Renegade Game StudiosAxis & Allies: WWI 1914 - A Strategic War Board Game for 2-8 Players, Ages 14 and up, Intense Strategy Gameplay, 4 to 6 Hour Play Time

Excellent

Do not start with 1914. Start with 1942. That is the core came right now. There are a lot of versions of A&A you can get into after.Think Risk + Chess combined.I'm glad they did an updated 2nd run of this game. I missed it the first time around and the 1st editions were going for $350 on ebay. Glad I held out to get this for $93!

Lots of pieces and details. Well made.

I bought this game because I love history, and this game has far surpassed my expectations, it is historically accurate, and is also very fun to play! The only downside about this game is that it should include more blue and red chips to place troops on, but other than that, this game is wonderful. It is very complicated though, so I would probably say 13+, unless your child is very smart!

One of the most fun versions of A&A. My only complaint is that there aren't enough chips included.

This arguably is the most strategic and elegant version of the game in the Axis & Allies (A&A) franchise. It's a goldilocks solution: neither dumbed down as the most affordable yet stripped-down 1941 version, nor bogged down by a myriad of exceptions and nationals rules of 1940 Europe and 1940 Pacific combined in the Global version.The physical product is visually appealing and has a good price point. The board and plastic pieces have beautiful bright colors. It sure is a nice gift for kids (ages 10 to 20) and adults into war games as a casual hobby.All A&A games follow the "area control model": your armies must conquer territories to grow the economy, which allows you to buy more armies, which, in turn, will allow you to gain more territories, and so on. In 1914, whoever conquers two enemy capitals (including Paris or Berlin) out of the eight major nations' capitals wins the game.The battle mechanics is elegantly based on infantry and artillery units, supported by other land, air and sea units. The combination of units in attacking or defending armies give bonus points to your dice rolling, which will determine the number of hits in the enemy.In contrast with other Axis & Allies games, each battle involves only one round of dice rolling. This means that territories often remain "contested" with the presence of two enemy armies for a while. This imitates trench warfare's slow grinding as the core feature of WW1, as envisaged by A&A creator Larry Harris.Minor points to consider that led me to take down one star:1) the National Production chart printed on the gameboard is useless (you better have a numerical table board to mark each nation's production points).2) The manual suggests a piece of paper to track money, an atrocious idea that will mess up your game and mind (better use paper money or poker chips as a much better solution).3) Many hours (often a full day) required to play a match is a universal complaint in all Axis & Allies games, and a few experienced players complain about "lack of balance" between opposing factions; however, wars are unbalanced challenges, and A&A is better seen as a race against time by Germany against the US. Designer Larry Harris welcomes players to create "house rules" to change the game as they deem fit.4) Tournament rules (designed by Larry Harris, fans and organizations) have been created to expedite the game, or make it more fun, realistic or "balanced". These tournament and house rules could have been added as an appendix in the rulebook.This is a must-have game. Originally published by Hasbro in 2013, the WW1 version was out of print for several years and sold at eBay for a few hundred dollars each copy, until being released under Renegade in 2023. Who knows if 1914 will remain available in years to come...