Axis and Allies 1914 FAQ/Question and Answer Thread

As promised, here is the consolidated list of errata and clarifications, in order of appearance in the Rulebook.  It should cover all of your questions.  Larry and I have done some talking, and you’ll find a couple of pleasant (I hope) surprises.  They are highlighted in red.

Original territories are the territories a major power begins the game with.  They are the territories that have only that power’s emblem on them.

If the capital territory of a minor power aligned to your power is mobilized by a friendly power, you take control of the territory.

If the capital territory of a minor power aligned to your power is mobilized, you do not take control of any colonies that power may have at that time.  Colonies must be controlled individually.

If the colony of a minor power aligned to your power is moved into for the first time or captured by a friendly power, that power takes control of the territory.

If a minor power aligned to your power is captured by a friendly power, the capturing power takes control of the territory.  Only originally controlled territories can be liberated.

As the United States is neutral before it’s at war, it has no friends or enemies; therefore it may not move units into territories controlled by other Allied powers.  It also may not load units onto transports before it’s at war.

United States units may not be used to represent the mobilized forces of minor neutral territories before it’s at war.

The Russian Revolution has the following effects:

• Russia will no longer have a turn, and will no longer be considered to be either friend or enemy to any other power.

• Serbia and Romania will be treated as minor neutral powers for the remainder of the game.

• All Russian units outside of original Russian territories will be immediately removed from the board, and Russia will immediately relinquish control of any non-original territories it may hold, including those of formerly aligned minor neutral powers.  If units belonging to other Allied powers are in these territories, control will be established using the rules for moving all units on one side out of a contested territory (see “Land Units”, page 15), otherwise these territories will be uncontrolled until another power moves into them and will not mobilize units when entered.

• Any original Russian territories that are contested at the time of the revolution will be considered to be shared for the remainder of the game.  Shared territories that have no Russian units in them will each have one Russian infantry added to them to represent Russia’s interest in them.

• Attacks may no longer be made by either side in original Russian territories that are either controlled by Russia or shared between Russia and the Central Powers.

• The Central Powers may no longer move units into territories controlled by Russia.  Central Powers forces can move into or out of territories shared between them and Russia at any time, but the Central Powers must maintain at least one infantry unit in each such territory at all times.  Central Powers do not collect income from shared territories.  Rules restricting land unit movement out of contested territories (see “Land Units”, page 15) will not apply to these shared territories.

• Other Allied powers may no longer move units into original Russian territories that are either controlled by Russia or shared between Russia and the Central Powers.  Any such units remaining in those territories at the end of their next respective turn will be removed from the board at that time.

• Original Russian territories that are controlled by the Central Powers at the time of the revolution are considered to have no original controller for the remainder of the game.  If such a territory is captured by an Allied power, that power takes control rather than returning it to Russia.  If such a territory is left without units in it after a battle due to both sides being eliminated, it will not be controlled by any power (place any national control marker on it face down to denote this status) until a power moves units into it.

You can repair a battleship if it is in a sea zone that shares a naval base that is either controlled by you or a friendly power or is contested and was originally controlled by you or a friendly power.

Land units that begin the turn in contested territories can only be moved to territories that at the beginning of the turn were either controlled by your power or contained units belonging to your power.  (They can also remain at sea if moved by transport.)

Fighters may not fly over a neutral territory unless attacking it along with land units.

If the territory that shares a naval base with a mined sea zone is contested, only ships that belong to enemies of the original controlling power have to roll for mines.

If you are offloading units from a transport in a friendly sea zone and the transport has encountered mines during its movement, the mines are rolled for before the transport offloads.

If one of your loaded transports hits a mine in a sea zone it entered before it loaded some of all of the units, those units are returned to the territory or territories from which they were loaded and may not move in the current turn.  Of course, any units that were already on the transport before it entered the mined sea zone are lost.

If you are planning an amphibious assault or reinforcement, but some of your ships hit mines while attempting to deliver the units, you may call off the landing.

If you are moving units into a territory both by land and amphibiously, one infantry unit must move in by land, unless you already have one there.

When a defending multinational force gains air supremacy, all defending artillery are promoted.

