Archive-name: games/axis+allies
Last-modified: 06/27/1994
Version: 0.5

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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Axis & Allies FAQ v0.5 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Maintained by:     Peter Goudswaard (pgoudswa@cln.etc.bc.ca)
Co-maintained by:  Dewey Barich (dhb6685@zeus.tamu.edu)

Thanks to the following for their contributions:
    Barb Wiggins (wigginsb@sd28.quesnel.bc.ca)
    Sam Gourlay (no email address yet!)
    Coyt D. Watters (cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)


BLURB:
------
All trademarks and copyrights acknowledged property of the Milton
Bradley Company.  This article is copyright 1994 by Peter Goudswaard
and may not be reproduced in any form without permission by the author,
except for personal use and no fee is charged for such use.

Please feel free to email suggestions for this FAQ!


CONTENTS:
---------
0. What am I reading?
1. What if I disagree with something in this FAQ?
2. What is Axis & Allies?
3. What are the Second Edition Rules?
4. Can I get additional game parts?
5. Can I make the game more realistic by creating a Pearl Harbor?
6. Is the game imbalanced?
7. How do I balance the game?
8. Can I play by email (PBEM)?
9. Are there expansion sets available?
10. Are there any good house rules available?
11. What are the effects of using the 2nd Edition optional rules?
12. How do I calculate the probability of units hitting or missing?
13. Are there any game conventions that include Axis & Allies games?
14. Is Axis & Allies available on computer?


THE NUTS AND BOLTS:
-------------------
0. What am I reading?

You are reading the unofficial Axis & Allies FAQ.  It answers some
of the most Frequently Asked Questions regarding the game Axis &
Allies.  This FAQ is available by ftp from rtfm.mit.edu, posted on
news.answers, rec.answers, as well as rec.games.board.  There is a
rec.games.board FAQ which can be obtained from the same locations
as this FAQ.  As of this version, there is no stated posting
frequency until I decide how often it needs posting.  Right now I
will *probably* post it on or near the 13th of each month.

1. What if I disagree with something in this FAQ?

There are only two possibilities: either I'll stand corrected and add
your name to the list of contributors, or I'll email you telling you why
I won't stand corrected.  Please, there are many opinions on the hows
and whys of the game, so if you have a beef, don't post it, please email
me and we'll chat.

2. What is Axis & Allies?

A company called Nova Game Design, Inc. introduced Axis & Allies at the
1981 Origins convention.  The pieces were brightly colored  cardboard
shapes like triangle tanks, hexagonal fighters, and round anti-aircraft
units.  In the Nova Games edition, there were many differences from the
current Milton Bradley version that most are familiar with.  For
example, submarines were not hindered by enemy naval units, and could
run a blockade by moving two spaces right through an enemy fleet.  Also,
neutrals were more of a factor, like Spain, although a neutral,
contributed 3 to the German economy.  Most neutrals also had an economic
value.  For weapons development, the current Heavy Bombers was
originally the Atomic Bomb.  And the Nova version also had kamikaze
attacks for the Japanese, moveable Russion factories, US Marines, the
British Home Guard, and German SS Panzerkorps.

Three years later, after slumping sales, Milton Bradley took over, and
Axis & Allies became part of their Gamemaster line of wargames, which
has included Broadside, Fortress America, Conquest of the Empire, and
Shogun.  Axis & Allies is a two to five player wargame that takes place
in the spring of 1942.  Players control Britain, USA, Russia, Japan and
Germany.  It is considered by many to be a "beer and pretzels" game, due
to its over-simplification of warfare.  But the well-designed plastic
units and large, bright box attract many first-time wargamers, and the
ability to run an entire war in an evening attracts even more hard-core
gamers.

3. What are the Second Edition Rules?

The Second Edition Rules were released to both clarify existing rules
and improve game play and balance.  You can order a set of the Second
Edition Rules by sending US$2.00 to:

    CO Department BP
    Milton Bradley Company
    443 Shaker Road
    E. Longmeadow, MA  01028

You can also ask for the rules clarifications, a short, four page
pamphlet describing unclear rules.  And it's free.  Everything contained
in this FAQ, and most discussion on rec.games.board refer to the Second
Edition Rules.  If you don't have them, get them!

4. Can I get additional game parts?

You can purchase additional sets of plastic units for US$10.00 for each
package of 299 units at the address shown above.  As far as I know, all
other parts, such as the dice, production certificates, etc, are not
available separately.

5. Can I make the game more realistic by creating a Pearl Harbor?

The real answer is, no.  By swapping the US battleship on the west coast
with the Hawaiian aircraft carrier, it may look like a Pearl Harbor
setup, but the game takes place in spring of 1942, several months after
the event, which was on December 7, 1941.

