Technology, Research & Development in Axis & Allies
Axis & Allies was originally published in 1981 by a tiny little publisher, Nova Games. One of their employees, however, left to work for Milton Bradley and, before long, MB was publishing their own version Axis & Allies, complete with a mounted game board, paper money, and little toy pieces. The rest is history; Axis & Allies has gone on to achieve near-cult status among its enthusiasts and has sold tons of copies. -AE
Develop Weapons
Consider this part of the sequence as the rearming stage in which you do any of the following:
spend I.P.C's [Industrial Production Certificates, the game's currency] to develop sophisticated weaponry to be used in the same turn and for the rest of the game.
spend I.P.C's for additional military units to be used in future turns.
spend I.P.C's to do both of the above.
WHICH DO YOU DO? Choosing to develop weapons is
risky. It could cost you so many I.P.C.'§ that you may not have enough income to
purchase much-needed military units for later assaults. More importantly, such
an investment does not even guarantee you the weapons. The money you pay is a
research fee. You must also roll a certain die number to actually develop the
weapons. Once secured, however, such weaponry could turn the tide of the war in
your favor. The decision is yours! Take a risk and spend all your income on
developing weapons; or take part of your income for research and development and
use the rest for purchasing items; or for- sake weapons development and use all
the I.P.C.'s you can to purchase more units. If you wish to take a risk and
develop weapons, you must do so before you buy units!
HOW TO DEVELOP WEAPONS: Do the following in order to invest in research and development:
1. Buy dice to roll. Each die costs 5 I.P.C.'s. Buy as many as you wish.
2. Roll the dice. If you roll a "6" on any die, you've made a technological breakthrough in weapons development. Look at the National Production Chart. The far left of the chart is devoted to WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT. If you are unsuccessful in rolling a "6," your research has failed and you must wait until your next turn to try again for weapons development.
3. Now roll one die for each "6" you rolled above. Whatever number or numbers you roll determines which development is yours. For example, if you roll a "3," SUPER SUBMARINES are yours. Please Note: if you roll a development that you already own, roll again for a new development. It is legal for any other country to won the same weapons development as you.
4. Mark the development you rolled with one of your control markers on the chart. IMPORTANT: such newly acquired weapons are immediately effective - they can be used in this turn and for the rest of the game.
| Die Roll | The Weapon |
Its Strength |
| 1 | JET POWER |
Each of your fighter planes now defends at 5 - which means this unit's maximum defense capability has increased from 4 to 5. |
| 2 | ROCKETS |
One free rocket attack per turn! Choose one of your antiaircraft guns (it must be 3 adjacent spaces or less away from the target) to launch rockets at an enemy industrial complex by rolling one die. The number tossed determines how many I.P.C.'s the player owning the industrial complex must surrender to the bank. |
| 3 | SUPER SUBMARINES |
Each of your submarines now attacks at 3 instead of 2. |
| 4 | LONG RANGE AIRCRAFT |
Movement capability of your aircraft is increased. Each of your fighter planes can now move up to 6 adjacent spaces instead of 4 per turn; each of your bombers can now move up to 8 adjacent spaces instead of 6 per turn. |
| 5 | INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY |
Economic relief! The basic cost of buying any unit is reduced by 1 I.P.C. Notice the basic cost of each unit is given on your Reference Chart. |
| 6 | HEAVY BOMBERS |
In a regular combat situation with military units as targets, roll 3 dice for each attacking heavy bomber instead of 1 die per bomber - thus each bomber could score up to three hits; in a strategic bombing raid when an industrial complex is your target, toss 3 dice for every bomber that survives an antiaircraft attack. Add the totals. The sum is the number of I.P.C.'s the opponent who owns the complex must surrender to the bank - an economic disaster for your enemy! |
IMPORTANT: successful weapons development is an individual benefit. You cannot share it with any other members of your alliance.
About Axis & Allies
It is spring, 1942, and the world is at war.
Five world powers struggle for supremacy: Germany and Japan are aligned against England, the Soviet Union, and the USA. You control the military and economic destiny of one of these countries in the titanic struggle that will decide the fate of the world. You will need the perseverance of Montgomery, the daring of Rommel, the courage of Patton, the timing of Yamamoto, and the steadfastness of Zhukov!
Axis & Allies is a classic game of war, economics, and strategy. Victory goes not only to the team that conquers its opponents on the field of battle, but also to the individual player who seizes the most enemy territory.
The blitzkrieg rages; can you stop it?
Axis & Allies Features:
You can click on this link to read the Axis & Allies rules manual.
Note that Axis & Allies has spawned a couple of very good sequel products. They are Axis & Allies: Europe and Axis & Allies: Pacific. Each focuses exclusively on that theater of World War 2 (where the original Axis & Allies game took a global perspective). These are great games and the links to them will also take you to their respective rules manuals.
