The first impression most players will have seeing the game played will be the map, and I think most everyone will agree the map looks gorgeous. The realistic feel, the mix of bright and dark colors, the new blue for the oceans, it all looks great. Breaking it into 3 separate panels is perfectly fine by me.

The most celebrated Axis & Allies edition is back! Upon its release nearly a decade ago, the Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition became an instant classic! Now this deluxe board game designed by Larry Harris (the original creator of Axis & Allies), returns with rulebook updates and streamlined gameplay. Upon its release nearly a decade ago, the Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition became an instant classic! Now this deluxe board game designed by Larry Harris.

The addition of Burma is very exciting to me and has long been needed, as well as the new representation of China. Scandinavia being split into two, Eastern Europe being re-drawn, and the new Northwest Europe territory will all improve the depth of gameplay in the European theater.

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National Objectives

The concept of National Objectives seemed familiar, and it took me a while but now I realize why. It’s essentially a page pulled directly out of RISK, where you get bonus armies for controlling all the territories in a continent. The biggest difference is that in RISK you had to control the continent at the start of your turn, while in AA50 the bonus is received at the end of your turn meaning you can acheive the requirements on your turn and then get the bonus before another player interferes. And of course, AA50 has thoughtfully tailored it to the WWII situation and every nation has multiple unique objectives but the basic idea is similar.

I find the National Objectives system a brilliant, elegant way to introduce numerous elements into the game that have been lacking in previous editions. Control of the sea in certain areas is now meaningful without the addition of convoy zones. Nations are encouraged to both attack and attempt to achieve their historical objectives while also defend and hold regions critical to them. Even Lend-Lease, which has been on a lot of people’s wish-lists for a long time, is nicely covered by this system. Best of all, the National Ojbectives system, combined with the new representation of China, makes an early Japanese attack into Russia even more difficult and less rewarding, finally killing this ridiculously stupid strategy that has been a trademark of the Revised Edition.

Of course the largest criticism of National Objectives is that the incentive for achieving them will be so large that strategies and gameplay will revolve around them and the variety of gameplay will decrease. Whether or not there is any truth to this remains to be seen.

Italy

The addition of Italy is a great feature and despite my fears was very well carried out. My greatest fear was that Italy’s industrial base would be vastly exaggerated but it turns out Italy only starts the game with 10 IPC which is an ideal value to represent Italy’s historical economic weakness in comparison to the other nations. The national objectives system will give Italy the chance to possibly get a lot more than this but they will have to earn it by accomplishing Italy’s historic goals of securing the Mediterranean and obtaining territory in Africa. Very well done. Italy’s starting forces will probably be exaggerated but this is acceptable for balance reasons. I also could care less about Italy’s shortage of unique sculpts.

My main and really only complaint about Italy so far is the choice of color. Brown is an acceptable color for Italy but I am disappointed to see how close it is to the Soviet brown. Having seen how dark they went with the German forces, I really wish they had gone with a light gray color for the Italians, perhaps tinted with blue or green. Oh well, we are stuck with the brown so I can only hope it isn’t as bad in real life as it is in the pictures. Even Larry Harris listed this as one of his largest complaints in the production version of the game.

Overall Italy should bring some much needed new dynamics to the war in Europe and Africa. It also provides a nice new player slot and the possibility of 3v3 games.

China

The addition of China is very welcome and was carried out splendidly. A Chinese army made up entirely of infantry very well represents the limited offensive and logistical capabilities of the Chinese army while at the same time allowing them to defend adequately and gain strength if ignored by Japan. The low value and large number of Chinese provinces also correctly represents the difficulty Japan had occupying large amounts of Chinese territory. This increase in Chinese strength and making China independent from the US in terms of IPC was a huge step forward in making the Asian land war more realistic. For the Japanese player it makes it much more challenging though probably less fun as he is now going to face the same issues with diffusion of strength as his historical counterparts.

Naval Balance

The new transport rule will have far more impact on the game than the new cruiser unit. It will make naval operations much more interesting and combat between fleets generally more bloody. I can’t wait to see how naval campaigns play out now.

The new cruiser unit is actually relatively unexciting, despite being touted as one of the game’s main selling points. I’m not sure it was even necessary, since its basically a mini-battleship. The main advantage of cruisers historically was their fast speed combined with long endurance which made them ideal for scouting and escort purposes. Galactic civilizations 3. This is difficult to represent in Axis and Allies, but I think giving them a speed of 3 would have been the best way, and Larry Harris said he did consider this before rejecting it. I disagree but we will just have to wait and see.

Technology

We still don’t have the full list of technologies but already I think the method of obtaining them is improved. There is still a ton of randomness in the system overall which is annoying but I would much rather play with this sytem than any of the previous ones.

Some of the new technologies we do already know about are very cool. The Mechanized Infantry and Improved Artillery techs are especially clever, as they improve the value of tanks and artillery respectively while still maintaining the value of infantry as well.

Strategic Bombing

The strategic bombing system has already been the subject of extensive debate, especially in relation to the technologies that effect it.

Leaving out the discussion of technologies for a moment, I think the system has been greatly improved, and now has more meaning and more options for both sides. Whether or not to bomb, and where, combined with the decision to repair or not repair damage adds much needed depth to the system without overly complicating it. The reduced cost of bombers also makes strategies involving strategic bombing more viable. Capping damage at 2 times the value of the territory makes it costly to repair but also limits the effects of the bombing past a certain point and nicely represents how much more vulnerable dense industrial economies were to strategic bombing. I think the changes have all been for the better.

The technologies associated with strategic bombing complicate things substantially and I am going to have to wait and see how balance works with these.

Summary

Axis and Allies is very much a “Design For Effect” game. Very little of what is going on is meant to represent discrete, concrete actions taken by the nations, but the overall feel of the game is intended to loosely represent the flow of WWII as it could have been if the odds between the sides were more even. The single best example is the National Objectives which allows for the simple representation of a number of concepts without complex rules for incorporating them each individually (such as Lend-Lease). In this manner the Anniversary edition achieves this goal far better than any previous edition.

Hardcore wargamers may still not be impressed, and the ahistorical balance between the Axis and Allies is still going to turn away many people who are more historically minded, but overall AA50 has given the series a nice step up in complexity and a very large step up in historical detail.