Hello All. I thought I would post this topic for anyone that might be interested. Axis and Allies is obviously a favorite game for many of us and I became interested in how the pieces have changed over the years and from one version of the game to the next. Since I have been able to keep most of the different pieces over time, I thought I would share them with everybody.
First, about 1984, there was the original Milton Bradley version (aka Classic). It was pretty basic by today’s standards. All of the pieces were the same generic models in different colors and only the infantry pieces were unique to each country. When Avalon Hill took over A&A in the mid-late 90s, they introduced country specific units to the game and also added destroyers and artillery to the lineup. They first came out with A&A Europe, A&A Pacific, A&A D-Day and later a new Revised World game.
Then, in 2008, came the 50th Anniversary game. It was the biggest A&A game yet with the largest game board. This game also introduced Italy as a 3rd Axis, gave new rules for China as a seperate power and introduced the Cruiser in the naval lineup. While many of the game components were top notch, the plastic unit molds were a big dissappointment with lots of flash, rather sloppy detail and some units didn’t get completely molded (eg, German artillery pieces). Another good thing with this version is Britain got their own tank unit.
During 2009, they came out with two more smaller-level games, Battle of the Bulge and Guadalcanal. BOTB introduced truck units for the Americans and Germans. Then in August of 2009, they came out with A&A 1942, a very scaled-down version of Revised. However, they greatly improved the plastic molds and produces larger battleship pieces with much better detail. Russia got some country specific navy pieces. Italy and China were not included in this game however.
Then, in December 2009, came the much anticipated Pacific 1940. This was a very large game and a significant upgrade from the previous A&A Pacific. Many new rules for air and naval bases were added, ANZAC was introduced as a new Allied power and TAC Bombers and Mechanized/Mobile Infantry were added to the lineup.
Finally, in August 2010, Europe 1940 came out. This game introduced France for the first time and has the USA and USSR as neutrals. What’s more, this game is designed to go with Pacific 1940 for a HUGE new Global game. This is where we stand today.
In the following posts, I will go through each country to show how the pieces have changed.