Wizards of the Coast Axis and Allies Europe 1940 2nd Edition Board Game,144 months to 9600 months

We all know how WW II turned out in real life. This game allows players to see if the mistakes made by both sides can be turned into a faster victoryfor the Allies or heaven forbid a victory by the Axis.The designers have done a good job of making the player think several turns ahead as they plan their moves. Between having to make production decisions before you know the outcome of battles while trying to anticipate what your allies will do on their turn is very intense and stimulating. Am I on the strategic defensive or offensive. Certainly effects how i plan production and where I will place new units.A couple of points that I have found handy are the early purchase of minor manufacturing facilities and airfields. When planning your strategy look at being able to place units directly on Egypt (by placing a minor industrial complex) rather than on South Africa and/or UK then moving them when reinforcing the north Africa campaign. The cost may seem initially high but think about how many transport ships are needed and the time to mve the units not counting potential loss during transient. Look at placing an airfield at Gibraltor and Malta. Both come in handy when wanting to project air power into southern Europe and defend your fleet in actions in the Med.When the game opens and the French are on the ropes...the German player must knock them out of the game. Just a one move delay and it can allow the French to buy transports and move troops and equipment out of the blitzgriegs path and rally a force in north Africa with their fleet in support. In this game, Russia seems to be more fragile than they are in the other versions of the game I have played. In both games I have played they have lost their capital for a while and retaken it in one of them. The Russian player has to be very tactically astute to keep a force in the game.One of the parts that is much better in this version than in older versions is the ability to reinforce the UK forces in the middle east from either India or South Africa. Much more realistic. Knocking italy out of the game causes some interesting moves as the Germans move to recover Italy and the Allies look for a base to operate air and ground forces out of.One item that would help would be a set of cards where you can accumulate forces and just put a marker in a geographic location. In many of the land and sea space there is not enough room to set all the pieces a player accummulates. I have made a copy of the card set from another game and will use it on future games. They supplied plenty of game pieces and seldom do you find yourself out of a piece you want in the mobilization area or elswhere on the board.The game has become a good way for me to unwind from business because the concentration to play several counties is such it makes you push anything else out of your mind. A fun exercise and very challenging. I have not tried putting it togther with Pacific 1940 yet as that just takes up a lot of space for the playing board. Everything from mixing fighters w/mid range bombers for greater effect, or airfields and the ability to have them give the fleet air cover and mixing tanks with the intermediate bombers for added effect are all great additions. Complex naval battles and strategic air attacks must be planned and timed for maximum effect. Just a few items to keep you thinking during any turn.Anyone who has the older versions will certainly enjoy the improvements in Europe 1940 and Pacific 1940. I recommend both games to be played individually or combined. Can't wait until I find a place to put up the bigger world game and the time to let it sit for a few days as we work through a World War.

I have played the 1st edition of A&A quite a few times with friends, and it's great. The 2nd edition improves slightly on the already great 1st edition. If you already own the 1st edition, then you should probably pass on this, you can download the new rules online and you essentially have the second edition. However, if you are hard core, you might appreciate it enough to make buying the new edition worth it. The changes from the 1st edition are detailed bellow.If you are new to A&A, prepare for a somewhat steep learning curve. It would be best to learn with someone who already knows how to play, but don't let this stop you if you want to try it. The best advice I can give to someone new is just start playing, you'll figure it out as you go. And if you are playing with someone else new, it won't matter if your strategy is bad or if you make mistakes. Also, prepare for a multi-hour game, especially if you combine the Europe and Pacific versions (the way this game is meant to be played). The Europe version played by itself isn't too long and can be played in one night, but the best option is to have a table or area you can leave it set up in and come back to later.The build quality of the game is very good, the pieces are great quality, and they provide plenty of them (for the most part, you may run out of chips in a truly epic game). Even the card board punch outs are well made.For those of you who are interested, bellow is a run down of what's new:Changes in setup:-Great Britain's navy is set up a little differently, with its aircraft carrier moving inside the Mediterranean Sea. They also get an infantry, fighter, and AA on Malta, which is more useful then it might sound at first.-Germany, Russia, and the US set up mostly the same, with a few differences.-Italy gets a great boost to its navy, and now has a fighting chance to do some real damage in the Mediterranean and in North Africa.-Japan (if you buy both sets) is mostly the same as well, their navy sets up slightly differently.-Anzac is about the same, they have enough to protect themselves, but not to threaten Japan.Changes in rules: (I may have missed some)-The Japanese and Russian players need to agree (or not agree) to a non-aggression pact, with a designated IPC penalty for attacking the other side first. I love this rule as Japan because it frees up some troops to take out China with. Also, if Japan attacks Russia first, the neautral Mongolian states immediately join the war on Russia's side. Overall this rule works well when set to about 20 IPCs, which is enough to keep the other side from attacking first, but just low enough to make you seriously consider breaking the agreement.-Anti-aircraft guns are now units, and you can have multiple of them. They can also be used as casualties, and prevent blitzkriegs through a territory where they are present.-New bombing rules-The rules for scrambling aircraft on an island or into a seazone are also slightly revised I think.Other changes:-There is now a strip on the top of the board (way up out of the way in Russia) to keep track of each countries income, this works better then the old board.-Apparently there is a slight sea zone change in the Pacific version, but I don't think it's very important though.Overall, this game is great. It is more than worth the price.

La mejor version del axis and allies muchas minituras

Great game especially when coupled with the pacific version for a massive global game

This game is great I love the way they put it together. The way the board was put together makes it so that there are tons of territory's which makes the game fun to play. In this edition every single side has there own pieces from infantry to ships and planes the only one that doesn't is France they have there own infantry but the artillery to planes and ships are the same as ussr's pieces. Each power has goals and once you achieve them as a reward you get ipcs. Overall this game is great if you are starting out with axis and allies I wouldn't suggest this I would say you should get the 1942 edition but if you love axis and allies and are really interested in a in depth game this is the one for you.

Best game ever! Fun on it's own, but not as much as Pacific. The best is Europe and Pacific together.

Very good looking and quality. Huge map by the way.