Avalon A19230000WOC Hill Axis and Allies WWI 1914 Board Game

I have enjoyed playing versions of A&A WW2 with my son. This provides a new challenge. The new dice rolling system is very streamlined making play faster. Movement on the board is slower as per WW1 but still as enjoyable. Skill wins out over luck as before.

Great addition to the Axis & Allies stable. Very addictive & easy to play. Like the dice to the battle board idea instead of moving the pieces but be warned this will chew the hours up!

We already own 4 other Axis and Allies titles, and with the exception of the D-Day game, we have found them all excellent. This WW1 version is no exception and nearly scores 5 stars from us - but there are pros and cons. Upon seeing the box itself, the quality was clear. The artwork and the general feel of the the box were both very pleasing and will delight the collector. The contents were equally pleasing, with each nation's contents packaged neatly into their own mini-boxes, with setup instructions on the top. The game board is attractive and well made - but there is an issue. More later. If you are familiar with A&A games, after a brief read of the instructions you will be ready to go. Hit points are well thought out and the fact that most land battles may not be completed in one turn, the frequent stalemates seen in the war occur in the game. Be prepared to devote a lot of time to each game. We loved this game, but we did have a couple of niggles. Firstly, an integral part of the game are the Industrial Production Points (money with which you buy reinforcements). The problem is, they do not exist in the set unlike other titles in the series. The manual tells players to make their own arrangements for recording how many points they have. Really? Seriously? The game costs over £63 and the manufacturers cannot put paper money in the set. This 'money' is vital to the game and I think the publishers should have a long, frank chat with themselves. Luckily, we were able to cannibalise some notes from other titiles, but this would really be a let down for Axis and Allies virgins. Secondly, although there are 400 military playing pieces in the set, it's not quite enough. It's fine to start the game but can become a problem later. The manual suggests that if you run out, agree with eachother as to how to deal with it. Not at all vague then! Thirdly, the excellent gameboard could do with a re-design. Africa takes up a huge area but is hardly used. However, central Europe where most of the game play is likely to take place, is really quite small. The problem with this is that as you try to move or change playing pieces, the piles of super-lightweight counters are very easily knocked over, in turn, knocking others over. This leads to frustration and confusion. The scale accuracy of the map is really not that important, and the current design does not support the game play too well. Whoever designed the gameplay is to be applauded. It is an excellent game. Whoever designed the packaging should be applauded. Whoever decided to make a few extra pennies in profit by leaving out the vital Production Certificates and by not giving us a few extra playing pieces should be busted down to Private.

A must have. One of the best versions of A&A. Flaws: more chips and units would have been a great improvement, given the fact that you pay more than 89 euros for it.

The game is great, but they don't provide enough pieces to play it properly. At £65, it feels incredibly cheap of them to not provide enough plastic pieces that must cost pennies. Sounds petty, but it's incredibly frustrating. Come on Hasbro, just charge and extra couple of quid and provide the right amount of pieces.

Great gameboard and playing pieces. Easy to learn, challenging to make the right decisions, expensive if you make the wrong ones! Great fun.

excellent

For the price there could have been more figures and counters. A little disappointing.

This is the first multi-player strategic game on the First World War that can be played by a broad range of people (eg the entire family, not just a few war game grognards) that I have seen, overall, it is excellent. I number of other reviewers have noted the limited numbers of counters, which we noted as well the first time that we played the game. This was easily rectified by purchasing a few spares on-line, now we can play without shortages. Overall, the game mechanics function well - it is a very playable game. However, the game balance is really tilted toward the Central Powers, and the Allies have little ability to win. I suspect that this game will be updated in about a year with some rules tweaks. For example, the Germans can initiate unrestricted submarine warfare to take away production points from the UK and the US, but the Allied naval blockade is completely ignored. The German economy is simply too strong and in real life, the German army was nearly starving and running out of ammunition by 1918. Austria-Hungary is also too strong in the game and overruns Serbia in one turn - in real life it took nearly a year and required help from Germany. I think the Serbs need a replacement rate of 1 infantry per turn to make them more of a player. Given that this is a WW1 game, I think it odd that there are no trench markers or forts, like Verdun. This is essentially to increase the power of the defense in certain key areas, because in WW1 more infantry did not always equal victory. A fort marker could absorb two losses and a trench marker one, or something like that. There should probably be zeppelins, AA and bombers, to make the air war a little more interesting, too. However, I think the biggest thing that the game needs is better political rules. The Russian Revolution is simply too easy and certain to induce, whereas I think it should be a die-roll if certain conditions are met. Also, the fall of the Tsar did not mean the end of Russia in the war, since the Kerensky government continued to fight for another six months. Turkey also needs some political limits, since the idea that they would invade India and overrun all of Africa - which is quite possible in this game - are ridiculous. The game also needs a strategic movement to reflect railroads. In real life, the Germans could transfer forces from the East Front to the West Front in a matter of weeks or months, but here it would take 4-5 turns. That's a lot. I suspect that a number of these points will get worked into a revised issue of the game, just like the basic WW2 Axis & Allies game has been updated many times. Nevertheless, a very enjoyable game.

