Axis & Allies: WW1 1914

The world is at war!

Axis & Allies: WW1 1914 takes the battle-tested Axis & Allies formula and adjusts it to fit The Great War. New nations, new units, and new combat mechanics make this version of Axis & Allies feel unique to its setting. 

Contents

Overview

Up to 8 players can take part in fighting out The Great War. Players are divided into two sides: The Allies (British Empire, France, Italy, Russian Empire, and United States), and the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Ottoman Empire). To win, one side must capture and hold two capitals from their enemies at the end of a round of play. The Allies must capture Berlin as one of the two capitals, and the Central Powers must capture either London or Paris as one their two capitals.Each nation takes a turn in each round. In each turn, players purchase new units, move existing units, conduct combat, mobilize their newly purchased units, and then collect income based on the territory they control.

This Isn’t World War 2

If you’ve played Axis & Allies previously, you’ll be familiar with the sort of sweeping advances that can be done with armor and aircraft. That sort of blitzkrieg attack fits WW2, but it doesn’t really make sense in WW1. Series Designer Larry Harris understood the difference in the conflicts he was depicting. A&A: 1914 doesn’t have blitzkrieg attacks. It has carefully considered offensives that grind down the opposition. That’s where the first big change to the standard A&A formula appears. 

Land combat only lasts a single round. After attackers and defenders in a territory are declared, each side rolls once, assigns casualties, and then both sides, if they have remaining units, return to that territory. It is now considered contested. And, neither side has to declare attacks in a contested territory. Sure, you might have attacked Romania with the Ottomans, and now the territory is contested with Russia, but neither of you has to make further attacks there. 

Axis & Allies: 1914 is a literal war of attrition. Each nation can only resupply so many troops, armor, and ships each turn, and the key to victory is planning your attacks to waste as many enemy resources as possible. Maybe the Russians don’t want to waste the infantry they have left to push to take back Romania, because reinforcements are better used defending Poland. But, perhaps that lack of attention in Romania, in addition to the pressure in Poland, makes Russia weak to a further Ottoman push, which ousts the Russians completely from Romania several turns later. 

Combat also features  promoting units in combat, such as air superiority and the use of artillery to increase the effectiveness of units. When units are placed on the Battle Board, for each artillery present, a tank or infantry is promoted, meaning that they hit enemy units on 3 or less, as opposed to 2 or less. If a side is the only one to have aircraft, either by air battle or by being the only side to bring aircraft, their artillery is similarly promoted, and hits on 4 or less instead of 3 or less.

Minor Powers also appear in A&A: 1914. These minor powers can be aligned to a major power (one of the playable nations) or neutral, and are activated when entered by any units. If aligned to a major power, units are mobilized from the allied major power, but if the minor power is neutral, the opposing forces of the nation who entered the minor power’s territory mobilize in that space. This can create situations where timing a mobilization can have a great impact on planning.

Smart players will find ways to use pressure on one front to weaken another, and create openings to claim territory using combined arms and forces from minor powers.

Updating The Great War

Axis & Allies: WW1 1914 is a reprint of the original A&A: 1914 game, originally published by Avalon Hill. Renegade Games has done a few updates to this game, however. First, the game board has seen an increase in size. The original board was 32.5” by 32.25”, and the Renegade Games board has increased to 34” x 32”. Additionally, both the German and British infantry counts have expanded, solving a common issue in the early game of not having enough pieces. The rulebook has also seen a rework, with the official errata becoming part of the rules.

Overall, the package is a nice upgrade, with enough space on the board and enough units and chips to make the opening turns of the game hassle-free. 

Order your copy of Axis & Allies 1914 today!