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Axis and Allies is the most successful of Milton Bradley's Gamemaster series.
It depicts WWII on a grand scale, full global level. Up to five players can play on two different teams. The Axis which has Germany and Japan, and the Allies which has the USA, the United Kingdom, and the USSR. A full map of the world is provided, broken up in various chunks similar to Risk. The game comes with gobs of plastic miniatures that represent various military units during WWII. Players have at their disposal infantry, armor, fighters, bombers, battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines, troop transports, anti-air guns, and factories. All of the units perform differently and many have special functions. Players have to work together with their teammates in order to coordinate offenses and decide how best to utilize their production points. Players also have the option of risking production resources on the possibility of developing a super technology that might turn the tide of war.
Axis and Allies was originally published by Nova Games in 1981.
Re-implemented by:
Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition
Axis & Allies: Global 1940 (Axis & Allies: Pacific 1940 combined with Axis & Allies: Europe 1940)
Expanded by:
Totally Untested Volume 2 of Max's Advanced Rules for Axis & Allies (Unofficial expansion)
Conquest of the Pacific (Unofficial expansion)
Midway (Unofficial expansion)
- Insane production quality for the time
- Defined thematic games with lots of components
- Defining series of mirror trash games
- World War II
- Broadsides and Boarding Parties
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
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Quotes (from this video)
- this list is about the games I played that fundamentally shifted the way I think about gaming and what board games can be about
- The concept of having a simple core game that was modified by variable powers was pretty revolutionary at the time
- nothing in gaming was quite like the MB game master series when it came out
- Arkham Horror along with pandemic pushed cooperative board games to the forefront of the Hobby and there are a massive john rule than the hobby today
- no game has done more to improve the idea of figure painting as an art form than Warhammer 40,000
- it also got fantasy gaming at the toy stores and on mainstream TV
- you cannot understate the influence of Magic the Gathering has had on board game paying costs to play cards tapping them keywords interactions and the countless other card mechanics
- it was the first euro game I played and while it really didn't do it for me it introduced me to a world of games
- very few things have shaken up the board game hobby like Kickstarter
- XCOM was the first app driven game I played where I thought there was no possible way to replicate the experience of that game without the app
- what makes board gaming unique is that the experiences reshaped every time it is played
- it seemed like a watershed moment of me that we can have games that are not only fun and engaging but also thought-provoking
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It became my thing.
- just was like this It just blew my mind.
- these games were just so amazing and I liked playing them.
- Almost every week I would walk to you know, six or seven blocks to the local thrift store and see if they had any new board games in stock.