Most Balanced axis and allies?

HA!

Quite!

Guadalcanal.

IMHO  Axis and Allies Anniversary 1942, with NO’s, out of the box, was one of the best games for balance.

Now, once the pro’s really started pounding out thousands of games of it, it went from a slight axis bid to a slight allied bid.  I think 6-9 bid for Allies is now the average.

But If you’re just average players looking for a fairly close game, bid really isnt going to matter, and I would recommend Anniversary 42 out of box.

My second choice would be Axis and Allies 1942SE,  Give the russians a bomber (instead of an allied bid) and go. This tends to be a VERY tight game as well.

That is interesting Garg. In my very limited experience (three games!) of Anniversary I think the Allies always gained the advantage. But that was 1941 set up, which may be less balanced? Plus we play to 1942.2 rules, which may make a difference, for example tanks being more expensive buys for G.

The UK fleet in the Atlantic presents such a threat to G’s coasts that it never gets going against R.

Perhaps we will try the 1942 set up next time.

I like playing with 42.2 rules as well.  I wonder what the next epoch of A&A games will be!

I should also note that Europe 1940SE is a great stand alone game, that often isn’t measured on it’s own.  OOB if you’re beginner to moderate, you’ll have a great time.

I thought Anniversary 42 was Axis advantage, possibly a bit more than 41.

The version of 1942 that came out right after Revised was pretty close to balanced without a bid.  Newer versions seem to be advantage Axis.

Garg is right about Europe (if he’s referring to the new one) being pretty close to balanced too.  I’ve never used a bid in that one.

@zombiemaster22:

in your opinion what is the most balanced axis and allies with no bids?

Without Stalin and Hitler  :-)

Definitely Anniversary Edition 1942 for most balanced.

Our group never bids and it seems to work well, no matter which year we start with but 1942 seems the “most” balanced.

the Balanced Mod is pretty close, if not slightly pro-allied.  But big improvement over G40 OOB, where bids are now easily 20+.

I’d say the best in terms of “balance” was the oldie: Pacific 2001. Take out the India crush, and it really was a tight, tight game.

1942 2nd is way pro-Axis IMO.  Just start strat bombing Russia and lights out!

Ah hell yeah! I miss the RED Japanese pieces in the original Axis and Allies Pacific,  and that game was a damn good one.

@Gargantua:

IMHO  Axis and Allies Anniversary 1942, with NO’s, out of the box, was one of the best games for balance.

Not to break into a strategic discussion, but I wondered if using the Russian bomber into SZ13 on the Germany tpt & DD was worth the gambit.  Big risk, big reward.  Russia can go on w/o the bomber….

@Gargantua:

Ah hell yeah! I miss the RED Japanese pieces in the original Axis and Allies Pacific,  and that game was a damn good one.

Original Pacific is the best looking set in my opinion. Pretty good game too.

Havent played it many times but I like Europe 1940 2E with a very modest Axis bid

@frimmel:

@Gargantua:

Ah hell yeah! I miss the RED Japanese pieces in the original Axis and Allies Pacific,  and that game was a damn good one.

Original Pacific is the best looking set in my opinion. Pretty good game too.

I can agree with you here. I still use the naval markers to this day, what awesome pieces!

AAP was the most balanced game with milton bradley coming in 2nd. I did like the hellcats sculpt and the fleet markers, but the red Japanese bugged me and the map was too small.