Axis and Allies Revised: The Bid
Some players of Axis and Allies Revised believe that there is an imbalance in overall power between the Axis and Allied powers. To correct this perceived imbalance, players may use a bid.
That is to say, if Alice and Bob both think the Allied powers have an advantage, neither will want to play the Axis. However, both Alice and Bob may put a value on how much they think the Axis are disadvantaged by. So if Alice and Bob both find that they want to play the Allies, then one or the other player (determined by random lot) can start a bidding war to play the Allies.
Example: Alice wins the coin toss, and starts the bid, saying “I’ll bid 2 IPC so I, Alice, can be the Allies”. However, Bob really wants to be Allies, so says “I’ll bid 5 IPC so I, Bob, can be the Allies”. Alice may up the bid, or accept Bob’s offer. If Alice ups the bid, the process continues; if Alice accepts the bid, then Bob plays the Axis, but starts with 5 IPC extra.
There are a lot of different bidding systems out there. Some systems start high and have the players bid lower (that is, Alice will bid 20 IPC to play the Allies, and Bob will bid 19 IPC to be the Allies; the winning bid is the lowest bid). Some systems let the winning bidder(s) place up to half the bid amount in units before the game starts. Some systems let the winning bidder(s) place all of the bid amount before the game starts, but extra IPCs are lost. Some systems let the winning bidder(s) place all of the bid amount before the game starts, and extra IPCs are kept.
I think the best system is one that has players starting the bid low, and bidding higher to play the side of their choice, with the entire amount of the bid usable to purchase and place units before the game starts. Starting low and bidding higher results in an open-ended system with no arbitrary limits. Using up to the entire amount of the bid to preplace units, and keeping leftover IPCs, allows for the most change in the initial position, resulting in a more variable and therefore more interesting game.