If you take control of enemy capital on that enemy’s turn due to his attacking you in that territory and losing, any units he purchased are returned to his storage box, and you collect the refunded IPCs.

You have to mobilize all of the units that you purchase in the same turn.

You can’t mobilize sea units from a territory that was controlled by an enemy power at any point during your turn.

If you purchase a ship but realize during the Mobilize New Units phase that you have no eligible naval base to mobilize it with, it is returned to your storage tray, and the IPCs are refunded to you.

The British Empire cannot mobilize units in India if it is enemy-controlled.

Thanks Krieg!  These look great!

@Krieghund:

After the Russian Revolution, Russia has no friends or enemies.  All Russian units outside of original Russian territories are immediately removed from the board.  Russia will immediately relinquish control of any non-original territories it may hold, including aligned minor neutrals.  These territories will remain uncontrolled until another power moves into them (Serbia and Romania will be treated as minor neutral powers for the remainder of the game) and will not mobilize units when entered.  Units belonging to other Allied powers may no longer move into original Russian territories, and any such units remaining in those territories at the end of their next respective turn will be removed from the board at that time.  Central Powers units are treated as stated in the Rulebook.  Rules restricting land unit movement out of contested territories (see page 15) will not apply to territories shared between Russia and the Central Powers unless another Allied power is also present.

This is 1.56x10^345 times better than the original, thanks!

The Revolution rules sound much better outside of Russian orig territories, no force fields (the changes for the US also sound very good).

I’m a little concerned about the other allied units needing to be off orig Russian territories by their next respective turn or be removed from the board (although I can see it needs to be done quickly). So just to clarify say the Revolution happens on Russia’s 6th turn. UK units would need to be off orig Russian territory by the end of UK’s 6th turn or be removed from the board. If UK has units in Tatarstan (up from India), or Belarus they are just removed at the end of UK’s turn #6 because it would take them two turns to leave Russian soil.

I know that Russian units don’t restrict CP units from leaving a contested territory (Russians don’t make the territory contested once they revolt), but it says other allied units in an orig Russian territory would restrict CP movement. I assume that CP units still contesting an original Russian territory could also restrict other allied units from exiting these territories too. This would be short lived though as other allied units will have exited, or been removed from play.

Are the other allies and the CP allowed to fight each other in original Russian territories if they are both in it contesting it at the time of the revolution? Knowing that if the other allies made such an attack they would be removed after the battle not being able to leave Russian soil in time (that turn). Further more can the other allies and the CP attack each other in adjacent original Russian territories. Maybe the UK would rather kill some CP units instead of trying to get out in time (or can’t get out in time). It says that other allied powers can no longer enter orig Russian territories, but does that also mean they can’t choose to make an attack into another orig Russian territory if they are already in an orig Russian territory when the Revolution happens.

Can the Allies still attack Original Russian territory if it is held by the Central Powers and if so does the territory go back to Russia or the Allied Power that captures said territory?

Well I said the RR needed a rewrite…

My game had stalled awaiting ruling on this; I had envisioned my British army in Karelia helping to sucker Germany into taking Livonia & Belarus, then calmly announcing the Revolution on Russias (last) turn before the Brits reconquer Russian tts from the CPs, effectively sealing them off by returning them to Russian control.

But why weren’t these rules run over us before the rules went to the publishers? Same old story, I’m afraid.

A few questions:

Was it always intended that the Americans cannot load up and sail transports before declaring war, or is a new ruling?

If a player buys units and then loses his capital (on his own turn), does he get a refund on ordered land units as per naval units?
(Incidentally, I don’t think you should be allowed to buy ships for a naval base controlled by the enemy, even if you recapture it on your turn - ships took a long time to build!)

If British units in Russia attack and eliminate all CP units contesting a tt with Russia before the mandatory British disappearance, does the tt revert to Russian control and become off limits to the CPs?

Where are the 39 steps?

Not quite sure how Russian and Central Powers can still contest a tt if they are no longer enemies.

As per my question above, can I assume that you cannot voluntarily demote a unit to infantry before movement in order to move into multiple tts ?