6. Is the game imbalanced?

The general consensus is yes, in favour of the Allies.

7. How do I balance the game?

This is a touchy subject.  Milton Bradley has acknowledged the fact that
the game is imbalanced by introducing three rules options that weigh a
victory towards the Axis (summarized from the Second Edition Rules):

    - Weapons Development Benefits:  The German player starts with
      Jet Power, and the Japan player starts with Super Subs.
    - Restricted Attack:  The USSR player is not allowed to attack
      until the second turn.
    - No New Complexes:  No new industrial complexes can be bought
      or placed.  Only original complexes can be used.

The second optional rule, Restricted Attack, has been used very
successfully at some game conventions, and many experienced players
swear by it.  Of course it depends on the calibre of the players, but
for an even field it can give the Axis enough of a breathing space to
make some headway before the awesome crushing power of the Allied
production advantage takes hold.

8. Can I play by email (PBEM)?

Yes.  [Full PBEM rules needed, or perhaps email addresses of people
willing to help set up or run them.]

9. Are there expansion sets available?

Yes!  The following descriptions are courtesy of 3 Trolls Games,
(P.O. Box 4095, South Chelmsford, MA 01824-0795, USA, telephone
1-800-342-6373 in North America), who were kind enough to allow
us to use the descriptions from their catalogue.  This is not to
be considered as an endorsement, only a source for the following
A&A enhancements.  The prices are approximate, and in U.S. dollars.
3 Trolls Games, or your local game shop, may sell for less.

    Gamer's Paradise: Axis & Allies WWII Expansion ($20)

    Add submarines, air patrols, and increased industrial
    production that introduces destroyers, destroyer escorts,
    and cruisers.

    Gamer's Paradise: Axis & Allies WWII Expansion II ($25)

    Adds German SS, US Marines, British commandoes, paratroopers,
    trucks, artillery, and includes 80 colour counters.

    Gamer's Paradise: Axis & Allies WWII Expansion III ($50)

    The bombing of Tokyo through the historical events that led
    up to the Battle of Midway are re-created here.  The vinyl
    map is 76cm by 127cm (30" x 50").

    StratoMax: Max's Advanced Rules ($10)

    This expansion contains 20 optional rules, including
    paratroopers, kamikazes, strategic bombing raids, escort
    fighters, and expanded weapons development.  Since it is
    a rules-only package, it uses existing A&A components.

    Xeno Publications: The World at War 1939 - 1945
    (Map and rules $20, playing pieces $30)

    This is actually two separate packages.  The first includes
    a map for new territories, and the new rules, which include
    SS troops, and the Japanese Banzai charge.  The second
    package includes 238 new plastic playing pieces.

10. Are there any good house rules available?

Yes, try the following:  [Email me with the following info in the same
format as the sample if you want your house rules summarized here.]

    Title:      Sample Nuclear Scenario
    Created by: John Doe
    Email:      killem@smithereens.bomb
    Summary:    Bombers can be designated as carrying a nuclear bomb,
                and with a success roll of 2, kills everything in
                the territory (he-he!).  Includes rewritten weapons
                development tables.

11. What are the effects of using the 2nd Edition optional rules?

Total Victory:  In the normal rules, a military win occurs when either
side captures two enemy capitals, but with the Total Victory rule, it is
also a requirement that you and your alliance's capitals cannot be in
enemy hands.  Basically this may prolong the game, and perhaps a wise
opponent may use this rule to throw a small wrench into what may seem to
be an easy victory.

Placing Your Naval Units in Enemy-Occupied Sea Zones:  With this new
rules variation, you may place new naval units in *enemy-occupied* sea
zones adjacent to industrial complexes you have owned since the
beginning of your turn.  It is up to your enemy to either retreat from
the sea zone or attack your ships.  This changes the game a fair amount,
although no side can claim an unfair advantage.  In the normal rules,
placing your ships in enemy zones in effect constitutes a naval blockade
and shutdown of enemy shipyards.  The optional rule neutralizes this
tactic, and allows full use of all shipbuilding potential.  I would be
interested to hear what experiences you have had with this rule in the
short-term, say the first 2 or 3 turns.

The next three optional rules weigh the advantage towards the Axis
alliance.  The second rule, Restricted Attack, seems to be the most
popular, judging strictly by what I've read on the net.  I don't believe
that Milton Bradley suggests using all three at once; I would think that
the Restricted Attack rule would give the most advantage, then the
Weapons Development Benefits, then the least advantage to the Axis would
be the No New Complexes optional rule.  This FAQ is open to a change of
opinion on this, and if you're looking for something to do, play a
couple of games using each of the three last optional rules to see which
made the most difference.