Axis and Allies in an version makes for a great board game but in WW1 version its absolute perfection. The figuines are great replicas of real WW1 equipment. I am a serious board gamer and am a member of many board game groups and this is one of our go to games. If you even remotely enjoy Risk then this game will blow your mind.

This would be an amazing game if they just had more pieces. Such a shame.

come sempre per veri appassionati, fatto molto bene, ottima giocabilità, consegna rapida e imballo ben fatto, per fare un regalo è davvero indicato!!

eines gleich vorab...ich kann diese risikovergleiche nicht mehr hören...a&a ist von risiko ungefähr so weit entfernt wie mau mau von skat. zum grundsätzlichen: thematisieren die anderen spiele aus dem serienkosmos von axis & allies - wie der name es schon suggeriert - den zweiten weltkrieg, betreten die macher mit dieser konfliktsimulation zum ersten weltkrieg neuland. das spielprinzip ist weitestgehend das gleiche geblieben: zwei parteien kämpfen gegeneinander, die mittelmächte deutschland, österreich-ungarn sowie das osmanische reich gegen die entente aus frankreich, großbritannien, italien, russland und letztlich den usa. rundenbasiert rekrutiere ich mit meinem rüstungseinkommen neue einheiten, führe sie in die schlacht und besetze feindliche länder, was meine kriegswirtschaft erhöht. folgende einheiten mit unterschiedlichen angriffs-, verteidigungs- und bewegungswerten stehen den mächten zur verfügung: infanterie, artillerie, panzer (ab runde 4), doppeldecker, u-boote, kreuzer, schlachtschiffe, truppentransporter. das spiel zeigt sich durchaus ausbalanciert und äußerst sensibel, wenige einheiten können an den vielen wichtigen fronten (westfront, ostfront, isonzo/alpen, balkan, afrika, arabien den unterschied ausmachen, sodass je nach strategie und würfelglück bei gleicher startaufstellung das spiel stets anders läuft. grob ist das spiel so angelegt, dass eine runde einem jahr entspricht. so treten die usa erst in der 4. runde (1917) in den krieg ein, gleichzeitig tauchen auch erst dann die ersten panzer an der wetfront auf - und auch das ausbrechen der russischen revolution ist eine option. das spiel braucht seine zeit, sechs stunden sind durchaus eher die regel als die ausnahme, bis eine seite zur kapitulation bereit ist - man bräuchte sicherlich weitere stunden, bis das unausweichliche der siegbedingungen noch ausgewürfelt wird. sorgt das spiel bei erfahrenen a&a-spielern wie auch bei interessierten neueinsteigern in komplexeren konfliktsimulationen für großen spielspaß, muss einmal mehr angemerkt werden, dass die ausstattung bei aller wertigkeit auch ihre mängel hat: spielgeld fehlt einmal mehr; und auch die ausstattung an einheiten und plastikchips ist anfänglich knapp bemessen, was nur jemand kompensieren kann, der mehrere a&a-spiele besitzt. ansonsten sind die materialien sehr hochwertig und liebevoll designt, die karte groß und die einheiten in pappboxen (wie in den 1940er-varianten) verstaubar. der preis ist wie immer diskutierbar. und auch die (englischen) regeln weisen kinderkrankheiten und mitunter unklarheiten auf, die zum teil von axisandallies.org nachgebessert wurden bzw. zum aufstellen von hausregeln animieren. für erfahrene a&a-spieler gibt es ein paar entscheidende unterschiede: anfänglich neutrale länder wie serbien, belgien, portugal oder bulgarien können in den krieg hineingezogen werden, es gibt nur noch eine bewegungsphase, die kämpfe dauern nur eine würfelrunde (umkämpfte länder produzieren keine ipcs), flugzeuge können keine schiffe angreifen, verteidigende artillerie darf auf landungstruppen feuern, luftüberlegenheit erhöht den kampfwert von artillerie, panzer können einen treffer ignorieren, u-boote haben keinen first-strike-attack, produktionsanlagen können nicht errichtet werden, flak und bombing-raids gibt es nicht, dafür sind häfen vermint, das neue battleboard sieht vor, dass keine einheiten mehr vom spielfeld genommen werden müssen, sondern durch viele kleine würfel repräsentiert werden, zur übersichtlichkeit haben die alliierten blaue und die mittelmächte rote chips abschließend bleibt mir als langjähriger a&a-spieler nur ein fazit: 1914 ist derzeit mit der 2nd edition von 1942 das beste a&a-spiel auf dem markt. das liegt besonders am spielen neuer nationen wie österreich, dem osmanischen reich oder auch starken franzosen, aber besonders an der ausgeglichenheit, sodass auch Global 1940 trotz seiner epischen größe und komplexität nicht mithalten kann