@WILD:

Are the other allies and the CP allowed to fight each other in original Russian territories if they are both in it contesting it at the time of the revolution? Knowing that if the other allies made such an attack they would be removed after the battle not being able to leave Russian soil in time (that turn).

Yes.

@WILD:

Further more can the other allies and the CP attack each other in adjacent original Russian territories. Maybe the UK would rather kill some CP units instead of trying to get out in time (or can’t get out in time). It says that other allied powers can no longer enter orig Russian territories, but does that also mean they can’t choose to make an attack into another orig Russian territory if they are already in an orig Russian territory when the Revolution happens.

The prohibition on entering original Russian territories applies to Allied units outside of Russia.  I’ll amend the original post.

@Hitlers:

Can the Allies still attack Original Russian territory if it is held by the Central Powers

Only those Allied units in original Russian territories at the time of the Revolution may do so, as further units may not enter those territories.  Of course, units that spend their one turn of remaining life attacking will not get out.

@Hitlers:

and if so does the territory go back to Russia or the Allied Power that captures said territory?

It is liberated to Russia.

@Flashman:

Was it always intended that the Americans cannot load up and sail transports before declaring war, or is a new ruling?

I can’t comment on that.

@Flashman:

If a player buys units and then loses his capital (on his own turn), does he get a refund on ordered land units as per naval units?

Sorry.  I meant to add that to the list.  I’ll amend the original post.

@Flashman:

(Incidentally, I don’t think you should be allowed to buy ships for a naval base controlled by the enemy, even if you recapture it on your turn - ships took a long time to build!)

You can’t really.  You can’t mobilize ships from a naval base you haven’t controlled for your entire turn, and ships you can’t mobilize are returned to your storage box and you get a refund for them.  If all of your naval bases are enemy-controlled at the beginning of your turn, you’ll just get a refund for any ships that you purchase.

@Flashman:

If British units in Russia attack and eliminate all CP units contesting a tt with Russia before the mandatory British disappearance, does the tt revert to Russian control and become off limits to the CPs?

Yes.

@Flashman:

Where are the 39 steps?

:-D

@Flashman:

Not quite sure how Russian and Central Powers can still contest a tt if they are no longer enemies.

They can’t really - they just share it, and neither party gets control or income.

@Flashman:

As per my question above, can I assume that you cannot voluntarily demote a unit to infantry before movement in order to move into multiple tts ?

Nope, so plan accordingly.

I also added a clarification for what happens if Russia relinquishes control of a territory when other Allied units are present.

Do surviving Russian ships post revolution have any effect whatever?

If not, wouldn’t it be simpler just to remove them?

They are “Russian units outside of original Russian territories”, so they are removed.

Thanks for all the updates Krieghund!

As to the Russian Rules, I was going to use those exact rules anyway. Glad to see them officially! :)

Perhaps the simplest thing would be to remove all Russian units bar one infantry in each Russian controlled original Russian tt. By Russian controlled I’m including those “shared” with CP units, since these are no longer contested they must be considered Russian controlled.

Better still, remove all Russian combat units (since they no longer fight) and replace with a WWII Soviet control marker in each qualifying tt.

Thanks again Krieghund for this timely re-wight of the Rus Rev rules and clarifications to them (this optional rule just simply makes more sense now). The UK will think twice about trying to assist the Russians on Russian soil being they could get trapped there and lose their units (puts some chaos and more urgency into into the situation). The US not being able to load transports as a neutral is also a very welcomed addition (or I guess subtraction lol). Allowing the US navy warships (and empty transports) to move is acceptable.

**PS Krieghund, are you guys looking into making an optional rule for Constantinople controlling ship movement through the Turkish straight (maybe did something in testing, but scrapped it?). Just thinking out loud, but we (I) would like to hear if there might be something down the road on this.

I will say I love what mines do for this area, and also what double mines do in sz 10 & 11 entering/exiting the Baltic while the Germans hold their NB’s, or at least contest the territories linked to them (the Russians really get the feeling of being trapped in the Baltic having to go through both mined sz’s to get out when the German navy is out to sea, and the western allies also see this as an issue). Back to the Ottomans, I know the Turks can somewhat control movement here by keeping a ship in sz20, but the allies really seem to have naval dominance in this game, and a double hit into sz20 seems pretty easy to pull off (admittedly only a partial game under my belt at this time). The Turks can’t afford to buy more cruisers (9 IPCs), and A/H will have a tough time getting their navy past the Italians to be of any assistance here (although it looks like the French might pull out of the Med in most games to claim Portugal, and assist the Brits in the Atlantic) .

