Welcome to the axis and allies world. If your girlfriend won’t let you open the games till X-mas, maybe she will allow you to pull the rules out of each set (and the maps would also be helpful if you can pull it off). I also suggest you checkout Young Grasshopper’s Beginners Guide (see link below). Even if you can’t open your games Young Grasshopper has links to the Avalon Hills site so you can download the rules. It also has links to the set-ups, and FAQ (changes or clarifications to the rules). This won’t be a quick easy read if you have never played axis and allies before. I would also suggest that you watch as many of Young Grasshopper’s U-tube videos as you can to get up to speed. He has done a terrific job introducing new players to Axis & Allies (not knowing if you speak English, but his video’s are awesome).
This is a pretty big map when combined for the global game, about 82 cm X 178 cm (32 inches X 70 inches). You will also need a little extra room around the map for unit trays etc…. so you may want to prepare something/somewhere ahead of time to play it. You may even consider setting up the whole global game to get the feel for it, but only play the Euro side the first time to get familiar with the rules and movement etc…The Pac side has more political rules to deal with (unless Japan attacks on the first turn) and much more navy and sea zones which can get overwhelming.
Young Grasshopper’s Beginners Guide link:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=34418.0
Avalon Hill website link for rules (can also get here through YG’s Beginners Guide above)
http://avalonhill.wizards.com/rules
Units and chips (may need more chips):
US and UK units come in both games, so being you have Europe40 and Pacific40 you can combine the units for these powers. This should give you enough units for the most part to play the individual games, or the global version. Chips are used when you have more then just a couple of the same type of unit in one territory (gray-1 unit, green-3 units, red-5 units). You will use chips when setting up the game, or when you merge stacks into a single territory to save space. You may need to swap some units on the map for chips when you want to buy a unit and don’t have that type in your supply box too.
Example, when setting-up the territory Germany it starts with 11 infantry. You wouldn’t use 11 inf because it takes up to much room, and you will run out of inf very fast. You use chips, could use 1 red chip (5), 5 gray chips (5), and one inf (1) on the top of the chips to represent 11 inf (could also just use 2 red chips and 1 inf on top for the same thing). The green chips are relativity new to me because they didn’t come in the original version (or earlier AA games). Being that I have plenty of chips from other versions I don’t feel the need to use them, but you will most likely have to at some point, unless you buy more chips from HBG. You can also use coins as some have posted if you run out of chips. Most people don’t like to use chips for planes, ships/transports, but you do what you have to.
Edit unit and chip trays:
I believe that the game still comes with trays for each power to hold the units, but I don’t think it is compartmentalized (the original version wasn’t). If I was to purchase or make something this is the one thing I would concentrate on. Keeping all the individual units separate is a big plus when playing. You can make cardboard inserts for the cardboard trays the game comes with, or buy plastic containers with dividers. I found plastic containers (with a hinged lid) in the sporting goods section of a local department store (Walmart I think). They are about 10 cm X 20 cm (4 inches X 8 inches), and have up to 12 compartments, but you can pull some of the dividers to form larger compartment’s (for inf and capital ships).
Dice:
Dice are awesome, they can kinda take on their own personalities. I have many AA games, and have also purchased a couple sets of combat dice from FMG that are power specific (you can see the German set in the advertisement in the side bar if you scroll to the top of this page). Most of us probably have a favorite set of dice, or use different dice for different situations. It’s part of the whole trash talking AA experience (“don’t touch my dice…”). I would suggest having more dice because it will make the bigger battles go faster (even borrowing dice from other games you may have). Having a dice tray, or somewhere to roll the dice (box top) is important so that your dice don’t go crashing through the board, and mess things up.
Roundels, air/naval bases (AB/NB), and industrial complexes (IC’s):
I always seem to need more Japanese markers, but I would play the game a few times before looking to buy more units or roundels (you can always draw something up, or substitute if you need to). The cardboard AB/NB and ICs are ok, but you may choose to upgrade them later. I have the plastic IC’s from other AA games and use those for major ICs, but still use the cardboard minor IC, and AB/NB. You can buy this stuff from HBG, or FMG, but it might be quicker and more cost effective to just go out and buy the 1942 2nd edition. It has 5 of the major powers (no Italy, Anzac, or China), nearly all the units for each power, and it has more dice, chips, and cardboard ICs. Plus it is a good stand alone game as well that has similar rules (helpful to break it out and play when introducing new players to the game).
No paper currency:
Yep, this is regrettable in my opinion. I have Industrial Production Certificates (IPC’s) from other games I own, and some War Bucks from HBG too. I haven’t used poker chips, but I hear that is a good way to go as well. I’m old school and like to gather my income in IPC’s and place it with that power. When I purchase units I will put the IPCs with those units as I go keeping track of what I’ve spent along the way. Like if Russia is buying 5 inf (3 IPCs each costing 15 IPCs), I will place those 5 inf on top of 15 IPCs etc…We don’t like to use the income tracker w/roundels because it is easy to forget to adjust it, or roundels get moved around (by accident of coarse :wink: ).
With that said, we also print off a computer generated spreadsheet with all powers on it to track incomes after each turn (it is two sided and has 5 complete rounds of play on each side). This may seem redundant, but the spreadsheet is very helpful to keep things straight. It has the starting income for each power and allows for increases or decreases to income, records if that power saved any income from last turn, or was convoyed etc…We also refer to it at the beginning of each players turn just to make sure he has the correct starting income (IPCs in hand). We have found that sometimes just using paper IPC’s and/or the games income tracker that you can easily forget to add or subtract income etc… Using a spreadsheet may add a bit of time, but seems to help keep arguments to a minimum because you can see that he saved 5 IPCs the last turn and that’s why he can afford to buy what he did. It also helps you to remember about convoy’s, because convoy damage is on the sheet (I realize you probably don’t know what convoy damage is, but once you do, you will probably forget to do it :-D ).
