Axis & Allies Global review and report

One of my favorite board games out there is Axis & Allies 1940. There are separate games for the Pacific and European theaters of war. When combined they are known collectively as Axis & Allies Global 1940 or just A&A Global. This is the most complicated version of Axis & Allies to date and that is largely due to the inclusion of neutral powers and minor powers into the global map. The original game from the 80’s only had 5 playable nations while 1940 Global has 9 albeit they are usually played in conjunction with a greater nation.

 

This is a brief review and battle report of a game that I started on 2/28 and as of the date of this article the game is still in progress. One of the challenges with A&A Global is that you need to set aside a good chunk of time to fully play out a game. I would say that most games can last anywhere between 6-12 hours. A game of Warhammer is less of a time commitment unless it’s a 4000 point battle; even then I think A&A Global would still take longer with an experienced group of players.

 

The game out of box has some room for contents improvement. There aren't any IPCs (money) slips included and nothing to represent the neutral powers. I dished out some extra money for to make the experience more enjoyable by purchasing some minis to represent the neutral nations since it is possible to attack and hold them.

 

Historical Board Gaming has an excellent selection of gaming pieces to customize your A&A game:

 

http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/

 

 

We determined that I would play as the Axis powers in this game. It was a 3 player game so it made sense to have the other 2 players run the Allies. In turn one I tried to set up an operation Sea Lion threat with Germany, but fell flat since I had failed to sink all of the UK fleet and in turn lost almost all of my air power. I had easily taken France out with my land units and left some territory for Italy to capture. I was certain after all of my combat was done that I would have to focus everything that Germany would do from this point on for operation Barbarossa so I began staging my units accordingly. Italy and Japan had strong turns in the first round. I played to aggressively contain the Chinese areas and prepared for a strong push south. Luckily for me the allies couldn't make any substantial gains at this point and focused more on unit build up.

 turn 2 in progress

 

 By turn 2 I had made my attack against the USSR and took a few territories, but held in reserve most of my armor since they were positioned well to counterattack. Italy was able to secure the Mediterranean and started a massive land grab in Africa. Italy normally struggles if the UK pours a lot of IPCs into Africa. The UK attempted to rebuild her fleet and I took a gamble with my remaining Luftwaffe and sank more of their ship in order to delay them another turn. I lost all my air, but in turn gained some time to push east. Japan was able to begin grabbing some of the valuable islands down south and started bombing the complex in Calcutta, which stymied any UK production in the Pacific.

Turn 3 saw the Axis also make another large gain and took out the US and ANZAC fleet in the Pacific. Germany struggled to make any major gains in Russia, but Italy managed to secure most of Africa before the US started landing troops in Morocco. We had to put the game on hold at this point because we had spent a lot of time getting to this point and the game is still too close to call. The Allies have a chance of knocking out Germany before Japan can score the cities needed to win.

This is the state of all the nations by the end of turn 3

My next article will follow up with the conclusion of this match and what strategies really paid off in the end.

Flames of War Battle Report Germans vs Soviets (Late War)

Hello Comrades,

I dusted off my Soviets this weekend and played some FOW at my FLGS Panzer Depot in Kirkland. The game size was 2000 points which takes about 3 hours to play at a relaxed pace. My friend Walter was running a late war German Armored list while I fielded a reliable late war Strelkovy army out of the Red Bear book.

This was my set up. The mission required me to place my entire army since I was the attacker and the Germans got to defend with reserves. There were only two objective on the table and they were well defended by his Jagtigers.

On turn one I rushed forward at a normal pace. I thought about moving on the double, but I would incur double shots from the Jagtigers and that would spell the end to my armor in no time.

One objective lay in the open field and that was my best bet for victory since the other object (the Tiger wreck) was too well guarded.

I took a limited air support and it was reliably arriving to deal with the Jagtiger in the open.

The Germans had made a desperate attempt to halt my advance within the first 3 turns. I lost nearly all of my tanks and my Katyushas weren't doing as much damage as I thought they would.

The Germans were inflicting heavy damage to my infantry with their artillery and armor, however I knocked out their only anti air defense mid game which was the first major blow I was able to deal this game.

The turn after the Germans lost their AA I was able to knock out one of the 400 point Jagtigers with my air support. My infantry was still struggling to break through, but the right side of the German defense wasn't going to hold under much pressure.

After two brutal assaults under the iron fist of my commissar I was able to destroy the German infantry hiding in their foxholes and claim the objective. The German reinforcement Stugs arrived too late to alter the course of this battle and the Soviets were able to claim victory.

WWII display at Miniature World

Just got back from Miniature World in Victoria BC and was thoroughly impressed with the various miniature displays. The pics below are from the WWII scene depicting a battle in France near the end of the European theater. Looking at these is inspiring me to dust off my late war Soviets for Flames of War.