Weapons Development Benefits:  This rules variation gives the Germany
player Jet Power and the Japan player Super Submarines at the start of
the game.  Super Subs would help Japan decimate the American Pacific
fleet and keep the Pacific for itself, and cheaply!  German Jet Power
may not be as useful to Germany as Subs to the Japanese, since Jet Power
is a defensive capability; and Germany needs more offense than it does
expensive defense.

Restricted Attack:  The USSR player is not allowed to attack until the
second turn, which in effect gives Germany a great opportunity to set
the tone of the European theatre, and it also denies the vulnerable USSR
time to prepare a defensive posture.  It is a far-reaching optional
rule.

No New Complexes:  Only industrial complexes placed at the start of the
game are used.  If you are a player that likes to set up a new factory
in India or Finland-Norway, you will have to change your style.  If you
rarely build new complexes, this rule will not make much difference.

12. How do I calculate the probability of units hitting or missing?

This task can be quite daunting.  For the most part, the difficulty
depends on the number of units involved.  To correctly determine the
odds of a particlar result, you multiply the chance of hitting for
each unit involved.  As an example, take two battleships (thus
keeping the odds balanced for now).  The attacking battleship has
a 4/6 (I will keep everything in sixths here) chance of hitting.
No matter that outcome,  the defending battleship also has a 4/6
chance of hitting.  Since there are two results for each die (hit
or miss, though they are weighted chances), there are a total of
four possible outcomes.  They are:

     Attacker   Defender                       Probability

  1    Hit        Hit   ==>  (4/6)  *  (4/6)  =  16/36
  2    Hit        Miss  ==>  (4/6)  *  (2/6)  =   8/36
  3    Miss       Hit   ==>  (2/6)  *  (4/6)  =   8/36
  4    Miss       Miss  ==>  (2/6)  *  (2/6)  =   4/36

Note that the sum of the probabilities is 1.  This makes for a
simple means of verifying your work.  Adding more units makes this
calculation much more complicated.  To calculate those odds, you
must take into consideration all die rolls.  This task can be
simplified by creating a binary tree.  To do this, draw a branch
for each possible outcome (hit or miss) for each unit involved for
each round of combat.  Be sure to label each branch.  I always work
sideways and make the upward branch the hit branch and label it by
placing the number of ways (out of six!!) that a hit could be
rolled.  Likewise, the downward branch is for misses and is
labelled with the number of ways out of six to miss.  For the
example above:

               Outcome

          Defender
                 4 /   Mutual Annihilation  (16/36)
                 /
               /
  Attacker   /   \
         4 /     2 \   Attacker Wins         (8/36)
         /
    Start
         \
         2 \     4 /   Defender Wins         (8/36)
             \   /
               \
                 \
                 2 \   Draw                  (4/36)


The next consideration here is what to do at "Draw".  Following
the rules of the game, you merely continue the battle.  In the
above example, the entire tree could be copied and placed where
the "Draw" is located.  But, there is a simplification!  Notice
that to find the odds for an outcome you will add the fractions of
all occurances of that outcome.  Under the "Draw" node, you will
find the same ratios of results, thus as you add the fractions
that occur under it, you do so in the same proportions as the top
tree.  With that, you can ignore the "Draw" branch with one
provision.  Instead of counting the other outcomes out of 36,
count them out of 36 less the 4 occurances under the draw.  This
is of course 32.  This is done so that the sum of probabilities is
still 1 (a renormalization).  So, the odds of a mutual
annihilation with two warring battleships is 0.50, and of either
combatant winning is 0.25.  While this is how you can calculate
the exact odds of a result, it is obviously not an easy task when
there are more than three or so units!

13. Are there any game conventions that include Axis & Allies games?

Yes.  Coyt D. Watters (cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) maintains an
excellent list of game conventions (The Big Con List) that he posts to
rec.games.board.  If your system supports the finger command, you can
also get the list by using the command:

    finger cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

14. Is Axis & Allies available on computer?

Rumour has it that there is a very poorly done commercial computerized
version of Axis & Allies floating around.  Also, there have been a few
attempts by various readers of rec.board.games to produce a working
version.  [If you have any details about the commercial version, or if
you want your program mentioned, please let me know.]

--
(C)1994 Peter Goudswaard (pgoudswa@cln.etc.bc.ca)
Please feel free to email suggestions for this FAQ!
-- 
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