33 different Axis & Allies (box)variations...

@Manzgame The Revised game from 2004 had a map that folded that way, but it was smaller than both the Classic 1984 map and the current 1942 map.

The dice rules for both “Low Luck” and “No Luck” (that means “No Dice”) ways to play, in pdf file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4j29q8euk5u8hv/A%26A Dice options.pdf?dl=0
(The texts are not entirely mine, but I do not remember the sources. However, it is from the time when we played on “Game Table Online”)

“Low Luck” Rules for Axis & Allies:
The common way to play with Low Luck is like this…
For every combat round you add the values of the attacking and defending units.
For instance if you are attacking with 4 inf and 1 fighter and the defender has 2 inf, then the attacker has 7 attack points while the defender has 4.
Every 6 points means that you’ll get a hit, and you roll a dice for the leftovers.
On this case the attacker would have 1 automatic hit, while rolling a die and hitting with a 1, while the defender would roll a die to hit on a 4 or less.
Imagine both the attacker and defender had 1 hit each. On the next combat round the attacker doesn’t have to roll (it has 6) while the defender rolls for 2 or less. And it goes on until one or both sides are destroyed or the attacker retreats.
The same applies for ships doing land bombardment during amphibious assaults.
Example: For two Battleships you have 8 firepower points in bombardment, so you get one automatic hit and you roll the dice for 2 or less to get a second bombardment hit.
For the Antiaircraft guns if the attacking airplanes are six you get one automatic AA hit. If they are less than six you roll the dice and if you get the number of planes or less you get one AA hit.
Example: For nine attacking airplanes you get one automatic AA hit (for the first 6 planes) and you roll the dice for 3 or less to get a second AA hit (for the remaining 3 planes).
Alternative rules (for AA guns):
With AA shots you can either roll individually for each plane, or you can roll for each type of plane.
Or just add up all the attacking planes and divide that number by 6. 11 Fighters, 11 Tactical Bombers and 2 Strategic Bombers = 24 Planes, 4 planes are lost.
The thing with that approach is that it allows for very effective strategic bombing campaigns. You send 6 bombers against an IC on a territory worth 8 IPC or more (on Global 40 against a Major IC): 1 bomber gets shot automatically by the AA, resulting in a loss of 12 IPCs but the other 5 bombers deal an average of 3.5 damage to the targeted IC. You keep buying one bomber to replace the lost one and the other guy has to either pay a lot to build units or abandon the IC.
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“No Luck” (that means “No Dice”) Rules for Axis & Allies:
The total firepower points of the fighting units divided by 6 and rounded gives the number of hits. That means if the firepower points are 3, 4, 5 or 6 you get a hit and if they are 1 or 2 you don’t get hit. For example:
Three attacking tanks (firepower 9) causing two hits to the defender (one for the first 6 points and one for the remaining 3 points of the total firepower).
If the opposing fighting units have low firepower (less than 3 points) and no one can do a hit to each other, you must keep the leftovers between battle rounds until there is at least a 3 firepower hit. For example:
Two attacking infantries (firepower 2) eliminate one defending infantry (firepower 2) in two battle rounds.
Antiaircraft guns (AA):
The total number of attacking airplanes divided by 6 and rounded gives the number of AA hits. That means if the number of airplanes is 3, 4, 5 or 6 you get an AA hit and if it is 1 or 2 you don’t get hit. For example:
If the attacking airplanes are nine the AA gun causes 2 hits (one for the first 6 planes and one for the remaining 3 planes).
Alternative rules:
Whenever you have a battle, you add up each of the different types of attacks, just like low luck. The difference is, you keep the leftovers between battles.
No hits are inflicted until a total of 6 is reached.
Example: I attack with 10 infantry against 3 tanks.
Round 1: I have total attack value of 10 (10 infantry attacking at 1). Total defense value is 9 (3 tanks defending at 3). So I get 1 hit, and the defender gets 1 hit. However, the remainder is NOT rolled, but saved for the next round.
Round 2: I now have 9 infantry attacking 2 tanks. My total attack is 9; the total defense is 6. HOWEVER, we add the leftovers from the last round, so my total attack becomes 9 + 4, while the total defense becomes 6 + 3. That makes for 13 and 9 respectively. I get 2 hits, the defender still gets 1 hit. Now I have 8 infantry, the defender has nothing.
Obviously antiaircraft guns become totally useless because you can attack with up to 5 planes, and nothing will ever get shot down (the AA gun total never reaches 6 or more since it only fires once).So the solution is to keep a running total for AA guns not just between combats, but for the WHOLE GAME, and knock off a fighter (or a bomber) whenever the total hits 3.Same thing for battleships.

From the time we played online at the legendary “Game Table Online (GTO)”, I have kept some file documents of the bids we made at the beginning of the matches. These are actually Custom Setups. Here is the pdf files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/80ejfkvzh7f57fv/A%26A Custom setups.pdf?dl=0

Axis & Allies Custom Setup:
WHAT: As an alternative to the traditional beginning set-up for the game, bidding allows you an optional supplement to a country’s normal starting position. This supplement can be units and/or IPC’s. Bidding is done before play begins. In multi-player games you are also bidding to select a side with the winning bidder generally selecting his partner from those remaining [see recommendations below].

