Bought this as a Christmas present for my brothers (and myself to be perfectly honest). It simply curb-stomps Risk into submission.
Imagine Risk on steroids combined with a little bit of Monopoly.
Ok so this may bore you all to tears but i feel like i have to review it. It's just that damn good.
Ok first things first, what you get out of the box. This comes with a main game board, 2 smaller boards, over 600 plastic pieces of different military units, about 100 cardboard counters, about 90 Paper notes of different denominations of the money used and 14 dice. The main game board is just shy of being 4ft x 2 ft. This may not seem big until you put it on a dining room table and find you have no space to put anything else. Everything is beautifully made, the board looks like a real map as opposed to a stylised bright colour Risk one and the plastic pieces are unique to each country, eg Britain has Spitfires, America has Sherman tanks, Germany has U-Boats etc. The game comes with a 40 page rulebook, which on first read through can seem a little daunting, though it's broken down into sections of each persons turn so you can follow it step by step as you go on the first time. After that the steps are easy to remember as they are printed on each players Stat Card.
Second, a little bit of history. In the game there are six different sides, split into 2 different teams. The Allies, consisting of the US, UK and USSR, plus some Chinese units and the Axis, made up of Germany, Italy and Japan. The 3 sides must work as a team to defeat the other team. There is no individual winner (unless one player plays all 3 sides on one team, or you act like an arse and count the player with the most Victory Cities as the winner). Team work is essential in this game, a poor Allies team will easily lose to a good Axis one even though they start with a slight advantage.
Third, the game mechanic. I'm not gonna lie but it is quite complex. Risk has a very simple system to it, if you have trouble following that then god help you with this, although my 14 year old brother managed to pick all the rules up easily so don't be to disheartened. Here you have to control territories to gain money then use the money to buy land, sea and air units, each of which will have different abilities and fight with different strengths. The aim of the game is for one team to capture a set number of Victory Cities. These include the six capital cities plus 12 others deemed important such as San Francisco, Paris, Hong Kong, Calcutta and Stalingrad. This game takes a long time to play (about 6 hours) but is well worth it. Each side starts with a specific setup that differs depending which of the two scenarios is played, the 1941 or 1942 setup. Each offers advantages and disadvantages to each team.
Lastly the ouch bit. The Axis & Allies Revised game sells for about £30 which is pretty good going for a board game (Risk generally sells for about £20). However as this was a present as much for me as it was my brothers i opted to buy the Special Anniversary Edition. This cost me £60, which is a lot for a boardgame, however providing i can get my brothers to play it some more, i consider it well worth it.
Overall i am very glad i bought this game. I can't wait to get back to England to kick my brothers and my dad into another Allied defeat.
Anybody who would like to know more, or would like a game sometime feel free to drop me a message, here, Facebook or email. (Though i know that no one will 
).
