1940 is by far the most awesome (official) A&A game made to date, and I will spend many, many, many hours playing it (mostly online).
I bought Europe and Pacific 1940 because I’m such a big fan of A&A, but I really won’t get to play them with people much. I’ll pick an online game and follow the moves on my board with it, just for fun, and a different way to look at it.
So:
I would actually advise against buying it. You’re never going to have enough time to finish a game face to face, unless you’ve got like 20-40 hours to play. If you want to play Global 1940, the best A&A game by far, just play it online. For free. On this site.
1940 is the perfect game for playing online. It can take up to a couple of hours to make one move (if you’re playing to win) at times. As long as it takes to play the game face to face, the cat or the kid or the wife or somebody is gonna knock it, and that will be a problem.
So unless money grows on trees at your house, or you’re a tremendous fan, or like IL says, if you can afford $60 just to get extra and awesome pieces, then go for it. But if you’re hesitant, like you obviously are, I would advise that you at least wait.