REVISED AXIS & ALLIES: You are bidding to play the AXIS side. Players may start with any bid from the list that follows. Subsequent bids can be made by any other player for any amount that is of less advantage to the axis [further below on the list] than the the current bid. Bidding ends when no one is willing to take a bid of less advantage than the current bid. That winning bidder is an Axis player. If you make an Allied bid, you are still bidding to be Axis, but you are giving those extra units or IPCs to your opponents.

AXIS & ALLIES 1942: You are bidding to be the ALLIED side. Players may start with any bid from the list that follows. Subsequent bids can be made by any other player for any amount that is of less advantage to the allies [further above on the list] than the the current bid. Bidding ends when no one is willing to take a bid of less advantage than the current bid. That winning bidder is an Allied player. If you make an Axis bid, you are still bidding to be Allies, but you are giving those extra units or IPCs to your opponents.

Here is a list of the custom setups you can select in the table:

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REVISED EXAMPLE: One player starts the bidding with the number of extra IPCs worth of units he will accept to play the Axis. Then if another players thinks he can do better with less, he’ll bid lower. The players continue alternating bids until no one wishes to go lower. Unless agreed otherwise a Japanese bid is lower than a German bid for the same amount.

For example in REVISED Axis & Allied bidding if Erwin and Winston are playing bidding might go like:

Erwin: “I’ll play Germany +9”. That means he’s willing to take the Axis countries with 9 extra IPCs worth of gear to start the game with.
Winston then says: “I’ll play Japan +9.”
Erwin then counters with: “Germany +8.”
Winston says, “fine… you play Axis.”

So now Erwin gets to start with 8 extra IPCs worth of troops for Germany. Per the list this would mean: an extra tank and infantry in Africa at the beginning of the game.

Note in Axis & Allies 1942 bidding procedes in the opposite direction.

RECOMMENDATION: If players are NOT at similar experience levels - DON’T let bidding decide teams. Especially in 2 vs 2 team games it is recommended that you select partners FIRST and THEN bid. This will avoid the situation where 2 very experienced players are paired against 2 less experienced players and make for more competitive game play.Custom setup in Axis & Allies Revised & Spring 1942 Custom setup in Axis & Allies Revised & Spring 1942

Some useful charts and comparisons for the including components, between the various versions of the Axis & Allies boardgame. It is about the number of units, their capabilities and their type names. In the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0kgpp74n68fiew8/A%26A Comparisons.pdf?dl=0

Model Scales:
SOLDIERS: 1/72
TANKS: 1/285
AIRPLANES: 1/900 or larger (2cm for fighters and 4cm for bombers)
SHIPS: 1/4800 to 1/2400
(Νote that as the denominator number increases, the model becomes smaller. That is, a 1/4800 scale model is smaller than a 1/2400 scale model)
614327a5-bdd4-4d6d-bc96-a0827eb3c880-image.png
45c3aecf-2c87-420c-8b79-9b472cb00f75-image.png

One last reply for now.

First, let me hit you up with some pictures of how colors of units for different countries varied in the early days of Hasbro/WotC/AH A&A.

Tanks of the United Kingdom, from A&A Europe/Pacific to A&A Anniversary. (Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/424344/) - See the source link for a listing of what piece is from which game.
Axis and Allies - Tanks of the United Kingdom, from A and A Europe/Pacific to A and A Anniversary

And finally, a couple shots of the rarest (non-mistake) pieces in A&A - RN County Class cruisers in Russian Red. These were only done for the first print run of A&A Anniversary. The next time Soviet cruisers were seen in an A&A game (A&A 1942, 1st Edition), they were replaced with Kirov-class cruiser.

First, a comparison shot of all of the cruisers from A&A Anniversary, 1st print. (Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/362555/)
All of the cruisers from A and A Anniversary

Next, a clearer picture of those rare Soviet County classes, aligned with the rest of the Soviet Navy in A&A Anniversary. (Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/399605/)
The Soviet Navy in A and A Anniversary

I hope that helps somebody.

-Midnight_Reaper

I have put together a video of some of my biggest blunders and lowest luck. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R-B2AkMWAo

Winston Churchill Quotes
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

My Transport rule suggestion. I do have most of this for my transports.
D6
A0
D@1 plane only.
C6
M2
ES @1
Any planes in a naval battle with defending transports.
Can take transport as a causality but loses the D@1 against a plane.

No planes in a naval battle can’t take transports as a causality.

Lone Transports against Ships and planes. The attacker has to kill the transports .
Non of this cop out crap with lone transports all dead. WTF. They can escape.
This will prolong the battle at most 5 mins. This only happens 1-4 times in a game.
A transport gets a D@1 plane shot if killed if there is planes in battle.
No planes then the ship or ships have to kill the transport.
Now the transport only gets a escape roll if he survives the round of attack.
No escape roll for a sub FS.
2 Dest and 1 Sub attacking 3 lone transports.
Attacker rolls for 2 dest a 4 and a 5. both misses.
1 sub rolls FS shot of a 1. I killed transport. No escape.
Now the 2 transports roll for escape and get a 1 and 6.
1 transport escapes to another sz or stays in same sz and then next round of combat
the attackers only get to attack 1 transport.
Works great in my game. We ave 2-4 transports surviving per game. But it gives you more options to use transport
in naval battles.