I will say though that in our game when the Russians performed the first part of the double hit I rolled snake eyes for the Turk mines. It was awesome to see the look on his face, but I know that was a one out of like 50 shot (not sure of actual odds) that probably won’t happen again. Unfortunately my A/H attack on the Italian navy the turn before resulted in no hits for my side, leaving only my BB on its side, although his Italian mines missed their mark (I even bought an Austrian sub, but they off-set this by lending the Italians a Brit cruiser).

Again maybe the mines do enough for this region and it plays out well, and there is no need for a straight rule. I know such a rule could just add complication because sz20 as a single sz would essentially need to be split into sz20a, and 20b to give the controller of Constantinople control over the straight. Just looking for an explanation, or any thoughts for the future (or past testing for that matter).

I’m with Flashman, I kept forgetting about Mines!  Wish they were labeled on the map in some way (other than the NBs) or as an official cardboard/plastic piece.

The Russian Rev rules are much better and so are the US entry rules!  I don’t see why the US couldn’t ‘tour the world’ with its Battleships and Cruisers- historically they did just that recently with the great white fleet.

@Krieghund:

If you take control of enemy capital on that enemy’s turn due to his attacking you in that territory and losing, any units he purchased are returned to his storage box, and you collect the refunded IPCs.

So to clarify this would mean that the power losing his capital on your turn would hand over any unspent IPCs (saved), and the refunded IPCs from the units he couldn’t place as well (all IPCs go to the victor).

If London is taken in this fashion, the units the UK purchased could still be placed in India right (if they still control or contest it). Incidentally in the same situation UK ships could also still be placed off Wales (again if they still have control, or contest it).

@BJCard:

I’m with Flashman, I kept forgetting about Mines!  Wish they were labeled on the map in some way (other than the NBs) or as an official cardboard/plastic piece.

In our game I though this might be a problem. I placed the green chips (came w/A&A 1942 2nd ed) in all the NB SZ’s at set-up just as a reminder, it does help.

@WILD:

@BJCard:

I’m with Flashman, I kept forgetting about Mines!  Wish they were labeled on the map in some way (other than the NBs) or as an official cardboard/plastic piece.

In our game I though this might be a problem. I placed the green chips (came w/A&A 1941) in all the NB SZ’s at set-up just as a reminder, it does help.

Good idea!  Thought Green Chips came with 1942 2nd edition though?  Or are you talking about the cardboard things from 1941?

Yeah, your right it was 1942 2nd ed (oops)

@Flashman:

Perhaps the simplest thing would be to remove all Russian units bar one infantry in each Russian controlled original Russian tt. By Russian controlled I’m including those “shared” with CP units, since these are no longer contested they must be considered Russian controlled.
Better still, remove all Russian combat units (since they no longer fight) and replace with a WWII Soviet control marker in each qualifying tt.

I think considering the territories like this (in bold) is going to create some problems. Krieghund could you clarify a bit about the situation where the territories are shared?

W/Flashes suggestion it really only removes the clutter of Russian units (which might be cool). It really doesn’t matter if there is one Russian unit in an original Russian territory, or 50 units (it’s the same). An orig Russian territory with both Russian & CP units in it at the time of the Revolution is in kind of in limbo for the rest of the game (no one will gain control) unless the other allies can manage to kill off the CP units in the one turn they are given which would return the territory to Russia’s full control. The CP are allowed to move through orig Russian territories they have units in (formerly contested, now in limbo?), or have control of w/o restrictions. Keep in mind that the CP are also required to keep one inf in any orig Russian territory that they were contesting before the Revolution. They are free to move all units out of orig Russian territories they are in control of though. They would need to make sure they don’t move out prematurely though allowing the other allies to screw them in the one turn they get if they are in Russian originals.