Inspiration I: Axis & Allies

During the 1980s me and some friends used to play Axis & Allies - the WW2 board game by Larry Harris and published by Milton Bradley. We were also brought up with the greatest WW2 documentary of all time, BBCs The World At War, and were more (than was good for us I guess) interested in the battles, veichles, strategies and caracters of WW2 than most of our friends.

So even if Axis & Allies is considered to be a "pretzel & beer-game" and a more advanced version of Risk we had a lot of fun. We also tried a few hexbased games (Panzer Commander, Afrika Korps and even World In Flames) but never really got into it. A&A was our favorite game.

But we always wanted to develop the game ourselves, adding house rules and so on. So when starting this project I have to admit that Axis & Allies will be a huge influence. I think some of its basic game concepts still works very well. I therefore want the map to be area based, and will also use a D6 combat system (with one exception - but more about that later on).

The mission

These are just simple notes about my work, trying to create a WW2 board game they way I really want it to be. The goal is to get a perfect balance between historical accuracy and a great gaming experience.

By publishing my thoughts and the work in progress I hope to get some tips and wise insights from more experienced war- and board gamers out there. So please feel free to comment! And let us not forget the quote from one of ww2s greatest generals:

"If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn´t thinking."

George C Patton