New Axis and Allies Player with some rules confusion

@iGuitar93:

I recently bought axis and allies 1942. Unfortunately I am confused on some of the rules. Like, what do the defense and attack points mean? From what I have read in the rule book they seem to be irrelevant. Are the defense points like health points?

Both defense and attack points are the combat value of a unit, but the attack points are the combat value used when the unit is attacking, and the defense points when the unit is defending. For instance, 2 infantry attack 2 infantry, then the attacking infantry scores a hit when throwing a 1 or less (which ofcourse, only happens when throwing a 1), and the defending infantry scores a hit when throwing a 2 or less (which happens when throwing a 1 or 2). That’s the difference between attack and defense points.

And also how do you capture/liberate a capital? The rule book makes it seem that this is independent from capturing/liberating a territory. I’ve looked online for these answers and I haven’t been able to find them.

You capture/liberate a capital in exactly the same way as you do other land territories: move ground units to it and win the ensuing battle. The major difference is what follows: after capturing a capital territory, the nation that captures the territory gets all the ipc’s of the nation whose capital has been captured. This nation is then conquered, and it cannot collect income or produce units until its capital is liberated (by either himself or an ally). It can still move and attack with existing units though.

Hmm, normally the rulebook is quite clear on these basic rules, I’ve got the impression you’re stuck in a mindset that’s not really compatible with the rules and maybe that’s causing the confusion. Please keep asking if you have any troubles, it’s definitely worth learning these sometimes complex rules to fully enjoy the game. Good luck!

So can you fortify a capital separately from a territory? Like, if you put infantry in germany can you put separate infantry or fighters just to fortify the capital?

No, the territory Germany is the capital of the nation Germany (== all the grey territories and units). So every unit you put in the territory Germany is defending the capital of the nation Germany, simply because the territory Germany is the the nation Germany’s capital.
Axis and Allies doesn’t detail the map onto city level (which would make the city Berlin the capital of the nation Germany), so it takes territories as capitals, and in the case of the nation Germany, the capital territory is Germany. For the UK, Great-Britain is its capital, for the USA, the territory Eastern US is the capital, for the USSR, the territory Russia is the capital, and for the Japanese, Japan is its capital territory.

A capital territory has all the properties of a regular land territory (it generates ipc’s, it can house land and air units, you can build industrial complexes, you can conquer or loose it etc.), plus it has some special rules which trigger only when a nation looses its capital territory (see above).

@iGuitar93:

Thank you. I don’t know maybe I’m just dumb.

:lol: That would be funny! No, I get the feeling you’re imagining this game in a wrong way, which would make the rulebook seem contradictive. I’m just wondering, is Risk the game which most resembles A&A in your gaming history?

@iGuitar93:

Yes I have previously played risk. I thought it was too much of a game of luck so I tried this one.

A&A is also a mixture of skill and luck, although you can use a Low Luck system that greatly diminishes the random factor built into it.