Revisions followed shortly after the game release, as the rules didn't always produce results which made sense in the context of the historical setting. For example, the abstraction of submarines fighting airplanes, initially had a restriction that the bomber was the only kind that could attack a sub. This was later revised so that all aircraft could attack submarines. Although not the very first edition, the Milton Bradley release was the first to establish the well known game mechanics. There were three versions of the rules for the Milton Bradley games, though only the first two were included with the game. The third edition rules were exclusive to the 1998 computer video game
Axis & Allies by Hasbro, and
Axis & Allies: Iron Blitz with minor additional rules released in 1999. The three editions differed by minor details. There is also a newer
RTS video game released in 2004, a departure from the original
A&A: Classic world map and introducing several tactical battle scenarios. The first major revision to the rules was designed by Larry Harris and
Mike Selinker, who later developed the board game
Attack! based on the experiences learned working with Harris. Harris and Slinkier tried to address many of the Milton Bradley version's shortcomings, including removing the Axis economic victory condition and the requirement of capturing enemy capitals in favor of
victory cities, which has been used in every revision since. With victory cities, the Axis and Allies start with an equal number of victory cities (specially labeled territories), and strive to capture enough victory cities to gain a majority of them, with the size of the majority being agreed upon by the players prior to the game. This allows players to play shorter or longer games, depending upon the number of victory cities a power must control in order to claim victory. With each revision, there were balance changes to make gameplay more dynamic. In the Milton Bradley edition, infantry were cheap units that tended to be most useful as defensive
cannon fodder, due to their token attack and slightly better defense. This led to many areas of the game board being heavily fortified, bogging game play down to a matter of who could build more infantry faster. To counteract this, the tank, whose defense ability was equal to infantry in the Milton Bradley release, had its defensive capabilities improved in the revised edition, to encourage players to use
combined arms. Other balance changes included altering the costs of units, and altering the transport capacity. In the Milton Bradley edition, transports could carry two infantry, or one of any other land unit. Later revisions had transports able to carry one infantry, in addition to one of any other land unit. The variety of land and sea units was increased by introducing artillery and destroyers from
A&A: Europe and
A&A: Pacific to
A&A: Revised edition. Artillery increased the effectiveness of infantry in attacks. Destroyers limited the usefulness of submarines and acted as a lower-cost substitute for the expensive battleship. Cruisers were introduced in
A&A: 50th Anniversary Edition to effectively split the destroyer's many abilities. While destroyers continue to limit the usefulness of submarines, the stronger cruisers now act as lower cost battleships. The game board was reworked in each revision. The Milton Bradley classic release featured largely vibrant colors. The revised version featured mainly darker tones. The 50th anniversary edition and 1942 edition has a more realistic terrain with only subtle hints of color to denote which power has initial control over a particular territory. The composition of territories was slightly altered. For example, the number of territories between
Berlin and
Moscow was increased in the revised edition, including adding many Soviet territories of strategic importance. Strategic bombing was altered over the years. Until the revised edition, strategic bombing caused opposing players to lose the IPCs they had on hand. The 50th anniversary edition changed this so that industrial complexes were damaged instead. Damaged industrial complexes had less capacity to produce units and can be repaired at the cost of IPCs. Later revisions have also included changes in research (which was generally not a worthwhile investment in the Milton Bradley edition due to its high cost and low probability of success) to have more of an effect, with mixed results,
1942 edition eliminates research altogether. Another feature that was implemented but was later dropped was the revised edition's "National Advantages", which represented tactics and technologies used by a specific power during the war. For example, a British ability allowed the British player to delay their combat movement until the American player's turn once per game, in order to have a coordinated attack. Later editions had minor cosmetic changes in the playing pieces. In the Milton Bradley version, only the infantry pieces were unique to each power in appearance. Unique units was later expanded to include nearly every unit in later editions. Compared to the generic fighters of the Milton Bradley release, the
Supermarine Spitfire was used in later editions to represent British fighters, the
Mitsubishi A6M Zero was used to represent Japanese fighters, while two different fighters (the
Grumman F4F Wildcat and the
Lockheed P-38 Lightning) represented American fighters. The color scheme to associate units with powers was also standardized across all
Axis & Allies series games, based on the colors used in
A&A: Europe and
A&A: Pacific, and is different from those used in the Milton Bradley release. In 2009, an updated version of
Axis & Allies: Pacific was released, titled
Axis & Allies: Pacific 1940. The 10th board game in the
A&A series,
A&AP 1940 introduced the ANZAC forces as a playable power, along with two new unit types, mechanized infantry and tactical bombers. In 2010, an updated version of
Axis & Allies: Europe was released, titled
Axis & Allies: Europe 1940.
A&AE 1940 introduced France as a playable power. Mechanized infantry and tactical bomber units continue to appear after debuting in
A&A Pac40. Italy also appears as a playable power in
A&AE 1940 after debuting in
A&A 50. In
A&AE 1940 and
A&AP 1940 aircraft carriers and battleships are capital ships that are damaged with 1 hit and sunk with 2 hits. Damaged CVs & BBs can be repaired by moving the damaged CV or BB to a friendly naval base for repairs. Special rules apply for fighters and tactical bombers if a CV is damaged.
A&AE 1940 is the 11th
A&A boardgame in the series.
A&AE 1940 and
A&AP 1940 are designed to be played as separate games or may be combined into one game to create a 2-6 player global 1940 scenario, complete with separate set up and national objectives. The combined
A&AE 1940 and
A&AP 1940 maps measure 175x80 cm (70" x 32"). All 9 major powers of World War II are represented with unique unit pieces and their own unique color. ==Board games==