Axis and Allies 1914 FAQ/Question and Answer Thread

The emblem (or emblems) on the territory is more important than the color.  Since colonies don’t have small major power emblems on them, they aren’t considered to be aligned territories.

I envisioned calvary working like this.

Attack at a 2
Move at a 2
Defend at a 3 (If on a territory containing defending infantry)
Defend at a 2 otherwise.

Cavalry played a minor role during the entire war. (Lawrence of Arabia for example)

Cavalry would have one other feature. They alone would be able to leave a contested zone and attack an empty adjacent enemy controlled territory.

By turn 4 they would no longer allowed to be built.

I do agree the game is great as is.

In my experience the game is only playable by replacing ALL land and air units with chips bar the single infantry atop each stack. Even then it can still get crowded with units of 4 or 5 nations sometimes piling into a small tt.

So for me a future version needs a few more infantry each and drop all the other land unit minis; and a big pile of extra chips, a different colour for each unit type.

More likely a second edition will feature something along the lines of task force cards & markers; AH is not going to admit to the redundancy of plastic minis. Blow up boxes are a no-no.

protevangelium makes some great points about how lopsided the sea’s were, and sub warfare being the best option for the CP in the war. Subs are a bit lacking in this edition as well as others IMO (nearly impossible to raid convoys, or inflict econ damage). The Austrians, and Turks were very limited in their abilities. The Germans did have a more modern surface fleet (tried to enter a naval arms race before the war), but failed in comparison to the Brits. In this game the Germans can get temporary control of the North Sea early though and add to their fleet. Once the rest of French Fleet comes up the UK still doesn’t need to build much to protect allied transports OOB (two French BB’s is a nice way to start for the allies rebuild). If the allies want to knock the German fleet out, then it could get expensive, but do they need to, or just set-up a multi national defense that the Germans can’t touch to keep allied transports afloat. Then there is always the 1-2 punch if the allies want to go aggressive. I still believe the problem lies with the French fleet (and the abilities of the sub to a point).

When we play we always reduce the Atlantic French Fleet to just a cruiser (swap BB for cruiser and remove the transport). We have done this even before Larry introduced it in the Tourney rules. It does help for game play, and better reflects what the French had in the Atlantic. The French Atlantic fleet was more of a support to the Brits (not nearly equal). Before the war the French naval focus was in the Med not knowing the intentions of the Italians (fearing an Italian attack which the game doesn’t reflect).

It would have been nice for the sub to have a larger roll in this edition having more raiding ability or sz’s to attack econ. Should destroyers be introduced so subs have a better survival rate? Maybe the naval set-up cost should be tweaked. BB’s at 12 IPCs is too cost effective IMO (should they be 15 IPCs?), no one buys cruisers. Just thinking out load……don’t read to much into it. WB

I don’t find the number of chips to be a problem with anything other than infantry, and I have another colour (MB version white) for 10 infantry.

Two or three large stacks in a region are much less of a problem than 7 or 8 medium ones.

@DrLarsen:

Oh, and keeping the same scale (or close to it) is important not just for WotC compatibility, but also so that it fits on a game-board and so that guys like HBG can keep doing what he does so well…

@Imperious:

Yes exactly.

Love that :-D  (self confessed Scale Addict)

I have often felt that WotC has lacked a strong plan for the Axis & Allies brand. There’s SO much more that they could do to market (at low cost too). Consider the way they’ve invested D&D Encounter and the Game Finder webpage. A similar investment in the A&A brand could do wonders for insuring a healthy A&A market for the future.

The pathetic official webpage is a dismal representation of any business plan that they have at WotC/Hasbro for developing the brand.

No Dreadnoughts should ever be built in the game since it takes 3+ years from start to finish. I understand it makes the game unplayable, but accuracy and not fun must be part of the game.

Extrapolating this further all other naval units take 6-8 turns to build. I understand this means that half the game will have empty oceans, but oh well. Accuracy and not fun is whats important.

Limits on how many of one type of unit get built would also presumably be part of Larry’s rules.

If one thing we know is Axis and Allies is a perfect representation of Historical accuracy, and not fun anymore.

Enjoy the game.