Axis & Allies 1942 Second Edition

Unwrapped this beauty for Christmas. I had played A&A way back in 1981/82 as a young teen. My brother-in-law and I had talked about rekindling our love of table top war gaming for years. Well my wife bought this (as well as 1941) for me. We started our first game and between set-up (1hr), a thorough rules review and a slow first 2 rounds to familiarize ourselves with all the game mechanics we were off. We ended up playing for 5 straight hours with one pizza break. We are still not done. We plan on finishing up New Years Eve. The game is everything I remembered but even better. We are loving the great detail of the game pieces, the detailed map and more importantly the strategy involved in every decision you make. The game is made of high quality. We are going to play this version for a while and once we get our fill I will purchase the 1940 Europe and Pacific games for the total world at war experience. I am playing the 1941 game with my soon to be 11 year old and he is really enjoying it. I highly suggest 1941 for those new to the series and also wanting to teach a younger pre-teen the game without too much complication. By the time they hit 12,13 they will be ready for the far more advanced 1942 and 1940 versions. Needless to say I am very happy with this version of the game. We (my Brother in-law and I) plan on playing one match a month. We are very pumped and are reliving our childhood once again! If you take the time to read the rule book slowly and carefully the game is not difficult at all to learn. It looks complicated when you see the board all set up....but it is quite easy to learn and play. And if you love war strategy gaming, this is the gold standard (as well as the 1940 versions which look incredible). Truly an epic game and a lot of thought, love and detail went into creating it. Highly recommended.

I have played Axis & Allies since it first came out in the 80's - the original Milton Bradley version. I always wondered what playing on a map that looked like the actual earth would look like, and even went so far as to design my own. After many years, a friend bought me the game again, and we started playing. There's no need to comment on the game itself: it's simply one of the most engaging, educational, and fun ways to spend a few hours imaginable.This edition is a dream come true with very small exceptions. The map is big and beautiful, everything I wanted. The figures - with each country's units individualized and highly detailed - are excellent quality, and the color contrasts are much easier to see (US/Germany and UK/Japan were troublesome in low light). The country markers are textured and vivid, and the smaller set-up boards are also high quality and make set up simpler than the original.The very few exceptions are: few dice, no money, no storage trays, and (and this is entirely a matter of personal preference) cardboard markers for Industrial Complexes instead of the little factory pieces. All these are solved by simply using the parts from the original game, or by using Monopoly money (any game-type money will do) and regular poker chips and getting a few plastic fishing-type trays for the miniatures.

This is a fantastic game, but it requies a commitment in terms of time and learning complex rules. The game is like Risk on steroids, and should be thoroughly enjoyable to anyone who loves military strategy and World War II history.There are 30+ pages of rules, but many of them are common sense (e.g. a bomber can't capture territory, or you can't pass through the Panama Canal if the enemy controls Central America, etc.) and not difficult to learn. Nevertheless, plan to spent an hour familiarizing yourself with them, and you will likely be looking up rules regularly the first few times you play, and occassionally after that.I have no idea who plays this game in 90 minutes. It takes about 30 minutes just to set up, which mostly involves careful placement of all the military units to roughly match the state of the world in 1942. After that, each turn consists of each of the five powers mobilizing new units, engaging in combat and troop movements. If each power spends roughy 5 minute doing so, each turn will take 20-30 minutes. Unless everyone is experienced and knows the rules very well, expect each game to take multiple hours, perhaps a full afternoon.One annoying part of the game is the difficulty in telling the ships apart. Making some sort of mark on them would be helpful.

I have the original Axis & Allies Spring 1942 that I bought a couple years ago so I figured why no go for this revised second edition. The map is a good bit bigger, it actually comes in two pieces, but it is very sturdy and of good quality. The IPC counter is now in the tundra at the top of the map where nothing is anyway which I think was a great idea. It being at the bottom was strange. The figures look great and are a step up as well as the feel of them. The chips are an upgrade as well. One thing is the factories. The original addition came with factory pieces while this one comes with cardboard cutouts for factories. It doesn't make much sense, this edition is clearly of better quality, from the pieces to the chips and board. It is also bigger, so why not include factory pieces? The original edition got very cluttered easily, I could see if the cardboard cutouts were in that edition. Either way, this is a great buy and don't let that deter you. I just switched my factory pieces from edition 1 into this box. Also this box only comes with 6 die, not 10 like the first edition. But these die are rounded at the corners which I imagine makes for better rolling and considering this is a game where the roll of the dice is everything, that could be a big improvement. I only wish it came with more die as bigger battles can get tedious.