Kulkmann´s Gamebox - Axis & Allies

AXIS & ALLIES

Author: unknown

Publisher: MB

Awards:
G@mebox Star

EVALUATION

"It is the spring of 1942, and you are one of five nations battling for world supremacy. If you´re a brilliant strategist, an astute politician and a prudent economist, you´ll lead your nation to victory. Features a 299-piece combat force of highly detailed plastic pieces and clear concise charts."

Axis is a World War II game for 2-5 players. Each player takes one or more of the following nations: Germany, Japan, USA, UK, Russia. Germany and Japan form the "Axis"-Powers, which fight together against the rest in order to get a strategic dominance over the world. Each side has various types of units: Infantry, Tanks, Fighter- and Bomber-Planes, Battleships, Transporters, Submarines and Aircraft-Carriers. Each Turn each player collects an amount of money corresponding with the value of the countries occupied by him, and this money he uses to build more units or spends to research "Secret-Weapons".

Positive about the game is firsthand that it by far isn´t as complex as an average Cosim. It can be fully learned and played on a single evening, and the rules aren´t too complex. Another good feature of the game occurs when more than 2 players are participating. The players need to cooperate with each other strongly in order to win the game, but it´s sometimes hard to convince other nations that there is need to help (Nobody wants to loose his "very dear" units in order to defend an Ally...)

A feature which may throw the game off balance is the - for a strategy game - very high luck-factor. Each unit has an attack factor, which must be rolled in order to score a hit and destroy a unit (for example, a Tank must roll a 1 to 3, an Infantry a 1...). Everything is decided by luck. On a die-roll of "1" even a silly Transport may defeat attacking Fighter-Planes, and even a much stronger army may be defeated if the luck is on the wrong side. Still, strategy does play a major part in the game, since sheer luck cannot by relied on in each and every battle.

I must also mention that there are some extensions for the game on the market which weren´t released by MB, but they contain useful new units and rules. Personally, I use extensions introducing Cruisers, Destroyers and Escorts, SS-units, Marines etc. These give the game much more depth, although the luck-factor remains...




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