Axis and Allies Who?

This computer boardgame looks to be something special. With Play By Email capabilities the entertainment / dollar ratio amongst some of us may approach numbers yet undiscovered.

WaW is a game very much akin to the turn based Axis and Allies. Knock the complexity and faction customization up about 5 notches and wrap Play By Email (PBEM) capabilities around it and you’ll have Gary Grisby’s World at War. An excellent preview by The WarGammer fills us in on how this game may make world leaders of all of us.

“As gamers familiar with 2by3’s games would expect, combat is more than a simple affair of lining units up and rolling virtual dice. The complexity starts with specific units for each side. Units won’t be generic clones of each other. For instance, German armor has an Evasion rating of seven and a Durability rating of three. Multiplying those two numbers together yields 21, which represents the unit’s defensive value. Western Allies’ tanks have an attack factor against an armor target of seven, which means it rolls seven virtual dice to attack an armor target. Since the average roll of a die is three, on average, they will roll a 21, which means they are likely to just barely hit German tanks.

All of these specifics are handled by the game engine so you don’t need an abacus to play. What’s exciting about all this is that as your country’s leader, you can research all 11 dimensions of each unit type. If you feel your tanks need more armor, well then spend some money on researching better tank armor. There’s even a Fog of War toggle that prohibits your enemy from knowing not only what you researching, but what you unit’s specific stats are. Russ could start pouring out tanks with bigger guns, but I wouldn’t know until I met them in the field. Only then would I have to commit money to counteracting his research strategy. On top of this, the game keeps track of the average research value for all units across the world and grants discounts in areas any nation is fallnig behind in.

Sounds complex? Well not really. It’s still a board game with a clean interface. Moreover, if you find all that nonsense.. well “nonsense”, then you can let the AI handle all technology and production while you focus on troop movements and fighting battles.

In addition to attacking and defending, supplies play a major role in the game. Rail and ship transports are vital. Unbroken transportation links across territories allow a player to move supplies an unlimited distance. It is possible to build a supply chain using rail units from the West Coast of the United States and link them with ship units across the Atlantic to move supplies and troops into Europe and even use this supply chain to prepare for an amphibious assault … For instance, as the German player advances into Russia he will face a variety of decisions with no simple answers: should he repair his railroads to facilitate the movement of reinforcements? Or should he repair factories damaged while taking over a territory? Or should he hold his supplies which will allow him to attack again?

A simple game with tough decisions? Reminds me of diplomacy. I’m all over this stuff.

The game ships at the end of august. Both Russ and I are preordering. I’ll wager that we’ll be slugging it out over email well-on-into the winter months. If you don’t want to shove money into a game you’ve only just heard about it, that’s fine. We’ll have a review up shortly after release.

The community is already buzzing around this game. You can read After Action Reports written by Beta Testers in the online forums, or visit the game’s main site for more information.