red October1984]

I don't like the Lord Of The Rings stuff. Never could get into it. I saw the movies and just didn't like them.

If there are any other wargames like this that are WW2 or something similar, I'd like to hear about some of them though.

[seaniam81]

Originally Posted by Blacklight

I own the original set from the early 90's and the one new rule that's implemented now is the bomber now can carry infantry units and drop them off (think parachute brigade). That's nice because prior to that rule, bombers were actually pretty worthless unless you wanted to use them to do bombing runs which was kind of rare as they were so expensive and ALWAYS got shot down.

Interesting rule what edition is it? I've got a Revised from 2004 and don't have any paratrooper rules.

I'm not to sure about your theory about bombers. I've seen them grind Germany, UK, and Russia to a halt on more then one occasion.

[Hawk66]

Fields of Fire is a great (solitaire) WWII/Korea/Vietnam tactical/operational game.

It includes staff handling and the best thing about is that it features random terrain generation.

The only drawback is that the rules are not easy to understand...you need a lot of time in the beginning...

[Dammit_Carl!]

Back in the day, my friends and I would throw down on some serious A&A action; we'd play for hours and hours but we'd eventually grow tired of it all and do a "mass battle," sort of thing - usually in Asia somewhere - where we'd do some sort of crazy-big troop build up followed by a fight to the finish.

I can still hear one of the guys saying, "We'll accept nothing but an Unconditional Surrender," over and over again as the dice rolled.

Good times.

[Blacklight]

If there are any other wargames like this that are WW2 or something similar, I'd like to hear about some of them though.

Another great game in the Axis & Allies tradition is "Fortress America" which came out at around the same time that A&A came out. It's part of the same series. It just got a re-release too.
It's basically "Red Dawn" the war game. It's a hypothetical Russian/Mexican invasion of the United States. It's a fantastic game and is WELL WORTH picking up.

And don't knock "War of the Ring". It's one of the most strategic and well built war games I've ever played. The cool thing about it is that the good guys have a very limited amount of troops that they can recruit. Once you've recruited them all, there's no more. The bad guys, on the other hand have an UNLIMITED amount of troops to recruit and drop on the board. So you get a definite steamroller effect with the good guys just doing their best to hang on and take small victories when they can. I've fought some EPIC crushing fights in that game. The other thing that makes it difficult for the good guys is that there's a political mechanic. Most of the good guy factions have to be convinced to go to war (otherwise, they can't recruit). The only way to do this is to either have them get attacked by the bad guys, or to get one of the main story characters to one of their cities. This sounds REALLY heavily weigted toward the bad guys, but, believe it or not, there's great balance in this game. The good guys have advantages and tricks they can pull that make up for their lack of troops, like sneaking the ring-bearer to the "Crack of Doom" behind the bad guy's backs, etc..
I have a friend who's not a fantasy or Tolkein fan who still loves the hell out of this game.

[Cybermat47]

But we all know what the most brutal, unforgiving, downright disturbing board game is.

Monopoly.

[Platapus]

In A&A I usually played the Japanese (especially with the optional naval rules)

One time I played as the US and am probably the only one who ever lost the game playing as the US...

Japan came across Canada so fast they caught me with my knickers down while I was busy in Asia.

I never lived that down with my posse.

Originally Posted by Platapus

In A&A I usually played the Japanese (especially with the optional naval rules)

One time I played as the US and am probably the only one who ever lost the game playing as the US...

Japan came across Canada so fast they caught me with my knickers down while I was busy in Asia.

I never lived that down with my posse.

Thats just sad Its okay thought it happens. Thats what I love about the game, its always dynamic. Its not like risk where the set strategy is amass enough troops and control the same exact continents and or chokepoints to keep the opponent from doing the same. Its simple but has enough depth that you can really expand your strategy your way.

Funny enough I actually won one game as Germany by strangling Britain and the US with U-boats. Japan fended off the US while mine and his Land units steamrolled RU and then helped me take Africa and by that time my IPC count was so high I had masses of U-boats surrounding the UK and USA Atlantic Coast. It was awesome to say the least.

[Father Goose]

Axis and Allies...best board game ever!
I even painted the units. They look awesome on the board.

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Father Goose

Axis and Allies...best board game ever!
I even painted the units. They look awesome on the board.

The units are already colored. How did you manage to paint them again?

I need to play another game with my friend. We were going to this weekend but we ended up doing something else.

[elanaiba]

Played a couple of times with some other Silent Hunter team members.

Its great fun - of course it will irk you in details if you're a realism freak, at least the first time you play. But then if you focus on bigger attack forces it starts to make more sense, and being so simple means you can get more people to play

The best boardgame? Probably Twilight Imperium