This weekend I got to play one of my favourite board games, Axis & Allies Global 1940, with a few friends of mine. I took pictures to commemorate the occasion, and thought I'd write up a battle report for dakka dakka. For those of you not familiar with the game, Axis & Allies is a grand strategy board game based on WWII. Players take control of individual nation states and take turns conducting invasions, bombing raids, and disrupting convoys. The Axis achieve victory by taking control of 8 victory cities in the European theatre, or 6 victory cities in the Pacific theatre. The Allies achieve victory by taking control of Berlin, Rome, and Tokyo.
This particular version of the game starts the players in the spring of 1940, just before the Nazis invade France. Due to the timing, this version of the game has political rules to reflect the fact that not all powers are at war in 1940. The Germans and the Soviets start at peace, as do the Japanese and the Western Allies.
I was playing as the United Kingdom, France, and ANZAC, while my Allied partner Roger took the helm of the United States, China, and the Soviet Union. On the opposing side we had James, a relative newbie compared to the rest of us, playing as the Germans. Taylor had the reigns for Japan and Italy.
Round 1
The opening round of the game saw the successful invasion of France. I, as the French player, inflicted a PITIFUL amount of casualties on the oncoming Germans. I think I only managed to kill about 3 infantry with all 11 of my units. The Germans also sank a sizable portion of the Royal Navy. In the picture below you can see the victorious German units in Paris, what's left of my British fleet after consolidating in the opening turn, and the Italian units which managed to take control of Southern France. You can also see the frightening amount of German aircraft poised on the Western coast ready to protect against any early landings on the continent.
Things went much better for the Allies in the Mediterranean theatre. At the end of the first round I managed to wipe out the Italian units in Ethiopia, sink most of the Italian navy, and squeezed what was left of their troops in North Africa into Tobruk. I also obnoxiously used my only transport to get British units into Greece, which is a pro-Allies neutral territory and so contributes their forces when a friendly power moves in.
In the Pacific theatre, the Japanese wisely decided not to declare war on the Western Allies just yet and reserved themselves to pushing farther into China. The Chinese retaliation took Yunnan back from the Japanese, keeping the Burma Road open. Additionally, the Japanese navy decided to sail south. This really put me on my toes as the
UK player, and I began building up Calcutta to resist a potential invasion.
Round 2
In the second round, the Germans committed to an all out attack on what was left of the Royal Navy. I lost all of my ships, but the destruction of most of the Luftwaffe was an acceptable trade. With few German planes remaining, I was confident the Russians would have had a much easier time when war erupted on the Eastern Front. This picture shows what remains of the British fleet and the Luftwaffe after round 2.
Things continued to go well for me in the Mediterranean. The Germans managed to kick me out of Greece, but I was okay with this if for nothing else than drawing resources away from my Soviet ally. I managed to bring more British ships into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, greatly frustrating the Italian player.
In the Pacific, things became increasingly desperate for the Allies. The Japanese player declared war on the Western Allies, and grabbed an astounding amount of territory in the process. Hong Kong, the Philippine Islands, and Borneo all fell to Japan. Chinese troops in Yunnan pushed further East, but the Japanese took more ground further north. I tried setting up garrisons in the Dutch East Indies, but these ended up doing little to stem the orange tide.
Round 3
In the third round, the Western front was quiet. I used the breathing room to quietly rebuild my fleet and get my ships out of the Mediterranean and into the North Sea. The buildup on the Eastern Front was incredible.
In the Mediterranean, the Italian player started to turn the tables on me. He made a landing in Syria, which was to be the beginning of a concerted effort to wrestle the Middle East away from me.
The Pacific theatre saw continued expansion by the Japanese. They had grown to monstrous proportions by this point, and I had great difficulty contesting their control of the South Pacific.
Final Round
We went 1 or 2 rounds without photos, as we were running low on time. I remembered to snap a few before we had to pack up the game. The Axis surrendered at the end of round 5. On the Western front, I finally managed to achieve a fleet large enough to resist attack. I had some American help from Roger.
My upswing in the North Sea was met by a total reversal of fortunes in the Mediterranean. The Italians penetrated deep into the Middle East, threatening the Caucasus from the south. In the same round that I finally kicked the Italians out of Tobruk and Africa altogether, they managed to grab Egypt away from me which was a crushing blow.
In the Pacific, things finally turned around on the Japanese. They launched an impressive attack on Calcutta, but it wasn't quite enough and some stellar dice rolling on my part wiped out a huge amount of the Japanese invaders. The picture below was right before the attack.
The Japanese were seriously outproducing me in India, so the attack didn't mean final victory. What REALLY sealed the deal for the Japanese was the colossal US navy bearing down on them from the East.
Despite the fact that the Japanese had achieved an astounding IPC count of 70 (from a starting value of 28!), they simply couldn't afford to resist the US and take India at the same time. I somehow forgot to take a picture of the Eastern Front, but things were looking dire for the Germans. The Russians were at a 2-1 advantage in production, were poised to take control of the entirety of the Balkans, and were right on the border of Southern Germany.
I had a great time, and playing as the
UK seriously tested my skill at this game. Hopefully we'll play again in a month or 2. Hope you enjoyed reading!
